The Female and Male Adolescent Breast

The breast is an important organ system for the adolescent female and occasionally for the adolescent male as well. This chapter reviews basic principles of breast concerns and disorders including congenital anomalies, asymmetric breast development, underdeveloped breasts, virginal hypertrophy, breast masses, mastaglia, galactorrhea, gynecomastia in males, and others. Clinicians should be attuned to issues and concerns for this important structure in adolescents

Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Adolescence

High rates of unprotected sexual behavior in adolescents result in millions of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the world. This paper reviews factors inducing high STD rates, specific STDs, and their management based on 2010 US Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC) STD guidelines. Clinicians should screen all their sexually active adolescent patients for STDs and provide preventive education as well as treatment measures

Adolescent Female Menstrual Disorders

This paper reviews basic concepts of menstrual disorders in adolescents beginning with an overview of menstrual physiology followed by consideration of various abnormal menstrual patterns: amenorrhea (primary and secondary), dysfunctional uterine bleeding, dysmenorrhea (primary and secondary), and premenstrual syndrome

Pregnancy in Adolescence

Over 14 million adolescents in the world annually give birth and nearly 800.000 adolescents in the United States become pregnant each year. This paper considers concepts of teen pregnancy including risks to the mother as well as offspring, the adolescent father, issues related to abortion, and concepts of prevention of unwanted pregnancy in youth. Adolescent pregnancy is a global phenomenon affecting all societies and cultures

Adolescence and Contraception

The age of adolescence is the time when most adolescents in the world become sexually active with resultant millions of pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. This paper considers methods of contraception for these adolescents, including oral contraceptions, transdermal contraception, mini-pills, intravaginal ring, injectable contraception, intrauterine devices, barrier contraceptives, implants, and others. It is important for clinicians caring for sexually active youth to provide information regarding contraception and appropriate contraceptive prescriptions

Unraveling Moral Reasoning in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: How Emotional Detachment Modifies Moral Judgment

In the last decade, scientific literature provided solid evidence of cognitive deficits in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients and their effects on end-life choices. However, moral cognition and judgment are still poorly investigated in this population. Here we aimed at evaluating both socio-cognitive and socio-affective components of moral reasoning in a sample of 28 ALS patients. Patients underwent clinical and neuropsychological evaluation including basic cognitive and social cognition measures. Additionally, we administered an experimental task including moral dilemmas, with instrumental and incidental conditions. Patients’ performances were compared with a control group [healthy control (HC)], including 36 age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy subjects. Despite that the judgment pattern was comparable in ALS and HC, patients resulted less prone to carry out a moral transgression compared to HC. Additionally, ALS patients displayed higher levels of moral permissibility and lower emotional arousal, with similar levels of engagement in both instrumental and incidental conditions. Our findings expanded the current literature about cognitive deficits in ALS, showing that in judging moral actions, patients may present non-utilitarian choices and emotion flattening. Such a decision-making profile may have relevant implications in applying moral principles in real-life situations and for the judgment of end-of-life treatments and care in clinical settings

Large-scale functional networks, cognition and brain structures supporting social cognition and theory of mind performance in prodromal to mild Alzheimer’s Disease

Impairment of social cognition (SC) skills such as recognition and attribution of intentions and affective states of others (Theory of Mind, ToM) has been evidenced in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). This study investigated the neuropsychological, neuroanatomical and brain-functional underpinnings of SC processing to obtain an understanding of the social neurophenotype in early probable AD. Forty-six patients with mild cognitive impairment and mild probable AD underwent SC assessment including emotion recognition (Ekman-60-faces task) and cognitive and affective ToM (Reading-the-Mind-in-the-Eyes test and Story-based Empathy task). Linear models tested the association between SC scores and neuropsychological measures, grey matter maps and large-scale functional networks activity. The executive domain had the most predominant association with SC scores in the cognitive profile. Grey matter volume of the anterior cingulate, orbitofrontal, temporoparietal junction (TPJ), superior temporal, and cerebellar cortices were associated with ToM. Social cognition scores were associated with lower connectivity of the default-mode network with the prefrontal cortex. The right fronto-parietal network displayed higher inter-network connectivity in the right TPJ and insula while the salience network showed lower inter-network connectivity with the left TPJ and insula. Connectivity coupling alterations of executive-attentional networks may support default mode social-cognitive-associated decline through the recruitment of frontal executive mechanisms

The Female and Male Adolescent Breast

The breast is an important organ system for the adolescent female and occasionally for the adolescent male as well. This chapter reviews basic principles of breast concerns and disorders including congenital anomalies, asymmetric breast development, underdeveloped breasts, virginal hypertrophy, breast masses, mastaglia, galactorrhea, gynecomastia in males, and others. Clinicians should be attuned to issues and concerns for this important structure in adolescents