Increased Alopecia Areata Risk in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and the Impact of Methylphenidate Use: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study.

Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disease that causes sudden hair loss. Although few studies have reported the association between AA and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the impact of methylphenidate (MPH) on AA has not been examined. This study examined whether AA risk is higher in children with ADHD than in those without ADHD as well as the impact of MPH use on AA risk in children with ADHD. From the Taiwan Maternal and Child Health Database, we enrolled all 1,750,456 newborns from 2004 to 2017 in Taiwan. Of them, 90,016 children received a diagnosis of ADHD whereas the remaining 1,660,440 did not. To compare AA risk in ADHD and the impact of MPH treatment on it, multiple Cox regression with adjustments for covariates (i.e., age, sex, and psychiatric comorbidities) was performed. The results indicated that 88 (0.098%) children with ADHD and 1191 (0.072%) children without ADHD had AA. Nevertheless, after adjustment for the covariates, AA risk was higher in children with ADHD than in those without ADHD (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 1.30, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04-1.64). Our data indicated a considerable reduction in AA risk (aHR: 0.64) among children with ADHD who received MPH than among those who did not receive MPH; however, this difference was nonsignificant, indicated by a wide 95% CI (0.32-1.25). In conclusion, ADHD and AA may share some underlying mechanisms.

Textural features on 18F-FDG PET/CT and dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging for predicting treatment response and survival of patients with hypopharyngeal carcinoma.

The utility of multimodality molecular imaging for predicting treatment response and survival of patients with hypopharyngeal carcinoma remains unclear. Here, we sought to investigate whether the combination of different molecular imaging parameters may improve outcome prediction in this patient group.Patients with pathologically proven hypopharyngeal carcinoma scheduled to undergo chemoradiotherapy (CRT) were deemed eligible. Besides clinical data, parameters obtained from pretreatment 2-deoxy-2-[fluorine-18]fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F-FDG PET/CT), dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and diffusion-weighted MRI were analyzed in relation to treatment response, recurrence-free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS).A total of 61 patients with advanced-stage disease were examined. After CRT, 36% of the patients did not achieve a complete response. Total lesion glycolysis (TLG) and texture feature entropy were found to predict treatment response. The transfer constant (K), TLG, and entropy were associated with RFS, whereas K, blood plasma volume (Vp), standardized uptake value (SUV), and entropy were predictors of OS. Different scoring systems based on the sum of PET- or MRI-derived prognosticators enabled patient stratification into distinct prognostic groups (P <.0001). The complete response rate of patients with a score of 2 was significantly lower than those of patients with a score 1 or 0 (14.7% vs 58.9% vs 75.7%, respectively, P = .007, respectively). The combination of PET- and DCE-MRI-derived independent risk factors allowed a better survival stratification than the TNM staging system (P <.0001 vs .691, respectively).Texture features on F-FDG PET/CT and DCE-MRI are clinically useful to predict treatment response and survival in patients with hypopharyngeal carcinoma. Their combined use in prognostic scoring systems may help these patients benefit from tailored treatment and obtain better oncological results.

Associations of parental bonding and adolescent internet addiction symptoms with depression and anxiety in parents of adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Abstract Objectives The aim of the present study was to evaluate the associations of parental bonding and adolescents' Internet addiction symptoms with depression and anxiety in parents of adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods Parental depression and anxiety symptoms, parental bonding, and adolescents' Internet addiction symptoms were assessed in 46 parent-child dyads using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), and Chen Internet Addiction Scale, respectively. Forward stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to examine the associations of parental bonding and adolescents' Internet addiction symptoms with parental depression and anxiety. Results Low care/affection on the PBI was significantly associated with parental depression, and overprotection on the PBI and adolescents' Internet addiction were significantly associated with parental anxiety. Discussion Parental bonding and adolescents' Internet addiction are related to depression and anxiety in parents of adolescents with ADHD.