Opioids are the most effective and widely used drugs in the treatment of severe pain. They act through G protein-coupled receptors. Four families of endogenous ligands (opioid peptides) are known. The standard exogenous opioid analgesic is morphine.…
Previous research indicated shared neurochemical substrates for gambling and psychostimulant reward. This suggests that dopamine substrates may directly govern the reinforcement process in pathological gambling. To investigate this issue, the present…
OBJECTIVES: To examine patterns of health care utilization among youth and young adults who have cerebral palsy (CP) and to provide information to guide the development of health services for adults who have CP. DESIGN: This study analyzed health…
Palliative care for children is complex and focuses on patients' comfort. Some of the most troublesome symptoms as patients approach the end of life are seizures, agitation, and spasticity. Many doctors caring for children at the end of life are…
AIM: To describe and understand the experiences of Chinese family members of terminally ill patients during the end of life process in a palliative care unit. BACKGROUND: Palliative care aims to provide care to dying patients and their family…
OBJECTIVES: To describe the patients who received care from the 8 dedicated pediatric palliative care programs in Canada in 2002 and to estimate the number of children who may have benefited but did not receive services from these programs. DESIGN:…
Child life-limiting illnesses are those from which there is no reasonable hope of cure and from which children will die. Only recently have these illnesses been recognized as a discrete category and thus relatively little research has focused…
We present a case of a 29 months old previously healthy child who experienced apnea resulting in brain injury following a dose of acetaminophen and codeine 2 days after an uneventful anesthetic for tonsillectomy. A genetic polymorphism leading to…
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe and show effectiveness of the outreach team model of palliative care (PC) in allowing home death for children with incurable cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Over 7 months, 185 children from 22 United…
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, with most of these deaths taking place in the hospital setting. Discussions on end-of-life care and on cardiopulmonary resuscitation in particular are an important component in the…
BACKGROUND: Advances in biomedical science and technology have resulted in dramatic improvements in the healthcare of pediatric chronic conditions. With enhanced survival, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) issues have become more salient. The…
BACKGROUND: There is only limited knowledge about the emotional impact that performing euthanasia has on primary care physicians (PCPs) in the Netherlands., OBJECTIVE: To obtain more insight into the emotional impact on PCPs of performing euthanasia…
BACKGROUND: In 2002, an act regulating the ending of life by a physician at the request of a patient with unbearable suffering came into effect in the Netherlands. In 2005, we performed a follow-up study of euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and…
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Hospital deaths following several hospital admissions or long hospital stays may be indicative of a low quality of dying. Although place of death has been extensively investigated at population level, hospital use in the last…
The characteristic clinical presentation, especially the appearance of muscle symptoms, is quite unique in children carrying the mtA8344G mutation. The diagnosis of MERRF syndrome is seldom made in the pediatric age. Fatigue is a common finding in…
Fatigue is one of the most prevalent symptoms in patients with a life-threatening illness. Untreated, fatigue can impair quality of life and prohibit addressing practical needs, psychosocial and spiritual distress, and opportunities for growth and…
There are many challenges in coping with and adapting to life with a chronic disease, and increased survival cannot be assumed to be associated with increased quality of life. A recent systematic review shows there is wide variation in outcomes…
The goals of pediatric rheumatologists are to ensure the best possible medical, functional, and social outcomes for their patients. Transition from pediatric to adult rheumatology care is a critical component of comprehensive care for adolescents and…
It has been identified that there is a need for increased palliative care research within the paediatric setting. The assessment of parental views is necessary for this population. However, the conduct of research and recruitment of participants is…
BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to make a comprehensive inventory of the physical, psychological, and social symptoms of children with cancer and their parents during the palliative phase and the extent to which health professionals address…
The underlying mechanisms of antipsychotic (AP)-induced weight gain are unknown, but both central and peripheral AP target receptors could potentially be involved. This study used radioligand binding assays to compare the binding affinities of…
OBJECTIVES: To determine parental participation in medical decision-making (MDM) during hospitalization and its association with parental self-efficacy and to explore other factors associated with participation. STUDY DESIGN: We surveyed parents of…
The study of pharmacologically active peptides is central to the understanding of disease and development of novel therapies. It would be advantageous to monitor the fate of bioactive peptides in biological fluids and tissues following their in vivo…
To determine the underlying factor structure of the Japanese version of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI-J), a principal components analysis was performed on data from 312 Japanese undergraduate students who reported growth due to their most…
This study applied three family measures (ratings of service adequacy or implementation, satisfaction with the family–professional partnership, and family quality of life) to a sample of families of young children in one Midwestern U.S. state. The…
BACKGROUND: Progressive encephalopathy (PE) in children is a heterogeneous group of diseases mainly composed of metabolic diseases, but it consists also of neurodegenerative disorders where neither metabolic nor other causes are found. We wanted to…
In this Review, we look at the relation between bereavement and physical and mental health. Although grief is not a disease and most people adjust without professional psychological intervention, bereavement is associated with excess risk of…
Young people with a chronic illness or disability originating in childhood ultimately need transition to adult care. The process of leaving a familiar paediatric service and effectively engaging in appropriate adult health care can be challenging and…
Pediatric palliative care is increasingly recognized to be a specialized type of care requiring specific skills and knowledge, yet, as found in several countries, there is little available research evidence on which to base care. Objectives: The goal…
BACKGROUND: There are few cost-minimisation studies in telemedicine. We have compared the actual costs of providing a telepaediatric service to the potential costs if patients had travelled to see the specialist in person. METHODS: In November 2000,…
Proopiomelanocortin (POMC)-derived beta-endorphin1-31 (END) released from immune cells inhibits inflammatory pain. We examined the expression of END and POMC mRNA encoding the signal sequence required for entry of the nascent polypeptide into the…
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Bone pain in malignancy can be challenging to treat. Bisphosphonates have been found to be useful in adults with bone pain, but there are no reports of their use in children for this indication. In pediatric palliative medicine…
BACKGROUND: Interactive voice response (IVR) systems that collect survey data using automated, push-button telephone responses may be useful to monitor patients' pain and function at home; however, its equivalency to other data collection methods has…
BACKGROUND: To examine the quality of transitional health care from the perspectives of young people with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and their parents. METHODS: Adolescents with JIA and their parents were recruited from 10 major UK…
BACKGROUND: To develop a scale to assess satisfaction with transitional health care among adolescents with a chronic illness and their parents. METHODS: The 'Mind the Gap' scale was developed using evidence from a previous needs assessment, in three…
Introduction. Hypoplastic left heart syndrome was uniformly fatal until the 1980s but now has survival approaching 70% to age 5 due to treatment advances. The current study was undertaken to examine trends in the intervention rate, survival, and…
