Bottled, filtered, and tap water use in Latino and non-Latino children.

Objectives: To describe bottled, filtered, and tap water consumption and fluoride use among pediatric patients; to analyze differences between ethnic and socioeconomic groups; and to describe the frequency of physician-parent discussions regarding water consumption.

Design: Convenience sample survey.

Setting: An urban public health clinic.

Deformational plagiocephaly: development of an objective measure and determination of its prevalence in primary care.

Referrals for deformational plagiocephaly (DP) have increased, but estimates of its actual prevalence vary, depending on the population studied and criteria for diagnosis. Few studies employ an objective technique for diagnosis. The objectives of this study were to validate the Transcranial Diameter Difference (TDD) and, using it, determine the prevalence of DP among infants seen by primary care pediatricians.

A national perspective of surgery in children with cerebral palsy.

Purpose: Children with cerebral palsy (CP) often require surgery, but may be at higher risk for surgical complications and poorer outcomes than children without CP. This study provides a national perspective of the children, hospitals and hospital course associated with the five most commonly performed surgeries in children with CP and compares this perspective to that of children without CP undergoing the same procedures.

Methods: Analysis of the 1997 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids' Inpatient Database.

In-hospital mortality for children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome after stage I surgical palliation: teaching versus nonteaching hospitals.

Objectives: Teaching hospitals are perceived to provide a higher quality of care for the treatment of rare disease and complex patients. A substantial proportion of stage I palliation for hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) may be performed in nonteaching hospitals. This study compares the in-hospital mortality of stage I palliation between teaching and nonteaching hospitals.

Multiple abnormalities detected by dye reversal genomic microarrays in prostate cancer: a much greater sensitivity than conventional cytogenetics.

Prostate cancer remains the most common male malignancy in Western countries, yet limited information exists regarding genetic changes and clinical correlations. The advent of comparative genomic hybridization microarray (GM) technology has recently allowed for precise screening of DNAs for genetic copy number changes; this offers an advantage over previous techniques, including conventional cytogenetics. A problem with cytogenetic prostate cancer analysis has been the study of the appropriate cell types because this is a highly heterogeneous tumor.

Serious bacterial infections in febrile infants 1 to 90 days old with and without viral infections.

Objective: The risk of serious bacterial infection (SBI) in febrile infants who are classified as low risk (LR) or high risk (HR) by the Rochester criteria has been established. LR infants average a 1.4% occurrence of SBI, whereas HR infants have an occurrence of 21%.

National estimates of hospital utilization by children with gastrointestinal disorders: analysis of the 1997 kids' inpatient database.

Objectives: To identify and to generate national estimates of the principal gastrointestinal (GI) diagnoses associated with hospital utilization and to describe national hospital utilization patterns associated with pediatric GI disorders.

Study Design: We analyzed a nationwide and stratified probability sample of 1.9 million hospital discharges from 1997 of children 18 years and younger, weighted to 6.

Real-time PCR quantification of AT1 and AT2 angiotensin receptor mRNA expression in the developing rat kidney.

Background/aims: Angiotensin II (Ang II) is an important growth factor in the fetal kidney. Molecular cloning and pharmacological studies have defined two major classes of Ang II receptors designated AT1 and AT2. Two AT1 isoforms, AT1A and AT1B, exist in rodents.

Predictors of repeat pregnancy in a program for pregnant teens.

Study Objective: To describe repeat pregnancy among adolescents and to compare those who experienced a repeat pregnancy to those who did not.

Design, Setting, Participants: Retrospective case control of all adolescents who entered and exited the Teen Mother & Child Program, a multidisciplinary clinic for pregnant and parenting teens and their children, between 1985 and 2000.

Main Outcome Measure: Repeat pregnancy.

Intrathecal baclofen therapy in children with cerebral palsy: efficacy and complications.

Objectives: To describe the efficacy of intrathecal baclofen (ITB) therapy in the management of spasticity in young children with cerebral palsy (CP) and to identify risk factors for complications.

Design: Consecutive case series of 25 implanted ITB delivery systems during a 48-month period.

Setting: Pediatric specialty hospital and outpatient department.

Associations between maternal and fetal serum levels of immune activation markers and fetal growth.

During pregnancy, signs of maternal immunologic sensitization to fetal HLA and other fetoplacental alloantigens are often detectable in peripheral blood. Presumbly, this in part reflects immune activity at the maternal-fetal interface. This response may involve activation of maternal T cells, which stimulate placental growth via lymphokine production.

Lymphocyte alloantigenic challenge as a potential cofactor in HIV infection and progression to AIDS.

A hypothesis is developed that circulatory exposure to alloantigens found on lymphocytes triggers a series of events leading to suppression of the cell-mediated arm of the immune system and, therefore, that such alloantigenic challenge can be an important cofactor promoting infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and development of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) following infection. The explanatory model that is developed is based in large part on current knowledge of the results of fetal lymphocyte alloantigenic challenge of the maternal immune system. It is our contention that the maternal response which leads to suppression of cell-mediated immunity is a mechanism promoting survival of the fetal "allograft," and that this mechanism is an evolutionary adaptation in humans and other placental mammals.