Experience With the Crescent• Right Atrial Jugular Dual Lumen Catheter for Pediatric Venovenous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: A Case Series.

The Crescent dual lumen right atrial (RA) cannula has recently been introduced for the support of pediatric patients in need of venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV ECMO) support. We present the first pediatric case series illustrating utility of the Crescent RA cannula in the pediatric patient population at a single institution over a 10 month period. From December 2021 to August 2022, six pediatric patients were adequately supported on seven VV ECMO runs at our institution with the Crescent RA cannula. ECMO cannulation, circuit design, anticoagulation management, ECMO circuit pressures, flow rates, and recirculation were similar to our standard of care for VV ECMO. The Crescent RA cannula can be used safely and effectively to provide adequate support for pediatric patients requiring VV ECMO.

Reduced Intracranial Hemorrhage with Anticoagulation Guideline Implementation.

Hemorrhagic and thrombotic complications, including intracranial hemorrhage, embolic stroke, surgical bleeding, and circuit thrombosis, are common during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), occurring in up to 50% of patients. These complications have a significant impact on morbidity and mortality. Our objective was to implement standardized ECMO anticoagulation guidelines for the pediatric cardiothoracic intensive care unit (CTICU) to reduce the incidence of intracranial hemorrhage while on ECMO. All CTICU patients who received ECMO from January 2016 to December 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Standardized ECMO anticoagulation guidelines were implemented in the fourth quarter of 2017. Variables and clinical outcomes before and after guideline implementation were compared. From January 2016 to December 2017, there were 22 separate ECMO runs. Eight of 22 (36%) suffered intracranial hemorrhage while on ECMO. Seven of 8 (88%) were withdrawn from ECMO secondary to bleed and expired prior to hospital discharge. From January 2018 to December 2020, there were 22 separate ECMO runs in the CTICU. Three of 22 (14%) suffered intracranial hemorrhage while on ECMO. One of 3 (33%) expired prior to hospital discharge. Implementation of standardized ECMO anticoagulation guidelines in the CTICU was successful in improving clinical outcomes as evidenced by reduction in the incidence of intracranial hemorrhage in this high-risk patient population.

Implementing and feasibility testing depression screening using the electronic medical record for patients with type 2 diabetes admitted to the hospital.

AIM: Is it feasible to implement a programme to screen for depression in patients admitted to the hospital for diabetes complications and use the electronic medical record to notify providers of their patient's depression score and give suggestions for medication and counselling? DESIGN: A feasibility study was conducted with patients hospitalized with diabetes and depression in the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States. METHODS: Patients with type 2 diabetes were screened for depression. The healthcare provider was notified via the electronic medical record about the patients' depression scores. The provider discussed options for management of depression with the patient and initiated treatment. RESULTS: The process of screening for depression at admission, notifying the provider by way of electronic medical record that the patient screened positive for depression with suggestions for medication and counseling was feasible and acceptable to providers and patients.

Understanding and Measuring Functional Impairment in Diverse Children With ADHD: Development of the ADHD-FX Scale With an At-Risk, Community Sample.

OBJECTIVE: The current study sought to develop a culturally appropriate measure of functional impairment related to ADHD for diverse families, as research suggests that functional impairment may be a more culturally universal construct than symptomatology. METHOD: Seventy-four low-acculturated Latino parents (49 mothers and 25 fathers) of school-aged children provided quantitative and qualitative responses about problem recognition after viewing a language-free video of a child displaying symptoms and behaviors consistent with ADHD. RESULTS: Thirty-two items were developed for the ADHD-FX scale based on most common responses given from participants. The scale is available in Spanish and English and instructs parents to consider how much each item affects their child in his or her everyday life (from 0 = not at all to 3 = a lot). CONCLUSIONS: The scale can provide an overall impairment score, as well as subscale scores in the theoretically derived domains of academic, peer, and familial impairment. (J. of Att. Dis. 2016; 20(6) 487-500).

Latino parental help seeking for childhood ADHD.

To better understand the help seeking process that occurs within Latino families when a child is exhibiting behaviors consistent with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), qualitative and quantitative data from 73 Latino parents were examined. Findings suggest that most Latino parents in the current sample recognized ADHD symptoms as concerning and in need of professional help and reported being motivated to seek help. Unfortunately, they also appeared to lack knowledge about the etiology of and effective treatment for ADHD, and many identified barriers to seeking help. Future research must involve community collaborations aimed at increasing awareness and knowledge of ADHD and decreasing barriers to seeking help in targeted Latino communities.

Acculturation, cultural values, and Latino parental beliefs about the etiology of ADHD.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent mental health disorders of childhood. Despite the availability of several evidence-based interventions, Latino children are more likely than non-minority children to have an unmet need for services related to ADHD. Given that parental beliefs about the etiology of ADHD likely influence service utilization, research needs to focus on cultural factors that may influence parental beliefs about the etiology of child behavior problems. Thus, the goal of the current study was to investigate the role of acculturation and cultural values of familism, respect, spirituality, and traditional gender roles in explaining parental etiological beliefs about ADHD in a sample of Latino parents. Findings suggest that behavioral acculturation was not significantly correlated with biopsychosocial or sociological/spiritual etiological beliefs; however, the cultural values of familism and traditional gender roles were positively correlated with sociological/spiritual beliefs. Further, exploratory analyses suggested that after controlling for SES, familism and traditional gender roles accounted for 30.5 % of the total variance in sociological/spiritual beliefs about ADHD. Finally, post hoc analyses revealed that cultural values were associated with several individual belief categories within the sociological/spiritual domain, including beliefs about friends, spirituality, and nature disharmony. The current study supports the inclusion of etiological beliefs and cultural factors in research examining help-seeking and access to mental health services among Latino families and suggests that the incorporation of alternative etiological beliefs about child behavior may be an important factor in culturally-appropriate mental health services.

Parental functioning in families of children with ADHD: evidence for behavioral parent training and importance of clinically meaningful change.

OBJECTIVE/METHOD: Statistically significant and clinically meaningful effects of behavioral parent training on parental functioning were examined for 20 children with ADHD and their parents who had successfully completed a psychosocial treatment for ADHD. RESULTS/CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that behavioral parent training resulted in statistically significant improvements in some domains of parenting behavior for both mothers and fathers and in reductions in most domains of parenting stress for mothers. Importantly, clinically meaningful change also was noted for these parental functioning areas, as well as for other domains of parental functioning that did not result in statistically significant findings. Clinical implications are discussed.

Advancing our knowledge of ADHD in Latino children: psychometric and cultural properties of Spanish-versions of parental/family functioning measures.

The lack of available Spanish versions of assessment measures contributes to insufficient research and underutilization of mental health services for Latino children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Thus, the goal of the current study was to examine the psychometric and cultural properties of several Spanish versions of parental/family functioning measures commonly used in comprehensive ADHD assessments (i.e., the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale, Alabama Parenting Questionnaire, and Confusion, Hubbub, and Order Scale). Participants included 68 Spanish-speaking, Latino parents in Southeast Wisconsin. In general, the Spanish translations of the measures demonstrated good reliability and validity. Furthermore, the psychometrically-sound measures were significantly related to acculturation as predicted, suggesting that the scales are not only psychometrically valid, but also culturally valid for use with Spanish-speaking, Latino families.

Families' perspectives on the effect of constipation and fecal incontinence on quality of life.

OBJECTIVES: Understanding families' quality of life can be important for interdisciplinary treatment planning. The present study examined child and parent perspectives about how constipation and fecal incontinence affect families' quality of life. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 8 children/adolescents and 8 caregivers. All of the children met Rome II criteria for functional constipation. Interviews were analyzed by an interdisciplinary team using a content analysis approach, which included developing a coding manual that described emergent themes from the interview transcripts. RESULTS: Qualitative and quantitative responses revealed the varied experiences of participating families. Child and parent views may be misaligned, which can affect treatment planning and effectiveness. Families described variable satisfaction with the treatment recommendations they had been offered and experienced difficulty finding appropriate care. Children's social and family functioning were significantly affected by constipation and fecal incontinence difficulties. Both children and parents described the challenges of discussing the problems with others. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple domains of individual and family functioning are affected by children's constipation and fecal incontinence difficulties, thereby affecting the quality of life of both children and their parents. The findings underscore the need for providers to consider the influence of symptoms on adjustment to both the medical condition and treatment adherence and discuss concerns with children and parents. The results provide the foundation for developing a standardized tool for quantitative assessment of quality of life for children with constipation.

Effects of iron regulatory protein regulation on iron homeostasis during hypoxia.

Iron regulatory proteins (IRP1 and IRP2) are RNA-binding proteins that affect the translation and stabilization of specific mRNAs by binding to stem-loop structures known as iron responsive elements (IREs). IREs are found in the 5'-untranslated region (UTR) of ferritin (Ft) and mitochondrial aconitase (m-Aco) mRNAs, and in the 3'-UTR of transferrin receptor (TfR) and divalent metal transporter-1 (DMT1) mRNAs. Our previous studies show that besides iron, IRPs are regulated by hypoxia. Here we describe the consequences of IRP regulation and show that iron homeostasis is regulated in 2 phases during hypoxia: an early phase where IRP1 RNA-binding activity decreases and iron uptake and Ft synthesis increase, and a late phase where IRP2 RNA-binding activity increases and iron uptake and Ft synthesis decrease. The increase in iron uptake is independent of DMT1 and TfR, suggesting an unknown transporter. Unlike Ft, m-Aco is not regulated during hypoxia. During the late phase of hypoxia, IRP2 RNA-binding activity increases, becoming the dominant regulator responsible for decreasing Ft synthesis. During reoxygenation (ReO2), Ft protein increases concomitant with a decrease in IRP2 RNA-binding activity. The data suggest that the differential regulation of IRPs during hypoxia may be important for cellular adaptation to low oxygen tension.