[Anorectal pain in children: rare or rarely recognised?].

Anorectal pain is a common symptom, often as part of functional gastrointestinal disorders. Children seldom present with this complaint. Proctalgia fugax and chronic proctalgia are both anorectal pain syndromes but differ in duration and frequency of episodes and in pain characteristics.

First two unrelated cases of isolated sedoheptulokinase deficiency: A benign disorder?

We present the first two reported unrelated patients with an isolated sedoheptulokinase (SHPK) deficiency. The first patient presented with neonatal cholestasis, hypoglycemia, and anemia, while the second patient presented with congenital arthrogryposis multiplex, multiple contractures, and dysmorphisms. Both patients had elevated excretion of erythritol and sedoheptulose, and each had a homozygous nonsense mutation in SHPK.

Accuracy of a screening instrument to identify potential child abuse in emergency departments.

Although screening for child abuse at emergency departments (EDs) increases the detection rate of potential child abuse, an accurate instrument is lacking. This study was designed to measure the accuracy of a screening instrument for detection of potential child abuse used in EDs. In a prospective cohort study at three Dutch EDs, a 6-item screening instrument for child abuse, Escape, was completed for each child visiting the ED.

Effects of systematic screening and detection of child abuse in emergency departments.

Objective: Although systematic screening for child abuse of children presenting at emergency departments might increase the detection rate, studies to support this are scarce. This study investigates whether introducing screening, and training of emergency department nurses, increases the detection rate of child abuse.

Methods: In an intervention cohort study, children aged 0 to 18 years visiting the emergency departments of 7 hospitals between February 2008 and December 2009 were enrolled.

Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with reduced arterial stiffness in older adults: the Rotterdam study.

Background: Light-to-moderate alcohol consumption has been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. The protective effect of alcohol could involve arterial properties as arterial stiffness and distensibility.

Methods: The relationship between alcohol and arterial stiffness was studied within the framework of the Rotterdam Study, a population-based study in individuals aged 55 and older.

Alcohol intake and aortic stiffness in young men and women.

Background: Moderate alcohol consumption has been shown to protect against cardiovascular disease. Aortic stiffness can be regarded as a marker of cardiovascular disease risk. Previously we have shown an inverse to J-shaped association between alcohol intake and aortic stiffness in middle-aged and elderly men and postmenopausal women.

Alcohol consumption and coronary calcification in a general population.

Background: A U- or J-shaped association exists between alcohol consumption and coronary heart disease. One of the proposed mechanisms for this association involves atherogenesis, but there are no data on the association between alcohol consumption and coronary atherosclerosis in asymptomatic subjects. Coronary calcification, a measure of coronary atherosclerosis, allows for the study of the association.

Families and the natural history of blood pressure. A 27-year follow-up study.

Background: Previous studies on familial aggregation of blood pressure (BP) have reported data on family history of hypertension. Data on actual parental BP levels and the subsequent natural history of BP in their offspring are scarce.

Methods: In a population-based study with 596 children aged 5 to 19 years, cardiovascular risk factors were measured annually from 1975 through 2002.