María Teresa

Pediatric patients with chronic conditions frequently have unmet care needs, make extensive use of healthcare services, and often encounter fragmented, non-centered care. This study aimed to analyze the differences in the utilization of primary care (PC) and hospital care (HC) services by these patients according to sex, age, and complexity and to identify associated factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a basic health area of Madrid, including patients under 18 years. Among these patients, 15.7% had ≥1 chronic disease, 54.1% were male, the average age was 9.5 years, 3.5% had complexity, and 11.3% had multimorbidity. The mean number of contacts/year with the healthcare system was 9.1, including 8.3 contacts/year with PC (4.9 with pediatricians and 1.9 with nurses) and 0.8 contacts/year with HC (0.8 in external consultations and 0.01 hospitalizations). The factors associated with PC utilization were complexity; female sex; European origin; and diseases like asthma, epilepsy, stroke, recurrent urinary infection, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and anxiety, while older age was negatively associated. Thyroid disorders were significantly associated with HC utilization. These findings could help guide the design of optimized pediatric patient-centered care approaches to coordinate care across healthcare services and reduce high healthcare utilization, therefore improving the healthcare outcomes and quality of life for these patients.

Ophthalmic tacrolimus compounded formulations are usually made from the commercial intravenous presentation, which contains ethanol as a solubilizer due to the low solubility of tacrolimus. The use of cyclodextrins is presented as an alternative to ethanol, an ocular irritant excipient, to avoid its long-term irritant effects. Open-label, sequential, prospective study to compare effectiveness, safety, and adherence of a new formulation of 0.015% tacrolimus with cyclodextrins (TCD) versus 0.03% tacrolimus with ethanol (TE). The ocular evaluation was assessed by ocular signs, corneal staining, subjective questionnaires as Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) of symptoms, lacrimal stability, ocular redness, and intraocular pressure. Compliance was assessed by VAS of adherence and empirically (difference between theoretical and actual consumption). Clinical ocular signs and corneal staining score remained stable for most patients 3 months after switching formulations. The TCD formulation did not modify the tear stability and intraocular pressure of the treated patients compared to the TE formulation. TCD eye drops significantly decreased the subjective pain values on VFQ-25 scale and burning sensation on the VAS symptom scale in comparison to TE formulation after 3 months after the change to TCD formulation. The novel tacrolimus in cyclodextrins formulation is a promising alternative for treating inflammatory ocular pathologies refractory to first-line treatments.

Typesetting math: 100% Unidad Tuxpan, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias y Ambientales, Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, km 2.5 Carretera Iguala-Tuxpan, Iguala de la Independencia 40101, Mexico

Department of Geography and Land Management, University of Zaragoza, Calle Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain

Doctoral Program in Health Sciences and Sports, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain

Alfredo García-Alix was one of the foremost leaders in Clinical Neonatal Neurology. He passed away at home in Barcelona, Spain, peacefully, after a prolonged illness, on September 8, 2024, at the age of 68.

Students with reading disabilities form a heterogeneous group: some struggle with accurate and fast reading (dysfluent readers), others with comprehension (poor comprehenders), and some face challenges in both areas (poor readers). Research has indicated a link between executive functioning skills and reading performance; yet, further studies are necessary to fully understand the executive profiles in various types of reading disabilities. The goal of this study was to examine differences in executive functioning among three types of reading disabilities, comparing their performance with that of children without difficulties in either skill (typical readers). Ninety-one students from schools in Portugal participated in the study. The results reveal specific deficits in naming speed and cognitive flexibility in poor readers and dysfluent readers compared to the other groups. Additionally, poor readers exhibited significantly slower processing speed and lower working memory. However, no significant differences were observed in planning. Discriminant function analysis results indicated that the examined executive functions are better at discriminating groups with fluency deficits than those with comprehension difficulties. In conclusion, these results suggest distinct deficit patterns in executive functioning skills across different types of reading disabilities. Taking into account these findings is crucial for effective assessment and intervention with these children.

Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias de Alimentación, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain

Abstract Emotional Eating is eating in response to negative emotional states, such as boredom, loneliness, or anxiety.

Background/objectives: Local intralesional corticosteroid injections into the periungual fold are used to treat patients with onychocryptosis, but their short- or medium-term effects are unknown. The goal was to compare the efficacy of this treatment in stages IIa, IIb, and III of the condition with a common conservative method such as gauze bandaging. Methods: A two-arm randomized trial with 40 patients with stage IIa, IIb, and III onychocryptosis equally assigned into two treatment groups—control (spiculotomy and application of gauze bandaging) and experimental group (spiculotomy and infiltration of corticosteroid)—was performed. Anthropometric data, initial clinical status, pain, and inflammatory measures were collected before and at least one month after the intervention. Results: Pain reduction was higher in the experimental group (5.5 vs. 4.8 points) but with no significant differences (p = 0.306).Corticosteroids significantly reduced inflammation over gauze bandaging (1.9 vs. 1) with significant differences between them (p = 0.029). Conclusions: Corticosteroid infiltration was more effective than gauze bandaging application in reducing inflammation in patients with onychocryptosis, with similar effects on pain. These findings support the clinical importance of corticosteroid treatment for this condition, although a single infiltration may not be sufficient to prevent relapses.