Effects of shared medical appointments compared to individual appointments in children with atopic dermatitis: A pragmatic randomized controlled trial.

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) needs intensive treatment and has a negative impact on quality of life. Shared medical appointments (SMAs) showed to be effective in clinical outcomes of chronic diseases, but little is known about the effects on children and families.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of SMAs compared to individual appointments (IA) for children with AD and their parents on coping and clinical outcomes.

Explaining the variable penetrance of CNVs: Parental intelligence modulates expression of intellectual impairment caused by the 22q11.2 deletion.

The role of rare genetic variants, in particular copy number variants (CNVs), in the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders is becoming increasingly clear. While the list of these disorder-related CNVs continues to lengthen, it has also become clear that in nearly all genetic variants the proportion of carriers who express the associated phenotype is far from 100%. To understand this variable penetrance of CNVs it is important to realize that even the largest CNVs represent only a tiny fraction of the entire genome.

Behavioral phenotype in children with 22q11DS: agreement between parents and teachers.

Patients with the 22q11-deletion syndrome (22q11DS) are at an increased risk of developing schizophrenia. Besides the effects of genetic variation, environmental factors could also be important in modifying the risk of schizophrenia in 22q11DS patients. In particular, previous studies have shown the importance of stress as a precipitating factor of psychosis.

Rape-related symptoms in adolescents: short- and long-term outcome after cognitive behavior group therapy.

Background: Efficacy studies on treatment in adolescent victims of single rape are lacking, even though sexual victimization is most likely to occur during adolescence and despite the fact that adolescents are at risk to develop subsequent posttraumatic stress disorder.

Aim: The aim of this prospective observational study was to evaluate the short- and long-term outcomes of a nine-session cognitive behavior group therapy (STEPS), including a parallel six-session parents' group on rape-related symptomatology in female adolescents (13-18 years). STEPS includes psychoeducation, exposure in sensu as well as in vivo, cognitive restructuring, and relapse prevention.

Impaired cognitive functioning in patients with tyrosinemia type I receiving nitisinone.

Objective: To examine cognitive functioning in patients with tyrosinemia type I treated with nitisinone and a protein-restricted diet.

Study Design: We performed a cross-sectional study to establish cognitive functioning in children with tyrosinemia type I compared with their unaffected siblings. Intelligence was measured using age-appropriate Wechsler Scales.

Cognitive and behavioral trajectories in 22q11DS from childhood into adolescence: a prospective 6-year follow-up study.

Patients with 22q11DS are at risk of behavioral problems and cognitive impairment. Recent studies suggest a possible intellectual decline in 22q11DS children. To date it is unknown if cognitive development is related to the behavioral problems in 22q11DS.

Psychological intervention for adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: for whom and when?

Objective: To study which adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) benefit from psychological intervention, and what is the best moment for it.

Methods: In 3 months, 28 adolescents with JIA and 14 healthy adolescents as a control group received psychological intervention with the Self-confrontation Method (SCM), which combines the personal narrative with its affective structure. The adolescents with JIA were split into groups with low health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and high HRQOL.

Behavior in preschool children with the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.

Children with the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) are at an increased risk of psychiatric problems from pre-adolescence; little is known, however, about behavioral problems at a preschool age and the relationship between speech and behavior in this group. Parents of 90 children (aged 1.

Health and identity: Self-positioning in adolescent chronic fatigue syndrome and juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

The aim of this study is to gain more insight into basic aspects of identity, in relation to adolescent chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). In dialogical self theory, identity is regarded as incorporating multiple self-positions, such as 'I as tired', 'I as pessimistic', or 'I as decisive'. Physical and psychosocial impairment might alter the organization of these self-positions.

Salivary cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate in adolescent rape victims with post traumatic stress disorder.

Background: In chronic sexual abuse victims with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis can be dysregulated. In single rape victims, PTSD symptoms are hypothesized to function as a chronic stressor leading to similar HPA-axis dysregulation. The objective of the current study was to assess HPA-axis functioning in female adolescents with rape-related PTSD, but no prior sexual trauma, in comparison to non-victimized controls.

Cognitive development in children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.

Background: People with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (velo-cardio-facial syndrome) have a 30-fold risk of developing schizophrenia. In the general population the schizophrenia phenotype includes a cognitive deficit and a decline in academic performance preceding the first episode of psychosis in a subgroup of patients.

Intelligence and visual motor integration in 5-year-old children with 22q11-deletion syndrome.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between intelligence and visual motor integration skills in 5-year-old children with 22q11-deletion syndrome (22q11DS) (N = 65, 43 females, 22 males; mean age 5.6 years (SD 0.2), range 5.

High prevalence of methotrexate intolerance in juvenile idiopathic arthritis: development and validation of a methotrexate intolerance severity score.

Objective: To design and validate a new questionnaire for identifying patients with methotrexate (MTX) intolerance, and to determine the prevalence of MTX intolerance in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) using this questionnaire.

Methods: The MTX Intolerance Severity Score (MISS) questionnaire was constructed, consisting of 5 domains: stomach ache, nausea, vomiting, sore mouth, and behavioral symptoms. The domains each consisted of 3 questions pertaining to the presence of a symptom upon, prior to (anticipatory), and when thinking of (associative) MTX intake.

Design of the Quality of Life in Motion (QLIM) study: a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a combined physical exercise and psychosocial training program to improve physical fitness in children with cancer.

Background: Childhood cancer and its treatment have considerable impact on a child's physical and mental wellbeing. Especially long-term administration of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy impairs physical fitness both during and after therapy, when children often present with muscle weakness and/or low cardiorespiratory fitness. Physical exercise can improve these two elements of physical fitness, but the positive effects of physical exercise might be further increased when a child's wellbeing is simultaneously enhanced by psychosocial training.

Effects of an educational video film in fatigued children and adolescents: a randomised controlled trial.

Background: In many cases standard management for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in children and adolescents is ineffective.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a video film intervention in preventing the development of persistent fatigue and significant school absence in fatigued children and adolescents.

Design: Randomised controlled trial.

Self-investigation in adolescent chronic fatigue syndrome: narrative changes and health improvement.

Objective: A small-scale intervention study into narrative self-investigation in adolescent chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

Method: The self-confrontation method (SCM) is an instrument to assess and change personal life stories. Forty-two adolescents diagnosed with CFS were included and randomly assigned to either 6 or 12 sessions with the SCM.

Long-term psychosocial functioning after Ilizarov limb lengthening during childhood.

Background And Purpose: Few studies have been concerned with the patient's perception of the outcome of limb lengthening. We describe the psychological and social functioning after at least 2 years of follow-up in patients who had had a leg length discrepancy and who had undergone an Ilizarov limb lengthening procedure.

Patients And Methods: Self-esteem and perceived competence were measured in 37 patients (aged 17-30 years) both preoperatively and at a mean follow-up of 7 (2-14) years.

Parental anxiety before and after food challenges in children with suspected peanut and hazelnut allergy.

As ingestion of peanut and hazelnut by allergic children is potentially life threatening, parents of these children need to be vigilant about their child's dietary intake. This may cause high levels of anxiety. To assess parental anxiety about food-allergic reaction in their child (state anxiety) and their personal disposition to anxiety (trait anxiety).

Risk factors for persistent fatigue with significant school absence in children and adolescents.

Objective: To assess children and adolescents with severe fatigue who are referred to pediatricians and to examine whether factors can be identified at their first visit that predict worse outcomes at 1 year.

Methods: Ninety-one patients, aged 8 to 18 years completed questionnaires about sleep, somatic symptoms, physical activity, and fatigue. They were reassessed 12 months later.

Behavior and development in children and age at the time of first anesthetic exposure.

Background: Several experimental studies have suggested that early exposure to anesthetic agents, i.e., before completion of synaptogenesis, can result in widespread apoptotic neuronal degeneration and late cognitive impairment, but human data are lacking.

Quality of life in chronic illness: children, parents and paediatricians have different, but stable perceptions.

Aim: Quality of life assessments can be helpful to estimate the well-being of chronically ill children. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in perception of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among children, parents and paediatricians at the time of diagnosis and after initial treatment in four chronic diseases.

Methods: HRQoL was assessed with the Health Utilities Index mark 3 (HUI3).

Self-investigation to explore the impact of juvenile arthritis on adolescent life: a case-study.

Objective: To gain insight into the personal experience and feelings of an adolescent with a chronic disease.

Methods: We report on the application of the self-confrontation method (SCM), illustrated by a case-example of an adolescent with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Results: Although taken at face value she was not impeded by the arthritis, through self-assessment with the SCM this adolescent acknowledged and addressed the emotional struggle to keep the arthritis secret and to constantly test the physical limits of her body.

The views of young adults and their parents on hormone treatment for short stature in adolescence.

Aim: To examine the view of young adults and their parents on growth hormone (GH) and gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) treatment in adolescence for idiopathic short stature (ISS) or short stature born small for gestational age (SGA).

Methods: Thirty young adults with ISS or SGA (18 treated, 12 untreated; age 17-23 years; 5.5 years after treatment) completed questionnaires and they and their parents were interviewed.

Neuroendocrine dysregulations in sexually abused children and adolescents: a systematic review.

Several studies provided evidence for neuroendocrine dysregulations in adults with a history of child sexual abuse. This review focuses on neuroendocrine studies in sexually abused children and adolescents, dating from January 1, 1990 to January 1, 2007 and obtained from a systematic Medline Indexed literature search to identify endocrine correlates of child sexual abuse. Results from studies on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (re)activity showed to be inconclusive.