Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Missing father”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Paternity analysis when the putative father is missing: first case in Chile.

Genetic marker analysis is a powerful tool for solving paternity-related problems when the putative father is missing. This report describes the first time this approach was employed in Chile to solve such a problem. In the case presented, the alleged father was missing as a result of the political detentions that took place in Chile during 1973. It was not possible to obtain any biological sample from him because he was missing. Thus, the case was resolved by means of genetic marker analysis of the alleged father's close relatives.

Birth Certificates↗

A waste of life: fathers' experience of losing a child before birth.

BACKGROUND: The prenatal loss of an expected child entails parental despair and grief. The grief after a stillborn child is sometimes described as a "forgotten form of grief" and the fathers as the "forgotten mourners." Our aim was to describe how fathers experienced losing a child as a result of intrauterine death. METHOD: Eleven men were interviewed 5 to 27 months after the intrauterine death of their child during weeks 32 to 42 of pregnancy. The interviews were analyzed using a phenomenological methodology. RESULTS: After being informed of the infant's death, most fathers first wanted their partners to have a cesarean section, but all later thought that it would be right for the child to be delivered vaginally. A strong feeling of frustration and helplessness came over them during and after the delivery. Several men found meaning and relief in their grief by supporting their partner. Tokens of remembrance from the child were invaluable, and fathers appreciated that the staff collected these items, even if the parents declined them. The perceived prerequisite for resuming their everyday lives consisted of the support they received from the hospital staff and precious memories of the child. The most important comfort in their grief was a good relationship with their partner. Some fathers missed having a man to talk to both at the time of the stillbirth and subsequently. CONCLUSION: The fathers' general trust in life and the natural order was suddenly and unexpectedly severely tested by the death of their child, which they perceived as a terrible waste of life. They sought understanding as grieving men and fathers from both the hospital personnel and their partners, as well as from relatives. Being able to protect their partner and to grieve in their own way was important to the fathers.

Adult↗

Cancellation of pediatric outpatient surgery: economic and emotional implications for patients and their families.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine the cause and timing of case cancellation in a pediatric outpatient surgical population, and to examine the economic and emotional impact of such cancellations on patients and their families. DESIGN: Questionnaire survey. SETTING: Outpatient surgery unit of a large university children's hospital. PARTICIPANTS: 127 parents of children whose elective outpatient surgery had been cancelled. INTERVENTIONS: A total of 200 questionnaires were mailed to the parents of children who had their outpatient surgery cancelled. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Of those children whose surgery had been cancelled, 34.6% were due to upper respiratory infections (URIs), 30.7% for other medical reasons, and the balance for scheduling errors, because the child had not fasted, or for difficulties with transportation. The majority of surgeries (58.3%) were cancelled prior to their scheduled surgery date. However, 18.9% were cancelled on the day of surgery prior to leaving for the hospital and 22.8% were cancelled on arrival at the outpatient surgery clinic. Of those patients whose surgeries were not cancelled until they arrived at the hospital, 38.5% of mothers and 50.0% of fathers missed a day of work and, of these, 53.3% and 42.1%, respectively, went unpaid for the work day missed. The mean number of miles driven (round trip) to the hospital for a cancelled operation was 158.8 miles (range 8 to 1,350 miles). Additional testing and new appointments were ordered in 25.2% of the cancelled cases. 45% of parents and 16% of children were disappointed by the cancellation; 16% of parents were frustrated by the cancellation and 3.3% were angry. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that last-minute cancellation of surgery has an important impact on patients and their families and suggests a need to review present protocols for screening patients prior to surgery.

Adolescent↗

The cost of childhood chickenpox: parents' perspective.

The development of a varicella vaccine has raised questions about the cost effectiveness of vaccination, but little information on the costs of chickenpox exists. The purpose of this study was to evaluate medical costs and the value of work loss among families whose children had chickenpox. Interviews were conducted with 179 families who made advice nurse calls or urgent care clinic visits to three clinics in the Northern California Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Plan. Two-thirds of working mothers and one-third of working fathers missed work to care for children with chickenpox. The mean value of the work lost because of chickenpox was $293/family or $183/chickenpox case. The estimated costs of nonprescription medications were $20/family or $12.50/chickenpox case. Children were sick enough to need to stay home for only one-third as many days as chicken actually stayed home because of school exclusion policies. These empiric results differ from previous estimates of the medical and work loss costs of varicella and should be included in analyses of the cost effectiveness of proposed vaccination programs.

Absenteeism↗

[Plastic facial reconstruction in forensic medicine].

Plastic facial reconstruction is the field of personal identification where the limitations of science are augmented by the intuition of an artist. In this field, success requires the cooperation of an anthropologist and a sculptor--and sometimes a little luck. Authors summarize the applications and limitations of this method. For the first time in the history of their institute, University Medical School of Pécs, the face of a victim in an actual crime case have been reconstructed. In this situation, the victim was in advanced stages of decomposition. The features of the man's face were unrecognizable. Using thirty craniometric measuring points, the soft tissues on the victims macerated scull was reconstructed, based on known soft tissue thickness of the middle-European population. After the reconstruction was complete, police circulated a photograph of the victim's face. The victim's son recognized her missing father from the photograph and notified the police. These efforts were noted as the first success of its kind in our region.

Cadaver↗

[Not Available].

Facing the increasing number of single-parent-families we investigated the impact of fathers absence within the first six years of childhood on psychic/psychosomatic impairment in later life. We used data from the Mannheim Cohort Study on the Epidemiology of Psychogenic (neurotic spectrum) Disorders for a comparison of extreme groups with a favourable or bad course of clinical impairment. In adition we performed regression analysis of the long term course of clinical impairment for the total follow-up sample (mean follow-up intervall 11 years, N=301) with psychometric, clinical and childhood variables. The absence of the probands father (> six months within the first six years of life) was a significant independend predictor of clinical impairment in later life, accompanied by clinical and psychometric variables. A significant and increasing impairment existed even in 73 of 125 older probands (birth cohort 1935), who missed their father in early childhood. The sociopolitical implications of these findings are discussed.

Childhood↗

Calculating paternity probabilities from DNA multilocus fingerprints in some cases of deficiency.

Paternity determination via DNA multilocus fingerprints in normal trio cases, namely when the fingerprints of the trio mother, child and putative father are available, is performed on a routine basis. But in cases of deficiency, where the DNA fingerprint of mother or putative father is missing, there exists no systematic, analytical way for paternity calculations, even in cases where DNA fingerprints of other persons related to the missing individual are available. The aim of this paper is to establish a mathematical, analytical background, that enables paternity calculations in cases of deficiency if complementary information can be obtained from the DNA fingerprints of at least one of the parents of the missing individual. Using the basic outline of our previously described procedure, the formulas for paternity calculations also allow mutations.

Chromosome Mapping↗

Homozygous deletion of the CYP21A-TNXA-RP2-C4B gene region conferring C4B deficiency associated with recurrent respiratory infections.

The central class III region of the human major histocompatibility complex contains highly polymorphic genes that are associated with immune disorders and may serve as susceptibility factors for viral infections. Many HLA haplotype specific rearrangements, duplications, conversions and deletions, occur frequently in the C4 gene region. Genetic deficiencies of complement components are associated with recurrent occurrence of bacterial infections. We have studied the complement profile and the class III genes 5'-RP1-C4A-CYP21A-TNXA-RP2-C4B-CYP21B-TNXB -3' in a 4-year-old Caucasian patient. He has suffered from several pneumonias caused by respiratory viruses, eight acute otitis media, prolonged respiratory infections and urinary tract infection. Complement C4 was constantly low, but the other complement components, from C1 to C9, C1INH, factor B and properdin, were within normal limits. Immunological evaluation gave normal lymphocyte numbers and functions with the exception of subnormal T cell response to pokeweed mitogen. Molecular studies of the C4 gene region in the patient revealed homozygous deletion of CYP21A-TNXA-RP2-C4B generating total deficiency of C4B and the flanking 5' region up to C4A, and in the father a missing CYP21A gene. Further investigations are needed to elucidate the relationship between C4B deficiency and susceptibility to infections.

Adult↗

Haploid allele mapping of Y-chromosome minisatellite, MSY1 (DYF155S1), to a Japanese population.

The present study analyses the human Y-chromosome minisatellite locus, MSY1 (DYF155S1), in 205 Japanese males of 191 pedigrees using the minisatellite variant repeat (MVR) mapping system. The internal haploid structures of the detected alleles considerably varied and consisted of three major repeat units: types 2, 3 and 4. A comparison of the haploid profiles of the MVR codes identified 185 distinct alleles, of which only five were shared. We did not detect a type 1 repeat unit, and variations were frequent at the 5' end of the minisatellite locus. Within an analysis of 24 paternally linked DNA samples donated by ten families, no mutational events were identified even over two generation gaps. Furthermore, we applied this mapping system to a paternity test in which the alleged father was missing.

Alleles↗

Evidence to suggest biased phenotypes in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder from completely ascertained trios.

The transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) is widely used as a robust statistical method to test for genetic association due to linkage based upon analysis of parent-proband trios. The TDT and other family-based tests (eg haplotype relative risk method) are commonly used in association studies including those of ADHD because of concerns that the case-control design has a strong tendency for false positives due to poor matching between cases and controls. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to obtain DNA from both parents in studies of this design, even where the onset of disorder is in childhood, and usually the missing parent is the father. Despite the fact that methods exist for analysis where one parent is missing, many family-based studies are based on the collection or analysis of complete trios only. However this selection process might potentially introduce bias, particularly for studies of behavioural phenotypes like ADHD because the phenotype of proband or parents might influence family stability and therefore complete parental ascertainment. We set out to examine whether children with ADHD and for whom DNA samples from fathers were missing ('duos') differed phenotypically from children for whom genotype information was available from both parents ('trios'). Children from duos showed a significantly higher frequency of DMS-IV ADHD-combined type, significantly more co-morbid conduct disorder and conduct disorder symptoms, and a trend for higher total ADHD symptom scores. Excluding duos from sample collection and analysis may result in systematic bias. If comorbid conduct disorder and ADHD-combined type index increased genetic liability, exclusion of duos could further reduce the power of the TDT (and similar tests) to detect susceptibility genes for ADHD, or replicate effects detected by case-control analysis.

Adolescent↗

Gulf War-related trauma and psychological distress of Kuwaiti children and their mothers.

The participants were 111 Kuwaiti boys and girls and 59 mothers assessed in 1993 and 2003 to determine exposure to war-related trauma during the Iraqi occupation and subsequent psychological distress. Children were classified into four groups based on what happened to their fathers during the occupation: killed, missing, arrested, or unharmed. The results indicate that the group whose fathers were arrested had the highest level of posttraumatic stress symptoms and the highest level of depression and anxiety in 2003. In 1993, the highest levels of depression for children and their mothers were observed in those whose fathers-husbands were killed or missing relative to controls. Long-term effects of war-related trauma in children may be influenced by the war experience of their fathers.

Age Factors↗

Paternal age and delivery before 32 weeks.

BACKGROUND: Advanced paternal age has been linked to early preterm delivery (before 32 weeks). METHODS: We analyzed live births from white, non-Hispanic primiparas recorded in U.S. birth certificates from 1995 to 2000 (excluding California). We examined 2,509,012 pregnancies of married women 20 to 34 years old, excluding unmarried women due to the high fraction of missing data on father's age. We defined the outcome according to the clinical estimate of gestation after excluding unlikely birth weights, because the estimate based on last menstrual period is particularly prone to errors at early gestations. RESULTS: Older paternal age was not associated with increased risk of early preterm delivery. The highest estimated odds ratio among fathers 50 years or older was 1.3 (95% confidence interval = 0.6-2.8) among women 20 to 24 years old. CONCLUSIONS: These U.S. data do not support an association between advanced paternal age and delivery before 32 weeks.

Adult↗

Pioneers of nuclear medicine, Madame Curie.

Among those who have made important discoveries in the field of radioactivity and thus helped in the development of nuclear medicine as an identical entity are: Heinrich Hertz who in 1886 demonstrated the existence of radiowaves. In 1895 Wilhelm Röntgen discovered the X-rays. In 1896 H. Becquerel described the phenomenon of radioactivity. He showed that a radioactive uranium salt was emitting radioactivity which passing through a metal foil darkened a photographic plate. An analogous experiment performed by S.Thomson in London was announced to the president of the Royal Society of London before the time H.Becquerel announced his discovery but Thomson never claimed priority for his discovery. Muarie Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934) was undoubtedly the most important person to attribute to the discovery of radioactivity. In 1898 she discovered radium as a natural radioactive element. This is how she describes the hard time she had, working with her husband Pierre Curie (1859-1906) for the discovery of radium and polonium: "During the first year we did not go to the theater or to a concert or visited friends. I miss my relatives, my father and my daughter that I see every morning and only for a little while. But I do not complain...". In presenting her discovery of radium, Madame Curie said: " ...in the hands of a criminal, radium is very dangerous. So we must often ask ourselves: will humanity earn or lose from this discovery? I, myself belong to those who believe the former...". The notebooks that Madame Curie had when she was working with radium and other radioactive elements like polonium, thorium and uranium are now kept in Paris. They are contaminated with radioactive materials having very long half-lives and for this reason anyone who wishes to have access to these notes should sign that he takes full responsibility. There are some more interesting points in Madame Curie's life which may not be widely known like: Although her full name is Maria Sklodowska-Curie, she is not known neither by that full name nor as Maria Sklodowska but as Marie Curie. Madame Curie was the second of five children. At the age of 24 she went to Sorbonne-Paris after being invited by her sister Bronja to study for about 2-3 years; instead she stayed in Paris for her whole life. Her doctorate was on the subject: "Research on radioactive substances" which she completed in six years under the supervision of H. Becquerel. Pierre Curie was Director of the Physics Laboratory of the Ecole Municipale of Physics and Industrial Chemistry when he married M. Curie in 1895. Pierre Curie left his other research projects and worked full time with his wife. In this laboratory M. Curie and her husband Pierre discovered radium and polonium. In 1901 Pierre Curie induced a radiation burn on his forearm by applying on his skin radiferous barium chloride for 10 hours. During World War I, M.Curie organized for the Red Cross a fleet of radiological ambulances each with X-ray apparates which were called "Little Curies". The X-ray tubes of these apparates were unshielded and so M.Curie was exposed to high doses of radiation. Once an ambulance fell into a ditch and M.Curie who was inside the ambulance was badly bruised and stayed at home for 3 days. M. Curie with her daughters, Irene and Eve, was invited and visited America in 1921. She led a successful campaign to collect radium for her experiments. Before leaving America, President Harding donated through her to the Radium Institute of Paris 1 g of radium for research purposes. At that time the process to obtain 0.5 g of pure radium bromide required 1 ton of ore and 5 tons of chemicals. No measures of radiation protection were taken back then. In 1929 Madame Curie visited the United States for a second time. She met with President Hoover and with the help of the Polish women's association in America collected funds for another gram of radium. Madame Curie died of leukemia on July 4, 1934. Sixty years after her death her remnants were laid to rest under the dome of the Pantheon. Thus she became the first woman under her own merit, to rest in the Pantheon. In 1934 at the Institute of Radiology in Paris, Frederique Joliot and Irene Curie-Joliot discovered artificial radiation. They studied alpha particles and beta;-radiation.

Editorial↗