Evidence-based guidelines from ESPGHAN and NASPGHAN for Helicobacter pylori infection in children.

Objective: As the clinical implications of Helicobacter pylori infection in children and adolescents continue to evolve, ESPGHAN and NASPGHAN jointly renewed clinical guidelines using a standardized evidence-based approach to develop updated recommendations for children and adolescents in North America and Europe.

Methods: An international panel of 11 pediatric gastroenterologists, 2 epidemiologists, 1 microbiologist, and 1 pathologist was selected by societies that developed evidence-based guidelines based on the Delphi process with anonymous voting in a final face-to-face meeting. A systematic literature search was performed on 8 databases of relevance including publications from January 2000 to December 2009.

Sources of heterogeneity in hepatitis B virus (HBV) seroprevalence estimates from U.S. adult incarcerated populations: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis.

HBV seroprevalence estimates from U.S. incarcerated populations are relatively high.

Single-fraction stereotactic body radiation therapy and sequential gemcitabine for the treatment of locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

Purpose: This Phase II trial evaluated the toxicity, local control, and overall survival in patients treated with sequential gemcitabine and linear accelerator-based single-fraction stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT).

Methods And Materials: Twenty patients with locally advanced, nonmetastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma were enrolled on this prospective single-institution, institutional review board-approved study. Gemcitabine was administered on Days 1, 8, and 15, and SBRT on Day 29.

Discrepancies in parents' and children's reports of child emotion regulation.

The ability to regulate one's emotions effectively has been linked with many aspects of well-being. The current study examined discrepancies between mothers' and children's reports of child emotion regulation. This investigation examined patterns of discrepancies for key aspects of emotion regulation (i.

Utilization and impact of pre-office visit video health maintenance education.

Objective: To determine what percent of patients would prepare for their periodic physical examination by viewing video education about recommended health maintenance procedures and the impact of the video on those who viewed it.

Methods: 274 patients were invited via US mail and a reminder phone call to view the video. A patient survey immediately followed the visit.

Inadequate knowledge of immunization guidelines: a missed opportunity for preventing infection in immunocompromised IBD patients.

Background: Immunosuppressive agents, used commonly to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), are associated with an increased risk of infections, including those preventable by immunization. This study aimed to describe physician and patient values and knowledge regarding immunization and immunization histories.

Methods: In all, 167 IBD patients and 43 gastroenterologists completed mail-out questionnaires.

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy versus conventional radiation therapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal.

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare outcomes in patients with anal canal squamous cell carcinoma (SCCA) who were treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy by either intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) or conventional radiotherapy (CRT).

Methods: Forty-six patients who received definitive chemoradiotherapy from January 1993 to August 2009 were included. Forty-five patients received 5-fluorouracil with mitomycin C (n = 39) or cisplatin (n = 6).

Cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses to witnessed versus experienced violence.

Cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses to experiencing or witnessing violence were examined in a sample of 263 inner-city youth (94% African American, 49% male, M(age) = 12.06, SD = 1.61, 52% 5th graders, 48% 8th graders).

Challenges in ethics, safety, best practices, and oversight regarding HIT vendors, their customers, and patients: a report of an AMIA special task force.

The current commercial health information technology (HIT) arena encompasses a number of competing firms that provide electronic health applications to hospitals, clinical practices, and other healthcare-related entities. Such applications collect, store, and analyze patient information. Some vendors incorporate contract language whereby purchasers of HIT systems, such as hospitals and clinics, must indemnify vendors for malpractice or personal injury claims, even if those events are not caused or fostered by the purchasers.

Effect of Helicobacter pylori infection on growth velocity of school-age Andean children.

Background: Helicobacter pylori infection affects about half of the world's population and is usually acquired in childhood. The infection has been associated with chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer, and stomach cancer in adulthood. Little is known, however, about its consequences on child health.

Ethical, legal and social issues for personal health records and applications.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Project HealthDesign included funding of an ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) team, to serve in an advisory capacity to the nine design projects. In that capacity, the authors had the opportunity to analyze the personal health record (PHR) and personal health application (PHA) implementations for recurring themes. PHRs and PHAs invert the long-standing paradigm of health care institutions as the authoritative data-holders and data-processors in the system.

Understanding and using informants' reporting discrepancies of youth victimization: a conceptual model and recommendations for research.

Discrepancies often occur among informants' reports of various domains of child and family functioning and are particularly common between parent and child reports of youth violence exposure. However, recent work suggests that discrepancies between parent and child reports predict subsequent poorer child outcomes. We propose a preliminary conceptual model (Discrepancies in Victimization Implicate Developmental Effects [DiVIDE]) that considers how and why discrepancies between parents' and youths' ratings of child victimization may be related to poor adjustment outcomes.

GSK1562590, a slowly dissociating urotensin-II receptor antagonist, exhibits prolonged pharmacodynamic activity ex vivo.

Background And Purpose: Recently identified antagonists of the urotensin-II (U-II) receptor (UT) are of limited utility for investigating the (patho)physiological role of U-II due to poor potency and limited selectivity and/or intrinsic activity.

Experimental Approach: The pharmacological properties of two novel UT antagonists, GSK1440115 and GSK1562590, were compared using multiple bioassays.

Key Results: GSK1440115 (pK(i)= 7.

Cost-effectiveness of using human papillomavirus 16/18 genotype triage in cervical cancer screening.

Objective: Testing for human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 and 18 genotypes, which are known to cause approximately 65-70% of invasive cervical cancer cases, may allow clinicians to identify women at highest risk for underlying cervical intraepithelial neoplasia missed by Pap cytology. Our objective was to determine the cost-effectiveness of adding HPV-16 and 18 genotype triage to current cervical cancer screening strategies in the United States.

Methods: We developed a lifetime Markov model to assess the cost-effectiveness of the following cervical cancer screening algorithms: (1) liquid-based cytology (LBC), (2) LBC+HPV triage, (3) HPV+LBC triage, (4) co-screening, (5) co-screening+HPV genotyping, and (6) HPV only+HPV genotyping.

Exposure to Helicobacter pylori-positive siblings and persistence of Helicobacter pylori infection in early childhood.

Objectives: Cross-sectional studies suggest that Helicobacter pylori may be transmitted between siblings. The present study aimed to estimate the effect of an H pylori-infected sibling on the establishment of a persistent H pylori infection.

Materials And Methods: The authors used data collected from a Texas-Mexico border population from 1998 to 2005 (the "Pasitos Cohort Study").

Correction of motion artifacts in cone-beam CT using a patient-specific respiratory motion model.

Purpose: Respiratory motion adversely affects CBCT image quality and limits its localization accuracy for image-guided radiation treatment. Motion correction methods in CBCT have focused on the thorax because of its higher soft tissue contrast, whereas low-contrast tissue in abdomen remains a challenge. The authors report on a method to correct respiration-induced motion artifacts in 1 min CBCT scans that is applicable in both thorax and abdomen, using a motion model adapted to the patient from a respiration-correlated image set.

EUS-guided fiducial placement for image-guided radiation therapy in GI malignancies by using a 22-gauge needle (with videos).

Background: Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) is dependent on the presence of fiducial markers for target localization and tracking. EUS-guided placement of fiducial markers with a 19-gauge needle has been reported. However, the size and stiffness of the 19-gauge needle may compromise the safety and ease of fiducial placement.

Comparison of intensity-modulated radiotherapy and 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy as adjuvant therapy for gastric cancer.

Background: The current study was performed to compare the clinical outcomes and toxicity in patients treated with postoperative chemoradiotherapy for gastric cancer using intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) versus 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D CRT).

Methods: Fifty-seven patients with gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer were treated postoperatively: 26 with 3D CRT and 31 with IMRT. Concurrent chemotherapy was capecitabine (n=31), 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) (n=25), or none (n=1).

Mutations of SQSTM1 are associated with severity and clinical outcome in paget disease of bone.

Paget disease of bone (PDB) is a common disorder characterized by increased bone turnover at one of more sites throughout the skeleton. Genetic factors play an important role in the pathogenesis of PDB, and the most important predisposing gene is SQSTM1, which is mutated in about 10% of patients. Here we investigated the relationship between SQSTM1 mutation status, disease severity, and clinical outcome in 737 patients who took part in a randomized study of two different management strategies for the disease.

A randomized trial of topical anesthesia comparing lidocaine versus lidocaine plus xylometazoline for unsedated transnasal upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.

Background: The optimal topical anesthesia regimen for unsedated transnasal endoscopy is unknown. The addition of a nasal decongestant, such as xylometazoline (X), to a topical anesthestic may improve patient comfort.

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of lidocaine (L) versus L plus X (LX) for anesthesia in unsedated transnasal endoscopy.

The regulating role of negative emotions in children's coping with peer rejection.

This study examined the role of emotions as predictors of children's coping responses to peer rejection experiences. Children ages 7-12 (N = 79) completed questionnaires to assess emotional and coping responses to peer rejection scenarios. This study examined three coping factors specific to peer rejection (positive reappraisal, ruminative coping, and aggressive coping) and examined results separately for two negative peer experiences (teasing and exclusion).

Exposure to antibiotics in a United States-Mexico border birth cohort.

Objective: The goal was to compare the frequency of children's antibiotic intake, emphasizing antibiotics with anti-Helicobacter pylori effects, in El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico.

Methods: Hispanic children were enrolled prenatally at mother-child clinics in El Paso, and Juarez, in 1998-2000, to identify determinants of H pylori infection. During follow-up examinations targeted every 6 months from 6 to 84 months of age, caretakers reported medication use during the preceding interval.

Ethics, information technology, and public health: new challenges for the clinician-patient relationship.

Increasingly widespread adoption of health information technology tools in clinical care increases interest in ethical and legal issues related to the use of these tools for public health and the effects of these uses on the clinician-patient relationship. It is argued that patients, clinicians, and society have generally uncontroversial duties to support civil society's public health mission, information technology supports this mission, and the effects of automated and computerized public health surveillance are likely to have little if any effect on the clinician-patient relationship. It is also suggested, nevertheless, that electronic public health surveillance raises interesting and important ethical issues, some of which can be addressed if not resolved by empirical research, especially regarding patient preferences about secondary use of health data and their moral obligation to contribute to population- based health.

Prospective randomized double-blind pilot study of site-specific consensus atlas implementation for rectal cancer target volume delineation in the cooperative group setting.

Purpose: Variations in target volume delineation represent a significant hurdle in clinical trials involving conformal radiotherapy. We sought to determine the effect of a consensus guideline-based visual atlas on contouring the target volumes.

Methods And Materials: A representative case was contoured (Scan 1) by 14 physician observers and a reference expert with and without target volume delineation instructions derived from a proposed rectal cancer clinical trial involving conformal radiotherapy.