Galactomannan, β-D-Glucan, and Polymerase Chain Reaction-Based Assays for the Diagnosis of Invasive Fungal Disease in Pediatric Cancer and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
CPCE researchers and colleagues systematically reviewed and analyzed the available data for galactomannan (GM), beta-D-glucan (BG), and polymerase-chain reaction (PCR)-based assays to detect invasive fungal disease (IFD) in pediatric cancer or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) patients when used as screening tools during immunosuppression or as diagnostic tests in patients presenting with symptoms such as fever during neutropenia (FN).

Variation in treatment of children hospitalized with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis in the United States.
There are few reports on treatment of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) in children. This study characterizes the use of cyclophosphamide, rituximab, and plasma exchange in children hospitalized with AAV in the United States. The treatment of children with severe AAV is shifting from cyclophosphamide to rituximab and their need for dialysis, mechanical ventilation, and prolonged hospitalization remains common. Use of plasma exchange is highly variable.

Asthma Control Test: Comparing Parent Proxy With Parent and Child Report for Children 6 to 12 Years.
Dr. Alexander Fiks and colleagues compared results of a modified version of the Asthma Control Test using parent proxy report (PP-ACT) with results reported by children and parents using the validated Childhood-Asthma Control Test (C-ACT). Our results suggest that while the PP-ACT missed few children with uncontrolled asthma and may simplify reporting of asthma control in circumstances when child report is not feasible or creates barriers to survey receipt, limitations of proxy reporting should be considered.

Screening for Parental Depression in Urban Primary Care Practices: A Mixed Methods Study.
This study sought to determine feasibility and acceptability of parental depression screening in urban pediatric practices. Patient Health Questionnaire-2, a validated two-item screening tool, was used to screen for depressive symptoms at 1-3 year old well visits. Fifteen clinicians across seven practices completed interviews and endorsed screening to provide help for families, build stronger ties with parents, and improve outcomes for children. However, insufficient time, need to complete activities with higher priority, lack of mental health availability, few resources for parents with limited English proficiency, and discomfort addressing depression were thought to limit screening.

See more...

AACR-Aflac, Inc. Career Development Award for Pediatric Cancer Research (Nov 15, 2016)
The AACR-Aflac, Inc. Career Development Award for Pediatric Cancer Research represents a joint effort to encourage and support junior faculty to conduct pediatric cancer research and establish a successful career path in this field. The research proposed for funding may be basic, translational, clinical, or epidemiological in nature and must have direct applicability and relevance to pediatric cancer. The award is $100,000 for two years. AACR membership is required.

OnPAR Program for Unfunded NIH Proposals
Last year, the NIH received approximately $30 billion in federal support. In spite of this amount, about 42,500 grants were not funded. To address these unfunded proposals, the NIH has a new Pilot Program that is designed to match researchers with nonprofit disease Foundations or with investments from private companies. Through a new collaboration between the NIH and the private contractor Leidos, researchers can now upload their unfunded NIH Proposals into an online portal at the Online Partnership to Accelerate Research (OnPAR). Foundations and other potential funders can review the NIH scores, and decide whether they might be interested in funding the Projects. Currently, this Pilot Program allows researchers with priority scores better than the 30th percentile to submit their abstracts. Interested Foundations might ask that a researcher send their full NIH Application along with its scores. The consensus opinion is that there are a lot of worthy grants being submitted to the NIH, but there is only so much funding available. OnPAR is one way of trying to match researchers with private Foundations.