Cognitive coping strategies of children with chronic illness.

Children with chronic illness need to adapt to more stresses than do healthy children. Research highlights the problems of children with chronic illnesses but not how they cope in response to the stress created by these problems. Cognitive appraisal of a stressor and of response options is an important aspect of coping. Our cross-sectional study investigated whether children with chronic illness used cognitive strategies for coping as often as did healthy children. One hundred seventy five children from summer camps with juvenile arthritis, asthma, or diabetes were compared with 145 healthy school children. Spontaneous responses to common painful and stressful events were categorized into coping or catastrophizing ideation. Data on anxiety, disease severity, and other sociodemographic variables were obtained. Coping strategies were reported by 64% of children with chronic illness and 63% of healthy children and varied significantly with age (p < .05) in both groups. Children with different chronic illnesses performed similarly except for a trend among children with severe juvenile rheumatoid arthritis who had higher rates of coping. For the individual stressful events, the rate of coping varied from 46% to 86%. The highest rates of coping responses were found with the child's recent personal stressful event where adolescents with chronic illness were twice as likely to offer more complex coping responses. More children with chronic illness than healthy children offered coping strategies in response to venipuncture (p < .001) but not to dental injection. Children with chronic illness report coping as their predominant strategy for adapting to common painful and stressful events.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Energetics of Meloidogyne incognita on Resistant and Susceptible Alyceclover Genotypes.

To determine the energy cost of a population of Meloidogyne incognita on the roots of alyceclover, nematode biomass was estimated and equations in the literature were used to calculate energy budgets. Amounts of energy consumed, respired, or used in production of nematode biomass were calculated. Results suggested that severe infestations of root-knot nematodes can remove significant quantities of energy from their hosts. Over a 36-day period, a population of 2.6 females of M. incognita per root system removed less than 0.4 calories of energy from a resistant alyceclover plant but over 11 calories were removed by 28 females from a susceptible alyceclover. The calculations indicate that on the resistant alyceclover line, 53% of the energy assimilated by the root-knot population was allocated to respiration, with only 47% allocated to production, whereas on the susceptible line, 65% of the assimilated energy was allocated to production. Such energy demands by the parasite could result in significant reductions in yield quantity and quality at a field production level.

Effects of mixed cropping on a soil nematode community in honduras.

Nematode-resistant tropical legumes are effective in reducing populations of plant-parasitic nematodes when used in rotation systems. Mixed cropping is a common practice of many small farmers in Central America, but little is known about the effects of tropical legumes on nematode communities under these systems. To examine the effects of intercropping on the nematode fauna associated with squash (Cucurbita pepo) and cucumber (Cucumis sativa) in Honduras, two field experiments were conducted to compare nematode density and diversity in soil under cucurbits grown as a monocrop with that in soil under cucurbits intercropped with alfalfa (Medicago sativa) or hairy indigo (Indigofera hirsuta). A parallel series of field tests compared soil nematode communities associated with a cucurbit monocrop and a cucurbit intercropped with marigold (Tagetes patula), which may decrease nematode populations through the production of toxic root exudates. Among all four tests, over a period of 90 days, there were no consistent differences in densities of various nematode genera or trophic groups in intercropped versus monocropped plants, nor were there consistent differences in community diversities among treatments.

Size Differences Among Root-knot Nematodes on Resistant and Susceptible Alyceclover Genotypes.

The influence of plant resistance on the size of individual root-knot nematodes was determined in greenhouse experiments. Five genotypes of alyceclover were inoculated with second-stage juveniles of Meloidogyne incognita race 3 or M. arenaria race 1. Plants were harvested at selected intervals and stained for detection of the nematodes, which were dissected from the roots. Length, width, and sagittal-sectional area of each animal were measured using an image-analysis system, and areas of nematodes in all stages were compared at different times and across alyceclover lines. Nematodes feeding on roots of resistant lines were consistently smaller than those on susceptible plants, with significant differences in growth detected after the final molt. Similar results were observed with both nematode species.