The relationship between bullying and self-worth in children with movement coordination problems.

BACKGROUND: Past research has indicated that there is a negative relationship between victimization and self-worth. Furthermore, children with movement problems such as developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are considered at risk of both victimization and low self-worth. AIMS: This study investigated the relationship between peer-victimization and self-worth in a group of children with DCD and control children. SAMPLE: Forty-three children aged 7-11 years were identified as at risk of DCD, and were matched on age and gender with 43 control children. METHOD: Children were individually assessed using the Multi-dimensional peer victimization scale (MPVS; Mynard & Joseph, 2000) to assess the degree and type of bullying, and the self perception profile for children (SPPC; Harter, 1985) to determine self-worth. RESULTS: The two groups did not differ significantly on mean reported self-worth or mean peer-victimization. The relationship between these two measures, however, differed across group and gender. Peer victimization and self-worth were negatively correlated only for the children at risk of DCD. Furthermore, peer victimization accounted for a greater and statistically significant proportion of the variance in the self-worth of girls at risk of DCD compared with boys. This effect of peer-victimization on self-worth in girls with DCD was uniquely attributed to the effects of verbal victimization. CONCLUSIONS: Although children with and without motor coordination problems reported equivalent amounts of victimization, there were differences in the impact of that bullying. Specifically, self-worth was negatively affected by bullying for the girls with DCD. Teachers and parents should not only focus on the amount of bullying a child receives, but should also be aware of how bullying impacts differently on self-worth across groups.

Use of alternative therapies for children with cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the use of alternative therapy (AT) in families of children with cancer with its use in those with routine pediatric conditions. BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE: AT refers to healing practices such as therapeutic massage, acupuncture, and use of medicinal herbs that have become increasingly popular with the general public, but are not widely accepted by the medical profession. Although studies have investigated the use of AT in the families of both healthy children and children with cancer, no comparison of the incidence of its use between these two populations has been published. We hypothesized that AT was used more frequently among the families of children with cancer. METHODS: Using a prevalence survey design, we interviewed 81 parents of children with cancer attending a pediatric hematology/oncology clinic and 80 parents of children attending a continuity care clinic for routine check-ups and acute care. We explored the types of AT being used, the reasons for its use, and the frequency with which it was discussed with the patient's physician. RESULTS: 1) Overall, 65% of the cancer group were using AT, compared with 51% of the control group. This was not statistically significant. 2) Prayer, exercise, and spiritual healing were three AT practices most often used by the cancer group, and prayer, massage, and spiritual healing by the control group. 3) Discussion of AT with the physician varied according to group, with 53% of the cancer patients discussing its use; income level, with 59% of parents in the higher income group discussing its use; and ethnicity, with 47% of whites discussing its use. CONCLUSION: Use of AT is not limited to the families of children with life-challenging illnesses, but is commonly used by those of children with routine pediatric problems. Pediatricians need to be aware that their patients may not tell them about AT practices they are using in addition to prescribed treatment.

Human corpus callosum: a stable mathematical model of regional neuroanatomy.

The functional utility of regional parameters of the corpus callosum (CC) derived from factor analysis has been demonstrated in the rat and the human. In this study, we have utilized factor analysis to compare CC structure between two independent groups of human subjects. Tracings of the CC were taken from the midsagittal MRIs of two human samples consisting of 103 healthy volunteers and 146 neurological patients. CCs were digitized and factor analyses were performed on 99 widths, area, axis length, and perimeter. The factor structures of these two data sets were highly congruent except that one factor analysis yielded a seven-factor solution, whereas the factor analysis of the other subject population gave six factors. Further study determined that the six-factor structure could be attributed to the presence of non-consistent right-handed males whose wider CCs in the isthmus region biased the correlations. When CC parameters of consistent and non-consistent right-handed subjects were standardized, a seven-factor structure resulted. Reproducibility of the factor structure indicates that there are shared neuroanatomical characteristics of CC morphology among two disparate populations of humans in spite of variability in CC size due to sex, age, hand preference, and hand consistency.

Sexual orientation and the size of the anterior commissure in the human brain.

The anterior commissure, a fiber tract that is larger in its midsagittal area in women than in men, was examined in 90 postmortem brains from homosexual men, heterosexual men, and heterosexual women. The midsagittal plane of the anterior commissure in homosexual men was 18% larger than in heterosexual women and 34% larger than in heterosexual men. This anatomical difference, which correlates with gender and sexual orientation, may, in part, underlie differences in cognitive function and cerebral lateralization among homosexual men, heterosexual men, and heterosexual women. Moreover, this finding of a difference in a structure not known to be related to reproductive functions supports the hypothesis that factors operating early in development differentiate sexually dimorphic structures and functions of the brain, including the anterior commissure and sexual orientation, in a global fashion.

Sex differences in subregions of the medial nucleus of the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis of the rat.

Sex differences are described in subregions of two nuclei of the rat brain: the medical nucleus of the amygdala (MA) and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST). The volume of the posterodorsal region of the medial nucleus of the amygdala (MApd) is approximately 85% greater and the volume of the encapsulated region of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNSTenc) is approximately 97% greater in males than in females. The MApd and BNSTenc are distinct subregions of the MA and BNST. They exhibit intense uptake of gonadal hormones and are anatomically connected to each other and to other sexually dimorphic nuclei. The MA and BNST in general are involved in regulation of several sexually dimorphic functions, including aggression, sexual behavior, gonadotropin secretion and integration of olfactory information. Precise localization of sex differences in subregions of the MA and BNST, such as the MApd and BNSTenc, may facilitate understanding of the neural basis of such functions.

A developmental study of sex and age interactions in the human corpus callosum.

Regional analysis of the corpus callosum (CC) has demonstrated that the development of this fiber tract is sexually dimorphic. Midsagittal CC tracings from magnetic resonance images (MRIs) of 73 pairs of age-matched (age 2-79 years) males and females were digitized using computer assisted software. Area, axis length, perimeter, and 99 widths were obtained. Widths were grouped into the following regions based upon prior factor analysis: widths 3-18 (W3-18), W22-39, W49-62, W65-74, W77-85, W89-94, and W95-99. Trend analyses were performed with Sex and Age (blocked into 10-year bins) as independent variables. Higher order Sex by Age interactions were significant in regions W3-18 and W22-39 and were marginal in W95-99. In all 3 regions, females did not attain maximum width until Age 41-50 whereas males had peaked at 20 years and declined thereafter. There were no significant interactions between Sex and Age in the remaining CC regions, nor were there any dramatic decreases once maximum width was reached in adulthood. These results suggest that sex differences may also exist in CC ultrastructure over the human lifespan.

Sexual dimorphism of the anterior commissure and massa intermedia of the human brain.

Neuroanatomical sex differences were observed in the midsagittal area of both the anterior commissure and the massa intermedia on analysis of postmortem tissue from 100 age-matched male and female individuals. The anterior commissure, a fiber tract whose axons in primates primarily connect the two temporal lobes, was an average of 12%, or 1.17 mm2 larger in females than in males. The massa intermedia, a structure that crosses the third ventricle between the two thalami, was present in 78% of the females and 68% of the males. Among subjects with a massa intermedia, the structure was an average of 53.3% or 17.5 mm2 larger in females than in males. Inclusive of subjects with and without a massa intermedia, this structure was a mean of 76% or 16.93 mm2 greater in females than in males. These sex differences were present despite the fact that the brains of males were larger than those of females. Since a majority of subjects were adults, it is unknown when sexual differentiation occurred. Anatomical sex differences in structures that connect the two cerebral hemispheres may, in part, underlie functional sex differences in cognitive function and cerebral lateralization.

Sex differences in the corpus callosum of the living human being.

The sexual dimorphism of the corpus callosum has remained controversial since the original report by de Lacoste-Utamsing and Holloway in 1982, for several reasons: (1) measurements have been performed in a variety of ways in different laboratories, in part because published reports frequently do not describe the methodology in detail; (2) despite known age-related changes during both childhood and adulthood, no investigators have explicitly age-matched subjects; and (3) the size and shape of corpora callosa vary considerably among individuals, requiring large sample sizes to demonstrate significant sex differences. Therefore, we have examined magnetic resonance images for 24 age-matched children and 122 age-matched adults for possible sex differences in the corpus callosum. While we observed a dramatic sex difference in the shape of the corpus callosum, there was no conclusive evidence of sexual dimorphism in the area of the corpus callosum or its subdivisions. Utilizing several criteria, there were significant sex differences in shape: subjective evaluation indicated that the posterior region of the corpus callosum, the splenium, was more bulbous shaped in females as a group and in women, and more tubular-shaped in males as a group and in men; mathematical evaluation confirmed this observation in that the maximum width of the splenium was significantly greater in women than in men, and that the percentage by which the average width of the splenium was greater than that of the adjacent corpus callosum was significantly greater in females than in males. However, sex differences in bulbosity did not reach significance in children (aged 2-16 yr). In contrast, among the area measurements of the corpus callosum and 22 subdivisions, only 1 exhibited a significant sex difference, which would be expected by chance. The area of the corpora callosa increased significantly with age in children and decreased significantly with age in adults. In adults, the midsagittal surface area of the cerebral cortex decreased significantly with age in women but not in men. These anatomical sex differences could, in part, underlie gender-related differences in behavior and neuropsychological function.

Sex difference in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis of the human brain.

A quantitative analysis of the volume of the darkly staining region of the posteromedial bed nucleus of the stria terminalis was performed on the brains of 26 age-matched male and female human subjects. We suggest the term "darkly staining posteromedial" component of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST-dspm) to describe this sexually dimorphic region of the human brain. The volume of the BNST-dspm was 2.47 times greater in males than in females. This region in humans appears to correspond to an area of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in laboratory animals that exhibits volumetric and neurochemical sexual dimorphisms, concentrates gonadal steroids, and is anatomically connected to several other sexually dimorphic nuclei. Furthermore, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis is involved in sexually dimorphic functions, including aggressive behavior, sexual behavior, and gonadotropin secretion, which are also influenced by gonadal steroids. Therefore, it is possible that in human beings as well, gonadal hormones influence the sexual dimorphism in the BNST-dspm and that this morphological difference, in part, underlies sexually dimorphic function.

Two sexually dimorphic cell groups in the human brain.

A quantitative analysis of the volume of 4 cell groups in the preoptic-anterior hypothalamic area (PO-AHA) and of the supraoptic nucleus (SON) of the human brain was performed in 22 age-matched male and female individuals. We suggest the term Interstitial Nuclei of the Anterior Hypothalamus (INAH 1-4) to identify these 4 previously undescribed cell groups in the PO-AHA. While 2 INAH and the SON were not sexually dimorphic, gender-related differences were found in the other 2 cell groups. One nucleus (INAH-3) was 2.8 times larger in the male brain than in the female brain irrespective of age. The other cell group (INAH-2) was twice as large in the male brain, but also appeared to be related in women to circulating steroid hormone levels. Since the PO-AHA influences gonadotropin secretion, maternal behavior, and sexual behavior in several mammalian species, these results suggest that functional sex differences in the hypothalamus may be related to sex differences in neural structure.

Treatment of Felty's syndrome with low-dose oral methotrexate.

Recent studies of methotrexate in the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis have precluded patients with neutropenia. We present a patient with rheumatoid arthritis complicated by severe neutropenia and recurrent infections, who was treated with low-dose methotrexate, orally, for 30 months. The patient experienced symptomatic improvement and a significant increase in granulocyte count, and the dosage of steroids was reduced. Low-dose oral methotrexate may be a therapeutic option in select patients with Felty's syndrome.

Estrogen and thymic hormone interactions in the female mouse.

This study showed that there are relationships between thymic and adrenal/ovarian endocrine actions. A 4 mg/kg dose of thymosin fraction 5 (TSN5) advanced vaginal opening and elevated estrogen levels. Single estradiol benzoate (EB) injections decreased thymus weight and caused a transient reduction in circulating plasma levels of thymosine alpha 1 (TSN alpha 1), a peptide component of TSN5. Circulating estrogen levels were elevated when TSN alpha 1 levels were undetectable. Also, TSN alpha 1 levels decreased with age and after a prolonged athymic state. The thymus was shown to involute after a single TSN5 injection, suggesting the existence of a negative hormonal feedback on the thymus. Additionally thymectomy at 3 days of age was shown to delay vaginal opening while thymectomy at 30 days of age failed to produce any significant effect on reproductive maturation. Although much research is still needed, our results provide additional evidence of a relationship between the endocrine thymus and ovary.