Search

Introduction In light of the burden of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children and the excessive number of unnecessary CT scans still being performed, new strategies are needed to limit their use while minimising the risk of delayed diagnosis of intracranial lesions (ICLs). Identifying children at higher risk of poor outcomes would enable them to be better monitored. The use of the blood-based brain biomarkers glial fibrillar acidic protein (GFAP) and ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase-L1 (UCH-L1) could help clinicians in this decision. The overall aim of this study is to provide new knowledge regarding GFAP and UCH-L1 in order to improve TBI management in the paediatric population.Methods and analysis We will conduct a European, prospective, multicentre study, the BRAINI-2 paediatric study, in 20 centres in France, Spain and Switzerland with an inclusion period of 30 months for a total of 2880 children and adolescents included. To assess the performance of GFAP and UCH-L1 used separately and in combination to predict ICLs on CT scans (primary objective), 630 children less than 18 years of age with mild TBI, defined by a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 13–15 and with a CT scan will be recruited. To evaluate the potential of GFAP and UCH-L1 in predicting the prognosis after TBI (secondary objective), a further 1720 children with mild TBI but no CT scan as well as 130 children with moderate or severe TBI will be recruited. Finally, to establish age-specific reference values for GFAP and UCH-L1 (secondary objective), we will include 400 children and adolescents with no history of TBI.Ethics and dissemination This study has received ethics approval in all participating countries. Results from our study will be disseminated in international peer-reviewed journals. All procedures were developed in order to assure data protection and confidentiality.Trial registration number NCT05413499.

In the context of environmental protection, the construction industry plays a key role with significant CO2 emissions from mineral-based construction materials. Recycling these materials is crucial, but the presence of hazardous substances, i.e., in older building materials, complicates this effort. To be able to legally introduce substances into a circular economy, reliable predictions within minimal possible time are necessary. This work introduces a machine learning approach for detecting trace quantities (≥0.06 wt%) of minerals, exemplified by siderite in calcium carbonate mixtures. The model, trained on 1680 X-ray powder diffraction datasets, provides dependable and fast predictions, eliminating the need for specialized expertise. While limitations exist in transferability to other mineral traces, the approach offers automation without expertise and a potential for real-world applications with minimal prediction time.

Human rotaviruses attach to histo-blood group antigens glycans and null alleles of the ABO, FUT2 and FUT3 genes seem to confer diminished risk of gastroenteritis. Yet, the true extent of this protection remains poorly quantified. Here, we conducted a prospective study to evaluate the risk of consulting at the hospital in non-vaccinated pediatric patients according to the ABO, FUT2 (secretor) and FUT3 (Lewis) polymorphisms, in Metropolitan France and French Guiana. At both locations, P genotypes were largely dominated by P [8]-3, with P [6] cases exclusively found in French Guiana. The FUT2 null (nonsecretor) and FUT3 null (Lewis negative) phenotypes conferred near full protection against severe gastroenteritis due to P [8]-3 strains (OR 0.03, 95% CI [0.00–0.21] and 0.1, 95% CI [0.01–0.43], respectively in Metropolitan France; OR 0.08, 95% CI [0.01–0.52] and 0.14, 95%CI [0.01–0.99], respectively in French Guiana). Blood group O also appeared protective in Metropolitan France (OR 0.38, 95% CI [0.23–0.62]), but not in French Guiana. The discrepancy between the two locations was explained by a recruitment at the hospital of less severe cases in French Guiana than in Metropolitan France. Considering the frequencies of the null ABO, Secretor and Lewis phenotypes, the data indicate that in a Western European population, 34% (95% CI [29%; 39%]) of infants are genetically protected against rotavirus gastroenteritis of sufficient severity to lead to hospital visit.

Abstract Background A better understanding of the healthcare pathway of children and adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN) may contribute to earlier detection and better disease management. Here we measured and compared the symptomatic time to diagnosis (TTD) (time between the first symptoms, as reported by parents, and the diagnosis) and the auxological TTD (time between the deviation in the weight growth curve and the diagnosis). Methods We performed a monocentric retrospective study including all patients age 9 years to 16 years who were hospitalized in Nantes University Hospital for AN between 2013 and 2016. We analysed the two TTDs by medical record review and growth curve investigation. TTDs were described by medians and Kaplan-Meier curves. Two profiles of patients were compared according to the kinetics of growth deviation and the occurrence of symptoms. Results Among the 137 patients included, the median symptomatic and auxological TTDs was 7.0 months (IQR: 4.0–12.0) and 7.2 months (IQR: 2.0–18.0). TTDs were significantly different but clinically similar. For 48% of the patients, a deviation in the growth curve could have been noted at a median of 9.7 months (IQR: 3.0–18.0) before the first symptoms were reported by parents. Those patients showed significantly slower weight loss than did patients with first symptoms reported before growth deviation (weight loss rate 0.41% vs 1.90% per month, p

Background: The monitoring of head circumference (HC) is essential to early detect any conditions affecting its growth in early childhood. A positive secular trend and regional specificities in HC suggested the need to provide updated national HC reference growth charts. Methods: We extracted all growth data collected from 42 primary-care physicians from across the French metropolitan territory who used the same electronic medical-records software. We selected HC measurements up to age five years for all children who were born after 1990 with birth weight > 2500 g. We derived new HC growth charts by using Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape, then externally validated them until 30 months of age by comparison with the national population-based Étude Longitudinale Française depuis l'Enfance (ELFE) birth cohort and compared them to previous French and WHO growth charts. Findings: With 973,869 HC measurements from 157,762 children, new calibrated HC growth charts from birth to age five years were generated. The new HC growth charts showed good external fit by comparison with the ELFE birth cohort. As compared with the new HC growth charts, the previous French and WHO growth charts mean HC z-scores were, respectively, -0.4 and -0.6 SD for girls and -0.2 and -0.6 SD for boys. Interpretation: We produced and validated national calibrated HC growth charts by using a novel big-data approach applied to data routinely collected in clinical practice. Comparison with previous French and WHO growth charts confirmed a positive secular trend since the 1960s and regional specificities. Funding: The French Ministry of Health; Laboratoires Guigoz—General Pediatrics section of the French Society of Pediatrics—Paediatric Epidemiological Research Group; the French Association of Ambulatory Pediatrics; and educational grant from the Regional Health Agency of Ile-de-France.

Introduction The current Italian law does not include any guidance regarding voice education, prevention of voice disorders and screening in subjects with high vocal loading such as teachers. Objectives We aimed to check the correlation between the Vocal Tract Discomfort Scale (VTDS) with the Voice Symptom Scale (VoiSS) for the evaluation of Italian teachers. In addition, we aimed to investigate whether there are differences in the frequency and intensity of discomfort symptoms in teachers with disabilities comparing vocal tract discomfort symptoms in teachers with high risk (HRVD) and low risk (LRVD) of vocal disorders according to the VoiSS cutoff (> 15.5). Methods We analyzed 160 Italian teachers (111 women and 49 men) that completed the VTDS and VoiSS at vocal evaluation. The Spearman correlation test was applied to all variables. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the average number of discomfort symptoms among HRVD and LRVD teachers. Results A moderate positive correlation was observed between the average number, frequency, and intensity of discomfort symptom and the total score, physical domain score, and limitation domain score of the VoiSS. Only the emotional domain score of the VoiSS showed a weak positive correlation (p

Summary: Background: Both national and WHO growth charts have been found to be poorly calibrated with the physical growth of children in many countries. We aimed to generate new national growth charts for French children in the context of huge datasets of physical growth measurements routinely collected by office-based health practitioners. Methods: We recruited 32 randomly sampled primary care paediatricians and ten volunteer general practitioners from across the French metropolitan territory who used the same electronic medical records software, from which we extracted all physical growth data for the paediatric patients, with anonymisation. We included measurements from all children born from Jan 1, 1990, and aged 1 month to 18 years by Feb 8, 2018, with birthweight greater than 2500 g, to which an automated process of data cleaning developed to detect and delete measurement or transcription errors was applied. Growth charts for weight and height were derived by using generalised additive models for location, scale, and shape with the Box-Cox power exponential distribution. We compared the new charts to WHO growth charts and existing French national growth charts, and validated our charts using growth data from recent national cross-sectional surveys. Findings: After data cleaning, we included 1 458 468 height and 1 690 340 weight measurements from 238 102 children. When compared with the existing French national and WHO growth charts, all height SD and weight percentile curves for the new growth charts were distinctly above those for the existing French national growth charts, as early as age 1 month, with an average difference of −0·75 SD for height and −0·50 SD for weight for both sexes. Comparison with national cross-sectional surveys showed satisfactory calibration, with generally good fit for children aged 5–6 years and 10–11 years in height and weight and small differences at age 14–15 years. Interpretation: We successfully produced calibrated paediatric growth charts by using a novel big-data approach applied to data routinely collected in clinical practice that could be used in many fields other than anthropometry. Funding: The French Ministry of Health; Laboratoires Guigoz—General Pediatrics section of the French Society of Pediatrics—Pediatric Epidemiological Research Group; and the French Association for Ambulatory Pediatrics.

BACKGROUND:Growth monitoring of apparently healthy children aims at early detection of serious conditions through the use of both clinical expertise and algorithms that define abnormal growth. Optimization of growth monitoring requires standardization of the definition of abnormal growth, and the selection of the priority target conditions is a prerequisite of such standardization. OBJECTIVE:To obtain a consensus about the priority target conditions for algorithms monitoring children's growth. METHODS:We applied a formal consensus method with a modified version of the RAND/UCLA method, based on three phases (preparatory, literature review, and rating), with the participation of expert advisory groups from the relevant professional medical societies (ranging from primary care providers to hospital subspecialists) as well as parent associations. We asked experts in the pilot (n = 11), reading (n = 8) and rating (n = 60) groups to complete the list of diagnostic classification of the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology and then to select the conditions meeting the four predefined criteria of an ideal type of priority target condition. RESULTS:Strong agreement was obtained for the 8 conditions selected by the experts among the 133 possible: celiac disease, Crohn disease, craniopharyngioma, juvenile nephronophthisis, Turner syndrome, growth hormone deficiency with pituitary stalk interruption syndrome, infantile cystinosis, and hypothalamic-optochiasmatic astrocytoma (in decreasing order of agreement). CONCLUSION:This national consensus can be used to evaluate the algorithms currently suggested for growth monitoring. The method used for this national consensus could be re-used to obtain an international consensus.

BackgroundGrowth charts are an essential clinical tool for evaluating a child's health and development. The current French reference curves, published in 1979, have recently been challenged by the 2006 World Health Organization (WHO) growth charts.ObjectiveTo evaluate and compare the growth of French children who were born between 1981 and 2007, with the WHO growth charts and the French reference curves currently used.DesignAnthropometric measurements from French children, who participated in 12 studies, were analyzed: 82,151 measurements were available for 27,257 children in different age groups, from birth to 18 years. We calculated and graphically compared mean z-scores based on the WHO and French curves, for height, weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) according to age and sex. The prevalence of overweight using the WHO, the French and International Obesity Task Force definitions were compared.ResultsOur population of children was on average 0.5 standard deviations taller than the French reference population, from the first month of life until puberty age. Mean z-scores for height, weight and BMI were closer to zero based on the WHO growth charts than on the French references from infancy until late adolescence, except during the first six months. These differences not related to breastfeeding rates. As expected, the prevalence of overweight depended on the reference used, and differences varied according to age.ConclusionThe WHO growth charts may be appropriate for monitoring growth of French children, as the growth patterns in our large population of French children were closer to the WHO growth charts than to the French reference curves, from 6 months onwards. However, there were some limitations in the use of these WHO growth charts, and further investigation is needed.

ObjectiveWe aimed to study current practices in growth monitoring by European primary care paediatricians and to explore their perceived needs in this field.MethodsWe developed a cross-sectional, anonymous on-line survey and contacted primary care paediatricians listed in national directories in the 18 European countries with a confederation of primary care paediatricians. Paediatricians participated in the survey between April and September 2011.ResultsOf the 1,198 paediatricians from 11 European countries (response rate 13%) who participated, 29% used the 2006 World Health Organization Multicentre Growth Reference Study growth charts, 69% used national growth charts; 61% used software to draw growth charts and 79% did not use a formal algorithm to detect abnormal growth on growth charts. Among the 21% of paediatricians who used algorithms, many used non-algorithmic simple thresholds for height and weight and none used the algorithms published in the international literature. In all, 69% of paediatricians declared that a validated algorithm to monitor growth would be useful in daily practice. We found important between-country variations.ConclusionThe varied growth-monitoring practices declared by primary care paediatricians reveals the need for standardization and evidence-based algorithms to define abnormal growth and the development of software that would use such algorithms.

Objective: To investigate a temporal association between vaccination and subdural hematoma, the main feature of abusive head trauma.Study Design: From a prospective population-based survey carried out in 1 administrative district in France between January 2015 and April 2017, including all infants between 11 and 52 weeks old who underwent a first cerebral imaging (computerized tomography scan or magnetic resonance imaging), we conducted a nested case-control study. Vaccine exposure was compared between cases (infants with subdural hematoma) and 2-3 paired controls, without subdural hematoma or any other imaging findings compatible with abusive head trauma. Cases and controls were matched on chronological (±7 days) and gestational (≤33 vs >33 weeks) ages, respectively. Vaccination status was collected in the personal national pediatric health booklet.Results: Among the 228 prospectively surveyed infants, 28 had subdural hematoma including 22 with abusive head trauma. The mean chronological age at imaging was 5.3 months among the 28 cases and the 62 controls, who did not differ significantly in median time since last vaccination (1.4 vs 1.3 months, P = .62) or frequency of at least 1 vaccination since birth (86% vs 89%; matched-pairs OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.17-3.86) or within 7 days (0.94, 0.08-6.96), 14 days (0.70, 0.12-2.92), or 21 days (0.48, 0.08-1.98) before cerebral imaging.Conclusions: We found no significant temporal association between vaccination and subdural hematoma diagnosis, which must continue to be considered a red flag for abusive head trauma and child abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Une croissance rapide dans les premiers mois de vie est associée à un risque plus élevé d'obésité plus tard dans la vie. Par ailleurs, des essais contrôlés randomisés (ECR) ont montré que les enfants consommant une préparation infantile avec une teneur élevée en protéines (2,90 g de protéines/100 kcal) avaient un poids plus élevé jusqu'à 24 mois que ceux consommant une préparation infantile avec une faible teneur (1,77 g/100 kcal), ces derniers ayant un poids moyen se rapprochant des enfants allaités exclusivement. Dans ce contexte, l'objectif de cette analyse était d'évaluer l'association entre la teneur en protéines de préparations infantiles, parmi l'ensemble de la gamme disponible en France, et la croissance des enfants jusqu'à 18 mois. Les analyses ont combiné les données de la cohorte mère-enfant EDEN et de la cohorte de naissance Elfe, dont les recrutements se sont déroulés respectivement avant et après la publication de ces essais. Les analyses ont concerné les enfants allaités moins d'un mois, classés en 5 groupes selon la teneur en protéines de la préparation infantile consommée à 4 mois (n = 2574). Une seconde analyse incluant les nourrissons allaités exclusivement pendant au moins 3 mois a également été réalisée (n = 5846). Les associations entre la teneur en protéines des préparations infantiles et les z-scores du poids-pour-âge et de l'IMC-pour-âge à 6, 12 et 18 mois ont été analysées à l'aide de régressions linéaires ajustées sur les principaux facteurs de confusion incluant les IMC parentaux et le z-score à 1 mois du paramètre étudié et sur des variables liées aux cohortes. La teneur moyenne en protéines dans les préparations infantiles était supérieure dans l'étude EDEN (2,4 g/100 kcal) comparée à l'étude ELFE (2,0 g/100 kcal). L'analyse combinée des données des deux cohortes a permis de montrer que la teneur en protéines dans les préparations infantiles consommées à 4 mois était associée positivement aux z-scores du poids et de l'IMC à 6, 12 et 18 mois (à 6 mois pour 1 g/100 kcal, β[IC95 %] = 0,14 [0,05 ; 0,23] pour le poids et 0,25 [0,16 ; 0,34] pour l'IMC). Ainsi, à 6 mois, par rapport au groupe de teneur intermédiaire (2,1–2,5 g/100 kcal), les nourrissons recevant une préparation infantile à teneur en protéines très élevée (> 2,8 g/100 kcal) avaient un z-score de l'IMC-pour-âge plus élevé (β[IC95 %] = 0,20 [0,01 ; 0,39]) tandis que ceux du groupe à très faible teneur en protéines (< 2,0 g/100 kcal) avaient un z-score de l'IMC-pour-âge inférieur (β[IC95 %] = −0,09 [−0,16 ; −0,03]). À chaque âge, les nourrissons allaités exclusivement au moins 3 mois avaient des z-scores de poids et d'IMC inférieurs à ceux consommant uniquement des préparations infantiles depuis l'âge d'un mois. La publication des résultats des ECR s'est accompagnée d'une baisse de la teneur moyenne en protéines des préparations infantiles. Nos résultats ont permis de confirmer, en conditions réelles d'utilisation, l'association positive entre les teneurs en protéines disponibles dans les préparations infantiles et la croissance du poids et de l'IMC jusqu'à 18 mois. Des analyses avec la croissance future seront aussi réalisées. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]