Explore the vast range of titles available.

Youth with sickle cell disease (SCD), a genetic disorder of red blood cells, may experience acute pain episodes lasting 2 to 3 days on average. While existing research has demonstrated associations between SCD pain and poor social functioning in youth with SCD, there are no data on whether symptoms of depression and anxiety modify the relationship between pain and functional outcomes in pediatric pain populations. It was hypothesized that more symptoms of depression and anxiety would exacerbate the relationship between high pain and poor social functioning in youth with SCD. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 114 youth with SCD and their guardians assessing the youth's pain, social functioning, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Analyses indicated that elevated levels of depressive symptoms were related to poorer self-reported interpersonal skills. More anxiety symptoms were related to better guardian-reported social skills and weakened the relationship between high pain frequency and poor self-reported interpersonal skills. Findings build on previous work supporting the need for multidisciplinary approaches to care for youth with SCD who experience pain, and provide rationale for future studies to investigate the direct and possible moderating effects of depression and anxiety symptoms on other functional outcomes in youth with SCD and other pediatric pain populations.

Not only do racial and ethnic minority children and adolescents with chronic illness experience disparities in health status and health outcomes, they also experience significant healthcare disparities, including differences in healthcare coverage, access to care, and quality of care. It is well known that the interaction between psychosocial functioning, health behaviors and ethnic and racial disparities, ultimately leads to worse health and psychosocial outcomes in pediatric and AYA chronic illness patient populations, including increased rates of morbidity and mortality. Investigating the impact of racial and ethnic factors on health outcomes, and strategies for reducing these disparities, is of the utmost importance, specifically in life-threatening conditions like cancer and sickle cell disease. This commentary underscores the relative importance of identifying factors that could reduce disparities between minority and non-minority populations. This present paper will focus on the dynamic relationships between health disparities, psychosocial factors and health outcomes within pediatric cancer, sickle cell disease and bone marrow transplant populations, and will offer recommendations for healthcare professionals working with these vulnerable patient populations. The primary goal of this commentary is to provide recommendations for enhancing cultural competency and humility for those working with highly vulnerable patient populations.

This study examines cognitive ability profiles of children with specific age-based normative weaknesses in reading comprehension and compares those profiles to the profiles of (a) children with at least average achievement in reading comprehension, reading decoding skills, and mathematics and (b) children with low achievement across the 3 achievement areas. When compared across 9 cognitive ability composite scores derived from Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory and measured by the Woodcock-Johnson III [Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather (2001). \"Woodcock-Johnson.\" Itasca, IL: Riverside], groups differed in overall level of performance. When individual abilities were considered, the poor comprehenders scored significantly lower than the average achievement group on all nine composite scores and significantly lower than the normative population on all composite scores except Processing Speed and Long-Term Retrieval. In contrast, the poor comprehenders also scored significantly higher than the low achievement group on all composite scores except for Visual-Spatial Thinking and Phonemic Awareness. Although the poor comprehenders as a group scored lowest on composite scores measuring language- and knowledge-based abilities, review of the profiles of individual poor comprehenders revealed no consistent pattern of performance across cognitive ability composite scores.

The Cub Scouts of Pack 57 honored 12 Korean War and World War II veterans in their own families in a ceremony held in the auditorium of LaSalle Regional School in Farmingdale. Scouts introduced their relatives and presented them with roses. The dozen included nurses, foot soldiers and spies. Eddie Krysinsky, 87, of Ronkonkoma, and Margaret Dowd, 93, of Central Islip, were both given folded flags by members of the New York State Military Honor Guard. Dowd, an Army nurse, wished her husband of 50 years, Joseph, were there to see it. He had died in August. Krysinsky, a technical corporal in the Army, took part in the Omaha Beach landing in Normandy. Yesterday's ceremony overwhelmed him. It was something he had never expected. For those who survived, yesterday was a day to remind themselves and others about the sacrifice of those who served and their families. At a ceremony at the Bald Hill Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Farmingville, Mary Dowling, director of Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center, called the service men and women \"the lifeblood of our nation.\"