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Optimizing teacher motivation in distributed learning environments is paramount to ensure high-quality education, as medical education is increasingly becoming the responsibility of a larger variety of healthcare contexts. This study aims to explore teaching-related basic need satisfaction, e.g. teachers' feelings of autonomy, competence and relatedness in teaching, in different healthcare contexts and to provide insight into its relation to contextual factors. We distributed a digital survey among healthcare professionals in university hospitals (UH), district teaching hospitals (DTH), and primary care (PC). We used the Teaching-related Basic Need Satisfaction scale, based on the Self-Determination theory, to measure teachers' basic needs satisfaction in teaching. We studied relations between basic need satisfaction and perceived presence of contextual factors associated with teacher motivation drawn from the literature. Input from 1407 healthcare professionals was analyzed. PC healthcare professionals felt most autonomous, UH healthcare professionals felt most competent, and DTH healthcare professionals felt most related. Regardless of work context, teachers involved in educational design and who perceived more appreciation and developmental opportunities for teaching reported higher feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in teaching, as did teachers who indicated that teaching was important at their job application. Perceived facilitators for teaching were associated with feeling more autonomous and related. These results can be utilized in a variety of healthcare contexts for improving teaching-related basic need satisfaction. Recommendations for practice include involving different healthcare professionals in educational development and coordination, forming communities of teachers across healthcare contexts, and addressing healthcare professionals' intentions to be involved in education during job interviews.

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RATIONALE: Recent guidelines focus on adjusting asthma treatment to the level of asthma control. The availability of a web-based asthma control questionnaire offers the possibility to assess asthma control without the need of outpatient clinic visits. The aim of this study was to evaluate the agreement between web-based and paper-based versions of the Asthma Control Test (ACT) and Childhood Asthma Control Test (C-ACT), short-term reproducibility and satisfaction with both versions. METHODS: One hundred seventy-three children with stable asthma and a normal lung function were randomized to fill in a web-based or paper-based version of the C-ACT (4-11 years) or ACT (12-18 years). According to a cross-over design, they completed the opposite version after 1 week. Reproducibility was evaluated by repeating the 2nd version (web- or paper-based) 7 days later. RESULTS: Eighty-eight children filled in the C-ACT, 68 children filled in the ACT. Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) for web-based versus paper-based C-ACT was 0.81 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.72-0.87). For ACT this was 0.84 (95% CI 0.76-0.90). For web-based and paper-based C-ACT the reproducibility ICC was 0.82 (95% CI 0.67-0.90) and 0.75 (95% CI 0.59-0.85), respectively. The reproducibility ICC of the ACT for web- and paper-based versions was 0.93 (95% CI 0.87-0.97) and 0.77 (95% CI 0.59-0.88), respectively. Eighty-six percent of patients preferred the web-based version. CONCLUSION: The web-based version of the C-ACT and ACT is reproducible and comparable with the paper-based version in assessing asthma control. Most children and their parents prefer the web-based version.

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Several tools are useful in detecting uncontrolled asthma in children. The aim of this study was to compare Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines with the Childhood Asthma Control Test (C-ACT) and the Asthma Control Test (ACT) in detecting uncontrolled asthma in children. 145 children with asthma filled in a web-based daily diary card for 4 weeks on symptoms, use of rescue medication and limitations of activities, followed by either the C-ACT or ACT. For predicting uncontrolled asthma, score cut-off points of 19 were used for C-ACT and ACT. According to GINA guidelines, asthma was uncontrolled in 71 (51%) children and completely controlled in 19 (14%) children. The area under the curve in the receiver operating characteristic curves for C-ACT and ACT versus GINA guidelines were 0.89 and 0.92, respectively. Cut-off points of 19 for C-ACT and ACT resulted in a sensitivity of 33% and 66% in predicting uncontrolled asthma, respectively. C-ACT and ACT correlate well with GINA criteria in predicting uncontrolled asthma, but commonly used cut-off points for C-ACT and ACT seem to underestimate the proportion of children with uncontrolled asthma as defined by GINA.

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Two males, 15 and 17 years old respectively, presented at the Emergency Department complaining of cramping abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting after ingestion of energy capsules. Physical examination revealed sinus tachycardia and slight abdominal pain. Laboratory examination showed substantial hypokalaemia and mild hyperglycaemia. Questioning revealed that they had taken 5 and 3 'herbal energy capsules' respectively and that these capsules supposedly contained 200 mg of caffeine each. Toxicological analysis showed a greatly increased serum caffeine concentration in both patients. The peak concentrations calculated were in the highly toxic range and could have led to severe acute complications such as convulsions. Pharmaceutical analysis demonstrated that these 'Supercap Xtreme'-capsules contained 700 mg caffeine or more. All symptoms presented were compatible with caffeine intoxication. The content of these capsules is not reliable and could lead to life-threatening intoxication.

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Two patients, a girl and a boy, both aged 8.5 years, presented with serious side effects caused by ceftriaxone and co-trimoxazole, respectively. The first patientwas treated with ceftriaxone (100 mg/kg/day with a body weight of 35.6 kg) on suspicion of a neuroborreliosis, but developed an acute cholecystitis with cholelithiasis 3 weeks after the antibiotic had been withdrawn. He underwent a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Ceftriaxone binds calcium in the biliary tract, forming biliary sludge or stones. The second patient developed thrombocytopenia during treatment with co-trimoxazole (58 mg/kg/day with a body weight of 25.4 kg) because of a urinary-tract infection. After discontinuation of the co-trimoxazole the thrombocytopenia resolved spontaneously. The pathophysiological mechanism involved may be either a direct toxic effect of trimethoprim or an immune-mediated reaction to sulfamethoxazole. According to current guidelines, the dosage of the drug was too high in both cases. It is important to ensure a correct dosage in children, since side effects are potentially dose-related.

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4 children, boys aged 12, 5, 1.5 and 11 years, had a heart murmur. The 12-year-old boy could also not finish a football match and appeared to have atrioseptal defects (ASD). The 1.5-year-old boy had pulmonary symptoms that were not responsive to asthma medication; he also had ASD. The 11-year-old boy had had chest pain and pressure following exertion for 2 years; he appeared to have an aortic stenosis. Symptoms disappeared in all 3 patients after surgical correction. In the 5-year-old asymptomatic boy the murmur was deemed to be innocent following medical history and physical examination. Children frequently have heart murmurs. Most heart murmurs are innocent but some are caused by heart defects. Careful evaluation of the medical history and physical examination are critical in the differentiation of innocent and pathological heart murmurs. Routine supplementary diagnostic tests in children with heart murmurs are of limited value and are often misleading. One should inquire about specific and nonspecific symptoms and also perform systematic inspection, palpation and auscultation to identify any characteristics that suggest a heart murmur caused by a heart defect.

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Low endogenous cortisol levels appear to contribute to the pathophysiology of nocturnal asthma. Lower cortisol levels are associated with lower forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) levels in children with asthma. The aim of the present study was to identify whether substitution of low serum cortisol with intravenous hydrocortisone decreases 24-h FEV1 variation and/or indirect measures of airway inflammation. Hydrocortisone was given over 24 h in a double-blind randomised crossover design to 26 subjects. FEV1 was measured every 4 h during 24 h; blood eosinophils and airway responsiveness to methacholine and adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP) were measured at 04:00 h and 16:00 h. Cortisol levels increased during the night and morning hours. FEV1 values were higher at all time points in children with nocturnal asthma (n=10; 24-h FEV1 variation > or = 15%) which was significant at 08:00 h, unlike in the non-nocturnal asthma (NA-) group (n=16). Numbers of eosinophils (10(9) x L(-1)) at 04:00 h decreased in the asthma group (median 0.61 (range 0.05-1.42) versus 0.52 (0.05-1.79)). Provocative dose causing a 20% fall in FEV1 (PD20) methacholine did not change, whereas PD20 AMP improved only at 16:00 h in the NA- group (72.0 (0.13-144.0) versus 144.0 (2.25-144.0) mg x mL(-1)). These results show that substitution of lower endogenous 24-h values of cortisol contribute to higher forced expiratory volume in one second values and a decrease of blood eosinophils as an inflammatory marker in more severe airway obstruction.

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Nocturnal symptoms of asthma such as coughing, wheezing, dyspnoea and dyspnoea on awakening are common in children with asthma. This is an important issue since nocturnal symptoms may have a negative influence on the child's life, affecting, for example, school performance or quality of life. Only a minority of the patients report their nocturnal symptoms spontaneously. Doctors should therefore specifically ask if a child is experiencing such symptoms. Nocturnal airflow limitation, induced by an increase in inflammatory activity, is thought to be responsible for these symptoms. Several other factors, both endogenous and exogenous, contribute to this fall in lung function. Therapeutic regimens aim to reduce inflammation and the subsequent constriction of the smooth muscle cell. Environmental measures, like smoke avoidance or house dust mite reduction, can reduce the exposure to exogenous triggers, while inhaled medication acts specifically on the inflammation or smooth muscle cell constriction. Treatment with inhaled corticosteroids has a positive influence on lung function and the degree of bronchial hyperresponsiveness. Since short-acting bronchodilators provide dilation for only 4 to 6 hours, their role in the treatment of nocturnal symptoms is less important, especially in children. Long-acting bronchodilators, such as sustained release theophylline, have been shown to improve nocturnal symptoms and (nocturnal) lung function. However, the small therapeutic range of those agents with respect to plasma concentration is a complicating factor for treatment of children with asthma. Long-acting beta(2) agonists have a positive influence on nightly awakenings and lung function. Some studies indicate, however, that the combination of a long-acting beta(2) agonist with an inhaled corticosteroid is superior to long-acting beta(2) agonists alone.

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