The rise and fall of icons of 'stolen childhood' since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

In the past two decades, the iconography of victimhood mobilized by child rights advocates has changed significantly. In particular, the child victim of violence has replaced the street child as the dominant icon on the international agenda. Based on data from more than 300 documents produced between 1989 and 2009 and interviews with leading advocates, this article explores the diverging trajectories of iconic child victims. It follows the traces of the successive translations of the idea of âeuro~stolen childhoodâeuro? and locates them against the backdrop of evolutions in the childrenâeuro?s rights field.

Exposure to radio-frequency electromagnetic fields from broadcast transmitters and risk of childhood cancer: a census-based cohort study.

We investigated the association between exposure to radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) from broadcast transmitters and childhood cancer. First, we conducted a time-to-event analysis including children under age 16 years living in Switzerland on December 5, 2000. Follow-up lasted until December 31, 2008. Second, all children living in Switzerland for some time between 1985 and 2008 were included in an incidence density cohort. RF-EMF exposure from broadcast transmitters was modeled. Based on 997 cancer cases, adjusted hazard ratios in the time-to-event analysis for the highest exposure category (>0.2 V/m) as compared with the reference category (<0.05 V/m) were 1.03 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.74, 1.43) for all cancers, 0.55 (95% CI: 0.26, 1.19) for childhood leukemia, and 1.68 (95% CI: 0.98, 2.91) for childhood central nervous system (CNS) tumors. Results of the incidence density analysis, based on 4,246 cancer cases, were similar for all types of cancer and leukemia but did not indicate a CNS tumor risk (incidence rate ratio = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.73, 1.46). This large census-based cohort study did not suggest an association between predicted RF-EMF exposure from broadcasting and childhood leukemia. Results for CNS tumors were less consistent, but the most comprehensive analysis did not suggest an association.

Audit report on the Iowa/Jefferson/Keokuk Early Childhood Iowa Area for the year ended June 30, 2014

Audit report on the Iowa/Jefferson/Keokuk Early Childhood Iowa Area for the year ended June 30, 2014

Stroke mortality in the Seychelles: methodological issues.

Comment on: Johnston SC, Mendis S, Mathers CD. Global variation in stroke burden and mortality: estimates from monitoring, surveillance, and modelling. Lancet Neurol. 2009 Apr;8(4):345-54. PMID: 19233730

Assessing the possible direct effect of birth weight on childhood blood pressure : a sensitivity analysis.

To estimate the possible direct effect of birth weight on blood pressure, it is conventional to condition on the mediator, current weight. Such conditioning can induce bias. Our aim was to assess the potential biasing effect of U, an unmeasured common cause of current weight and blood pressure, on the estimate of the controlled direct effect of birth weight on blood pressure, with the help of sensitivity analyses. We used data from a school-based study conducted in Switzerland in 2005-2006 (n = 3,762; mean age = 12.3 years). A small negative association was observed between birth weight and systolic blood pressure (linear regression coefficient βbw = -0.3 mmHg/kg, 95% confidence interval: -0.9, 0.3). The association was strengthened upon adjustment for current weight (βbw|C = -1.5 mmHg/kg, 95% confidence interval: -2.1, -0.9). Sensitivity analyses revealed that the negative conditional association was explained by U only if U was relatively strongly associated with blood pressure and if there was a large difference in the prevalence of U between low-birth weight and normal-birth weight children. This weakens the hypothesis that the negative relationship between birth weight and blood pressure arises only from collider-stratification bias induced by conditioning on current weight.

Prediction of Childhood Asthma Using Conditional Probability and Discrete Event Simulation

Abstract: Asthma prevalence in children and adolescents in Spain is 10-17%. It is the most common chronic illness during childhood. Prevalence has been increasing over the last 40 years and there is considerable evidence that, among other factors, continued exposure to cigarette smoke results in asthma in children. No statistical or simulation model exist to forecast the evolution of childhood asthma in Europe. Such a model needs to incorporate the main risk factors that can be managed by medical authorities, such as tobacco (OR = 1.44), to establish how they affect the present generation of children. A simulation model using conditional probability and discrete event simulation for childhood asthma was developed and validated by simulating realistic scenario. The parameters used for the model (input data) were those found in the bibliography, especially those related to the incidence of smoking in Spain. We also used data from a panel of experts from the Hospital del Mar (Barcelona) related to actual evolution and asthma phenotypes. The results obtained from the simulation established a threshold of a 15-20% smoking population for a reduction in the prevalence of asthma. This is still far from the current level in Spain, where 24% of people smoke. We conclude that more effort must be made to combat smoking and other childhood asthma risk factors, in order to significantly reduce the number of cases. Once completed, this simulation methodology can realistically be used to forecast the evolution of childhood asthma as a function of variation in different risk factors.

Parent-offspring similarity for childhood behaviorial inhibition and associations between inhibition and parental care

L'article constituant le présent travail de thèse décrit une recherche évaluant les similarités entre l'inhibition comportementale chez des enfants et leurs parents respectifs durant l'enfance, ainsi que l'association éventuelle entre l'inhibition et les attitudes parentales. L'inhibition comportementale - définie comme une prédisposition de l'enfant à réagir avec réticence et angoisse à des situations inhabituelles - est une caractéristique de tempérament qui apparaît tôt dans la vie et est relativement stable dans le temps. L'intérêt qui y est associé repose sur son association avec des conséquences développementales négatives pour l'individu: risque accentué chez les enfants d'inadaptation scolaire, de dysfonctionnement social et de sentiments de détresse; facteur de risque en ce qui concerne le développement ultérieur de troubles psychiatriques de l'adulte, dont les troubles anxieux en particulier. Nous avons dès lors investigué dans cette recherche 1) la présence d'une association entre l'inhibition comportementale actuelle des enfants et celle rétrospective de leurs parents, dans ses deux dimensions spécifiques, soit sociale (« peurs à l'école ») et non-sociale (« peurs générales »), et 2) si ces dimensions d'inhibition étaient associées au niveau de chaleur, d'affectivité et de soutien prodigués par les parents. C'est à partir de la récolte d'auto-questionnaires remplis dans le contexte d'une vaste étude initiée à Lausanne en 1994, que nous avons extrait un échantillon de 453 enfants scolarisés en 6/7ème années et 741 de leurs parents biologiques respectifs. Les analyses ont porté sur les auto-questionnaires évaluant, chez les enfants, leurs degrés d'inhibition comportementale, de symptomatologie psychiatrique actuelle et de perception de chaleur, d'affectivité et de soutien reçu de la part des parents, et, en ce qui concerne les parents, des auto¬questionnaires évaluant rétrospectivement leurs degrés d'inhibition comportementale durant l'enfance et de symptomatologie psychiatrique actuelle. La comparaison des scores des enfants avec ceux de leurs parents sur les échelles de l'inhibition comportementale (CSRCI-Child version of the Self-Report of Child Inhibition - et RSRI - Retrospective Self- Report of Inhibition -), montre la présence d'une similarité significative pour chacune des dimensions spécifiques, suggérant que les enfants de parents ayant présenté une inhibition comportementale dans l'enfance sont plus à risque d'en développer une à leur tour. Nous avons par ailleurs pu établir, au cours d'analyses complémentaires, que cette association se maintenait après l'ajustement des degrés de symptomatologie psychiatrique respectifs des enfants et de leurs parents, ce qui a permis d'écarter ce facteur confondant potentiel. Bien que la nature de cette association ne puisse être élucidée par cette recherche, le fait que la taille de l'effet soit modeste suggère qu'un rôle important dans le développement de l'inhibition soit joué par des facteurs environnementaux non partagés dans une famille. Un de ceux-ci semble suggéré par l'association négative qui apparaît dans cette étude entre le degré d'inhibition dans sa dimension « peurs à l'école » et l'attitude parentale: un bas niveau de chaleur, d'affectivité et de soutien perçu par l'enfant de la part de ses parents aurait ainsi une influence sur le développement de peurs en situations sociales en particulier. Alternativement, cette association négative pourrait suggérer que les peurs de l'enfant aient une influence négative sur le développement d'une attitude parentale de soutien ou, du moins, sur la perception de celle-ci par l'enfant. Il est aussi bien évidemment envisageable que ces processus interagissent dans une boucle de rétroaction. Seules des études longitudinales pourraient nous éclairer sur la nature de cette association. Quoi qu'il en soit, ce résultat présente un intérêt clinique pour orienter des interventions de prévention du développement de troubles psychiatriques chez des enfants inhibés, en proposant d'agir, soit directement sur les attitudes parentales, soit sur les peurs de l'enfant ainsi que sur les caractéristiques perçues par l'enfant de l'attitude parentale. Des études longitudinales sur les ressemblances entre les parents et leurs enfants concernant l'inhibition comportementale, incluant des études de jumeaux, d'enfants adoptés et de familles, sont nécessaires pour mieux comprendre les interactions entre les facteurs génétiques, familiaux et environnementaux dans le développement de l'inhibition comportementale des enfants.

European cancer mortality predictions for the year 2012.

BACKGROUND: Estimating current cancer mortality figures is important for defining priorities for prevention and treatment.Materials and methods:Using logarithmic Poisson count data joinpoint models on mortality and population data from the World Health Organization database, we estimated numbers of deaths and age-standardized rates in 2012 from all cancers and selected cancer sites for the whole European Union (EU) and its six more populated countries. RESULTS: Cancer deaths in the EU in 2012 are estimated to be 1 283 101 (717 398 men and 565 703 women) corresponding to standardized overall cancer death rates of 139/100 000 men and 85/100 000 women. The fall from 2007 was 10% in men and 7% in women. In men, declines are predicted for stomach (-20%), leukemias (-11%), lung and prostate (-10%) and colorectal (-7%) cancers, and for stomach (-23%), leukemias (-12%), uterus and colorectum (-11%) and breast (-9%) in women. Almost stable rates are expected for pancreatic cancer (+2-3%) and increases for female lung cancer (+7%). Younger women show the greatest falls in breast cancer mortality rates in the EU (-17%), and declines are expected in all individual countries, except Poland. CONCLUSION: Apart for lung cancer in women and pancreatic cancer, continuing falls are expected in mortality from major cancers in the EU.

Telomere fluorescence measurements in granulocytes and T lymphocyte subsets point to a high turnover of hematopoietic stem cells and memory T cells in early childhood.

To study telomere length dynamics in hematopoietic cells with age, we analyzed the average length of telomere repeat sequences in diverse populations of nucleated blood cells. More than 500 individuals ranging in age from 0 to 90 yr, including 36 pairs of monozygous and dizygotic twins, were analyzed using quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization and flow cytometry. Granulocytes and naive T cells showed a parallel biphasic decline in telomere length with age that most likely reflected accumulated cell divisions in the common precursors of both cell types: hematopoietic stem cells. Telomere loss was very rapid in the first year, and continued for more than eight decades at a 30-fold lower rate. Memory T cells also showed an initial rapid decline in telomere length with age. However, in contrast to naive T cells, this decline continued for several years, and in older individuals lymphocytes typically had shorter telomeres than did granulocytes. Our findings point to a dramatic decline in stem cell turnover in early childhood and support the notion that cell divisions in hematopoietic stem cells and T cells result in loss of telomeric DNA.

High cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in myofibrillar myopathies due to DES gene mutations: a 10-year longitudinal study.

To determine incidence and type of major cardiac adverse events in patients with mutated desmin (DES) gene, we retrospectively reviewed baseline medical information, and examined the long-term outcomes of 28 DES patients (17 men, baseline mean age=37.7±14.4 years [min=9, max=71]) from 19 families. Baseline studies revealed skeletal muscle involvement in 21 patients and cardiac abnormalities in all but one patient. Over a mean follow-up of 10.4±9.4 years [min=1, max=35], cardiac death occurred in three patients, death due to cardiac comorbidities in two, one or more major cardiac adverse events in 13 patients. Among the 19 patients with mild conduction defects at baseline, eight developed high-degree conduction blocks requiring permanent pacing. Cardiac involvement was neither correlated with the type of DES mutation nor with the severity of skeletal muscle involvement. Our study underscores that in DES patients in-depth cardiac investigations are needed to prevent cardiac conduction system disease.

Childhood socioeconomic position and objectively measured physical capability levels in adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Grip strength, walking speed, chair rising and standing balance time are objective measures of physical capability that characterise current health and predict survival in older populations. Socioeconomic position (SEP) in childhood may influence the peak level of physical capability achieved in early adulthood, thereby affecting levels in later adulthood. We have undertaken a systematic review with meta-analyses to test the hypothesis that adverse childhood SEP is associated with lower levels of objectively measured physical capability in adulthood. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Relevant studies published by May 2010 were identified through literature searches using EMBASE and MEDLINE. Unpublished results were obtained from study investigators. Results were provided by all study investigators in a standard format and pooled using random-effects meta-analyses. 19 studies were included in the review. Total sample sizes in meta-analyses ranged from N = 17,215 for chair rise time to N = 1,061,855 for grip strength. Although heterogeneity was detected, there was consistent evidence in age adjusted models that lower childhood SEP was associated with modest reductions in physical capability levels in adulthood: comparing the lowest with the highest childhood SEP there was a reduction in grip strength of 0.13 standard deviations (95% CI: 0.06, 0.21), a reduction in mean walking speed of 0.07 m/s (0.05, 0.10), an increase in mean chair rise time of 6% (4%, 8%) and an odds ratio of an inability to balance for 5s of 1.26 (1.02, 1.55). Adjustment for the potential mediating factors, adult SEP and body size attenuated associations greatly. However, despite this attenuation, for walking speed and chair rise time, there was still evidence of moderate associations. CONCLUSIONS: Policies targeting socioeconomic inequalities in childhood may have additional benefits in promoting the maintenance of independence in later life.

Effects of competing vegetation and post-planting weed control on the mortality, growth and vole damages to Betula pendula planted on former agricultural land

Abstract

Roumanian childhood and adolescence in transnational migrations

This book offers the reader the study and the conclusions obtained from theresearch made in Spain in the frame of the JUST/2009/FRAC/AG/0933 project,“Children’s rights in action. Improving children’s rights in migration acrossEurope. The Romanian case”. A project funded by the Department of FundamentalRights and Citizenship of the European Commission. This research wascarried out in Spain, Italy and Romania between October 2010 and June 2012,performing activities to spread the results obtained until March 2013.

Childhood and malaria vaccines combined in biodegradable microspheres produce immunity with synergistic interactions.

Biodegradable microspheres may represent a potential tool for the delivery of combination vaccines. We demonstrate strong immunogenicity of five co-encapsulated antigens after a single subcutaneous inoculation in guinea pigs. Tetanus- and diphtheria-specific antibodies were not significantly affected by the presence of either antigen or by the presence of pertussis or Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) antigens. Microsphere formulations gave better protection against diphtheria toxin than did two injections of a licensed tetravalent vaccine. Finally, a synthetic malaria peptide antigen (PfCS) also encapsulated in PLGA microspheres increased diphtheria and tetanus-specific immunity and improved protection against diphtheria. These findings demonstrate the potential of microspheres as an alternative and promising strategy for combination vaccines with a further aptitude in reducing the number of inoculations required to gain functional immunity.