Burden of rotavirus hospitalisations in young children in three paediatric hospitals in the United States determined by active surveillance compared to standard indirect methods.

Aim:   The number of rotavirus hospitalisations is usually estimated from assigned diagnosis codes for gastroenteritis despite lack of validation for these indirect methods. Reliable estimates before and after introduction of vaccines are needed to quantify the absolute impact of new immunisation programs.

Methods:   This 2-year study conducted at three hospitals prior to the licensure of the rotavirus vaccines in the USA compared two indirect methods for estimating hospitalisations for rotavirus gastroenteritis with estimates derived from prospective recruitment of children presenting with diarrhoea, vomiting or fever.

Self-rated health as a tool for estimating health-adjusted life expectancy among patients newly diagnosed with localized prostate cancer: a preliminary study.

Purpose: Localized prostate cancer (LPC) patients are faced with numerous treatment options, including observation or watchful waiting. The choice of treatment largely depends on their baseline health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE). By consensus, physicians recommend treatment if the patient's HALE is ten or more years.

A randomized, double-blind study comparing the efficacy of selenium sulfide shampoo 1% and ciclopirox shampoo 1% as adjunctive treatments for tinea capitis in children.

Our objective was to compare the efficacy of selenium sulfide shampoo 1% and ciclopirox shampoo 1% as adjunctive treatments for tinea capitis in children. Forty children aged 1-11 years with clinically diagnosed tinea capitis were randomized to receive selenium sulfide shampoo 1% or ciclopirox shampoo 1% twice a week as adjuncts to an 8-week course of ultramicronized griseofulvin dosed at 10-12 mg/kg/day. At weeks 2, 4, and 8, subjects returned to the clinic for evaluation and scalp cultures.

The presence of bruising associated with fractures.

Objective: To determine the occurrence of bruising near the site of fracture in a group of children with inflicted fractures.

Design: Case series.

Setting: Two children's hospitals.

Inflicted skeletal trauma: the relationship of perpetrators to their victims.

Objective: Although inflicted skeletal trauma is a very common presentation of child abuse, little is known about the perpetrators of inflicted skeletal injuries. Studies exist describing perpetrators of inflicted traumatic brain injury, but no study has examined characteristics of perpetrators of inflicted skeletal trauma.

Methods: All cases of suspected child physical abuse evaluated by the child abuse evaluation teams at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (January 1996 to August 2000) and at the Children's Hospital at Denver (January 1996 to December 1999) were reviewed for the presence of fractures.

Measuring international normalized ratios in long-term care: a comparison of commercial laboratory and point-of-care device results.

Objectives: Point-of-care (POC) anticoagulation testing devices can potentially improve warfarin therapeutics in long-term care; however, there is variable accuracy reported for these devices and scant data when used in older adults. Accordingly, we undertook this study to determine the accuracy of a POC device (Hemosense INratio) in long-term care settings and examine factors associated with discrepant results.

Design: Case series.

Reliability of a standardized protocol to calculate cross-sectional chest area and severity indices to evaluate pectus excavatum.

Purpose: In evaluating the impact of surgical repair of pectus excavatum, the Haller index developed for preoperative decision-making purposes may be inadequate to quantify postoperative changes in shape of the chest. Individual patients may also have chest characteristics that impact the success of repair, many of which would be unlikely to be measured by the Haller index alone. We have developed a protocol that measures the cross-sectional chest area and the asymmetry index along with the Haller index to more completely quantify the nature of the deformity.

Prevalence and genetic characterization of caliciviruses among children hospitalized for acute gastroenteritis in the United States.

Human calicivirus was the first recognized viral agent causing gastroenteritis in humans. Norovirus (NV) and Sapovirus (SV), two genera within the Caliciviridae family, cause epidemic and endemic acute gastroenteritis in children and adults. The role of these viruses as a cause of sporadic acute gastroenteritis in young children requiring hospitalization is not well established.

Prevalence of scalp scaling in prepubertal children.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and most common etiologies of scalp scaling in infants and prepubertal children and the specificity of head and neck lymphadenopathy for the diagnosis of tinea capitis associated with scalp scaling.

Design/methods: A cross-sectional study of 300 children, 200 from an urban general pediatric practice and 100 from 2 urban pediatric dermatology practices, was conducted. Half of the subjects were <2 years old, and half were 2 to 10 years old.