FeverApp for Parents: A Multilingual and Socially Accountable Approach to Paediatric Fever Management in Germany.

Policymakers and practitioners are increasingly focused on achieving health equity and meeting the specific health needs of diverse populations, including vulnerable groups such as children. To address these challenges, the Fever App for Parents has emerged as a solution to guide parents through the complexities of managing fever in their children by improving fever management in children through real-time data collection and comprehensive educational support. This systematic approach aims to reduce unnecessary medical interventions and overuse of antibiotics, thereby improving the overall quality of pediatric care and reducing parental anxiety. In Germany, almost every second child aged 0-10 is a child with migration status and/or migration experience. This means that the parents of these children also need to be targeted in fever management and informed about the correct behavior in case of fever. This information will also be monitored anonymously to provide a feedback loop on the parent's experience with the menu navigation and information design. The FeverApp provides parents with a structured, step-by-step guide to accurately track their child's temperature and medication intake to encourage adherence to established fever management protocols. This study examines how the FeverApp embodies the principles of social responsibility through its multilingualism and digital development stages that incorporate user feedback. It shows why this app can be a resource to promote health equity through social responsibility in medical education and practice for parents, but also what barriers need to be considered at different stages of app development for parents from different cultural backgrounds to enable informal medical learning through apps.

Fatigue and quality of life during neoadjuvant chemotherapy of early breast cancer: a prospective multicenter cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Few measurements of fatigue and quality of life have been performed during neoadjuvant chemotherapy of early breast cancer. This study evaluates fatigue and quality of life experienced by early breast cancer patients during neoadjuvant chemotherapy and their association with different clinical parameters. METHODS: Fifty-four stage I-III patients' responses to the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) and to the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B) were analyzed by a linear covariance pattern model. Chemotherapy regimen, age, baseline fatigue level, body-mass-index and cancer stage were added to the model to estimate their impact on both outcomes. RESULTS: All fatigue dimensions worsened in clinically relevant levels. Physical fatigue worsened the most, mental fatigue the least. For quality of life, physical and functional well-being worsened the most. Only emotional well-being improved during chemotherapy. Physical well-being worsened more during standard than during dose-dense chemotherapy, and more during anthracycline than during taxane cycles. Age, body-mass-index and cancer stage had no impact. The higher the fatigue levels at baseline, the less they worsened during chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Further actions to reduce fatigue and improve quality of life during neoadjuvant chemotherapy of early breast cancer are needed. Focus should be laid on the physical dimension. Future research should also investigate the impact of different chemotherapy sequences and densities on fatigue and quality of life. STUDY REGISTRATION: The study was registered in the German Clinical Trials Register in May 2019 (DRKS00016761).

Information technology and changing role models in German libraries: The example of OPEN-CAM.

Germany has a long tradition of health libraries. From their origin in monasteries, they became centres of knowledge and education. In modern times, this tradition has been continued by the Central Library of Medicine. In addition, as a specialty in Germany, special collection areas and special libraries that focus on one topic were established. Those services were transformed to specialized information services and portals as part of the digital transformation process. One of such projects is OPEN-CAM, which provides literature on integrative medicine in a specialist library and hosts the literature database CAMbase. Based on this example, we show how digital transformation has influenced the library landscape and its structures in Germany.

Infants' immunisations, their timing and the risk of allergic diseases (INITIAL): an observational prospective cohort study protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Vaccinations are considered to have a large impact on disease control, hence a multitude of vaccines in infancy is recommended. Retrospective studies suggest a possible relation between timing, kind or number of vaccines given in the first year of life and the subsequent incidence of allergic diseases. It must be clarified whether a causal relationship exists to ensure safety and reduce vaccine hesitancy. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Due to the high recommendation rate of vaccines, a long-term randomised controlled trial is not considered as ethically acceptable. Therefore, this study aims to observe prospectively the allergic incidence at the age of 5 years after various vaccine interventions in the early months of life.Parents of infants up to the age of 4-6 weeks will be recruited before the first recommended vaccination. Relevant prognostic factors for allergies, status of immunisation and general health will be evaluated up to the age of 5.Allergic symptoms will be assessed by the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood-questionnaire and a medical confirmation of the allergy is mandatory.The main objective is to compare the incidence of asthma, atopic dermatitis, rhinoconjunctivitis, food allergy or any of these atopies at the age of 5 between infants who were not vaccinated or were vaccinated according to recommendations in the first year of life.The sample size calculation with about 4000 participants can prove a 5% difference to the basic prevalence with about 80% power and global 5% alpha error for the five primary endpoints adjusting according to Bonferroni-Holm and assuming a rate of 10% not early vaccinated infants. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study was registered (DRKS00029677) and has received approval by the ethics committee of Universität Witten/Herdecke (no. 113/2022). The results will be published.

Predictors of sustained use of mobile health applications: Content analysis of user perspectives from a fever management app.

Objectives: Mobile health applications could be means of educating and changing behaviours of their users. Their features and qualities determine the sustainability of use. The FeverApp with two main features of information and documentation is a research-based app. In this observational cohort study, to evaluate the influential predictors of use, users' feedback on the FeverApp, were analyzed. Methods: Feedback is given using a structured questionnaire, four Likert items and two open questions regarding positive and negative impressions, available via app menu. Conventional content analysis (inductive approach) on the two open questions was performed. Comments were grouped into 12 codes. These codes were grouped hierarchically in an iterative process into nine subcategories and lastly into two main categories 'format' and 'content'. Descriptive and quantitative analysis were performed. Results: Out of 8243 users, 1804 of them answered the feedback questionnaire. The features of the app (N = 344), followed by the information aspect (N = 330) were most frequently mentioned. Documentation process (N = 226), request for new features or improvement of the current ones (N = 193), and functioning (N = 132) were also highlighted in users' feedback. App's ease of use, design and being informative were important for the users. The first impression of the app seems important as the majority of feedback were given during the first month of using the app. Conclusion: In-app feedback function could highlight shortcomings and strengths of mobile health apps. Taking users' feedback into consideration could increase the chance of sustained use. Besides ease of use and clear, likeable designs, users want apps that serve their needs while saving time.

A phase 1 study to investigate the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of brepocitinib in healthy males using a 14 C-microdose approach.

AIMS: Brepocitinib is a tyrosine kinase 2/Janus kinase 1 inhibitor being investigated for the treatment of several autoimmune diseases. This study assessed the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of oral brepocitinib, and the absolute oral bioavailability (F) and fraction absorbed (Fa ) using a 14 C microtracer approach. METHODS: This was a phase 1 open-label, nonrandomized, fixed sequence, two-period, single-dose study of brepocitinib in healthy male participants. Participants received a single oral 60 mg dose of 14 C brepocitinib (~300 nCi) in Period A, then an unlabelled oral 60 mg dose followed by an intravenous (IV) 30 µg dose of 14 C labelled brepocitinib (~300 nCi) in Period B. Mass balance, pharmacokinetic parameters and safety were assessed. RESULTS: Six participants were enrolled. Brepocitinib was absorbed rapidly following oral administration. In Period A, total recovery of the oral dose was 96.7% ± 6.3% (88.0% ± 8.0% in urine, 8.7% ± 2.1% in faeces). In Period B, a small fraction (6.0% of the oral dose) was recovered unchanged in urine. F and Fa were 74.6% (90% confidence interval 67.3%, 82.8%) and 106.9%, respectively. Brepocitinib demonstrated an acceptable safety profile and was well tolerated following oral or oral then IV administrations. No deaths, serious adverse events or discontinuations were reported. CONCLUSION: Intestinal absorption of brepocitinib was essentially complete after oral administration, with F ~75%. Drug-related material recovery was high, with the majority excreted in urine. The major route of elimination of brepocitinib was renal excretion as metabolites, whereas urinary elimination of unchanged brepocitinib was minor. NCT: NCT03770039.

Increase of jump performance during GH treatment in short children born SGA.

Background: Short children born small for gestational age (SGA) often have low muscle mass. Studies on maximal isometric grip-force (MIGF) observed lower muscle strength in these children. In contrast to MIGF, jumping is an everyday muscle activity for children. Our hypothesis was that GH treatment would cause an increase in jumping strength. So, we aimed to study jumping by mechanography in short SGA children before and during GH treatment. Methods: Monocentric prospective longitudinal study in a tertiary pediatric endocrinology center. We studied 50 prepubertal short children (23 females) born SGA (mean age 7.2 y, height -3.24 SDS) during GH treatment (mean dose 45 µg/kg/d). Main outcome measures were Peak jump force (PJF) and peak jump power (PJP) measured by Leonardo® ground reaction force plate at baseline and after 12 months of GH treatment. Mechanography data were compared to sex, age and height related references (SD-Score). Fitness was estimated as PJP/kg body weight by use of the Esslinger-Fitness-Index (EFI). Results: At start of GH treatment PJP/body weight was low at -1.52 SDS and increased significantly to -0.95 SDS during 12 months of treatment (p<0.001). PJF was low-normal compared to height dependent references and remained unchanged. PJP was normal compared to height dependent references and increased only slightly from -0.34 to -0.19 SDSHT. Conclusions: Jumping performance (EFI) measured by mechanography increased during one year of GH treatment in short children born SGA.

Children's Symptoms with a Febrile Illness and a Positive or Negative Test of SARS-CoV-2 during the Omicron Wave.

Febrile infections are common in childhood. Children can be infected with SARS-CoV-2, but their course is milder than in adults. So far, a comparison between febrile infections with a positive or negative Corona test with the Omicron variant is missing. The data used are from the FeverApp registry, which collects parent-reported data on febrile infections in children and informs about fever management. A comparison of symptomatic differences between episodes with a positive or negative Corona test was performed using Χ2-tests. During the Omicron wave, reported tests doubled and positive test results nearly 12-folded. In episodes with positive Corona saliva tests, more cough, fatigue, disturbed smell/taste, limb pain, sore throat, signs of serious sickness, and touch sensitivity were reported. Children with a negative Corona test show more tonsillitis, teething, any pain symptoms, earaches, and rashes. Thus, there are some significant differences between febrile infections with a positive or negative Corona test, but symptoms are present on both sides. The omicron variant seems to be more infectious than the alpha or delta variants in children, but the symptoms remain mild and do not differ much from other febrile infections.

Reliability of Data Collected via Ecological Momentary Assessment on the Example of FeverApp Registry.

The FeverApp registry is an ambulant ecological momentary assessment (EMA) model registry focusing on research of fever in children. Verification of EMA reliability is a challenge, due to absence of other source data. To ensure the reliability of EMA data, 973 families were invited to reassess their documentation in a survey. The survey contained questions (a) regarding the number of children, (b) genuineness of entries, (c) completeness of submitted fever episodes, (d) medication, (e) usefulness and further usage of the app. Of those invited, 438 families (45% response rate) participated in the survey. Of these, 363 (83%) families have registered all their children, 208 families have one child. The majority (n = 325, 74.2%) of families stated that they only made genuine entries in the app. Agreement between survey and app for fever episodes is 90% (Cohen's κ = 0.75 [0.66, 0.82]). Medication shows 73.7% agreement, κ = 0.49 [0.42; 0.54]. The majority (n = 245, 55.9%) consider the app as an additional benefit and 87.3% would like to use it further. Email surveys are a possible approach to evaluate EMA based registry data. The possible observation units (children and fever episodes) show an adequate reliability. With this approach, surveys of further samples and variables could help to improve the quality of EMA based registries.

Hydrotherapeutic Heat Application as Support in Febrile Patients: A Scoping Review.

Background: Most often, fever is still treated by lowering body temperature with medication. In complementary and integrative health care, patients are supported during illness to use the positive effects of fever. Accompanying applications from the field of hydrotherapy are often used for gentle cooling, but there are references that warming in fever can also be used as a support. The aim of this scoping review was to identify available evidence on how, when, and why patients with fever are treated with heat application. Methods: The MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, COCHRANE, Google, and Google Scholar databases as well as references of identified literature were searched. As sources of evidence, publications studying patients who received heat application or were kept warm in febrile condition, regardless of medical situation, type of health care setting, and geographical background, were taken into consideration. Results: The literature search identified 1698 publications, of which only 7 were included. Methods of applying heat were the use of electric warming blankets, hot packs, hot-water bottles, or hot water footbaths. Most of the studies on heat application used temperatures of about 40°C and reported significantly lower body temperature after heat application. Conclusions: The literature suggests that hydrotherapeutic heat application is a common and well-appreciated method in Middle Eastern and Asian regions to support febrile patients. Using heat to support the energy-intensive and uncomfortable phase of rising fever may improve comfort, prevent unnecessarily high fever, and save biological energy. Therefore, high-quality studies on the role of heat application in fever are expected to be of high relevance for future fever management guidelines and integrative health care in general.

Warming up for a better fever: a randomized pilot study in pediatric oncology.

BACKGROUND: Fever in children is a major problem in pediatric oncology. Usual management leads to immediate antibiotic and antipyretic therapy, although there is consensus that antipyretic therapy should not be utilized with the sole aim of reducing body temperature. Increased body temperature during fever appears to be an effective modifier in terms of viral replication and enhanced host defense mechanisms against pathogens. Therefore, it might be beneficial to support febrile patients by applying gentle heat during the onset of fever to help the body to reach its new thermoregulatory set point. METHODS: A randomized pilot study over 6 months will be conducted in a pediatric oncology department in an academic hospital in Germany. This study is a preparation for a multicenter clinical trial with two parallel groups concerning the efficacy of heat application vs. treatment as usual. One of the inclusion criteria is body temperatures ≥ 38.0 °C in n = 24 cases of patients receiving chemotherapy aged 18 months to 17 years. The first intervention consists of gentle heat application with hot water bottles at any sign of illness and onset of fever. The aim is to achieve a warm periphery equilibrated to trunk temperature of less than 0.5 °C. The second intervention is the avoidance of antipyretics. The control group receives the standard antipyretic treatment from the participating hospital. The purposes of this pilot study are proof of principle of intervention, evaluation of safety, feasibility, definition of endpoints, and to receive basic data for sample size calculation and needed resources. DISCUSSION: The main goal is to improve the care of children with cancer by providing the best possible support for febrile episodes. If fever support by heat reduces discomfort, administration of antipyretics and maybe even antibiotics, this would be an advancement in oncological fever management. This pilot study is intended to provide a basis for a main, multicenter, randomized trial and demonstrate the practicability of heat application in febrile patients in pediatric oncology. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS), DRKS00028273 . Registered on 14 April 2022.

No Gender Differences in Pain Perception and Medication after Lumbar Spine Sequestrectomy-A Reanalysis of a Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.

BACKGROUND: Gender issues have received increasing attention in clinical research of the past years, and biological sex has been introduced as a moderating variable in experimental pain perception. However, in clinical studies of acute pain and gender, there are conflicting results. In particular, there are limited data on the impact of gender differences after spinal sequestrectomy. The aim of this work is to examine gender differences in postoperative pain and pain medication consumption in an inpatient clinical setting. METHODS: Data of a completed double-blind RCT was subdivided by gender and reanalyzed by means of an analysis of variance in repeated measures. Outcomes included pain severity measured on a VAS, affective (SES-A) and sensory pain perception (SES-S) and morphine equivalent doses (MED) of analgesics after spinal sequestrectomy. RESULTS: In total, 42 female (47.73%) and 46 male (52.27%) patients were analyzed. No differences in pain severity (VAS: Gender × Time F = 0.35; (df = 2, 86); p = 0.708), affective and sensory pain perception (SES-A: Gender × Time F = 0.08; (df = 2, 86); p = 0.919; SES-S: Gender × Time F = 0.06; (df = 2, 86); p = 0.939) or post-operative opioid use between men and women (MEDs: Gender × Time F = 1.44; (df = 2, 86); p = 0.227) could be observed. CONCLUSIONS: This reanalysis of an RCT with respect to gender differences is to our knowledge the first attempt to investigate the role of gender in pain perception and medication after lumbar spine sequestrectomy. In contrast to other studies, we were not able to show significant differences between male and female patients in all pain-related outcomes. Apart from well-established pain management, psychological reasons such as gender-specific response biases or the observer effect might explain our results. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was registered as a regulatory phase IV study at the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS), an open-access online register for clinical trials conducted in Germany (Reg-No: DRKS00007913).

Cancer-related fatigue in patients treated with mistletoe extracts: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: Cancer-related fatigue remains one of the most prevalent and distressing symptoms experienced by cancer patients. Effective treatments for cancer-related fatigue are needed. The objective of this meta-analysis is to determine the impact of mistletoe extracts as a pharmacological treatment for the management of cancer-related fatigue. METHODS: We included randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and non-randomized studies of interventions (NRSIs) in cancer patients. Inclusion criteria were cancer-related fatigue severity or prevalence as an outcome and testing of mistletoe extracts compared to control groups. We searched Medline (EuropePMC), Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Clinicaltrials.gov, and opengrey.org through October 2020. We assessed the risk of bias using the Cochrane risk of bias tools for RCTs and NRSIs and conducted a meta-analysis. RESULTS: We performed one meta-analysis with 12 RCTs, including 1494 participants, and one meta-analysis with seven retrospective NRSIs, including 2668 participants. Heterogeneity between the studies was high in both meta-analyses. Most studies had a high risk of bias. A random-effects model showed for RCTs a standardized mean difference of -0.48 (95% confidence interval -0.82 to -0.14; p = 0.006) and for NRSIs an odds ratio of 0.36 (95% confidence interval 0.20 to 0.66; p = 0.0008). CONCLUSION: Treatment with mistletoe extracts shows a moderate effect on cancer-related fatigue of similar size to physical activity. These results need to be confirmed by more placebo-controlled trials. Future trials should investigate different treatment durations and their effect on cancer-related fatigue in post-treatment cancer survivors. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This meta-analysis has been registered under the PROSPERO registration number CRD42020191967 on October 7, 2020.

Hypericum perforatum to Improve Postoperative Pain Outcome After Monosegmental Spinal Sequestrectomy (HYPOS): Results of a Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

Introduction: Patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery often suffer from severe radicular postoperative pain leading to the prescription of high-dose opioids. In Integrative Medicine, Hypericum perforatum is known as a remedy to relieve pain caused by nerve damage. Objectives: This trial investigated whether homeopathic Hypericum leads to a reduction in postoperative pain and a decrease in pain medication compared with placebo. Design: Randomized double blind, monocentric, placebo controlled clinical trial. Settings/Location: Department of Neurosurgery, Community Hospital Herdecke. Subjects: Inpatients undergoing lumbar sequestrectomy surgery. Interventions: Homeopathic treatment versus placebo in addition to usual pain management. Outcomes Measures: Primary endpoint was pain relief measured with a visual analog scale. Secondary endpoints were the reduction of inpatient postoperative analgesic medication and change in sensory and affective pain perception. Results: Baseline characteristics were comparable between the groups. Pain perception between baseline and day 3 did not significantly differ between the study arms. With respect to pain medication, total morphine equivalent doses did not differ significantly. However, a statistical trend and a moderate effect (d = 0.432) in the decrease of pain medication consumption in favor of the Hypericum group was observed. Conclusion: This is the first trial of homeopathy that evaluated the efficacy of Hypericum C200 after lumbar monosegmental spinal sequestrectomy. Although no significant differences between the groups could be shown, we found that patients who took potentiated Hypericum in addition to usual pain management showed lower consumption of analgesics. Further investigations, especially with regard to pain medication, should follow to better classify the described analgesic reduction. Clinical Trial Registration Number: German Clinical Trials Register No: DRKS00007913.

Cross-sectional study of parental knowledge, behaviour and anxiety in management of paediatric fever among German parents.

OBJECTIVES: Fever is a common symptom among children. Parental lack of knowledge about fever could cause anxiety and lead to unnecessary measures to subside fever. There is little evidence about German parents' knowledge and their fever management. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study using a paper-based questionnaire. SETTING: 16 kindergartens in Saarbrücken and Saarlouis regional association accepted to participate in the study. Parents from these kindergartens were requested during the pickup time to answer the questionnaire. PARTICIPANTS: 481 German parents participated in the study, 394 of them were women. Inclusion criteria were good understanding of German and being a parent of at least one child below the age of 7 years. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Knowledge and behaviour of parents on paediatric fever management and the factors influencing fever anxiety. RESULTS: The older the parents were, the more anxiety they reported. Their definition of fever had a wide range of 30°C-41°C (mean 38.46, SD=0.67) and almost 90% (mean 3.05, SD=2.03) of participants reported fever as useful, whereby they felt more confident the more they found fever useful. 69% of parents felt calm when their child has fever (mean 4.47, SD=2.27). In case of fever, 55% of parents administer paracetamol, 72% ibuprofen and 32% of them would alternate between the two. Paracetamol and ibuprofen are used more by more anxious parents. In explorative factor analysis, reasons to reduce temperature were summarised in three main factors: damage prevention, illness control and well-being protection, whereby the first two were positively related to parental anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: Both knowledge as well as level of confidence/anxiety vary largely. Taking antipyretics is related to higher level of anxiety, indicating the need for further education. Fever anxiety depends on multiple factors, which have to be further investigated.

Sociodemographic Characteristics and Interests of FeverApp Users.

The FeverApp Registry is a model registry focusing on pediatric fever using a mobile app to collect data and present recommendations. The recorded interactions can clarify the relationship between user documentation and user information. This initial evaluation regarding features of participants and usage intensity of educational video, information library, and documentation of fever events covers the runtime of FeverApp for the first 14 months. Of the 1592 users, the educational opening video was viewed by 41.5%, the Info Library was viewed by 37.5%, and fever events were documented by 55.5%. In the current sample, the role of a mother (p < 0.0090), having a higher level of education (p = 0.0013), or being registered at an earlier date appear to be cues to take note of the training video, Info Library, and to document. The FeverApp was used slightly less by people with a lower level of education or who had a migration background, but at the current stage of recruitment no conclusion can be made. The user analyses presented here are plausible and should be verified with further dissemination of the registry. Ecological momentary assessment is used more than the information option, in line with the task of a registry. Data collection via app seems feasible.

Seven-day fasting as a multimodal complex intervention for adults with type 1 diabetes: Feasibility, benefit and safety in a controlled pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: Intermittent as well as prolonged fasting are receiving considerable attention and appear favorable in conditions such as metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and rheumatic diseases. Fasting for individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1D) is generally considered too risky. However, the ability and possibility to change from carbohydrate- to ketone-based fuel supply might be relevant for individuals with T1D. The aim of this patient-led research was to investigate the feasibility, benefit, and safety of a 7-d multimodal fasting intervention in individuals with T1D. METHODS: This was a non-randomized controlled pilot study, with 20 participants with T1D and 10 without the disease. Data acquisition took place before, after, and 4 mo after the intervention and daily during intervention. RESULTS: Of the individuals with T1D, 19 finished fasting. A mean ß-hydroxybutyrate as representative ketone body increased to 2.8 ± 1.9 mmol/L on day 7; whereas average glucose remained between 4.9 (±1.5) and 7.5 (±2.3) mmol/L (89 ± 27 and 136 ± 40 mg/dL). Mean daily insulin dose was adjusted from 24.4 (3-50) IU on the day before fasting to 7.6 (0-26.7) IU on day 7. Quality of life (WHO-5) normalized from 54 (±4.4) to 68.8 (±15; P = 0.01) after fasting. There was a decrease from before until the follow-up 4 mo later of weight from 77.6 (±20.4) to 76.6 (±20.9) kg (P = 0.023) and for body mass index from 27.68 (±7.04) to 26.74 (±7.15) kg/m2 (P = 0.008). Diastolic blood pressure increased from 69.75 (±11.41) to 75.74 (±8.42) mm Hg (P = 0.028) and stayed in a healthy range on average. Fasting-related side effects were all temporary, and slightly more prevalent in those with type 1 diabetes compared with the reference group. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the feasibility, benefits, and safety aspects of a 7-d fast in adults with T1D.

Healing Architecture for Sick Kids.

Scientific data are sparse on hospital design in child and adolescent psychiatry. The present article aims to give an overview of various concepts of hospital design and to develop concepts how architecture can consider the special needs of children and adolescents in their recovery from psychiatric diseases. Literature research is provided from PubMed and collected from architectural and anthroposophic bibliography. Access to daylight and nature, reduced level of noise and an atmosphere of privacy are general principles to support convalescence in patients. Especially in psychiatry, spatial structures and colour can strengthen appropriate social interrelations on both the patient and staff level. Authors suggest that children and adolescents benefit from architectural concepts which consider the issues: Welcome, Path, Territory, Area of Freedom, Outdoor Space, Access to Light, Motion in the Structure and Orientation of Space.

Automated determination of bone age from hand X-rays at the end of puberty and its applicability for age estimation.

The BoneXpert method for automated determination of bone age from hand X-rays was introduced in 2009, covering the Greulich-Pyle bone age ranges up to 17 years for boys and 15 years for girls. This paper presents an extension of the method up to bone age 19 years for boys and 18 years for girls. The extension was developed based on images from the First Zurich Longitudinal Study of 231 healthy children born in 1954-1956 and followed with annual X-rays of both hands until adulthood. The method was validated on two cross-sectional studies of healthy children from Rotterdam and Los Angeles. We found root mean square deviations from manual rating of 0.69 and 0.45 years in these two studies for boys in the bone age range 17-19 years. For girls, the deviations were 0.75 and 0.59 years, respectively, in the bone age range 15-18 years. It is shown how the automated bone age method can be applied to infer the age probability distribution for healthy Caucasian European males. Considering a population with age 15.0-21.0 years, the method can be used to decide whether the subject is above 18 years with a false positive rate (children classified as adults) of 10 % (95% confidence interval = 7-13%) and a false negative rate of 30 % (adults classified as children). To apply this method in other ethnicities will require a study of the average of "bone age - age" at the end of puberty, i.e. how much this population is shifted relative to the Greulich-Pyle standard.