[Adolescents ask physicians on the Internet: a one-year survey of adolescents' questions on health issues in an Internet forum].

INTRODUCTION: During the past decade, the internet has become a major information resource in various domains of life and a communication venue among young people and adolescents who seek health information via the internet. Until now, the contents of Israeli adolescents' questions regarding health issues on internet sites have not been published. PURPOSES: (1) A survey of the characteristics of adolescents who seek health information and their questions presented to the Ynet forum "The body during adolescence". In this forum physicians experienced in adolescent medicine respond to these questions and to comments of other forum participants. (2) Presentation of problematic issues in professionals' responses to health questions in the internet. METHODS: Survey of a representative sample of contacts to the Ynet forum "The body during adolescence" during 2009 gathering information on gender and age of contacting person, parents' contacts, contacts' contents and physicians responses. RESULTS: A total of 412 contacts were surveyed, 210 (51%) females, aged 14-17 years--60%, 10-13 years--17% and 18-21 years 15%. Parents' questions appeared in 39 (9%) of contacts. Of all contacts, 44% related to sexuality issues and 17% related to self image and body composition. The physicians provided complete responses to 60% of the contacts, while in 40% the physician's responses included referral to clinical medical consultation. CONCLUSIONS: An internet health forum enables adolescents and parents to ask questions and raise doubts and anxieties regarding various health issues without the fear of being exposed and enables them to express their concerns face-to-face with a healthcare provider Sensitive issues regarding sexuality and self-image, which are not raised frequently during clinical encounters, are expressed and receive professional responses in the forum. Notwithstanding the significance of a rapid professional contribution, physicians responding to contacts in internet forums need to recognize the barrier related to professional communication with persons whom they have not met and for whom follow-up is impossible.

Intact sensory function in anorexia nervosa.

BACKGROUND: In anorexia nervosa (AN), taste and smell are believed to be anhedonic, hunger and pain are muted, and body-image distortion obscures wasting, which together facilitate self-starvation. However, the emphasis on these deficits may be biased because other sensory systems have been sparsely investigated. OBJECTIVES: Objectives of the study were to clarify whether these dysfunctions are specific or part of a pattern of sensory-perceptual deficits in AN patients and to test the gustatory senses dissociated from ingestion to clarify whether any deficit is sensory or affective. DESIGN: In 15 adolescent, first-episode, hospitalized, restrictive AN patients and 15 matched healthy controls who responded to gustatory stimuli (intensity and hedonics of 5 basic tastes and tastes and odors of foods and nonfoods), size estimation (manual and oral judgment of size and shape, kinesthesia, and body size and esthetics), cold pain, and auditory and visual processing were compared. RESULTS: AN patients did not differ on most tests, were better at odor recognition, were less successful in central auditory processing and oral assessment of size and shape, and may have been more sensitive to cold. Body-image dissatisfaction in AN patients was not related to dysfunctional size estimation. CONCLUSIONS: There is no systematic sensory-perceptual deficit in AN patients, and specifically, not in gustatory function. The few differences shown might be due to fear of food-related stimuli or comorbidity.