Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the delivery of face-to-face (F2F) therapeutic interventions and neuroimaging assessments for children with autism spectrum disorder has been disrupted. To resume interventions and assessments, many services are now using telehealth-based online platforms. Using the Zoom conferencing platform, our research group has been providing creative play-based interventions to school-age children with autism spectrum disorder. The feedback on this telehealth intervention experience has been generally positive (mean satisfaction score: 4.4 on a 5-point Likert-type scoring range) and our preliminary data from six children with autism spectrum disorder suggest training-related improvements in gross motor, balance, and imitation skills. Despite the positive results, it remains to be explored if the effects of telehealth interventions are similar to those of F2F interventions. Neuroimaging techniques could provide objective measures of intervention effects. However, this will require researchers to resume neuroimaging research while adopting safe public health protocols to control the risk of COVID-19 transmission. In this short report, we summarize existing safety protocols for F2F neuroimaging research, our own experiences of safely conducting alternative, on-site and off-site neuroimaging data collection, as well as the potential opportunities of using online data sharing and low-cost, remote neuroimaging/electrophysiological techniques to continue brain research during the pandemic. Lay abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption in F2F healthcare delivery and neuroimaging research, especially when involving vulnerable populations such as children with autism spectrum disorder. Given the easy access to multiple video conferencing platforms, many healthcare services have moved to an online delivery format (i.e. telehealth). It is important to monitor the behavioral and neural effects of telehealth interventions and resume neuroimaging research while adopting public health safety protocols to control the risk of COVID-19 transmission. We summarize existing safety protocols and our own experience from in-person functional near-infrared spectroscopy neuroimaging data collection (on-site, at home, and in outdoor settings), as well as potential opportunities of using online data sharing and low-cost, remote neuroimaging/electrophysiological techniques to continue brain research during the pandemic.
Wan-Chun Su, Sudha M. Srinivasan, Corina Cleffi et al.
Dengue is a vector-borne disease caused by the dengue virus (DENV) and is a major health concern worldwide, particularly in regions of endemic disease. Dengue usually presents as a self-limited febrile illness. In some cases, more severe forms with hemorrhage and shock can occur, and children are especially prone to develop it. These forms can be lethal without appropriate management, and no antiviral treatment exists today. In the absence of a curative treatment for dengue, its clinical prevention remains essential. One vaccine - the chimeric yellow fever-dengue-tetravalent dengue vaccine (CYD-TDV) - has been approved for use in some populations, and several others are currently in development, including Takeda's tetravalent dengue vaccine candidate (TAK-003). This study is a systematic review of the current literature realized to evaluate the efficacy of the dengue vaccines in preventing severe dengue in children. This review focuses on the vaccines CYD-TDV and TAK-003. This systematic review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. PubMed, PubMed Central (PMC), Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar were the databases used to find the relevant data. The articles were selected using specific inclusion and exclusion criteria, and quality appraisal was realized with standardized quality assessment tools. Overall, our study shows that the dengue vaccines CYD-TDV and TAK-003 confer protection against severe dengue in children. Some distinctions exist depending on the vaccine type, the age, and the dengue serostatus of patients. While demonstrating encouraging results, this review also emphasizes the need for more in-depth studies about the safety and efficacy of dengue vaccines.
Paul Foucambert, Faith D Esbrand, Sana Zafar et al.
In the pediatric population, pain is frequently under-recognized and inadequately treated. Improved education and training of health care providers can positively impact the management of pain in children. The purpose of this review is to provide a practical clinical approach to the management of acute pain in the pediatric inpatient population. This will include an overview of commonly used pain management modalities and their potential pitfalls. For institutions that have a pediatric acute pain service or are considering initiating one, it is our hope to provide a useful tool to aid clinicians in the safe and effective treatment of pain in children.
BACKGROUND: COVID-19 restrictions such as the closure of schools and parks, and the cancellation of youth sports and activity classes around the United States may prevent children from achieving recommended levels of physical activity (PA). This study examined the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on PA and sedentary behavior (SB) in U.S. children. METHOD: Parents and legal guardians of U.S. children (ages 5-13) were recruited through convenience sampling and completed an online survey between April 25-May 16, 2020. Measures included an assessment of their child's previous day PA and SB by indicating time spent in 11 common types of PA and 12 common types of SB for children. Parents also reported perceived changes in levels of PA and SB between the pre-COVID-19 (February 2020) and early-COVID-19 (April-May 2020) periods. Additionally, parents reported locations (e.g., home/garage, parks/trails, gyms/fitness centers) where their children had performed PA and their children's use of remote/streaming services for PA. RESULTS: = 8.73 [SD = 2.58] years) represented 35 states and the District of Columbia. The most common physical activities during the early-COVID-19 period were free play/unstructured activity (e.g., running around, tag) (90% of children) and going for a walk (55% of children). Children engaged in about 90 min of school-related sitting and over 8 h of leisure-related sitting a day. Parents of older children (ages 9-13) vs. younger children (ages 5-8) perceived greater decreases in PA and greater increases in SB from the pre- to early-COVID-19 periods. Children were more likely to perform PA at home indoors or on neighborhood streets during the early- vs. pre-COVID-19 periods. About a third of children used remote/streaming services for activity classes and lessons during the early-COVID-19 period. CONCLUSION: Short-term changes in PA and SB in reaction to COVID-19 may become permanently entrenched, leading to increased risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in children. Programmatic and policy strategies should be geared towards promoting PA and reducing SB over the next 12 months.
Genevieve Fridlund Dunton, Bridgette Do, Shirlene D. Wang
Virtual reality (VR) offers children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) an inexpensive and motivating medium to learn and practice skills in a personalized, controlled, and safe setting; however, outcomes of VR interventions can vary widely. In particular, there is a need to understand the predictors of VR experience in children with ASD to inform the design of these interventions. To address this gap, a sample of children with ASD (n=35, mean age: 13.0 ± 2.6 years; 10 female) participated in a pilot study involving an immersive VR experience delivered through a head-mounted display. A data-driven approach was used to discover predictors of VR safety and sense of presence among a range of demographic and phenotypic user characteristics. Our results suggest that IQ may be a key predictor of VR sense of presence and that anxiety may modify the association between IQ and sense of presence. In particular, in low-anxiety participants, IQ was linearly related to experienced spatial presence and engagement, whereas, in high-anxiety participants, this association followed a quadratic form. The results of this pilot study, when replicated in larger samples, will inform the design of future studies on VR interventions for children with ASD.
Mahan Malihi, Jenny L. Nguyen, Robyn E. Cardy et al.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, children have increased their use of mobile electronic devices to access the internet. Among the main applications used by children between 9 and 17 years old are the social and communication media platforms Instagram and TikTok (CGI.br, 2023). Consequently, they are more exposed to risky situations (e.g.objectionable content, sexual predators, cyberbullying, etc). To address this scenario, we conducted a systematic mapping study evaluating 33 primary studies to identify recommendations and general guidelines for parental control tools, which should be part of any social media app used by children. Based on this study, we derived 16 functional (FR) and 13 non-functional requirements (NFR) for IT companies to develop features that help caregivers and children promote online protection via assertive decisions and proper safeguards. We used those functional requirements as lenses of analysis of the two main social media software platforms largely used by children:Instagram and TikTok. Our findings revealed that TikTok’s parental control features are more mature and present more options for supervising and restricting children’s online activities than Instagram’s. Therefore, this research expands knowledge about the features for parental control and raises the discussion around children’s protection and welfare as relevant digital citizens.
What works to reduce child labour in agriculture? In this paper, we evaluate two randomised livelihood intervention programs, aimed to reduce child labour, particularly in its most exploitative forms, in rural areas of Peru. We evaluate a livelihood intervention provided to farmers in Peru that use the labour of their children on their family farms, accompanied by an education intervention aimed to improve the quality of schools and an awareness-raising intervention. We find that when the livelihood intervention is provided alone, it does not improve economic conditions, and hence generally fails to reduce child labour rates in rural areas. However, when the livelihood intervention is combined with measures to improve the quality of education, we see a reduction in hazardous child labour and child labour overall. Awareness-raising interventions, aimed at changing the perceptions of parents through community interaction, appear to have also had an effect in the reduction of child labour, and these effects were reinforced by education interventions. Results indicate that a comprehensive approach including livelihood support with education and awareness-raising components is a more effective way to reduce child labour and hazardous labour for children in the agricultural sector.
While the World Health Organization calls for a universal ban on female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), 200 million women and girls around the world are affected by the ongoing practice [1]. Physicians in high-income countries will encounter patients with FGM/C more frequently. For example, in 2021, over half of the top ten countries of origin for […]
It is estimated that 200 million women have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) and of these, 44 million are girls younger than 15.1 FGM is the removal of part or all of the female genitalia or organs for non-medical reasons and often takes place under traumatic, unsterile conditions. FGM leads to medical and psychiatric complications for the affected woman herself, and can harm future generations who may suffer from FGM-related complications of labour. Immediately after the procedure a girl or woman may experience haemorrhaging, sepsis, urinary retention and sometimes death. In the long term, women who have experienced FGM may suffer from chronic menstrual issues, urinary tract infections, dyspareunia, post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. Moreover, FGM may lead to increased caesarean section rates, and some studies have demonstrated increased rates of infant death.2
FGM is a human rights violation, public health issue and form of interpersonal violence. Just as health professionals need to be equipped to respond to modern slavery, or human trafficking, domestic violence and sexual assault, they need to have the tools to care for those who have experienced FGM.3
In 2012, the United Nations outlined the important role the health …
O propósito desse artigo foi realizar um levantamento sistematizado das pesquisas de pós-graduação Strictu Sensu, contendo informações relevantes sobre a problemática da violência sexual contra crianças e adolescentes no Brasil. Após a seleção filtrada de 46 trabalhos, foi possível identificar a prevalência das pesquisas realizadas em Instituições Públicas de Ensino Superior (IFES) localizadas nas regiões Nordeste e Sudeste. Em relação ao perfil das vítimas, prevalece a violência sexual contra meninas, e o risco de violência aumenta na medida em que estas se aproximam da adolescência (faixa entre 12 e 14 anos). Ficou bastante claro que a temática deve ser entendida sob um aspecto multidisciplinar, havendo, assim, necessidade de articulação entre os diversos atores sociais envolvidos na formulação de políticas públicas voltadas para proteção das crianças e adolescentes.Palavras-Chave: violência sexual, crianças e adolescentes, Brasil
Antônio Carlos Miranda, Maria de Lourdes Mattos Barreto, Viviani Silva Lírio et al.
