Cognitive Development.

Cognitive development in children begins with brain development. Early life exposures may both positively and negatively influence cognitive development in children. Infants, toddlers, and children learn best in secure, nurturing environments and when attachment to a consistent caregiver is present. Pediatricians can screen for both social determinants of health and developmental milestones at office visits to address barriers to care and promote positive cognitive and learning outcomes. Pediatricians may model developmental stimulation during office visits to talk with an infant/child, asking questions of a child, singing and pointing to pictures in books, and modeling responsive listening. Pediatricians may support caregivers to talk with their children, read to their children, and avoid/reduce screen time. Pediatricians can help point caregivers to resources for parent training, Head Start, and quality preschool programs. School readiness has both pre-academic and socioemotional components and can have long-term effects on a child's school success, health, and quality of life. School readiness depends on both the child and the caregiver being ready for school, taking into account caregiver and child health and mental health and child cognitive development.

Surgical Site Infections following Spine Surgery for Non-idiopathic Scoliosis.

BACKGROUND: Surgical site infections (SSIs) following spine surgery in children and adolescents with nonidiopathic scoliosis are associated with increased morbidity and health care costs. Potentially modifiable risk factors for SSIs merit additional study in this population. METHODS: A single-center, retrospective cohort study was performed from August 2008 through December 2013 in children and adolescents undergoing surgery for nonidiopathic scoliosis to determine the trends in SSI rate and causative microorganisms. A standardized perioperative antimicrobial prophylaxis regimen was developed from September-October 2008. Potential risk factors for SSIs were assessed by multivariable analysis using Poisson regression models. Fusion procedures and growing construct procedures were analyzed separately. RESULTS: In all, 268 patients underwent 536 surgical procedures of whom 192 underwent 228 fusion procedures, 89 underwent 308 growing construct procedures, and 13 underwent both procedures during the study period. Twenty-one SSIs (3.9% of surgical procedures and 7.8% of patients) occurred within 90 days of surgery, 17 SSIs occurred after fusion procedures (4.5% of procedures and 8.9% of patients), and 4 SSIs occurred after growing construct procedures (1.3% of procedures and 4.5% of patients). There were 9 polymicrobial SSIs (42.9%). Of the 31 bacterial pathogens isolated, 48% were Gram-negative organisms. Among patients undergoing fusion procedures, SSIs were associated with underdosing of preoperative cefazolin [relative risk (RR)=4.99; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.89-17.43; P=0.012] and tobramycin (RR=5.86; 95% CI, 1.90-18.06; P=0.002), underdosing of intraoperative (RR=5.65; 95% CI, 2.13-14.97; P=0.001) and postoperative (RR=3.86; 95% CI, 1.20-12.40; P=0.023) tobramycin, and any preoperative or intraoperative underdosing (RR=4.89; 95% CI, 1.70-14.12; P=0.003), after adjustment for duration of surgery. No factors were associated with SSIs in those undergoing growing construct procedures. During the study period, the SSIs rate declined (P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Underdosing of tobramycin and preoperative cefazolin were associated with an increased SSI risk among patients undergoing fusion procedures. Future multicenter studies should further investigate the generalizability of these findings. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level II-retrospective study.

Implications of the new lead screening recommendations in North Carolina.

In June of 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their recommendations regarding the prevention of childhood lead poisoning. This commentary provides an overview of the new recommendations for blood lead screening and follow up.

An Innovative Use of Twitter to Disseminate and Promote Medical Student Scholarship During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Usability Study.

BACKGROUND: Due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the cancellation of in-person learning activities forced every aspect of medical education and student engagement to pivot to a web-based format, including activities supporting the performance and dissemination of scholarly work. At that time, social media had been used to augment in-person conference learning, but it had not been used as the sole platform for scholarly abstract presentations. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to assess the feasibility of using Twitter to provide a completely web-based forum for real-time dissemination of and engagement with student scholarly work as an alternative to a traditional in-person poster presentation session. METHODS: The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University launched an online Medical Student Scholarship Forum, using Twitter as a platform for students to present scholarly work and prepare for future web-based presentations. A single student forum participant created posts using a standardized template that incorporated student research descriptions, uniform promotional hashtags, and individual poster presentations. Tweets were released over 5 days and analytic data were collected from the Twitter platform. Outcome measures included impressions, engagements, retweets, likes, media engagements, and average daily engagement rate. RESULTS: During the conference, the student leader published 63 tweets promoting the work of 58 students (55 medical and 3 dental students) over 5 days. During the forum and the following week, tweets from the @BrodyDistinctly Twitter account received 63,142 impressions and 7487 engagements, including 187 retweets, 1427 likes, and 2082 media engagements. During the 5 days of the forum, the average daily engagement rate was 12.72%. CONCLUSIONS: Using Twitter as a means of scholarly dissemination resulted in a larger viewing community compared to a traditional in-person event. Early evidence suggests that social media platforms may be an alternative to traditional scholarly presentations. Presenting via Twitter allowed students to receive instantaneous feedback and effectively network with wider academic communities. Additional research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of knowledge uptake, feedback, and networking.

Fetal hemoglobin levels in African American and Hispanic children with sickle cell disease at baseline and in response to hydroxyurea.

The degree of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) expression is a major determinant of phenotypic severity of sickle cell disease (SCD). Genetic regulation of HbF production is complex and can vary among ethnic groups. The pediatric sickle cell population at our institution is approximately half Hispanic, nearly all from the Dominican Republic. Hydroxyurea (HU) is the only Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug to ameliorate symptoms of SCD. We retrospectively compared baseline and HU-induced percent HbF (%HbF) in African American (AA) and Hispanic (H) patients aged 4 to 21 years with homozygous Sickle hemoglobin or HbSß(0)Thalassemia. No significant differences were detected in average baseline %HbF between AA (N=48) and H (N=58) patients (P=0.63). In the subset of children taking HU who reached maximum tolerated dose (MTD), no differences were found between the ethnic groups in laboratory response to drug, measured by %HbF at MTD (P=0.28), the increase in %HbF (P=0.31) or mean red cell volume (MCV) (P=0.93), or the MTD of HU (P=0.95). Regulation of HbF at baseline and in response to HU are comparable between Hispanics and African Americans at our center. If generalizable, our results support combining these 2 groups in future clinical and translational analyses focused on HbF and response to HU in this ethnically mixed patient population.

Which Children Use School-Based Health Services as a Primary Source of Care?

BACKGROUND: School-based health centers (SBHCs) offer primary and preventive health care for children and adolescents. Using nationally representative data, we aimed to examine which child and family characteristics are associated with using school-based health care providers as the primary source of health care, and whether care received from these providers met the criteria for a medical home. METHODS: Using data from the 2016-2018 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), we analyzed children's usual source of care (school-based provider, doctor's office or clinic, other location, or none), and whether they received care meeting medical home criteria. RESULTS: Based on a sample of 64,710 children, 0.5% identified school-based providers as their primary source of health care. Children who were older, uninsured, or living in the Northeast were significantly more likely to report school-based providers as their usual source of care. Children whose usual source of care was a school-based provider were less likely to receive care meeting medical home criteria than children who usually received care at a doctor's office. CONCLUSIONS: While SBHCs improve access to care, our findings indicate potential challenges with establishing a medical home for children who usually receive health care from a school-based provider.

National Trends in Pediatric Headache and Associated Functional Limitations.

Objective. Frequent or severe headaches are associated with school absenteeism and functional limitation in children, but trends in headache prevalence are uncertain. We used nationally representative data to describe trends in pediatric headache prevalence in the United States, and to evaluate whether headache has remained consistently associated with functional limitations among school-age children. Methods. We analyzed data on children age 5 to 17 years in the 2007 to 2015 National Health Interview Surveys. Caregivers reported whether each child experienced frequent or severe headache in the past 12 months. Weighted proportions and multivariable regression were used to estimate headache prevalence over the study period and associations between headache and measures of functional limitation. Results. The analysis included 57 272 children (mean age = 11 years; 52% female). Frequent or severe headache was reported for 6% of children, with no discernable trend over the study period. On multivariable Poisson regression, headache became more strongly associated with school absenteeism over time. In 2007, frequent or severe headache was associated with a 70% increase in the number of missed school days (incidence risk ratio [IRR] = 1.70; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.50-1.91; P < .001), whereas by 2015, headache was associated with a 139% increase in the number of missed school days (IRR = 2.39; 95% CI = 2.02-2.83; P < .001). Conclusion. Though the prevalence of frequent or severe headache in school-age children did not change in 2007 to 2015, headache became more strongly associated with school absenteeism, highlighting the need for improved management of patients with headaches to prevent negative impact on school performance and functional status.

Candidate sequence variants and fetal hemoglobin in children with sickle cell disease treated with hydroxyurea.

BACKGROUND: Fetal hemoglobin level is a heritable complex trait that strongly correlates swith the clinical severity of sickle cell disease. Only few genetic loci have been identified as robustly associated with fetal hemoglobin in patients with sickle cell disease, primarily adults. The sole approved pharmacologic therapy for this disease is hydroxyurea, with effects largely attributable to induction of fetal hemoglobin. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In a multi-site observational analysis of children with sickle cell disease, candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with baseline fetal hemoglobin levels in adult sickle cell disease were examined in children at baseline and induced by hydroxyurea therapy. For baseline levels, single marker analysis demonstrated significant association with BCL11A and the beta and epsilon globin loci (HBB and HBE, respectively), with an additive attributable variance from these loci of 23%. Among a subset of children on hydroxyurea, baseline fetal hemoglobin levels explained 33% of the variance in induced levels. The variant in HBE accounted for an additional 13% of the variance in induced levels, while variants in the HBB and BCL11A loci did not contribute beyond baseline levels. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings clarify the overlap between baseline and hydroxyurea-induced fetal hemoglobin levels in pediatric disease. Studies assessing influences of specific sequence variants in these and other genetic loci in larger populations and in unusual hydroxyurea responders are needed to further understand the maintenance and therapeutic induction of fetal hemoglobin in pediatric sickle cell disease.