Clinical characteristics and risk factors for seizures to recur in calcified neurocysticercosis : Prospective cohort Study

AIM

Calcification of degenerating neurocysticercosis (NCC) is common and likely to occur late in the degenerative process and is important for seizure foci. The present study was aimed at identifying the clinical and radiological variables associated with seizure recurrence in people with single or multiple calcified NCC lesions.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We evaluated 85 adult patients with calcified NCC lesions for recurrence of seizures during the follow-up period of one year.

RESULTS

The mean age of the study population was 24.49 ± 9.17 years. Nocturnal seizures were present in 43.5% and serial seizures in 42.4%. A single calcified lesion was present in 61 (71.8%), and perifocal oedema surrounding the calcified lesions was present in 38 (44.7%). Recurrence of seizures was noted in 37 (43.5%) of the cases. On multivariate analysis, the factors that were significantly associated with the recurrence of seizures were: nocturnal seizures [OR: 0.054 (0.015-0.199)], serial seizures [OR: 0.141 (0.041-0.485)], and perifocal oedema [OR: 0.031 (0.008-0.129)].

CONCLUSION

In our study, serial seizures, nocturnal seizures, and perifocal oedema were linked with the recurrence of seizures in calcified NCC lesions. Perilesional oedema should be treated aggressively with anti-inflammatory/immunosuppressive therapy as well as with anti-seizure medication.

The effectiveness of cognitive bias modification in reducing substance use in detained juveniles: An RCT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Young offenders show high levels of substance use. Treatment programs within detention settings are less effective. Cognitive bias modification (CBM) is a promising supplement to substance use treatment. This study tests the effectiveness of CBM in young offenders to reduce cannabis and alcohol use, and delinquent recidivism.

METHOD

A randomized controlled trial added CBM to treatment as usual (TAU), among 181 youth in juvenile detention centers. In a factorial design, participants were randomly assigned to either active- or sham-training for two varieties of CBM, targeting attentional-bias (AtB) and approach-bias (ApB) for their most used substance. Substance use was measured with the Alcohol and Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Tests. Delinquent recidivism was measured with the International Self-Report Delinquency (ISRD) survey.

RESULTS

At pretest, participants showed AtB but no ApB for both substances. For alcohol, a decrease was found in AtB in the active-training group. For cannabis, a decrease was found in AtB for both active- and sham-training groups. Regardless of condition, no effects were found on substance use or ISRD scores at follow-up.

LIMITATIONS

The sample is judicial, not clinical, as is the setting. TAU and participant goals are not necessarily substance related.

CONCLUSIONS

Young offenders show a significant attentional-bias towards substance cues. CBM changed attentional-biases but not substance use. Combining CBM with a motivational intervention is advised. Follow-up research should better integrate CBM with running treatment programs. New developments regarding CBM task design could be used that link training better to treatment.

Parental involvement affects parent-adolescents brain-to-brain synchrony when experiencing different emotions together: An EEG-based hyperscanning study

Parental involvement (PI) is a broad and multifaceted construct, which refers to the parental demonstration of interest in their child, caring, and warmth (Davis et al., 2021). Parental involvement affects parent-adolescent's relationship and communication. However, there was little research to examine the underlying neural mechanism. The present study aimed to explore how parental involvement is associated with the brain-to-brain synchronous activation between parent-adolescent dyads when sharing emotional experience together by using the electroencephalograph (EEG) hyperscanning. EEG was recorded simultaneously in a sample of 26 parent-adolescent dyads (Mparents'age=43.312, SD=5.468; Madolescents' age=12.077, SD=1.412) when completing the picture processing task. Phase locking values (PLVs) in beta band and gamma band were used to compare the differences in the parent-adolescent dyads' induced brain-to-brain synchrony between the high parental involvement group (HPI) and the low parental involvement group (LPI). Results showed that greater beta brain-to-brain synchrony was observed in the HPIs than in the LPIs when experiencing positive emotions together in the central region. However, there was no significant difference between the HPIs and the LPIs in the negative and neutral condition. Moreover, greater gamma brain-to-brain synchrony was observed when viewing negative emotional stimuli together than viewing positive emotional stimuli together in the LPIs in the central region. However, there was no significant difference between different emotional conditions in the HPIs. Findings of the present study provide neuroscientific evidence that parental involvement may strengthen parent-adolescent's emotional interaction and communication.

Pediatric Craniomaxillofacial Fractures: A Review

Pediatric facial fractures constitute a small portion of all facial fractures. The frequency of pediatric facial fractures by location, and mechanism of injury, changes over time associated with craniofacial growth and activity. Pediatric patients have protective anatomic features, such as increased soft tissue, excess adipose tissue, and more flexible bone. Conservative management is often sufficient. Surgical intervention can often be conservative. Follow-up monitoring is valuable for concerns of growth disruption from either the trauma itself or surgical interventions. Older teenage patients may often be treated similar to adults. Postoperative management varies by fracture type without a defined long-term follow-up course.

Nicotine dependence among young adults: Comparing exclusive ENDS users to exclusive cigarette smokers

PURPOSE

No studies of young adults have compared symptoms of nicotine dependence among exclusive past 30-day (P30D) ENDS users versus exclusive P30D cigarette smokers.

METHODS

Participants at Wave 14 (Fall 2021) of The Texas Adolescent and Tobacco Marketing Surveillance System (TATAMS) (n = 2,341; mean age = 20.95 years old) who reported P30D exclusive ENDS use (n = 212) and P30D exclusive cigarette smoking (n = 46). Symptoms of nicotine dependence were measured with the Hooked On Nicotine Checklist (the 10-item HONC scale). An independent samples t-test compared average HONC scores between groups, and a Pearson (or Fisher's Exact) Chi-Square (X2) test compared the prevalence of symptom(s) between groups.

RESULTS

The average HONC score was significantly higher for exclusive P30D ENDS users than exclusive P30D cigarette smokers (3.51 vs. 1.91, p ≤ 0.001). Compared to exclusive P30D cigarette smokers, a significantly higher proportion of exclusive P30D ENDS users reported having felt addicted (45.28% vs. 15.22%, p ≤ 0.001), having strong cravings (50.00% vs. 28.26%, p = 0.007), difficulty not using in prohibited places (i.e., school or work) (24.06% vs. 4.35%, p = 0.002), difficulty concentrating (21.23% vs. 6.52%, p = 0.021), and feeling nervous, restless, or anxious (28.77% vs. 10.87%, p = 0.012).

CONCLUSIONS

Symptoms of nicotine dependence were elevated among young adults who were exclusive P30D users of ENDS relative to exclusive P30D cigarette smokers.

Pre-pandemic adversity and maternal mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: the mediating role of pandemic stress and family relationships

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic was a time of increased stress for families. Parents with a history of adversity may have been at higher risk of experiencing mental health problems during this time. The current study aims to investigate the relationship between pre-pandemic adversity pandemic related stressors and maternal mental health outcomes during the pandemic.

METHODS

Data was drawn from the Mothers' and Young People's Study (MYPS), a longitudinal of first time mothers and their children. Participants were 418 mothers who completed the MYPS COVID-19 sub-study. Data was collected during pregnancy, at 1, 4, 10 years postpartum, and during the COVID-19 pandemic (approximately 14 years postpartum). Path-analysis was used to test the relationship indirect relationship between pre-pandemic adversity and maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms, via family functioning and pandemic related stress.

RESULTS

The hypothesised model was a good fit to the data accounting for 34 % and 33 % of the variance in maternal depressive and anxiety scores, respectively. A significant indirect effect was found between pre-pandemic adversity and both maternal anxiety and depressive systems via family relationships during the pandemic and pandemic related stress.

LIMITATIONS

MYPS participants who took part in the COVID-19 sub-study were more likely to be older, have a higher level of education, and speak English as a first language, compared to the total MYPS sample.

CONCLUSIONS

Family inclusive service responses which aim to strengthen family relationships may be particularly important for families where there is a history of adversity to support parental mental health.

Beliefs about depression relate to active and avoidant coping in high-symptom adolescents

BACKGROUND

Perceptions of personal attributes as less malleable are associated with more severe depression symptoms and less active coping in youth. Perceptions of depression itself as relatively fixed have been linked to more severe depression symptoms; however, it is not known how beliefs about depression relate to active and avoidant coping behaviors in particular.

METHODS

We gathered information about beliefs about depression and activation and avoidance behaviors among 104 adolescents with high depression symptoms. The primary depression belief examined was prognostic pessimism, or the belief that depression is relatively permanent. We calculated correlations between this belief and activation and avoidance/rumination behaviors.

RESULTS

Prognostic pessimism was negatively correlated with behavioral activation scores (r = -0.31; p = .001), and was positively correlated with behavioral avoidance/rumination scores (r = 0.30; p = .002).

LIMITATIONS

This data was cross-sectional, and relied on self-report measures of depression beliefs and behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS

Adolescents who believe that depression is relatively permanent might feel less motivated to engage in effortful activation behaviors, instead favoring avoidance. These results may help elucidate the ways in which malleability beliefs relate to mental health outcomes among adolescents, and highlight prognostic pessimism as a potential treatment target for reducing depressogenic behaviors.

Everyday Ethics in Ambulatory Pediatrics: Cases and Applications

This article presents three clinical scenarios that might be encountered in ambulatory pediatrics. The framework for ethical analysis presented by Dr Hughes in a separate article in this issue of the Journal is used to examine these clinical scenarios and demonstrate application of the framework. The three cases involve a physician being asked by parents to write a letter for better housing that would require the doctor to be dishonest; parents who decline to have their 8-month-old daughter vaccinated; and a physician who believes contraception is a sin and therefore would not prescribe it to a sexually active 17-year-old girl.

Profiles of fear of missing out and their social media use among young adults: A six-month longitudinal study

This longitudinal study used a person-centered approach to differentiate fear of missing out (FoMO) among subgroups of individuals using latent profile analysis (LPA). The subgroups were identified according to trait-FoMO (a specific predisposition) and state-FoMO (a specific cognition in the online context) items. Data were collected from 1125 participants (70.04 % female, age range 17-26 years, Mage = 20.52 years). The LPA showed five distinct profiles: highest FoMO, high trait-FoMO high state-FoMO, high trait-FoMO low state-FoMO, low trait-FoMO high state-FoMO, and low trait-FoMO low state-FoMO. We further explored how these profiles relate to social media use. The results revealed significant differences between profiles in terms of social media engagement, social media self-control failure, and problematic social media use and could be used to predict social media use behaviors of 437 participants (77.35 % female, age range 18-27 years, Mage = 20.60 years) six months later. Thus, the combination of high trait-FoMO and high state-FoMO may mean more frequent social media engagement and could be an important risk factor for social media self-control failure and problematic social media use. Additionally, state-FoMO should be considered in prevention and intervention strategies aimed at addressing young adults' problematic social media use.

Association of air pollution exposure with overweight or obesity in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Childhood overweight and obesity is a global problem. 38 million children under five years old were reported as being overweight/obese in 2019. However, current evidence regarding the effects of air pollution on children weight status remains scarce and inconsistent. This study aimed to determine the association between air pollutants and the weight status of children and adolescents. Four databases were searched up to August 9, 2023. Adjusted merged odds ratios (ORs), regression coefficients (β), and their 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CIs) were calculated and pooled. A total of 27 studies were included. The results showed that air pollutants had adverse effects on the body weight of children and adolescents. Exposure to PM1, PM2.5, PMcoarse, and PM10 were associated with increased risk of overweight/obesity, with pooled ORs (95 % CI) of 1.23 (1.09, 1.40), 1.18 (1.10, 1.28), 1.04 (1.03, 1.05) and 1.11 (1.06, 1.17) per 10 μg/m3 increment, respectively. Individuals with higher exposure levels to NOX, O3, SO2 and CO (per 10 μg/m3 increment) were associated with 12 %, 6 %, 28 % and 1 % increased odds of being overweight/obese, respectively. With respect to the level of body mass index, the pooled β (95 % CIs) for each 10 μg/m3 increase in PM1, PM2.5, PM10, and NOX exposure were 0.15 (0.12, 0.18), 0.11 (0.06, 0.16), 0.07 (0.03, 0.10), and 0.03 (0.01, 0.04), respectively. PM1 has relatively strong adverse effects on body weight status. The subgroup analysis revealed a significantly increase in the risk of overweight/obesity when the concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 exceeded 35 μg/m3, 50 μg/m3, and 40 μg/m3, respectively. Exposure to PM2.5, PM10 and NOX increased the risk of overweight/obesity, especially in Asia. This study provides evidence of the association between air pollution and being overweight/obese in children and adolescents.

Sustained selective attention in adolescence: Cognitive development and predictors of distractibility at school

Despite much research into the development of attention in adolescence, mixed results and between-task differences have precluded clear conclusions regarding the relative early or late maturation of attention abilities. Moreover, although adolescents constantly face the need to pay attention at school, it remains unclear whether laboratory measures of attention can predict their ability to sustain attention focus during lessons. Therefore, here we devised a task that was sensitive to measure both sustained and selective attention and tested whether task measures could predict adolescents' levels of inattention during lessons. In total, 166 adolescents (aged 12-17 years) and 50 adults performed a sustained selective attention task, searching for letter targets while ignoring salient yet entirely irrelevant distractor faces, under different levels of perceptual load-an established determinant of attention in adults. Inattention levels during a just preceding classroom lesson were measured using a novel self-report classroom distractibility checklist. The results established that sustained attention (measured with response variability) continued to develop throughout adolescence across perceptual load levels. In contrast, there was an earlier maturation of the effect of perceptual load on selective attention; load modulation of distractor interference was larger in the early adolescence period compared with later periods. Both distractor interference and response variability were significant unique predictors of distractibility in the classroom, including when controlling for interest in the lesson and cognitive aptitude. Overall, the results demonstrate divergence of development of sustained and selective attention in adolescence and establish both as significant predictors of attention in the important educational setting of school lessons.

Rapport building with adolescents to enhance reporting and disclosure

Adolescents comprise a vulnerable population that is exposed to crime and also may be reluctant to disclose full details of their experiences. Little research has addressed effective ways of increasing their willingness to disclose and provide complete reports. Strategies that improve honesty and report completeness in other age groups have not been evaluated to determine whether they are similarly effective at increasing adolescents' reporting. In the current study, we tested whether rapport building techniques, modified from those commonly used with children and adults to address reasons why adolescents are likely reluctant, enhance the amount of detail adolescents provide about prior experiences. The participants, 14- to 19-year-olds (N = 125), completed an online questionnaire regarding significant events (e.g., big argument with family member) they experienced during the last 12 months. After a delay, they completed a remote interview asking them to recount details of one of the events. The interview began with either standard rapport building composed of largely yes/no questions about the adolescents' background or one of two expanded rapport building phases: open-ended (questions about the adolescents' backgrounds that required narrative answers) or enhanced (open-ended questions paired with the interviewer also sharing personal information). Although only adolescents in the standard condition showed age-related increases in information disclosed, overall adolescents in the enhanced condition provided significantly longer and more detailed narratives than adolescents in the other conditions. This effect was largest for the youngest adolescents, suggesting that mutual self-disclosure may be especially beneficial for eliciting honest complete reports from adolescents about salient prior experiences.

The mediating role of childhood maltreatment in the association between residence migration and adolescent depression

BACKGROUND

It is well established that residence migration can negatively affect the mental health of adolescents. However, the related factors that mediate the association between residence migration and depression are still uncertain.

METHODS

The participants were 16,037 adolescents in junior middle schools. A self-administered questionnaire was used for the survey. In addition to collecting general demographic characteristics of the participants, including age, gender, local residence status, only child status, parental marriage status and parent-child relationship, the questionnaire also contained the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire, the short form of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS software.

RESULTS

A total of 14,059 valid questionnaires were collected, resulting in 12,122 local adolescents, defined as being born and raised locally, and 1937 migrant adolescents, defined as being transferred from other regions. Meanwhile, 53.3 % of local adolescents and 58.2 % of migrant adolescents reported depressive symptoms. This result indicated that residence migration might contribute to depression symptoms(OR = 1.136, 95%CI: 1.013-1.273, p < 0.05). Childhood maltreatment and parental divorce are risk factors for depression in migrant adolescents. For all adolescents, resilience and a good parent-child relationship may reduce the risk of depression. Childhood maltreatment completely mediates residence migration-related depression(95 % bootstrap CI = 0.146, 0.323).

CONCLUSION

This study revealed that residence migration could contribute to adolescent depression, and childhood maltreatment may largely mediate this process, providing new insight into the relationship between adolescent depressive symptoms and residence migration. Reducing childhood maltreatment may effectively improve the depressive symptoms of migrant adolescents.

The impact of sleep disturbances on suicide risk among people living HIV: An eleven-year national cohort

OBJECTIVES

The suicide rate among individuals who experience sleep disturbances is five times higher than in the general population. Up to 70 % of people living with HIV (PLHIV) experience sleep disturbances. This study's purpose was to determine whether this population has higher rates of suicide compared to those without sleep disorders. Possible risk factors were also explored.

METHODS

A secondary analysis of nationwide data on all males and females over 15 years old with HIV living in Taiwan was conducted from January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2016. Sleep disturbances were identified through recorded diagnoses and medical treatments. Cox proportional hazard models and hazard ratios (HRs) and mediation analysis were employed to estimate the association between sleep disturbances and suicide risk during the follow-up period.

RESULTS

Of the 5680 PLHIV, 72 suicide events were reported. The suicide incidence rate among PLHIV suffering from sleep disturbances was 769 per 100,000 person-years. Sleep disturbances were associated with a significantly increased risk of suicide (AHR = 1.75, 95 % CI 1.02-3.02, p = 0.0429). A premium-based monthly salary of <24,000 (NT $) was also associated with an increased hazard of suicide (AHR = 4.14, 95 % CI 1.60-10.75, p = 0.0035). The pathway effect analysis using potential outcomes showed that depression did not mediate the effect of sleep disturbance on suicide.

CONCLUSIONS

Sleep disturbances were associated with higher suicide rates, even after adjusting for pre-existing depression. These findings suggest that paying attention to suicidal ideation among PLHIV suffering from sleep disturbances is necessary.

The association between alcohol use and sexual assault victimization among college students differs by gender identity and race

PURPOSE

Alcohol use and sexual assault (SA) are common on college campuses. The purpose of this study is to examine if the association between alcohol use and SA differs by gender identity, sexual orientation, race, or ethnicity.

METHODS

A total of 3,243 college students aged 18-25 at two large, minority-serving, public universities in the southwest and southeast United States completed an online survey about alcohol and sexual behaviors. Two negative binomial regressions were conducted to examine main effects and interaction effects.

RESULTS

Almost half of the sample reported a SA victimization history. The main effects negative binomial regression indicated that more drinks per week, older age, identifying as a cisgender woman (vs. cisgender man), identifying as a gender minority (vs. cisgender man), and identifying as a sexual minority (vs. heterosexual) were associated with more severe SA victimization. Participants who identified as Latine (vs. non-Latine White) reported less severe SA. The negative binomial regression assessing interactions indicated that the association between alcohol use and SA severity was stronger among cisgender women and gender minority identities than cisgender men, and Black identities than non-Latine White identities.

CONCLUSION

Findings suggests that alcohol use is an important factor for SA severity among all students, but that the association is stronger among some with marginalized identities. Given that perpetrators target people who hold some marginalized identities, prevention programming could address cisnormative, heteronormative, and White normative ideas about alcohol and sex to attain social justice and health equity.

The emergence of young children's tolerance for inequality: With age, children stop showing numerically sensitive fairness

One persistent and pernicious feature of outstanding social inequality is that even relatively extreme forms of inequality can be justified with reference to merit-based considerations. One key feature of fairness with respect to resource allocation is that it is numerically sensitive; greater (more extreme) inequalities are generally seen as less fair than less extreme ones. This work sought to document the emergence of numerically sensitive fairness in children aged 4 to 8 years. A total of 81 4- to 8-year-olds completed a series of within-participants fairness judgment trials in which they observed two characters receive either equitable or inequitable shares of resources-ranging from 50/50 (completely fair) to 0/100 (completely unfair)-in two contexts: one in which the two characters were described as working the same amount (equality context) and one in which one character was described as working harder than the other character (merit context). Children of all ages showed numerically sensitive fairness in the equality context. However, whereas younger children continued to show numerically sensitive fairness in the merit context, older children approved even relatively extreme inequalities when one person was described as working harder. This effect emerged with age, suggesting a double-edged sword to acquiring beliefs in merit-based fairness; as children get older, they may begin to accept even relatively extreme forms of inequality when presented in a merit context. Results are discussed with respect to the acquisition of meritocracy as a normative belief of fairness.

Multisensory and biomechanical influences on postural control in children

Children's ability to maintain balance requires effective integration of multisensory and biomechanical information. The current project examined the interaction between such sensory inputs, manipulati