Hírolvasó

Verbal autopsy is an increasingly important methodology for assigning causes to otherwise uncertified deaths, which amount to around 50% of global mortality and cause much uncertainty for health planning. The ...

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited red blood cell disorder caused by a structural abnormality of hemoglobin called sickle hemoglobin (HbS). Clinical manifestations of SCD are mainly characterized by chr...

The real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is routinely used for quantification of nucleic acids and is considered the gold standard in the field of relative nucleic acid measurements. The eff...

Rare diseases (RDs) affect a small percentage of the population but can be severely debilitating and life-threatening. Historically, patient groups (PGs) have been the prime movers in raising awareness about t...

The selection of reference genes is essential for quantifying gene expression. Theoretically they should be expressed stably and not regulated by experimental or pathological conditions. However, identificatio...

Drug candidates often cause an unwanted blockage of the potassium ion channel of the human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG). The blockage leads to long QT syndrome (LQTS), which is a severe life-threatening c...

The quantity of documents being published requires researchers to specialize to a narrower field, meaning that inferable connections between publications (particularly from different domains) can be missed. Th...

High-throughput sequencing technologies have led to explosive growth of genomic databases; one of which will soon reach hundreds of terabytes. For many applications we want to build and store indexes of these ...

Specific phobia (SP) is a relatively common disorder associated with high levels of psychiatric comorbidity. Because of its early onset, SP may be a useful early marker of internalizing psychopathology, especi...

Prediabetes appears to be increasing worldwide. This study examined the incidence of prediabetes among immigrants to Canada of different ethnic origins and the age at which ethnic differences emerged.

Journal of Human Lactation, Ahead of Print.
Background:Although the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative has improved breastfeeding rates globally, weak monitoring still affects hospital-level implementation.Research aim:To reassess compliance of a Baby-Friendly Hospital with the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, HIV and Infant Feeding, and Mother-Friendly Care following the WHO/UNICEF global criteria.Methods:In this cross-sectional, prospective, mixed-methods study (N = 180), clinical staff (n = 60), pregnant women (n = 40), postpartum mothers (n = 60), and mothers of babies in intensive care (n = 20) were randomly selected from one urban secondary-level public hospital in Ghana designated as Baby-Friendly in 2004 but never reassessed. Data were collected through interviews, document reviews, and observations using the revised WHO/UNICEF external reassessment tool and analyzed quantitatively using the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative computer tool. Scores higher than 80% signified a pass (high compliance). Scores rated as low (< 50%) and moderate (50–80%) signified noncompliance.Results:The facility passed the criteria for full compliance with the International Code (86%) but failed other components. Compliance with the Ten Steps was moderate (55%). Step 7 about rooming-in (84%) and Step 9 about human milk substitutes (100%) were passed, whereas Step 1 about written breastfeeding policies (0%), Step 2 about staff training (7%), and Step 4 about early breastfeeding initiation (31%) were met the least. Compliance with Mother-Friendly Care (34%) and HIV and Infant Feeding (47%) were low. Main implementation gaps were unavailability of policies and staff’s inadequate knowledge about Baby-Friendly practices.Conclusions:Improving staff training and maternal counseling, routinely reassessing designated facilities, and providing technical support in problematic areas might sustain implementation.

Journal of Human Lactation, Ahead of Print.
Background:Although the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative has improved breastfeeding rates globally, weak monitoring still affects hospital-level implementation.Research aim:To reassess compliance of a Baby-Friendly Hospital with the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, HIV and Infant Feeding, and Mother-Friendly Care following the WHO/UNICEF global criteria.Methods:In this cross-sectional, prospective, mixed-methods study (N = 180), clinical staff (n = 60), pregnant women (n = 40), postpartum mothers (n = 60), and mothers of babies in intensive care (n = 20) were randomly selected from one urban secondary-level public hospital in Ghana designated as Baby-Friendly in 2004 but never reassessed. Data were collected through interviews, document reviews, and observations using the revised WHO/UNICEF external reassessment tool and analyzed quantitatively using the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative computer tool. Scores higher than 80% signified a pass (high compliance). Scores rated as low (< 50%) and moderate (50–80%) signified noncompliance.Results:The facility passed the criteria for full compliance with the International Code (86%) but failed other components. Compliance with the Ten Steps was moderate (55%). Step 7 about rooming-in (84%) and Step 9 about human milk substitutes (100%) were passed, whereas Step 1 about written breastfeeding policies (0%), Step 2 about staff training (7%), and Step 4 about early breastfeeding initiation (31%) were met the least. Compliance with Mother-Friendly Care (34%) and HIV and Infant Feeding (47%) were low. Main implementation gaps were unavailability of policies and staff’s inadequate knowledge about Baby-Friendly practices.Conclusions:Improving staff training and maternal counseling, routinely reassessing designated facilities, and providing technical support in problematic areas might sustain implementation.

Journal of Human Lactation, Ahead of Print.
Background:Physicians and nurses are expected to support breastfeeding mothers. However, there is a lack of standardized lactation education throughout training programs and hospitals. As a result, providers lack the necessary confidence and skills to guide mothers throughout the breastfeeding experience. The hands-on nature of breastfeeding management demands the implementation of application-based learning tools to improve skills retention and patient breastfeeding outcomes.Research aim:In this scoping review, we aimed to critically assess the types of application-based breastfeeding management learning tools reported within medical and nursing professions and the evaluation methods of learner and patient outcomes.Methods:The authors searched the literature to identify peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2018 with medical or nursing students, residents, or professionals as the target learner group in an application-based educational intervention. Both authors independently assessed the content in the resulting articles, with specific focus on teaching methods, curricular development, and the learning outcomes reported within each study.Results:Ten articles matched the inclusion criteria and were included in the final review, including five studies from the medical field and five from the field of nursing. Use of real patients was a common method for application-based skills training, followed by role playing and use of standardized patients. Teaching and evaluation methods varied widely across the studies.Conclusion:The results align with existing literature in finding a dearth of high-quality studies assessing breastfeeding education among physicians and nurses. The variability in teaching and evaluation methods indicates a lack of standardization in breastfeeding education between institutions.

Journal of Human Lactation, Ahead of Print.
Background:Physicians and nurses are expected to support breastfeeding mothers. However, there is a lack of standardized lactation education throughout training programs and hospitals. As a result, providers lack the necessary confidence and skills to guide mothers throughout the breastfeeding experience. The hands-on nature of breastfeeding management demands the implementation of application-based learning tools to improve skills retention and patient breastfeeding outcomes.Research aim:In this scoping review, we aimed to critically assess the types of application-based breastfeeding management learning tools reported within medical and nursing professions and the evaluation methods of learner and patient outcomes.Methods:The authors searched the literature to identify peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2018 with medical or nursing students, residents, or professionals as the target learner group in an application-based educational intervention. Both authors independently assessed the content in the resulting articles, with specific focus on teaching methods, curricular development, and the learning outcomes reported within each study.Results:Ten articles matched the inclusion criteria and were included in the final review, including five studies from the medical field and five from the field of nursing. Use of real patients was a common method for application-based skills training, followed by role playing and use of standardized patients. Teaching and evaluation methods varied widely across the studies.Conclusion:The results align with existing literature in finding a dearth of high-quality studies assessing breastfeeding education among physicians and nurses. The variability in teaching and evaluation methods indicates a lack of standardization in breastfeeding education between institutions.

Journal of Human Lactation, Ahead of Print.

As skilled lactation professionals, we are committed to evidence-based practice but how can we also apply evidence to advocacy efforts for the families in our care? ILCA is currently working to ensure that a number of advocacy efforts are informed and supported by both the available research and the expertise of our IBCLC members. One […]

Journal of Human Lactation, Ahead of Print.

Journal of Human Lactation, Ahead of Print.

Journal of Human Lactation, Ahead of Print.
Background:Numerous efforts to promote breastfeeding resulted in a steady increase in the rates of breastfeeding initiation and duration. Increasing numbers of breastfeeding interventions are focused on breastfeeding maintenance and exclusivity and based on behavioral theories. Few studies critically analyzed the use of theories in breastfeeding intervention development and evaluation.Research aim:The aim of this critical review was to examine the existing literature about breastfeeding intervention, and investigate the role of theory in its development, implementation, and evaluation to provide future directions and implications for breastfeeding interventions.Methods:This critical review examined the existing breastfeeding intervention studies that used self-efficacy theories (SE), theory of planned behavior (TPB), and social cognitive theory (SCT) and were published during the past decade. Using five databases, studies in which researchers explicitly applied these three theories to frame the intervention were selected. Studies were critically reviewed for fidelity to theory in intervention design, delivery, and evaluation.Results:Eighteen studies were reviewed: nine SE-, five TPB-, and four SCT-based. Most interventions were focused on building mothers’ breastfeeding self-efficacy to improve breastfeeding exclusivity and duration. To achieve this goal, researchers who developed SE-based interventions used individual approaches, whereas other researchers who based studies on TPB incorporated social and environmental changes. SE-based studies were more likely to include theory-based instruments, but TPB- and SCT-based studies demonstrated less consistent choices of measurement. Researchers in most studies did not test the relationships between the proposed theoretical constructs and breastfeeding outcomes as guided by theories. Inconsistent outcomes resulted among the studies due to variations in study follow-ups.Conclusion:Sound applications of single or multiple theories demonstrate a great potential to help practitioners and researchers develop effective breastfeeding interventions and evaluate true impacts on positive breastfeeding outcomes.

We study a preprocessing routine relevant in pan-genomic analyses: consider a set of aligned haplotype sequences of complete human chromosomes. Due to the enormous size of such data, one would like to represe...