ABHD6 loss-of-function in mesoaccumbens postsynaptic but not presynaptic neurons prevents diet-induced obesity in male mice.

α/β-hydrolase domain 6 (ABHD6) is a lipase linked to physiological functions affecting energy metabolism. Brain ABHD6 degrades 2-arachidonoylglycerol and thereby modifies cannabinoid receptor signalling. However, its functional role within mesoaccumbens circuitry critical for motivated behaviour and considerably modulated by endocannabinoids was unknown.

Children's stress-related reports and stress biomarkers interact in their association with metabolic syndrome risk.

The purpose was to examine the cross-sectional associations of stress-related reports and stress biomarkers with metabolic syndrome (MetS) risk in children while also testing the interaction between stress biomarkers and stress reports. In 353 children (5-10 years old, 7.9% overweight/obese), MetS risk was measured by blood pressure, waist circumference, glucose homeostasis, triglycerides, and high-density cholesterol.

Leptin Suppresses the Rewarding Effects of Running via STAT3 Signaling in Dopamine Neurons.

The adipose hormone leptin potently influences physical activity. Leptin can decrease locomotion and running, yet the mechanisms involved and the influence of leptin on the rewarding effects of running ("runner's high") are unknown. Leptin receptor (LepR) signaling involves activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3), including in dopamine neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) that are essential for reward-relevant behavior.

Spirometry-related pain and distress in adolescents and young adults with cystic fibrosis: the role of acceptance.

Objective: To investigate the occurrence of spirometry-related pain and distress in adolescents and young adults with cystic fibrosis (CF), and to investigate the role of acceptance of illness in spirometry-related pain and distress.

Methods: A total of 36 adolescents and young adults with CF (12 to 22 years of age) completed a questionnaire assessing acceptance of illness. Spirometry-related distress was assessed using self-report (ie, anxiety⁄worry about the procedure) and physiological outcomes (ie, heart rate and heart rate variability) before spirometry.

Acceptance, well-being and goals in adolescents with chronic illness: a daily process analysis.

Objective: The main aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between acceptance and well-being in adolescents with chronic illness from a daily process perspective. Furthermore, we explored the role of daily experienced interference and facilitation of life goals by treatment goals as mediating mechanisms.

Methods: Thirty-eight adolescents with cystic fibrosis (CF) or diabetes completed questionnaires assessing acceptance, negative life events and goal-related self-efficacy.

Sports preparticipation cardiac screening: what about children?

Unlabelled: Sudden cardiac death in young athletes is a devastating event. Screening programs have been proposed to prevent sudden cardiac death in young athletes. Mortality rates and causes of death differ among young adults and children.

Child's and parents' catastrophizing about pain is associated with procedural fear in children: a study in children with diabetes and their mothers.

The contribution of the child's and parents' catastrophizing about pain was explored in explaining procedural pain and fear in children. Procedural fear and pain were investigated in 44 children with Type I diabetes undergoing a finger prick. The relationships between parents' catastrophizing and parents' own fear and estimates of their child's pain were also investigated.

Legislation and refusal of blood transfusion by a minor Jehovah-Witness in Belgium.

The refusal of blood transfusion by Jehovah's Witnesses in critical situations constitutes an ethical and juridical dilemma. The refusal to receive blood products by Jehovah's Witnesses is based on biblical verses. Recurring arguments to sustain this refusal regard the right to self-determination and the right to freedom of faith.

Acceptance and well-being in adolescents and young adults with cystic fibrosis: a prospective study.

Objective: To prospectively investigate the role of acceptance in well-being in adolescents and young adults with cystic fibrosis (CF).

Method: A total of 40 adolescents and young adults with CF (ages 14-22 years) completed questionnaires assessing acceptance, anxiety and depressive symptoms, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, and social functioning. After 6 months, 28 of them completed the questionnaires on anxiety and depressive symptoms, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, and social functioning a second time.

The long-term outcome after severe trauma of children in Flanders (Belgium): a population-based cohort study using the International Classification of Functioning--related outcome score.

Important long-term health problems have been described after severe paediatric trauma. The International Classification of Functioning (ICF) was developed as a universal framework to describe that health. We evaluated outcome in children after 'severe' trauma (defined as: hospitalised >48 h) by means of a questionnaire based on this ICF construct (IROS).

Closing the knowledge-performance gap: an audit of medical management for severe paediatric trauma in Flanders (Belgium).

Aims: Considerable variability in (paediatric) trauma care has been reported. We wanted to audit current practice in Flanders (Belgium).

Methods: The PENTA network prospectively collected data on paediatric trauma patients in a representative sample of Flemish hospitals during 2005.

The role of acceptance in psychological functioning in adolescents with cystic fibrosis: a preliminary study.

This study explored the role of acceptance in accounting for the heterogeneity in psychological functioning in adolescents suffering from cystic fibrosis. Thirty-four adolescents completed a battery of questionnaires assessing acceptance, anxiety, depression, and disability. Regression analyses revealed that acceptance had a significant and unique contribution in explaining adolescents' anxiety, depression, and disability beyond the effects of demographic variables and parameters of disease severity.

Development of a phase-displacement equation for panoramic interferometry.

We developed the parametric equations that are needed to quantify the modulations in the sensitivity vector that occur when the phase-displacement equation is applied to make panoramic interferometric measurements. The measurement system relies on two collinear panoramic annular lenses, one to illuminate and the other to image their surroundings. When a coherent light source is used and a reference beam is added, interference occurs over the region of interest defined by the illuminating and viewing lenses.

Paediatric trauma and trauma care in Flanders (Belgium). Methodology and first descriptive results of the PENTA registry.

Paediatric injury surveillance and prevention are definite priorities for the European, Belgian, and Flemish authorities. Current available data for Flanders (Belgium) are fragmentary and out-of-date. The PENTA registry (PaEdiatric Network around TraumA) was therefore set up to obtain recent population-based data on trauma and trauma care in children and youngsters in Flanders.

Novel clinico-molecular insights in pseudoxanthoma elasticum provide an efficient molecular screening method and a comprehensive diagnostic flowchart.

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is a heritable connective tissue disorder characterized by ocular, cutaneous and cardiovascular manifestations. It is caused by mutations in the ABCC6 gene (chr. 16p13.

Impact of oxidative stress on the endothelial dysfunction of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus: protection by superoxide dismutase?

Diabetes mellitus is associated with endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress (OS). We investigated whether these abnormalities are interrelated in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and if early OS markers predictive of vascular dysfunction can be identified. Thirty-five T1DM patients were matched for sex, age, height, and weight with nondiabetic subjects as healthy controls (CO).

Expressive dimensions of pain catastrophizing: a comparative analysis of school children and children with clinical pain.

We investigated the role of the child's pain catastrophizing in explaining (1) children's self-reported tendency to verbally share their pain experience with others and (2) different dimensions of pain expression, as described by the mother and the father, including non-verbal and verbal communicative pain behaviour and protective pain behaviour. Participants were school children, children with chronic or recurrent pain, and their parents. The results showed that: (1) Pain catastrophizing was associated with children's greater self-acknowledged tendency to verbally share their pain experience with others.

Renal functional changes in relation to hemodynamic parameters during exercise test in normoalbuminuric insulin-dependent children.

Aim: To examine the relationship between filtration fraction and systemic vasculopathy, in normoalbuminuric insulin-dependent diabetic adolescents.

Methods: We calculated filtration fraction from measured glomerular filtration rate and renal plasma flow during a hypotonic saline perfusion test in 30 normotensive adolescent diabetic patients (9-19 years), with a mean duration of diabetes of 7.4 years.

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum-like phenotype with cutis laxa and multiple coagulation factor deficiency represents a separate genetic entity.

Data on six patients with a Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum (PXE)-like phenotype, characterized by excessive skin folding (resembling cutis laxa) and a deficiency of the vitamin K-dependent clotting factors (II, VII, IX, and X) are presented. A comparison is made between the clinical, ultrastructural, and molecular findings in these patients and those seen in classic PXE and cutis laxa, respectively. Clinical overlap with PXE is obvious from the skin manifestations of yellowish papules or leathery plaques with dot-like depressions at presentation, angioid streaks and/or ocular peau d'orange, and fragmentation and calcification of elastic fibers in the dermis.

Is morbidity influenced by staging in the fontan palliation? A single center review.

In a retrospective study of 32 consecutive patients undergoing a total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC), we tried to determine if the trend for decreasing age at Fontan completion and reducing the intervals between the staged procedures during the past decade was associated with a change in morbidity and outcome. In 8 patients the Fontan circulation was completed in one stage and in 24 patients an intermediate step by hemi-Fontan or bidirectional cavopulmonary anastomosis was performed before Fontan completion. Mean age at TCPC and mean interval since the previous palliation have decreased significantly during the past decade.

The relationship between peak height velocity and physical performance in youth soccer players.

Longitudinal changes in height, weight and physical performance were studied in 33 Flemish male youth soccer players from the Ghent Youth Soccer Project. The players' ages at the start of the study ranged from 10.4 to 13.