Uncovering the septal Q wave and other electrocardiographic changes in pediatric patients with pre-excitation before and after ablation.

In patients with pre-excitation, a short PR interval and a delta wave are not always clearly seen, particularly if the pre-excitation is mild. Absent septal Q waves have been used as additional evidence suggestive of pre-excitation. The purpose of the present study was to determine the incidence of normalization of septal Q waves after successful ablation of a manifest accessory pathway in pediatric patients with normal hearts.

Survival of transvenous ICD leads in young patients.

Background: In adults, transvenous implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) lead failure rates are significant, and their occurrence increases with time from implant. There are limited data in children. The goal of this study was to assess lead survival in young patients undergoing ICD implantation at a single center.

Modifiable risk factors for asthma morbidity in Bronx versus other inner-city children.

Background: Bronx children have higher asthma prevalence and asthma morbidity than other US children.

Objective: To compare risk factors for asthma morbidity present in Bronx children with those of children from other US inner-city areas.

Methods: Cross-sectional, multi-state study of 1772 children ages 5-11 yrs.

Effects of yoga on inner-city children's well-being: a pilot study.

Objective: To examine yoga's effects on inner-city children's well-being.

Methods: This pilot study compared fourth- and fifth-grade students at 2 after-school programs in Bronx, New York. One program offered yoga 1 hour per week for 12 weeks (yoga) and the other program (non-yoga) did not.

Gender and the associated impairments of childhood sexual abuse: a national study of Icelandic youth.

The current study used a national probability sample of 8618 Icelandic youth between the ages of 16 and 20 to examine the impairments associated with childhood sexual abuse for male and female victims. The dimensions of impairment were: general anxiety, eating anxiety, depressed mood, theft, and violent behavior. Overall, our results suggest that gender differences in impairment may depend on the particular outcome measured: (1) females were approximately three times more likely than males to experience childhood sexual abuse; (2) the association between childhood sexual abuse and subsequent depressed mood and general anxiety varied significantly by gender, with females more likely to experience these impairments; and (3) the associations between childhood sexual abuse and subsequent eating anxiety, theft, and violent behavior did not vary by gender.

Long QT syndrome due to a novel mutation in SCN5A: treatment with ICD placement at 1 month and left cardiac sympathetic denervation at 3 months of age.

We describe the case of a newborn with congenital long QT syndrome, with 2:1 AV block and frequent episodes of Torsades de Pointes (TdP) requiring placement of a dual chamber ICD at 33 days and 3.63 kg, the youngest and smallest patient, thus far reported. Long QT syndrome was diagnosed due to bradycardia in the newborn nursery, with frequent episodes of TdP.

School recess and group classroom behavior.

Objectives: This study examines the amount of recess that children 8 to 9 years of age receive in the United States and compares the group classroom behavior of children receiving daily recess with that of children not receiving daily recess.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of a public-use data set, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999, third-grade data set. Children were categorized into 2 levels of recess exposure, that is, none/minimal break (<1 break of 15 minutes/day) or some recess.

Lower levels of plasmacytoid dendritic cells in peripheral blood are associated with a diagnosis of asthma 6 yr after severe respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis.

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) play a crucial role in antiviral immunity and promoting Th1 polarization, possibly protecting against development of allergic disease. Examination of the relationship between peripheral blood plasmacytoid DC levels and manifestations of asthma and atopy early in life. We have isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 73 children (mean age +/- SD: 6.

Disease behavior in children with Crohn's disease: the effect of disease duration, ethnicity, genotype, and phenotype.

Background: Disease behavior in Crohn's disease (CD) may be modified by disease location and genotype. Disease behavior may change over time, and thus analysis requires follow-up. To date, there have been few pediatric studies that have evaluated the association between disease behavior and genotype with prolonged follow-up.

Experimental evidence of an incomplete thermalization of the energy in an x-ray microcalorimeter with a TaAu absorber.

We have conducted an experimental test at our XACT facility using an x-ray microcalorimeter with TaAu absorber and neutron transmutation doped germanium thermal sensor. The test was aimed at measuring the percentage of energy effectively thermalized after absorption of x-ray photons in superconducting tantalum. Moreover, in general, possible formation of long living quasiparticles implies that by using a superconducting absorber, a fraction of the deposited energy could not be thermalized on the useful time scale of the thermal sensor.

Association of functional limitation with health care needs and experiences of children with special health care needs.

Objective: The goal was to evaluate whether having a functional limitation was associated with health care needs and experiences of children with special health care needs.

Methods: We used caregivers' responses in the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (2001). Functional limitation was categorized as severe, some, or no limitation.

Complete heart block due to Lyme carditis in two pediatric patients and a review of the literature.

Carditis is a common manifestation of adult patients with Lyme disease affecting 4-10% of Lyme patients in the United States. However, children with Lyme disease rarely present with acute carditis. The management of pediatric patients with complete heart block (CHB) secondary to Lyme carditis has not been well described.

Paroxysmal AV block in children with normal cardiac anatomy as a cause of syncope.

Background: Syncope due to episodes of paroxysmal atrioventricular (AV) block, defined as transient advanced second or third-degree block, is rarely reported in pediatric patients without congenital heart disease.

Methods: We reviewed our institutional arrhythmia database from January 1988 to January 2007 to identify all patients less than 18 years of age with normal cardiac anatomy and episodes of syncope associated with paroxysmal AV block. Demographic and clinical information was collected.

Variable morphology wide complex rhythm: what is the etiology?

We report a case of an infant who developed transient complete heart block following aortic and mitral valve surgery. In the course of his recovery, he developed a variable morphology wide complex rhythm with intermittent narrow complex beats. Review of his initial postoperative electrocardiogram (ECG), which demonstrated a right bundle branch block, helped to clarify the rhythm.

A novel and lethal de novo LQT-3 mutation in a newborn with distinct molecular pharmacology and therapeutic response.

Background: SCN5A encodes the alpha-subunit (Na(v)1.5) of the principle Na(+) channel in the human heart. Genetic lesions in SCN5A can cause congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS) variant 3 (LQT-3) in adults by disrupting inactivation of the Na(v)1.

Children of mothers with HIV/AIDS: unmet needs for mental health services.

Objective: The objective of this study was to use multiple measures and sources to assess mental health over time in uninfected 8- to 12-year-old children of HIV-positive mothers.

Methods: We recruited from the New York City Division of AIDS Services and Income Support a consecutive sample of 157 single mothers who were living with an HIV-negative child aged 8 to 12. Families were randomly assigned to receive a custody planning intervention, Project Care, or standard care.

XRCC1 stimulates polynucleotide kinase by enhancing its damage discrimination and displacement from DNA repair intermediates.

Human polynucleotide kinase (hPNK) is required for processing and rejoining DNA strand break termini. The 5'-DNA kinase and 3'-phosphatase activities of hPNK can be stimulated by the "scaffold" protein XRCC1, but the mechanism remains to be fully elucidated. Using a variety of fluorescence techniques, we examined the interaction of hPNK with XRCC1 and substrates that model DNA single-strand breaks.

Fish consumption and advisory awareness among low-income women in California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Fishing is a culturally important activity to the ethnically diverse population living in California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Due to runoff from abandoned gold mines, certain Delta fish are contaminated with methylmercury, a neurodevelopmental toxin. A state health advisory recommends limited consumption of certain Delta fish, to be followed in conjunction with a federal advisory for commercial and sport fish.

U.S.: Courts rule anti-prostitution policy restriction on AIDS funding violates right to free speech.

Two U.S. District Courts ruled that a U.

The classification of violence risk.

The Classification of Violence Risk (COVR) is an interactive software program designed to estimate the risk that a person hospitalized for mental disorder will be violent to others. The software leads the evaluator through a chart review and a brief interview with the patient. At the end of this interview, the software generates a report that contains a statistically valid estimate of the patient's violence risk-ranging from a 1% to a 76% likelihood of violence-including the confidence interval for that estimate, and a list of the risk factors that the program took into account to produce the estimate.