What do children think happens to the food they eat?

In this study, the explanations of two classes of 10-year old children about what happens to the food that they eat were explored, particularly in the context of theories about the development of children's concepts of the human body. These ideas were investigated in a number of ways: obtaining children's own writing and drawings; semi-structured individual interviews; and examining choices made between alternative explanations. The results suggested that children applied their knowledge of everyday materials to understand the initial stages of what happens to food, but their ideas about later stages were more tentative and within the group there was a range of different kinds of explanation preferred. The limitations and achievements of the children's thinking are considered in the context of the school curriculum.     

The Educational Benefits of a Ten-Week Home-Based Wild Bird Feeding Program for Children

ABSTRACT

This study evaluated a ten-week educational home-based program for feeding wild birds, intended to increase elementary school age children's knowledge about birds, especially those wild birds commonly encountered at outdoor home feeders. We measured changes from pre- to post-program in 65 seven- to 12-year old children's knowledge about wild birds, as well as in environmental attitudes. The goal was not only to increase bird knowledge in the target child but also to involve other family members in home-based nature education activities. After the program, seven- to nine-year old boys and girls showed significant gains in bird knowledge, but older children (10–12 years) did not significantly improve. Children's increased knowledge was positively associated with parental education. There was no systematic change in environmental attitudes. Parents identified family involvement as a particularly beneficial aspect of the program, and 90% of contacted families were still feeding birds one year after program termination.     

Childhood Obesity: Do Parents Recognize This Health Risk?

Objective: This study examined parents’ understanding of excess weight as a health risk, knowledge of healthy eating habits, and recognition of obesity in their children. Research Methods and Procedures: An anonymous questionnaire was distributed during well‐care visits involving children 4 to 8 years of age at a pediatric faculty practice. Parents indicated their level of concern about excess weight and other familiar health risks using a four‐point Likert scale, answered multiple‐choice questions concerning healthy eating patterns, and communicated their perceptions about their child's weight using a visual analog scale. A parent's perception was considered “accurate” if it deviated from the child's growth chart percentile by <30 points. Results: Of the 83 parents surveyed, 23% (19/83) had overweight children (≥95th percentile of age‐ and gender‐specific BMI growth charts). These parents did not differ from other parents in their level of concern about excess weight as a health risk or in their knowledge of healthy eating patterns, but the two groups of parents did differ in the accuracy of their perceptions about their children's weight. Only 10.5% of parents of overweight children (2/19) perceived their child's weight accurately compared with 59.4% of other parents (38/64; p < 0.001). Parents of overweight children invariably underestimated their children's weight. The median difference between their perception and the growth chart percentile was ?45 points. Discussion: Given that most parents of overweight children fail to recognize that their child has a weight problem, pediatricians should develop strategies to help these parents correct their misperceptions.     

Making a Design Hold Together

The author examines early childhood music education in Taiwan through Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory. Factors in the microsystem level that influenced the musical development of children included adult perception of children, child-adult interactions, Taiwanese family structure, and the existing early childhood education system. The quality of child-parent-teacher relationships in mesosystem, the second level, had a noticeable impact on children's musical development. Exosystem, the next level, illustrated how insufficient early childhood teacher training in music influenced children's musical growth. The outermost level illustrated the educational policies and how the current practice affected Taiwanese children's music learning. The author gives recommendations to improve current practice of educational policies based on problems raised and discussed in the different levels.     

Abstracts

Abstract

This study examines the effects of gender in conjunction with age, pet ownership, and sibling status on children's ideas about domestic animal young (puppies and kittens) and how they are nurtured. A theoretical model accounting for gender differences in the development of nurturance in children is presented. The model argues that children may develop knowledge about nurture from many sources, including animals, and that gender differences are most likely when behavior (versus knowledge) and baby care (versus animal care) are assessed. Ideas about animal young and animal caregiving of their young were individually assessed in structured interviews with 43 preschoolers and 42 second graders. Boys' ideas increased with age, while that of girls did not. Having a younger sibling was associated with more knowledge in boys but not in girls. Children with pets had more ideas about how adult animals cared for their young than did non-pet owners.     

Children's ideas of animals' internal structures

Children's understanding about animal internal structure can be affected by several factors which are poorly understoodby teachers. We conducted a large sample study (n=702) of children aged 6–16 years (Grades 1-9) examining children's responses to animals of various size, species and dimensions (2D and 3D objects), and exploring factors which might affect the development of their knowledge. Each child made a drawing of what they thought was inside a specimen animal. We found that using 2D representations of an animal negatively affected the content of children drawings.The effect of animalsize was shown only in children's understanding of skeletons, but not organ systems. The effect of animal species showedclear significant effect of children's ideas on both organ systems and skeleton. Investigation showed that parents' education level, children's experiences with animal-rearing and age significantly affected their scores from organ system. Surprisingly, school books were most frequently cited as sources of children's knowledge rather than their own experience, or information from the internet, encyclopaedias, television or parents.     

Facilitating the Communicative Competence of the Child Witness

Efforts to elicit reliable testimony from children are frustrated by developmental limitations on children's communicative competence. This study examines (a) how children cope when adults ask incomprehensible questions, and (b) whether interview perfonnance can be enhanced by facilitating children's comprehension monitoring and response strategies. One hundred and eighty children, half 6 and half 8-years-olds, were assigned randomly within age group to 1 of 3 treatment conditions (training, instructions, control) and I of 2 interviewer conditions (familiar, unfamiliar). Children's memories of a previously staged event were tested with interview questions varying in comprehensibility. Results suggest that when confronted with difficult-to-comprehend questions regarding easily recalled information, children in the control group tried to answer anyway but were as likely to respond incorrectly as correctly. In contrast, when children were instructed to verbalize their lack of comprehension, and given a rationale for doing so, they performed significantly better than the control group. Moreover, when children received instructions and prepared for the interview with practice detecting and coping with noncomprehension, the training group demonstrated marked improvements in interview performance compared with the other 2 groups. Results demonstrate that although children's limited communication skills present a barrier to reliable testimony, it is one that might be minimized by instructions or preparation of child witnesses.     

Predictors of accurate maternal perception of their preschool child's weight status among Hispanic WIC participants

Childhood obesity is a growing problem in the United States. Parental perception of their children's weight status is a key factor that needs to be considered when developing prevention programs for preschool children. Using a randomly selected sample of participants of Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in Los Angeles County, we assessed accuracy of maternal perceptions of their children's weight status by comparing children's weight classification to the mothers' response to the question “Do you consider your child to be overweight, underweight or about right weight for (his) (her) height?” Additionally, we identified possible predictors of accurate maternal perception of their children's weight status by conducting a logistic regression model with child's gender, child's birth weight, maternal age, maternal BMI, maternal education, maternal acculturation level, and maternal language preference as potential predictors. Almost all mothers in the study classified their overweight or obese child as being about the right weight (93.6% and 77.5% of mothers, respectively). Maternal BMI and child's birth weight were the only predictors of maternal perception of their child's weight. Both were negatively associated with accuracy, with higher maternal BMI and higher infant birthweight associated with less accurate maternal perception of child weight. Parents need to be educated on the importance of childhood obesity and how to identify if their children are overweight or obese. If parents fail to recognize that their overweight child is overweight, then it is unlikely that they will recognize that interventions targeting obesity are relevant to their families.     

Progressive resistance training reduces myosin heavy chain coexpression in single muscle fibers from older men.

The purpose of this study was to examine myosin heavy chain (MHC) and myosin light chain (MLC) isoforms following 12 wk of progressive resistance training (PRT). A needle biopsy was taken from the vastus lateralis to determine fiber-type expression [ATPase (pH 4.54) and MHC/MLC] in seven healthy men (age = 74.0 +/- 1.8 yr). Subjects were also tested for 1-repetition maximum (1-RM), pre- and posttraining. The progressive knee extensor protocol consisted of three sets at 80% of 1-RM 3 days/wk for 12 wk. Freeze-dried, single muscle fibers were dissected for MHC and MLC analysis and then subjected to SDS-PAGE and silver staining, pre- and posttraining. MHC expression increased in the I (10.4%; P < 0.05) and decreased in I/IIa (9.0%; P < 0.05), I/IIa/x (0.9%; P < 0.05), and IIa/x (8.9%; P < 0.05) isoforms, with no change in the IIa and IIx isoforms, pre- vs. posttraining (total fibers = 3,059). The MLC(3f)-to-MLC(2) ratio did not change with the PRT in either the MHC I or MHC IIa isoforms (total fibers = 902), pre- to posttraining. ATPase fiber distribution did not significantly differ following training (I: 50. 4 +/- 6.7 vs. 51.9 +/- 7.9, IIa: 36.8 +/- 5.3 vs. 41.1 +/- 7.0, IIb: 12.8 +/- 5.6 vs. 7.0 +/- 4.0%; pre- vs. posttraining, respectively). 1-RM increased (51.9%; P < 0.05) from pre- to posttraining. The PRT provide a stimulus for alterations in MHC isoforms, which demonstrated a decrease in all hybrid isoforms and an increase in MHC I expression (not found in the ATPase results), unlike the MLC ratio (3:2), which was not altered with training.     

History of the Department of Pediatrics Yale University School of Medicine.

The history of pediatrics at the Yale University School of Medicine can be divided into eight historical eras. The "Paleohistorical Era" included colonial figures such as Governor John Winthrop and Hezekiah Beardsley who wrote about children''s disease in colonial times. Eli Ives, Professor of the Diseases of Children at Yale Medical School gave the first systematic pediatric course in America in the first half of the nineteenth century. During the second era, from 1830-1920, the New Haven Hospital was opened. An affiliation between Yale University and the New Haven Hospital led to the formal establishment of clinical departments including pediatrics in the early 20th century. Six eras coinciding with successive pediatric chairman have led the department to its present respected position in American pediatrics. The department''s 75th anniversary in 1996 is an occasion to recognize many of the department''s accomplishments and leaders over the years. It is also a time to reaffirm the mission of the department: to the health needs of the children of Connecticut and beyond, to the advancement of scientific knowledge of infants and children and their diseases, and to the training and educational of the pediatric clinicians, educators and investigators of the future.     

Expected Consequences of Disclosure Revealed in Investigative Interviews with Suspected Victims of Child Sexual Abuse

The current study explored the expected consequences of disclosure discussed by 204 5- to 13-year-old suspected victims of child sexual abuse during the course of investigative interviews conducted using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol. Expected consequences were mentioned in nearly half of all interviews, with older children and those alleging multiple incidents more likely to do so. Most consequences were mentioned spontaneously by children and most consequences were expected to befall the children themselves. The most common consequences were physical harm and feeling negative emotions for the child and jail/legal consequences for the suspect. Expecting consequences for the child or another family member were associated with delaying disclosure, but expecting consequences for the suspect was not related to delay. Results provide insight into developmental and socio-motivational influences on children's disclosure of negative events and are of considerable practical interest to legal and clinical professionals who must interview, treat, and evaluate children alleging sexual abuse.     

支气管哮喘患儿病情控制的影响因素及其家长知信行问卷调查分析

摘要 目的：调查支气管哮喘患儿家长知信行情况,并分析支气管哮喘患儿病情控制的影响因素。方法：于2016年7月~2020年7月期间,选取我院收治的500例支气管哮喘患儿及其家长作为研究对象。患儿家长知信行情况采用《哮喘患儿家长知信行问卷》调查。患儿近4周的病情控制水平参照《诸福棠实用儿科学(第8版)》中的相关标准进行确定,病情控制水平包括良好控制、部分控制和未控制。将良好控制、部分控制的患儿纳为哮喘控制组,将未控制的患儿纳为哮喘未控制组。采用本院自制的调查量表调查患儿及其家长的信息,分析支气管哮喘患儿病情控制的影响因素。结果：支气管哮喘儿童家长知信行情况不容乐观。支气管哮喘患儿病情控制率为38.06%（187/491）。单因素分析结果表明,支气管哮喘患儿病情控制与家庭人均月收入、患儿个人过敏史、家长受教育程度、哮喘家族史、是否坚持长期用药、是否定期复诊有关（P<0.05）。多因素Logistic回归分析结果显示,家长受教育程度、家庭人均月收入、患儿个人过敏史、哮喘家族史、是否坚持长期用药、是否定期复诊均是支气管哮喘患儿病情控制的影响因素（P<0.05）。结论：本研究中支气管哮喘患儿病情控制水平一般,且支气管哮喘儿童家长知信行情况不容乐观,其中家长受教育程度、家庭人均月收入、患儿个人过敏史等均是支气管哮喘患儿病情控制的影响因素,临床中应结合相关因素进行针对性的干预或治疗,以期实现对支气管哮喘患儿病情的良好控制。     

Acute Increase of Children's Conjunctivitis Clinic Visits by Asian Dust Storms Exposure - A Spatiotemporal Study in Taipei,Taiwan

Adverse health impacts of Asian dust storms (ADS) have been widely investigated and discussed in respiratory disease, but no study has examined the association between ADS events and their impact on eye diseases, especially in children. The impact of ADS events on the incidence of children''s conjunctivitis is examined by analyzing the data from children''s clinic visits registered in the 41 districts of Taipei area in Taiwan during the period 2002–2007. The structural additive regression modeling approach was used to assess the association between ADS events and clinic visits for conjunctivitis in children with consideration of day-of-the-week effects, temperature, and air quality levels. This study identifies an acute increase in the relative rate for children''s conjunctivitis clinic visits during ADS periods with 1.48% (95% CI = 0.79, 2.17) for preschool children (aged <6 years old) and 9.48% (95% CI = 9.03, 9.93) for schoolchildren (aged ≥6 years old), respectively. The relative rates during post-ADS periods were still statistically significant, but much lower than those during ADS periods. The spatial analysis presents geographic heterogeneity of children''s conjunctivitis clinic visits where higher relative rates were more likely observed in the most populated districts Compared to previous ADS studies related to respiratory diseases, our results reveals significantly acute impacts on children''s conjunctivitis during ADS periods, and much influence on schoolchildren. Vulnerable areas were also identified in high density population.     

Dreaming in Spain: parental determinants of immigrant children's ambition

We examine determinants of educational and occupational aspirations and expectations among children of immigrants in Spain on the basis of a unique data set that includes statistically representative data for foreign-origin secondary students in Madrid and Barcelona plus a sample of one-fourth of their parents. Independently collected data for both generations allow us to establish effects of parental characteristics on children's orientations without the confounding potential inherent in children's reports about parents. We analyse first determinants of parental ambition and, through a series of stepwise regressions, the effects of these goals and other parental and family characteristics on children's aspirations and expectations. A structural equations model synthesizes the results of the analysis. The model confirms predictions from the research literature, especially those based on the Wisconsin status attainment model, but rejects others, including the predicted significance of private versus public school attendance. Parental ambition, knowledge of Spanish by parents and children, gender and children's age are major determinants of youths' educational and occupational goals. These results have direct implications for policy; these are discussed in the conclusion.     

Parents' knowledge of students' beliefs and attitudes: An indirect assay of parental solicitude?

In two studies, undergraduates filled out questionnaires containing various attitude and belief items, and their parents then provided both their own responses to the same items and their best guesses as to how their children had responded. As predicted, stepfathers were significantly less accurate then genetic fathers, and maternal accuracy increased as a function of the mother's age when her child was born. On average, mothers and fathers did not differ in accuracy, nor was offspring sex a significant predictor of parental accuracy. However, mothers were most accurate in guessing the views of firstborn sons, whereas fathers tended to be more accurate about daughters' views. These results suggest that parents' ability to guess their children's views may provide a useful index of parental interest and/or of parent-child closeness.     

Guest Editorial: Bildung-Psychology: The Substance and Structure of an Emerging Discipline

The present study examined (1) the ways investigative interviewers in forensic settings prepared children for substantive questioning, and (2) whether the techniques used and the amount of time spent in the pre-substantive phase were related to children's informativeness. Accuracy of the children's statements was not assessed. The sample included investigative interviews of a small sample of 75 alleged victims of sexual abuse in Malaysia, aged 5 to 15 years. Explanations of the conversational rules, purpose of the interview, and the children's roles as informants appeared to help the youngest children to be informative. The results also revealed possible limits to the potential benefits of rapport-building and suggest that interviewers should monitor the amount of time they spend preparing children for substantive questioning. Implications for addressing the limitations of the present research and directions for future research are discussed.     

维吾尔族与汉族儿童肠道细菌群落分析

【背景】肠道菌群是人体的重要组成部分,在人体的多种生命活动中发挥着重要作用。【目的】探究维吾尔族和汉族儿童肠道细菌群落特征,为儿童营养健康状况监测和营养改善工作提供更有效精准的营养干预策略。【方法】从新疆维吾尔自治区泽普县维吾尔族和河南省民权县汉族人群中分别随机选取10?12岁学龄期儿童各20名,同一时间段收集其新鲜粪便,提取细菌总DNA,通过高通量测序和生物信息学分析,研究两地区健康维吾尔族儿童与汉族儿童肠道细菌群落的差异。【结果】获得测序序列2 007 100条,归类于994个OTU;所有样本共含15个细菌门139属。α多样性和β多样性分析表明,调查地区的2个民族儿童肠道细菌的丰富度和多样性均有统计学意义上的差异,维吾尔族儿童肠道细菌群落丰富度高于汉族儿童,而物种多样性不如汉族儿童。其中,维吾尔族儿童肠道细菌丰度相对占优势的门和属及其丰度值为：拟杆菌门(Bacteroidetes,63%)、厚壁菌门(Firmicutes,22%)、普氏菌属(Prevotella,61%)、琥珀酸弧菌属(Succinivibrio,9%)和粪杆菌属(Faecalibacterium,5%);汉族儿童肠道细菌丰度占优势的门和属及其丰度值为：厚壁菌门(57%)、拟杆菌门(23%)、粪杆菌属(16%)、普氏菌属(11%)和拟杆菌属(Bacteroides,11%)。【结论】调查地区维吾尔族与汉族儿童肠道细菌群落差异较大,这为进一步研究肠道菌群与膳食因素及人体营养健康状况之间的关系提供了依据。     

Children's Wheelchair Clinic

During the first year of a children''s monthly wheelchair clinic 29 out of 34 chairs supplied in the past were found to be unsatisfactory. The advantages of a central clinic for a region where clinicians and technical officers can meet are emphasized, as is also the need for wider dispersal of knowledge about wheelchairs for disabled children.     

Does benefit justify research with children?

The inclusion of children in research gives rise to a difficult ethical question: What justifies children's research participation and exposure to research risks when they cannot provide informed consent? This question arises out of the tension between the moral requirement to obtain a subject's informed consent for research participation, on the one hand, and the limited capacity of most children to provide informed consent, on the other. Most agree that children's participation in clinical research can be justified. But the ethical justification for exposing children to research risks in the absence of consent remains unclear. One prevalent group of arguments aims to justify children's risk exposure by appealing to the concept of benefit. I call these ‘benefit arguments’. Prominent versions of this argument defend the idea that broadening our understanding of the notion of benefit to include non‐medical benefits (such as the benefit of a moral education) helps to justify children's research participation. I argue that existing benefit arguments are not persuasive and raise problems with the strategy of appealing to broader notions of benefit to justify children's exposure to research risk.     

Is Parental Control over Children's Eating Associated with Childhood Obesity? Results from a Population‐Based Sample of Third Graders

Objective: Identifying parental behaviors that influence childhood obesity is critical for the development of effective prevention and treatment programs. Findings from a prior laboratory study suggest that parents who impose control over their children's eating may interfere with their children's ability to regulate intake, potentially resulting in overweight. These findings have been widely endorsed; however, the direct relationship between parental control of children's intake and their children's degree of overweight has not been shown in a generalized sample. Research Methods and Procedures: This study surveyed 792 third‐grade children with diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds from 13 public elementary schools. Parental control over children's intake was assessed through telephone interviews using a state‐of‐the‐art instrument, and children were measured for height, weight, and triceps skinfold thickness. Results: Counter to the hypothesis, parental control over children's intake was inversely associated with overweight in girls, as measured by body mass index, r = ?0.12, p < 0.05, and triceps skinfolds, r = ?0.11, p < 0.05. This weak relationship became only marginally significant when controlling for parents’ perceptions of their own weight, level of household education, and children's age. No relationship between parental control of children's intake and their children's degree of overweight was found in boys. Discussion: Previous observations of the influence of parental control over children's intake in middle‐class white families did not generalize to 8‐ to 9‐year‐olds in families with diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. The present findings reveal a more complex relationship between parental behaviors and children's weight status.