Influencing Children Through the Art of Storytelling Using a Medically-Informed Children's Book.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how children learn about a health topic from an interactive reading session. Due to the large number of children with allergies, the specific topic chosen for this research study was peanut allergies. The goal of the project was to educate children on a leading, medically-relevant health topic through a story about a child with a peanut allergy. METHODS: For the purposes of the research project, author Mykayla Vollmer wrote, illustrated, and published the children's book "A Party Without Peanuts: How Food Allergies Affect Friends." The children's book was then read in a group setting at local third grade classrooms and students were provided adequate time to ask questions following the reading session. The students were assessed through both pre- and post-read surveys to evaluate knowledge gained during the session. Specific topics discussed in the reading include allergies, anaphylaxis, preventative measures, and treatments. RESULTS: There was a total of 65 pre- and post- read surveys matched in data analysis. There was a significant increase from a pre-read score of 5.38 (76.92%) to a post-read score of 6.38 (91.21%) for the overall survey with a mean difference of 1.0. In addition to comparing the overall results of the study, each question in the survey was assessed on an individual basis. 4 of the 7 questions demonstrated a significant change in percent of students who answered correctly following the reading session. CONCLUSIONS: The overall findings of the study demonstrated that through interactive readings sessions students significantly increased their scores between pre- and post-read questionnaires. This study serves to encourage the use of children's books as an educational tool for young learners.

Educating Children Through the Art of Storytelling Using a Medically-Informed Children's Book.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how children learn about a health topic from an interactive reading session. Due to the large number of children with allergies, the specific topic chosen for this research study was peanut allergies. The goal of the project was to assess how students learn from a children's book. METHODS: For the purposes of the research project, Vollmer wrote, illustrated, and published the children's book "A Party Without Peanuts: How Food Allergies Affect Friends". The children's book was then read in a group setting in third-grade classrooms and a question-and-answer session was held. The students were assessed through both pre- and post-read surveys to evaluate knowledge gained during the session. Specific topics discussed include allergies, anaphylaxis, preventative measures, and treatments. RESULTS: There was a total of 65 pre- and post- read surveys matched in data analysis. There was a significant increase from a pre-read score of 5.38 (76.92%) to a post-read score of 6.38 (91.21%) for the overall survey with a mean difference of 1.0. In addition, each individual question was assessed and it was found that 4 of the 7 questions demonstrated a significant change in percent of students who answered correctly following the reading. CONCLUSION: The overall findings of the study demonstrated that through interactive reading sessions students significantly increased their scores between pre- and post-read questionnaires. This study serves to encourage the use of children's books as an educational tool for young learners.

Care of the Well Newborn.

Care of the newborn infant is a critical skill for general pediatricians and other providers in the practice of pediatric medicine. Optimal care relies on a thorough understanding of risk factors that may be present during the pregnancy and delivery, as well as the ability to recognize and address unanticipated problems in the postnatal period. This article focuses on antenatal care of the newborn, issues that present in the immediate postdelivery period, and care of the newborn after discharge. It also includes updated information on current topics in pediatric practice, such as the importance of vaccination, parental hesitancy in accepting common medical interventions, and updated guidelines related to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. At the conclusion of the article, the reader should have a general understanding of antenatal risk factors that could affect the transition from the intrauterine environment and have the knowledge to address common issues that arise in the care of newborn infants.

A Masquerader of Disease: An Incomplete Presentation of Kawasaki Disease.

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a systemic pediatric vasculitis that most commonly affects children between the ages of 6 months and 4 years. The diagnosis of KD requires a high degree of clinical suspicion. In younger patients (less than 6 months) the diagnosis is exceedingly difficult as these patients typically do not meet the criteria to diagnosis KD clinically. Oftentimes, these younger patients do not meet enough of the criteria to warrant ordering an echocardiogram. We report a case of a 6-month-old Caucasian female who presented with high fevers originally thought to be due to a urinary tract infection. The patient required multiple echocardiograms in order to be diagnosed with incomplete KD. The patient was treated with IVIG and aspirin per standard of care, and experienced resolution of fevers and illness.

Comparison of Transferred Versus Nontransferred Pediatric Patients Admitted for Sepsis.

OBJECTIVE: Little is known about the characteristics of pediatric patients transferred for medical care. Thus, we aimed to compare pediatric patients admitted for sepsis as transfers versus those who were not admitted as transfers. METHODS: Retrospective study using The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 2009 Kids' Inpatient Database. Inclusion diagnosis of sepsis based on an All Patient Refined Diagnosis-Related Group of 720: Septicemia & Disseminated Infections resulted in 16,894 patients. Transfer status was based on admission codes. Weighted statistical analysis was conducted using STATA 12.1 (Stata Corporation, College Station, TX). Institutional review board approval was obtained. RESULTS: Weighted analysis found significant differences between transferred versus nontransferred patients in the following areas: highest severity of illness subclass (45.1% vs. 18.7%, P < .001), number of chronic conditions (2.0 vs. 1.5, P < .001), teaching hospital status (85.9% vs. 54.8%, P < .001), length of stay (10.8 vs. 6.5, p<.001), number of procedures (2.9 vs. 1.4, P < .001), mortality (8.4% vs. 3.2%, P < .001), total costs ($30,626 vs. $13,677, P < .001), and daily costs ($2,901 vs. $1,887, P < .001). CONCLUSION: Our study found that patients diagnosed with sepsis and transferred are more severely ill with a higher number of chronic conditions, longer lengths of stay, more procedures performed, higher mortality, and higher total and daily costs.

Maternal high-fat diet impairs cardiac function in offspring of diabetic pregnancy through metabolic stress and mitochondrial dysfunction.

Offspring of diabetic pregnancies are at risk of cardiovascular disease at birth and throughout life, purportedly through fuel-mediated influences on the developing heart. Preventative measures focus on glycemic control, but the contribution of additional offenders, including lipids, is not understood. Cellular bioenergetics can be influenced by both diabetes and hyperlipidemia and play a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of adult cardiovascular disease. This study investigated whether a maternal high-fat diet, independently or additively with diabetes, could impair fuel metabolism, mitochondrial function, and cardiac physiology in the developing offspring's heart. Sprague-Dawley rats fed a control or high-fat diet were administered placebo or streptozotocin to induce diabetes during pregnancy and then delivered offspring from four groups: control, diabetes exposed, diet exposed, and combination exposed. Cardiac function, cellular bioenergetics (mitochondrial stress test, glycolytic stress test, and palmitate oxidation assay), lipid peroxidation, mitochondrial histology, and copy number were determined. Diabetes-exposed offspring had impaired glycolytic and respiratory capacity and a reduced proton leak. High-fat diet-exposed offspring had increased mitochondrial copy number, increased lipid peroxidation, and evidence of mitochondrial dysfunction. Combination-exposed pups were most severely affected and demonstrated cardiac lipid droplet accumulation and diastolic/systolic cardiac dysfunction that mimics that of adult diabetic cardiomyopathy. This study is the first to demonstrate that a maternal high-fat diet impairs cardiac function in offspring of diabetic pregnancies through metabolic stress and serves as a critical step in understanding the role of cellular bioenergetics in developmentally programmed cardiac disease.