Genetic discoveries and technological advances have been changing nursing care delivery, which modifies the roles and practices of nursing in society. Although the need for education of nurses in the field of genomics has been recognized in the 1960s, many countries still have no clear guidelines in this field of education and training. The purpose of this study was to evaluate current genomics content in the curriculum of undergraduate and graduate programs of studies in nursing in Croatia, and to measure the genomic literacy of Croatian undergraduate nursing students through assessing participants’ understanding of genomic concepts most critical to nursing practice. The curriculum of undergraduate and graduate programs of nursing classes of 2020/2021 were independently analyzed by the authors. For measuring the knowledge of essential genomic concepts among nurses, a Genomic Nursing Concept Inventory (GNCI^©) instrument was employed. Results indicate that the current genomics content, for undergraduate and graduate nursing programs in Croatia, is inadequate and not concordant among universities. Moreover, the genomic literacy of Croatian undergraduate students (Undergraduate program 10) was found to be low. Scores across respondents ranged from 3 to 22 (out of possible 31), with a mean scale score 9.8 (SD 5.3) (31.6% correct). We can conclude that the curriculum for undergraduate and graduate programs of Studies in nursing should be revised to implement the latest genomic practices and approaches to genomics education while nurses should acquire an adequate level of genomic literacy in order to produce desired outcomes of competency in nursing practice.

(2020). Conceived in the covid-19 crisis: impact of maternal stress and anxiety on fetal neurobehavioral development. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology. Ahead of Print.

To evaluate the association between spontaneous preterm birth (SPTB) and DNA methyltransferase (DNMT)1, 3A, 3B, and 3L gene polymorphisms, and their contribution to the clinical characteristics of women with SPTB and their newborns.This case-control study, ...

Purpose: Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is a reproductive disorder defined as the loss of two or more pregnancies before 24 weeks of gestation. Despite the fact that several mechanisms have been previously described for the pathogenesis of RPL, the causes of approximately 50% of cases remain unknown. However, recent studies indicate association of vitamin D deficiency with adverse pregnancy outcome, including RPL. The vitamin D receptor (VDR) is a crucial mediator of the pleiotropic cellular effects of vitamin D. Its function is influenced by several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The main objective of the present study was to assess whether maternal VDR SNPs are associated with the risk of RPL in Slovenian and Croatian women. Methods: A case – control study including 320 women with recurrent pregnancy loss and control women was designed to examine the potential association of VDR polymorphisms (FokI rs222857, Cdx2 rs11568820 and Taq1 rs731236) with RPL. Genotyping was performed using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism methods. Results: We found a statistically significant higher frequency of the rs222857 CC genotype (X² = 6.61, p = 0.036) and C allele (X² = 5.93, p = 0.015) in RPL women compared to controls. Subsequently, the odds for RPL for the rs222857 were increased under the recessive (CCvsCT + TT: OR = 1.78; 95% CI = 1.12–2.82; p = 0.015) and the codominant (CCvsTT: OR = 2.21; 95% CI = 1.08–4.53; p = 0.029; CCvsCT: OR = 1.68; 95% CI = 1.04–2.72; p = 0.036) genetic models. The other two analyzed polymorphisms did not show any statistical significant result. Conclusions: Our results suggest that variations in the maternal VDR FokI gene might be associated with RPL in Slovenian and Croatian women.