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Biomedical subjects

M Klinnert

Publications and source records attributed to M Klinnert.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Prediction of early-onset asthma in genetically at-risk children.

The W.T. Grant Foundation Asthma Risk Study was designed to prospectively examine children who were considered at a genetically increased risk for the development of asthma. The respective contributions of 11 potential risk factors, both environmental and biological, were assessed in order to determine their relative roles in affecting the early onset of asthma. This is a report of an inception cohort of children born to asthmatic mothers and followed for a 3-year period. All 150 families were recruited from the general community and living within 2 h of the National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine (Denver, CO). Mothers in the index risk sample had been previously diagnosed with asthma and were recruited during their pregnancy through physician referrals and media solicitation. The index sample of 150 families was 92% Caucasian and predominantly middle class. The mean age of mothers was 29.3 years, and of fathers, 31.1 years. The main outcome was the determination of the early onset of asthma and its association with quantified risk factors. By age 3 years, 14 of the 150 children had developed asthma. Frequent illness, IgE levels at age 6 months, parenting difficulties, and early eczema were significantly associated with the onset of asthma (P = 0.003, P = 0.006, P = 0.01, and P = 0.03, respectively). Only frequent illness, elevated serum IgE levels, and parenting difficulties entered a predictive model where they were independently related to the development of asthma.

Age of Onset↗
PubMed1998

Interleukin-10 and transforming growth factor-beta promoter polymorphisms in allergies and asthma.

Interleukin-10 (IL-10) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) are inhibitory for B and T cells, IgE production, and mast cell proliferation, and they induce apoptosis in eosinophils. These cytokines are therefore candidate genes which could contribute to the development of asthma or allergies. We investigated the hypothesis that polymorphic nucleotides within the IL-10 and TGF-beta gene promoters would link to the expression of allergies and asthma. DNA taken from families with an asthmatic proband was examined for base exchanges by single-stranded conformational polymorphism (SSCP). We demonstrated the presence of a polymorphism in the promoter region of the IL-10 gene and four in the TGF-beta gene promoters (3 in TGF-beta1 and 1 in TGF-beta2). The IL-10 gene polymorphism was a C-to-A exchange 571 base pairs upstream from the translation start site and was present between consensus binding sequences for Sp1 and elevated total serum. This polymorphism was associated with elevated total serum IgE in subjects heterozygotic or homozygotic for this base exchange (p < 0.009). The base exchange at -509 (from the transcription initiation site) in the TGF-beta promoter also linked to elevated total IgE (p < 0.01). This polymorphism represented a C-to-T base exchange which induced a YY1 consensus sequence and is present in a region of the promoter associated with negative transcription regulation.

Adenine↗
PubMed1998

Early asthma onset: risk of emotional and behavioral difficulties.

The relationship between age of asthma onset and behavioral adjustment was analyzed using data from a longitudinal prospective investigation of 150 children identified prenatally as at genetic risk for developing asthma (the W. T. Grant Asthma Risk Study). The children's development and asthma status were monitored regularly for 6 years. Mothers were interviewed yearly using the Behavioral Screening Questionnaire (BSQ). Children who had an early onset of asthma (by 3 years of age) had significantly more behavior problems at age 4 than children who developed asthma later (between 3 and 6 years of age). Furthermore, the early-onset group had significantly more problems at age 6 than both children who developed asthma later and children who never developed asthma. Children with early asthma onset were compared to children who were asthma free on individual problem items of the BSQ, revealing a profile of behavior problems that included waking at night, depressed mood, and some indication of increased fearfulness. This profile is consistent with an earlier report of behavior problems among severely asthmatic preschool children (Mrazek, Anderson, & Strunk, 1984), who displayed the same internalizing behavior problems on the BSQ. These results suggest that early asthma onset may have predictable negative influences on behavioral adjustment over a wider range of asthma severity than has previously been reported.

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed1995

Clinical assessment of parenting.

OBJECTIVE: This report describes the Parenting Risk Scale and reviews previous approaches to the systematic assessment of parenting. Five key dimensions of parenting are described as well as the method for rating the occurrence of difficulties and concerns about parenting using a semistructured interview methodology. METHOD: The Parenting Risk Scale was developed with two cohorts of young children. One cohort consisted of 150 children at increased genetic risk for developing asthma but who were physically healthy during the initial periods of assessment of parenting. A second cohort of healthy children at no elevated risk for asthma was similarly studied. RESULTS: Reliability of the parenting ratings was found to be acceptable with appropriate training, and both concurrent and predictive validity were demonstrated to be excellent. High stability in the ratings of adequacy of parenting was documented. Specifically, ratings made during the prenatal assessment were highly significantly associated with completely independent ratings of parenting made more than 4 years after the birth of the index child (r = .42, p < .0001). The appropriateness of this method for the assessment of the quality of parenting in clinical settings is highlighted. CONCLUSIONS: The Parenting Risk Scale is a reliable and valid measure for the systemic assessment of five key dimensions of parenting.

Asthma↗