scholarly journals (A129) A Pediatric Surgeon's Viewpoint of a Concealed Disaster

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S1) ◽  
pp. s36-s36
Author(s):  
A. Fette ◽  
K. Paya

Childhood is one of the most vulnerable parts in a human's life. Thus, any physical and psychological harm against children requires special attention, especially if inflicted and not accidental. Such children should be considered multi-trauma victims and managed by a multidisciplinary team and trauma algorithm. In this team of specialized carers, the pediatric surgeon will import his/her expertise on general management and treatment and simultaneously refer basic knowledge to more junior doctors that might be in charge in the future. Fifty-eight injured victims (mean age = 1.5 years of age, range = 1 day–18 years of age, male:female ratio = 1:1) were analyzed in this study. Their injuries were subcategorized into battery (13), assault (11), neglect (3), sexual abuse (2), prevention failure (6), career-related (19), and miscellaneous (5). All victims were first seen by a pediatric surgeon before receiving multidisciplinary consultations. Treatment results and modalities varied according to the complexity of the diagnoses requiring a well-trained and skilled pediatric surgeon. Accompanying post-traumatic stress disorders within the children as well as psychological distress among the parents and grandparents were quite frequent. Besides medico-surgical treatment, empathic care is essential. In the majority of cases the children, benefited from pediatric surgical care.

Millennium ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-202
Author(s):  
Patrick Reinard ◽  
Christian Rollinger

AbstractA contribution to a scholarly controversy that has been on-going for a quarter century now, this article provides a critical review of previous studies on the existence of post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) as a consequence of extreme violence in the ancient world. It highlights methodological difficulties in attempting to ‘diagnose’ psychological illnesses across a distance of more than two millennia by means of highly stylized literary texts. Simultaneously, it introduces crucial new evidence in the form of a late antique papyrus originally published in 1924 (P.Oxy. 16/1873), which has hitherto been almost completely ignored by scholarship. The papyrus, a letter written by a man called Martyrios in sixth century Lycopolis and addressed to his father, recounts psychological war trauma as a result of an attack on his hometown. He does so in a first-person perspective, using a highly select and unusual vocabulary to describe his emotional impairment. Because of its syntactical and vocabulary extravagance, this letter is sometimes seen as a fictional literary reflex. The authors argue, on the contrary, that this letter is the only reliable documentary evidence for psychological war trauma from the ancient world known so far.


Author(s):  
C. Bouarab ◽  
V. Roullot-Lacarrière ◽  
M. Vallée ◽  
A. Le Roux ◽  
C. Guette ◽  
...  

AbstractModerate stress increases memory and facilitates adaptation. In contrast, intense stress can induce pathological memories as observed in post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD). A shift in the balance between the expression of tPA and PAI-1 proteins is responsible for this transition. In conditions of moderate stress, glucocorticoid hormones increase the expression of the tPA protein in the hippocampal brain region which by triggering the Erk1/2MAPK signaling cascade strengthens memory. When stress is particularly intense, very high levels of glucocorticoid hormones then increase the production of PAI-1 protein, which by blocking the activity of tPA induces PTSD-like memories. PAI-1 levels after trauma could be a predictive biomarker of the subsequent appearance of PTSD and pharmacological inhibition of PAI-1 activity a new therapeutic approach to this debilitating condition.


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