Parental Attitudes,Beliefs, and Perceptions about Genetic Testing for FAP and Colorectal Cancer Surveillance in Minors

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is the second most common hereditary colorectal cancer syndrome and confers a nearly 100% lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer. Understanding factors that facilitate and inhibit genetic testing and cancer surveillance in children who are members of families affected by FAP will better equip clinicians to clarify misunderstandings and facilitate appropriate care. The aims of this study were to examine parental attitudes and beliefs regarding endoscopic surveillance and genetic testing in minors at risk for developing FAP. This cross-sectional study includes analyses of qualitative and quantitative interview data collected from parents of children with or at risk for FAP. This report includes data from 28 parents with a total of 51 biological children between 10–17 years of age. The parents had a clinical and/or genetic diagnosis of FAP. Most commonly reported facilitators included provider recommendation (surveillance) and personalized medical management (genetic testing). Most commonly reported barriers included lack of provider recommendation (surveillance) and cost (genetic testing).     

Community reintegrating former child soldiers in Northern Uganda: A qualitative study on the road to recovery

This study aimed to profile the qualities of a holistic community reintegration program for former child soldiers (FCS) in the Lira region of Northern Uganda. Informants were a convenience sample of 37 FCS (age range 17 to 34, mean age 23.86, SD = 4.715 years; females = 29.73%). FCS completed semi-structured interviews on their current living situations and existing resources. This was aimed at assessing how they were transitioning back into the community and identifying gaps in resources. About 24% of FCS reported feeling unwelcome in their communities, suggesting a need for additional support and resources through the community integration models. Thematic analysis of the data suggests that the FCS would benefit from a holistic community reintegration program with the following qualities: psychosocial support, workforce development training, and job placement. FCS emphasised the need for skills training and employment opportunities over health and wellness; suggesting that mental health support and health care are not sufficient alone for them to successfully reintegrate into the community. FCS community integration policies and practices should prioritise holistic approaches.     

The role of attention in the localization of odors to the mouth

Odors can be perceived as arising from the environment or as part of a flavor located in the mouth. One factor that may dictate where an odor is perceived to be is concurrent gustatory stimulation in the mouth. A taste may impair the ability to attend to an odor, especially if they are perceptually similar. Alternatively, salient mouth-based features of a flavor might command attention at the expense of smell. Experiment 1 and 2, using different stimulus sets, explored the impact of perceptually similar and dissimilar pairings of tastes in the mouth and odors at the nose. In each case, these were followed by judgments of the odor's location (mouth vs. nose). Perceptual similarity had no impact on localization judgments. Experiment 3 then manipulated the salience of the olfactory and gustatory cues and showed that each could independently shift the perceived location of an odorant-salient olfactory cues toward the nose and gustatory cues toward the mouth. These findings suggest that the salient features of a flavor may command attention at the expense of olfaction and, thereby, contribute to oral localization, with implications for flavor binding.     

Olfactory test performance and its relationship with the perceived location of odors

Odors are generally perceived as arising via the nose when sniffed and as part of an orally located flavor during ingestion. The perceived location of an odor may in part be an attentional phenomenon, with concurrent oral stimulation occurring at the expense of access to the olfactory channel. Two predictions were derived from this account: (a) tasks dependent on a capacity to attend to the olfactory channel--odor discrimination and naming--should be adversely affected by oral localization; and (b) tasks not dependent upon a capacity to attend--incidental learning/recognition memory--should not. Using a procedure to generate oral localization, in which odors were presented via the nose with concurrent oral stimulation (sucrose, a viscous fluid or water), greater reported oral localization was associated with poorer odor discrimination and naming, but not with recognition memory performance. These results support the notion that attentional processes contribute to oral localization of odors by reducing the capacity to attend to the olfactory channel.     

The stigma of having a parent with mental illness: Genetic attributions and associative stigma

Children often report associative stigma because they are ‘contaminated’ by association with a parent who has a mental illness. An exploratory study was conducted to investigate the role of genetic attributions in the aetiology of associative stigma. The first hypothesis was that genetic attributions would predict associative stigma over and above the contribution of biochemical and stressful‐event attributions, while the second hypothesis was that the relationship between genetic attributions and associative stigma would be mediated by the perceived likelihood that children would develop the same disorder as their parents. Two‐hundred‐and‐two individuals were asked to read a hypothetical scenario describing a teenage girl whose mother had been diagnosed with either schizophrenia or depression. Both hypotheses were supported. The findings of the study have implications for a number of professions working in the community such as teachers and psychologists. Additional avenues for future research are also explored.     

Neural correlates of acquired color category effects

Category training can induce category effects, whereby color discrimination of stimuli spanning a newly learned category boundary is enhanced relative to equivalently spaced stimuli from within the newly learned category (e.g., categorical perception). However, the underlying mechanisms of these acquired category effects are not fully understood. In the current study, Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) were recorded during a visual oddball task where standard and deviant colored stimuli from the same or different novel categories were presented. ERPs were recorded for a test group who were trained on these novel categories, and for an untrained control group. Category effects were only found for the test group on the trained region of color space, and only occurred during post-perceptual stages of processing. These findings provide new evidence for the involvement of cognitive mechanisms in acquired category effects and suggest that category effects of this kind can exist independent of early perceptual processes.