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Pediatric functional abdominal pain disorders (FAPD) are associated with increased healthcare utilization, school absences, and poor quality of life (QoL). Cost-effective and accessible interventions are needed. This multi-site study tested the effects of a 3-session cognitive-behavioral intervention delivered to parents, in person or remotely, on the primary outcome of pain severity and secondary outcomes (process measures) of parental solicitousness, pain beliefs, catastrophizing, and child-reported coping. Additional outcomes hypothesized a priori and assessed included functional disability, quality of life, pain behavior, school absences, healthcare utilization, and gastrointestinal symptoms. The study was prospective and longitudinal (baseline, 3 and 6 months follow-up) with three randomized conditions: social learning and cognitive-behavioral therapy in-person (SLCBT) or by phone (SLCBT-R) and education/support condition by phone (ES-R). Participants were children aged 7–12 with FAPD and their parents (N = 316 dyads). While no significant treatment effect for pain severity was found, the SLCBT groups showed significantly greater improvements compared to controls on process measures of parental solicitousness, pain beliefs and catastrophizing, and additional outcomes of parent-reported functional disability, pain behaviors, child healthcare visits for abdominal pain, and (remote condition only) quality of life and missed school days. No effects were found for parent and child-reported gastrointestinal symptoms, or child-reported quality of life or coping. These findings suggest that for children with FAPD, a brief phone SLCBT for parents can be similarly effective as in-person SLCBT in changing parent responses and improving outcomes, if not reported pain and symptom report, compared to a control condition.

BACKGROUND Studies testing the efficacy of behavioral interventions to modify psychosocial sequelae of inflammatory bowel disease in children are limited. This report presents outcomes through a 6-month follow-up from a large randomized controlled trial testing the efficacy of a cognitive behavioral intervention for children with inflammatory bowel disease and their parents. METHODS One hundred eighty-five children aged 8 to 17 years with a diagnosis of Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis and their parents were randomized to one of two 3-session conditions: (1) a social learning and cognitive behavioral therapy condition or (2) an education support condition designed to control for time and attention. RESULTS There was a significant overall treatment effect for school absences due to Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis (P < 0.05) at 6 months after treatment. There was also a significant overall effect after treatment for child-reported quality of life (P < 0.05), parent-reported increases in adaptive child coping (P < 0.001), and reductions in parents' maladaptive responses to children's symptoms (P < 0.05). Finally, exploratory analyses indicated that for children with a higher level of flares (2 or more) prebaseline, those in social learning and cognitive behavioral therapy condition experienced a greater reduction in flares after treatment. CONCLUSIONS This trial suggests that a brief cognitive behavioral intervention for children with inflammatory bowel disease and their parents can result in improved child functioning and quality of life, and for some children may decrease disease activity.

The fear avoidance model (FAM) postulates that fear of pain or reinjury is a risk factor for persistent pain and disability, because it leads to avoidance of physical activity. Research on the FAM has not yielded consistent results, which may be attributed to the model itself, but could also be a product of the way fear of movement is assessed. Studies of the FAM have measured fear using verbal scales consisting of items that are often vague and have only an indirect relationship with fear. This study reports on the development of a Pictorial Fear of Activity Scale – Cervical (PFActS-C). The instrument consists of a set of photographs depicting movements in which 4 factors that determine biomechanical demands on the neck are systematically varied - Direction of Movement, Arm Position, Weight Bearing, and Extremity of Movement. Patients (n = 355) who had been involved in motor vehicle collisions with minimal symptoms (n = 143) and moderate to severe symptoms (n = 212) rated their fear of engaging in a set of activities depicted in the PFActS-C. Based on a principle components analysis, a 19-item measure was developed. Internal consistency (alpha = .98), stability over time (n = 44, IntraClass Correlation = .72), and construct validity were all good to excellent. The results indicate that the PFActS-C may be a useful tool for assessing fear of movement in patients with cervical pain. Research is needed to confirm the factor structure of the PFActS-C and to assess the generalizability of the results to other samples with neck pain.

A case of a very large solitary osteoma of the right posterior mandible in a 22-year-old man is presented. The tumor was asymptomatic despite its location and large size. It was removed via an extraoral Risdon approach without complication. The importance of differentiating a large solitary osteoma from a parosteal osteogenic sarcoma is emphasized. Any patient presenting with a solitary osteoma also should be evaluated for Gardner's syndrome.

The nasopalatine duct cyst (NPDC) is the most common cyst of nonodontogenic origin in the maxilla. However, the information reported about this lesion consists primarily of small surveys and isolated case reports. The purpose of this retrospective investigation was to gather demographic, clinical, and histologic data on a large series of NPDCs, and to compare the findings with those of previous studies. In this study, the overall mean age at diagnosis was 42.5 years, and there was a slight male predilection. The mean radiographic diameter was 17.1 mm, but 75% of the lesions were 20 mm or less in diameter. Symptoms were present in at least 70% of the cases. Only 28% of the specimens contained respiratory epithelium. There was no correlation between radiographic size, patient's age, presenting symptoms, or type of epithelium. Recurrence was noted in only 2% of the cases.

Opioids can provide relief for people with chronic pain. However, a minority may develop aberrant drug behaviors. A critical issue is identifying "at-risk" patients.To synthesize the evidence of published strategies for identifying at-risk patients to guide clinicians' decisions and practices for prescribing opioid treatment for chronic pain patients (CPP).MEDLINE database search from 1966 to March 20, 2007, searching the bibliographies from all retrieved articles, and articles available in the authors' files. Studies were limited to human studies in the English language related to screening for predictors of aberrant drug behaviors in CPP who were prescribed long-term opioids. We included studies reviewing, developing measures, or investigating outcomes related to screening for aberrant opioid behaviors in CPP.We identified 6 published articles addressing clinician-based predictors of substance misuse of opioids and 9 published studies evaluating the predictive ability of clinical interviews and self-report measures for aberrant opioid behaviors in CPP. Several attempts have been made to develop procedures to identify at-risk patients including urine toxicology screening, structured interviews, observation, and self-report questionnaires. In general, the psychometric properties of the published questionnaires and interview protocols are weak; moreover, the samples included in the studies are often small and unrepresentative. Thus, none of them can be recommended for use with any confidence.Review of the published studies reveals that no one procedure or set of predictor variables is sufficient to identify CPP at-risk for opioid misuse or abuse. There is a scarcity of evidence regarding characteristics that predict aberrant behavior before beginning long-term opioids. Several predictors have been identified. Strong predictors include a personal history of illicit drug and alcohol abuse. Demographic factors have also been reported, but the results are not consistent. Prospective studies, especially ones with CPP who have not already been started on chronic opioid therapy, are needed.

Decreased HRV has been consistently associated with increased cardiac mortality and morbidity in HF patients. The aim of this study is to determine if a 6-week course of heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback and breathing retraining could increase exercise tolerance, HRV, and quality of life in patients with New York Heart Association Class I-III heart failure (HF). Participants (N = 29) were randomly assigned to either the treatment group consisting of six sessions of breathing retraining, HRV biofeedback and daily practice, or the comparison group consisting of six sessions of quasi-false alpha-theta biofeedback and daily practice. Exercise tolerance, measured by the 6-min walk test (6MWT), HRV, measured by the standard deviation of normal of normal beats (SDNN), and quality of life, measured by the Minnesota Living with Congestive Heart Failure Questionnaire, were measured baseline (week 0), post (week 6), and follow-up (week 18). Cardiorespiratory biofeedback significantly increased exercise tolerance (p = .05) for the treatment group in the high (or=31%) left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) category between baseline and follow-up. Neither a significant difference in SDNN (p = .09) nor quality of life (p = .08), was found between baseline and follow-up. A combination of HRV biofeedback and breathing retraining may improve exercise tolerance in patients with HF with an LVEF of 31% or higher. Because exercise tolerance is considered a strong prognostic indicator, cardiorespiratory biofeedback has the potential to improve cardiac mortality and morbidity in HF patients.

Background: Chronic pain is a prevalent and costly problem that eludes adequate treatment. Persistent pain affects all domains of people's lives and in the absence of cure, success will greatly depend on adaptation to symptoms and self-management. Method: We reviewed the psychological models that have been used to conceptualize chronic pain—psychodynamic, behavioural (respondent and operant), and cognitive-behavioural. Treatments based on these models, including insight, external reinforcement, motivational interviewing, relaxation, meditation, biofeedback, guided imagery, and hypnosis are described. Results: The cognitive-behavioural perspective has the greatest amount of research supports the effectiveness of this approach with chronic pain patients. Importantly, we differentiate the cognitive-behavioural perspective from cognitive and behavioural techniques and suggest that the perspective on the role of patients' beliefs, attitudes, and expectations in the maintenance and exacerbation of symptoms are more important than the specific techniques. The techniques are all geared to fostering self-control and self-management that will encourage a patient to replace their feelings of passivity, dependence, and hopelessness with activity, independence, and resourcefulness. Conclusions: Psychosocial and behavioural factors play a significant role in the experience, maintenance, and exacerbation of pain. Self-management is an important complement to biomedical approaches. Cognitive-behavioural therapy alone or within the context of an interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation program has the greatest empirical evidence for success. As none of the most commonly prescribed treatment regimens are sufficient to eliminate pain, a more realistic approach will likely combine pharmacological, physical, and psychological components tailored to each patient's needs.

Forty-seven joints in 28 patients were examined 4 months to 10 years after temporomandibular joint (TMJ) surgery via a modified preauricular approach. Many patients had undergone multiple procedures. None of the patients had any subjective or objective evidence of auriculotemporal syndrome (ATS), although patients in previous studies with more extensive incisions have demonstrated ATS. It was concluded that ATS is an unlikely complication following TMJ surgery. A small incision without an oblique superior extension may further reduce the risk.