Academic readiness among young children treated for brain tumors: a multisite, prospective, longitudinal trial.

Background: Young children treated for central nervous system (CNS) malignancies are at high risk for difficulties with academic functioning due to increased vulnerability of the developing brain and missed early developmental opportunities. Extant literature examining academics in this population is limited. We investigated academic readiness, its clinical and demographic predictors, and its relationship with distal academic outcomes among patients treated for CNS tumors during early childhood.

Predictors of Cognitive Performance Among Infants Treated for Brain Tumors: Findings From a Multisite, Prospective, Longitudinal Trial.

Purpose: Infants treated for CNS malignancies experience a significantly poorer response to treatment and are particularly at risk for neuropsychological deficits. The literature is limited and inconsistent regarding cognitive outcomes among this group. We investigated predictors of cognitive outcomes in children treated for brain tumors during infancy as part of a large, prospective, multisite, longitudinal trial.

Psychological Flexibility Among Youth with Type 1 Diabetes: Relating Patterns of Acceptance, Adherence, and Stress to Adaptation.

Psychological flexibility, a complex concept encompassing both acceptance and action related factors, has been identified as a target for intervention for diabetes management. Research suggests acceptance, self-management, and stress, all factors that influence psychological flexibility, have an impact on adaptation to type 1 diabetes (T1D) by youth independently. However, yet to be explored is individually varying patterns of these variables and how they may relate to diabetes adaptation outcomes.

Patterns of Family Functioning and Diabetes-Specific Conflict in Relation to Glycemic Control and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Youth With Type 1 Diabetes.

Objectives: General and diabetes-specific family functioning may be associated with youth’s adaptation to type 1 diabetes (T1D); however, empirically derived patterns of family functioning and diabetes-specific conflict among youth have not been explored in relation to T1D adaptation.

Methods: Youth (N = 161, aged 12–18) with T1D and caregivers completed measures of family functioning and diabetes-specific conflict that served as indicators in latent profile analyses. Differences in glycemic control (measured by hemoglobin A1cs [HbA1c] and health-related quality of life [HRQoL]) were compared across profiles.

Race differences in depression vulnerability following Hurricane Katrina.

Objective: This study investigated whether racial disparities in depression were present after Hurricane Katrina.

Method: Data were gathered from 932 New Orleans residents who were present when Hurricane Katrina struck, and who returned to New Orleans the following year. Multiple logistic regression models evaluated racial differences in screening positive for depression (a score ≥16 on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale), and explored whether differential vulnerability (prehurricane physical and mental health functioning and education level), differential exposure to hurricane-related stressors, and loss of social support moderated and/or reduced the association of race with depression.

Racial Differences in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Vulnerability Following Hurricane Katrina Among a Sample of Adult Cigarette Smokers from New Orleans.

Although blacks are more likely than whites to experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a natural disaster, the reasons for this disparity are unclear. This study explores whether race is associated with PTSD after adjusting for differences in preexisting vulnerabilities, exposure to stressors, and loss of social support due to Hurricane Katrina using a representative sample of 279 black and white adult current and past smokers who were present when Hurricane Katrina struck, and identified it as the most traumatic event in their lifetime. Multiple logistic regression models evaluated whether differential vulnerability (pre-hurricane physical and mental health functioning, and education level), differential exposure to hurricane-related stressors, and loss of social support deterioration reduced the association of race with PTSD.

Physician Advice to Adolescents About Smoking: Who Gets Advised and Who Benefits Most?

Purpose: The Clinical Practice Guidelines instruct physicians to ask their patients about smoking and to advise against tobacco use. Physicians are urged especially to attend to racial minorities and teens because of these groups' increased susceptibility to smoking. Research on race and physician advice against smoking has produced contradictory findings.

Physician Intervention for Improving Tobacco Control Among Parents Who Use Tobacco.

Research has demonstrated that parents who smoke are often inadvertent sources of their children's first cigarettes. Teaching parents to restrict their tobacco may give pediatricians another method for helping parents who are not ready to quit smoking. This purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of a program training pediatricians to discuss tobacco control with smoking parents and to examine changes in parents' tobacco control after the physician intervention.