Donaldson A, Feldman HA, O’Donnell J, Gopalakrishnan G, Gordon CM. Spinal bone texture assessed by trabecular bone score (TBS) in adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2015 Sep;100(9):3436-42.
The annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies chose this article as one of the "Top 10 articles for 2015". Trabecular bone score (TBS) is a bone assessment tool that offers information beyond that afforded by standard dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) bone mineral density (BMD) measurements. TBS showed evidence of degraded microarchitecture in over 40% of this sample of 57 adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa, and strongly correlated with anthropometric data and measures of BMD and skeletal strength. TBS is a novel tool that captures another dimension of bone health in these patients.
Braverman PK, Adelman WP, Alderman EM, Breuner CC, Levine DA, Marcell AV, O’Brien R. COUNCIL ON FOSTER CARE; ADOPTION, AND KINSHIP CARE; COMMITTEE ON ADOLESCENCE, and COUNCIL ON EARLY CHILDHOOD. Health care issues for children and adolescents in foster care and kinship care. Pediatrics. 2015 Oct;136(4):e1131-40.
This Position Statement was a collaborative effort by several committees of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In addition to outlining the recommended clinical care for youth in foster and kinship care who commonly have unmet health needs, there was emphasis on the importance of pediatricians providing a medical home, educating the youth themselves on their medical needs, and addressing coordination of care. Recommendations were also given about the role of pediatricians in advocacy efforts at the larger community and state level to ensure comprehensive health care for these youth.
Dodds CM, Britto MT, Denson LA, Lovell DJ, Saeed S, Lipstein EA. Physician’s perceptions of shared decision making in chronic disease and its barriers and facilitators. J Pediatr. 2016 Apr;171:307-9.e1-2.
Findings from this study reveal that physicians want to share decisions with both parents and adolescents. Most physicians indicated that parent and adolescent trust and emotional readiness facilitated shared decision making and that, other than insurance limitations, there were few barriers to sharing decisions. These results contrast with our prior observational work, suggesting that even physicians who want to engage in shared decision making may not always have the skills and resources needed to fully implement it.
Kahn JA, Rudy BJ, Xu J, Kapogiannis B, Secord E, Gillison M. Prevalence and risk factors for oral DNA tumor viruses in HIV-infected youth. J Med Virol. 2016 Nov;88(11):1944-52.
Human papillomavirus (HPV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpes virus (KSHV) may promote oral cancers, especially among immunosuppressed individuals. The incidence rates of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancers are rising. In this study, HIV-infected youth tested for oral HPV, EBV, and KSHV infection and viral load. The study identified common risks for infection, which included substance use and HIV-related factors. Understanding oral tumor virus co-infections in HIV-infected individuals is important, as effective interventions will help to prevent viral-associated oral cancers in this population.