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Background: While mentorship programs, which connect adolescents with adults to whom they can turn to for help and advice, are proliferating in an attempt to prevent high-risk behaviors in teenagers, there are few data to show that mentorship actually makes a difference., Objective: To determine if there is an association between having an adult mentor and high-risk behaviors in adolescents., Hypothesis: Adolescents who have an adult mentor would be less likely to engage in high-risk behaviors than those without an adult mentor., Design: Cross-sectional study. A self-administered, anonymous questionnaire was developed to assess demographics, involvement in risk behaviors, and the prevalence of a mentor in the life of a young person., Participants: A convenience sample of 294 adolescents, seen consecutively (93% of those approached), receiving outpatient medical care. Participants were predominantly female (68%), of mixed race/ethnicity, aged between 12 and 23 years (mean +/- SD age, 16.9 +/- 2.4), and from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds., Setting: An adolescent health service in a suburban community-based teaching hospital., Main Outcome Measures: Adolescent smoking, alcohol and drug use, sexual practices, and weapon carrying., Results: Adolescents with mentors were significantly less likely to participate in 4 of the 5 measured risk behaviors: ever carrying a weapon (odds ratio, 0.41; P< or =.01), illicit drug use in the past 30 days (odds ratio, 0.44; P< or =.01), smoking more than 5 cigarettes per day (odds ratio, 0.54; P< or =.05), and sex with more than 1 partner in the past 6 months (odds ratio, 0.56; P< or =.05). No significant difference was found with alcohol use (> or =3 drinks in the past 30 days)., Conclusion: A strong positive relationship was found between adolescents having an adult mentor and decreased participation in 4 of the 5 risk behaviors evaluated.

We evaluated the wide variation in the reported incidence of fractured clavicles (0.2% to 3.5%) in newborns by screening 626 consecutive infants delivered vaginally for fractures. One of us (P.R.J.) evaluated all infants, twice during the initial hospital stay and 2 weeks later. Eighteen fractured clavicles were identified for a frequency of 2.9% (18/626). One fracture was discovered on the first hospital examination, 10 on discharge, and 7 at follow-up. Only 2 patients had symptoms usually associated with fractured clavicles. The most reliable clinical sign for in-hospital diagnosis was difficulty in feeling the margins of the affected clavicle when compared with the normal clavicle. The mean birth weight of the infants was 3604 g (range, 3000 to 4930 g), and no obstetric complications occurred. The reported frequency of fractures diagnosed clinically during hospitalization significantly underestimates their occurrence. Most newborn infants with fractures have no symptoms and minimal physical findings during the first days of life, making repeated examination necessary.

In four previously reported patients with partial 3q trisomy, only a small portion of 3q was trisomic (3q21 leads to qter or 3q25 leads to qter). Clinical features in these cases have included the following: low-set ears, mongoloid slant of eyes, hypertelorism, cleft palate, webbed neck, simian creases, short finger, clinodactyly, hypotonia, and low-set hairline. Cytogenetic studies of a premature, 1,680-g female infant with with these clinical features showed this extra material to be part of the long arm of chromosome 3 (3q12 leads qter), which resulted in partial trisomy for this segment, ie, 46,XX,-18, +t (3;18) (q12;p11). Although a larger portion of 3q was involved in this case, the clinical picture was similar to other cases of 3q duplication with or without 3p deletion.

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are associated with neoplastic and malignant lesions of the uterine cervix. Cervical neoplasia is associated with onset of sexual activity at an early age. Therefore, this study sought to define the prevalence rates of HPV infection and cytologic abnormalities in adolescents. Sexually active females 13 to 21 years of age undergoing routine cervical cytologic screening were evaluated in the adolescent clinic of an urban hospital. Cells collected by cervicovaginal lavage from 249 subjects were analyzed for HPV DNA by Southern blot hybridization with probes for HPV types 6/11, 16, and 18. The HPV DNA was detected in 95 (38.2%) of 249 patients. Teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 years with multiple lifetime sexual partners were at higher risk for HPV infection (38/71 [54%]) compared with patients of the same age who had only a single partner (25/74 or [34%]). Twenty (8.3%) of 241 patients had abnormal Papanicolaou smears with atypia, koilocytosis, or low-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. Cytologic abnormalities were detected in 16 (17%) of 94 adolescents with HPV present, but in only 4 (2.7%) of 147 of the uninfected patients. Thus, HPV emerged as a common pathogen in female adolescents, and infected patients are at increased risk for cervical epithelial abnormalities.