BACKGROUND The Internet provides new opportunities for parents of children with difficult illnesses and disabilities to find information and support. The Internet is particularly important for caregivers of children with special needs due to numerous health-related decisions they face. For at-risk populations, online support communities can become key settings and channels for health promotion ...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of congenital defects observed in patients with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and to compare this prevalence with that described in the general population. In addition, these findings were correlated with the different etiologic subtypes. METHODS A total of 180 children with PWS followed for 13 years were included in this study. Diagn...

Background It is becoming increasingly common for pedobarography to be used to aid treatment planning. While there is some consensus on use of this data in specific populations (for example diabetes in adults) there is little information on how it should be interpreted in those with paediatric orthopaedic conditions, such as clubfoot. This is due in part to a scarcity in the literature of “norm...

Methods: Thirty-five patients (sixty clubfeet) in whom idiopathic clubfoot was treated with the Ponseti method from 1950 to 1967 were followed. At an average age of forty-seven years (range, thirty-seven to fifty-five years), the patients underwent a detailed musculoskeletal examination, radiographic evaluation, pedobarographic analysis, and surface electromyography (EMG). They also completed t...

I was part of a people-to-people tour of Havana, Cuba during the first week in April 2014. Among the many highlights of that adventure were an informal meeting with Dr Beatriz Marcheco-Teruel, from Cuba's National Center for Medical Genetics, and a visit to the famous 'Street of Twins'. A fortuitous meeting with parents of twins in the fishing town of Jaimanitas was also an extraordinary event....

We present the results of the management of 17 relapsed club feet in 12 children using the Ilizarov method with gradual distraction and realignment of the joint. Review at a mean of three years after surgery showed maintenance of correction with excellent or good results in 13 feet. Five mobile feet which had been treated by a split transfer of the tibialis anterior tendon two weeks after remov...