Presurgical Reduction of the Cleft Palate: Serendipitous Benefit of the Stanford Orthodontic Airway Plate Treatment (SOAP) for Infants with Robin Sequence.

OBJECTIVE: Narrowing of the palatal cleft is often observed in infants with Robin sequence (RS) treated with the Stanford Orthodontic Airway Plate treatment (SOAP) even though SOAP is utilized primarily to establish airway patency. The current study quantified dimensional changes of the cleft palate (CP) in infants with RS treated with SOAP. DESIGN: A retrospective chart review. PATIENTS: Infants with RS and CP who completed SOAP and had maxillary arch models at both pre- and post-treatment time points at a single tertiary referral hospital between September 2019 and July 2023. SETTING AND OUTCOME MEASURE: Maxillary arch models were measured and analyzed using Bivariate statistical analysis. RESULTS: Seventeen infants were included in the study. The median age (min, max) was 6.7 weeks (1.1, 21.9) at pre-treatment and 26.6 weeks (18.7, 37.0) at post-treatment. The median Obstructive Apnea Hypopnea Index was 36.2 events/hour (8.1, 103.1) at pre-treatment and 4.1 events/hour (1.9, 8.6) at post-treatment. The pre-treatment width of CP decreased by an average (± standard diviation) of 6.37 mm (± 3.55, p < 0.001) at post-treatment. The ratio of the posterior cleft width to the total maxillary arch width decreased from 40% (± 9.1) at pre-treatment to 22% (± 11) at post-treatment (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The dimensions of CP reduced significantly during SOAP in infants with RS and CP treated for their severe upper airway obstruction. The findings highlight a potential benefit of SOAP that may contribute favorably to the palate repair surgery.

An assessment tool for the international healthy eating report card for preschool-aged children: a cross-cultural validation across Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United States.

Objective: This study aimed to develop and validate a globally applicable assessment tool of the 43-item International Healthy Eating Report Card Scale (IHERCS) which was designed to assess preschool-aged children's eating behaviours and family home food environments (FHFEs) across different cultural settings. In particular, we examined the factor structure, internal consistency and measurement invariance of the IHERCS across four cultural samples, including Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the US. Convergent and discriminant validity were then conducted. Methods: In this cross-cultural study, a total of 2059 parent-child dyads from these four regions were recruited, and the parents were asked to complete the IHERCS. An exploratory structural equational modelling approach was employed to examine two higher-order factor models of children's eating behaviours and FHFEs in the IHERCS and its cross-cultural measurement invariance. Results: The findings demonstrated robust factor structures of the scales of children's eating behaviours and FHFEs in the IHERCS (i.e., CFI and TLI > 0.90; RMSEA and SRMR < 0.08) and an acceptable level of internal consistency (i.e., Cronbach's α = 0.55-0.84). Full configural invariance and metric invariance were established across the four cultural contexts, but full scalar invariance was not achieved. Partial scalar invariance was found only in the scale of FHFEs. The convergent validity and discriminant validity were supported. Conclusion: Overall, the current findings provided preliminary support for the construct validity and measurement invariance of the IHERCS. It provides a reliable, valid and comprehensive assessment of eating behaviours and FHFEs among children in different cultural settings.

Protecting children from COVID-19: examining U.S. parents motivation and behaviour using an integrated model of self-determination theory and the theory of planned behaviour.

OBJECTIVES: This longitudinal study applied the integrated model of self-determination theory (SDT) and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to explain COVID-19 preventive behaviours among parents of young children in the United States. DESIGN: The study adopted a two-wave longitudinal study design. Parents (N = 681) completed self-report questionnaires related to measures of SDT and the TPB constructs and behavioural adherence at baseline and after one month. We used standardised residual change scores to test the structural relationships of the integrated model. RESULTS: The parameter estimates of the model (CFI > .96, TLI > .86, RMSEA = .05, SRMR = .03) fit acceptably well to the data. Psychological need support was positively and significantly linked to autonomous and controlled motivation and amotivation. Autonomous motivation was positively and significantly correlated with TPB factors, and intention. Intention was a significant and positive predictor of behavioural adherence. CONCLUSION: The integrated model of SDT and the TPB appeared to be applicable to the explanation of COVID-19 prevention among the U.S. parents. Longitudinal data showed that a psychological need supportive social environment was related to favourable motivation, social cognition beliefs, intention and behavioural adherence to the preventive behaviours of parents protecting their young children from COVID-19.