Background
Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is prevalent in adolescents and brings a series of serious consequences to their well-being. However, little is known about parents’ attitude toward NSSI in Chinese adolescents. The study aims to investigate the parents’ attitudes toward and perceptions of adolescents who have engaged in NSSI behaviors, and the impact of NSSI on their parents.
Methods
Purposive sampling was used in the study. The biological parents of adolescents with NSSI were recruited from the psychiatric ward of a tertiary hospital in China. Semi-structured interviews were conducted which contained three aspects, that is the history of NSSI, the process of seeking or maintaining help and the impacts on the family. Each interview typically lasted 40–50 min. All of the interviews were audio-recorded. Their responses were analyzed by the thematic analysis.
Results
Twenty participants completed the interview, consisting of 16 mothers and 4 fathers. Three themes and eight sub-themes were extracted: (1) the attitudes to children’s NSSI behaviors (ignorance, shame, and stereotype); (2) coping strategies of parents (the initial response to adolescents’ NSSI, and the way of help-seeking); (3) the impacts on family (altered parenting and communication styles, limited personal lives, and increased psychological pressure).
Conclusion
The results showed that parents lack the knowledge about NSSI and its treatment and are suffering great emotional stress. It is recommended to expand the popularization of knowledge of NSSI in adolescents and more interventions adapted to China’s sociocultural climate are required for the well-being of parents and NSSI in adolescents.
BACKGROUND
Facial infiltrating lipomatosis (FIL) is a congenital disorder that causes overgrowth of one side of the face. The purpose of this study was to determine if PIK3CA mutations are present in tissues outside of the subcutaneous adipose.
METHODS
FIL tissues from 3 patients were dissected to enrich for cells from skin, subcutaneous tissue, orbicularis oris muscle, buccal fat, zygomatic bone, and mucosal neuroma. Endothelial cells within affected tissue also were enriched using CD31-microbeads. Laser capture microdissection on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded histologic sections was performed to collect specific cell types. DNA was extracted from each tissue and cell type, and measured for the abundance of mutant PIK3CA alleles using droplet digital PCR.
RESULTS
We detected mutant PIK3CA alleles in every tissue and cell type tested from each overgrown face; frequencies ranged from 1.5% to 53%. There were fewer mutant endothelial cells compared to non-endothelial cells, and the stromal cell compartment had the highest frequency of mutant cells in each tissue.
CONCLUSIONS
PIK3CA mutations are not restricted to a single tissue or cell type in FIL. Overgrowth in this condition is likely due to the mutation arising in a cell that contributes to several different facial structures during embryogenesis.
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