Educating Asthmatic Children in European Ambulatory Pediatrics: Facts and Insights.

The aim of this study was to assess the role of European ambulatory pediatricians in caring for asthmatic children, especially in terms of their therapeutic education. We developed a survey that was observational, declarative, retrospective and anonymous in nature. 436 ambulatory pediatricians in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Slovenia were asked to participate in the survey providing information on three children over 6 years old suffering from persistent asthma, who had been followed for at least 6 months.

Prevalence and clinical significance of occult fractures in children with radiograph-negative acute ankle injury. A meta-analysis.

Background And Purpose: Plain radiographs may fail to reveal an ankle fracture in children because of developmental and anatomical characteristics. In this systematic review and meta- analysis, we estimated the prevalence of occult fractures in children with acute ankle injuries and clinical suspicion of fracture, and assessed the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound (US) in the detection of occult fractures.

Methods: We searched the literature and included studies reporting the prevalence of occult fractures in children with acute ankle injuries and clinical suspicion of fracture.

Risk of bacterial meningitis in young children with a first seizure in the context of fever: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Of major concern in any febrile child presenting with a seizure is the possibility of bacterial meningitis (BM). We did a systematic review to estimate the risk of BM among various subgroups of young children with a first seizure in the context of fever, and to assess the utility of routine lumbar puncture (LP) in children with an apparent first FS.

Methods/principal Findings: MEDLINE, INIST, and the COCHRANE Library databases were searched from inception to December 2011 for published studies, supplemented by manual searches of bibliographies of potentially relevant articles and review articles.

Noninvasive positive pressure ventilation for acute respiratory failure in children: a concise review.

Noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) refers to the delivery of mechanical respiratory support without the use of endotracheal intubation (ETI). The present review focused on the effectiveness of NPPV in children > 1 month of age with acute respiratory failure (ARF) due to different conditions. ARF is the most common cause of cardiac arrest in children.