Philippe Robaey | Childrens Hospital of Eastern Ontario (original) (raw)

Papers by Philippe Robaey

Revue de psychoéducation, 2010

Prédicteurs du sentiment d'auto-efficacité parental et de son changement chez des parents d'enfan... more Prédicteurs du sentiment d'auto-efficacité parental et de son changement chez des parents d'enfants présentant un trouble déficitaire de l'attention/hyperactivité. Revue de psychoéducation, 39(2), 125-142.

Pediatric Hematology and Oncology

Journal of Clinical Medicine

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique with... more Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique with substantial evidence for its safety and tolerability in adults. However, less than 5% of published tDCS research is in pediatrics. Our primary objective was to investigate tDCS safety, tolerability, and acceptability in a sample of children and adults. We hypothesized that children and adults would be equal with regard to tDCS safety, tolerability, and acceptability. We tested this hypothesis using a Bayesian approach. Sixty participants aged 6–45 (balanced for sex) participated in a randomized double-blind controlled trial. They were randomly assigned to two ten-minute tDCS sessions with varying amperages and electrode locations. The primary outcome measure of this study was the intensity of 13 potential side effects evaluated at six different time points spanning two weeks. Independent sample Bayes factor tests were conducted between children/adults, males/females, clinical/healthy, a...

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance

This study focused on children treated for mental health problems during the pandemic. We examine... more This study focused on children treated for mental health problems during the pandemic. We examined how parent’s difficulties in managing COVID-19 restrictions increased children's behavioral problems (internalizing and externalizing) and parent-child conflict through parental mental health and parental stress. Family functioning, particularly problem-solving ability, was tested as a resilience factor. Data were collected using online surveys from 337 parents with a child between the ages of 4 and 18 years who was receiving active outpatient mental health treatment at a pediatric tertiary care center. Parents who reported a greater impact of COVID-19 reported more behavioral difficulties in their children. This relationship was significantly mediated by parental mental health (general stress, anxiety, and depression) and parental stress. Similar indirect pathways were observed when examining internalizing and externalizing problems in children, where the most significant pathway ...

Journal of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, Jul 18, 2022

SIGLECNRS T Bordereau / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc

Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, 2021

BACKGROUND Childhood cancer survivors should be routinely screened for psychological distress. Ho... more BACKGROUND Childhood cancer survivors should be routinely screened for psychological distress. However, existing screening tools promoted by cancer care institutions, such as the Distress Thermometer (DT) generate high rates of errors. The aim of this study is to help refining strategies of screening psychological distress in this population by exploring two-step methods combining the DT on step #1 with one question on step #2. PROCEDURE Data from 255 survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia aged 13-40 years were analyzed (38% 13-18 years, 62% 19+ years, 53% females). We used the DT on step #1 and the individual emotion items from the Pediatric Quality of Life Questionnaire (PedsQL) on step #2, to detect distress, depression and anxiety as measured by standard instruments. We compared sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values, Youden index, and clinical utility indices, in newly developed two-step strategies. RESULTS The best two-step strategies to screen anxious-depressive distress were DT ≥ 2 on step #1, with the item of Sadness on step #2, and DT ≥ 2 combined with the item of Concerns. Two-step strategies outperformed the DT alone on the correct identification of distressed survivors. However, two-step strategies did not outperform the DT used alone on the correct detection of no distressed survivors. Results were similar when predicting depression or anxiety alone. CONCLUSION Completing the DT with one single question on emotions from the PedsQL may minimize the number of participants falsely identified as distressed, which could be particularly pertinent in resource-limited clinics.

Neuropsychiatrie De L'enfance Et De L'adolescence, 1982

Operation Installation In a previous study of house fire-related deaths and injuries in Dallas, T... more Operation Installation In a previous study of house fire-related deaths and injuries in Dallas, TX, we had performed calculations of rates of these deaths and injuries for every census tract in Dallas for 1991-1997. 1 That study and others showed that house fire-related deaths and injuries were highest in the census tracts with lowest median income, 1-5 and in houses without functioning smoke alarms. 6, 7 To address this problem, we began a joint effort along with the Dallas Fire Rescue Department, to install smoke alarms in houses in high-risk census tracts in Dallas through a program called " Operation Installation " (OI). Ongoing surveillance allowed us to evaluate the impact of OI on rates of house fire-related deaths and injuries for residents of the houses that received smoke alarms through OI, compared to the rate in residents of houses in the same census tracts that did not receive a smoke alarm through OI. Operation Installation has been a joint project of the Inj...

Journal of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics, 2020

Levodopa is considered the gold standard treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Although very effectiv... more Levodopa is considered the gold standard treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Although very effective in alleviating symptoms at their onset, its chronic use with the progressive neuronal denervation in the basal ganglia leads to a decrease in levodopa’s effect duration and to the appearance of motor complications. This evolution challenges the establishment of optimal regimens to manage the symptoms as the disease progresses. Based on up-to-date pathophysiological and pharmacological knowledge, we developed an integrative model for Parkinson’s disease to evaluate motor function in response to levodopa treatment as the disease progresses. We combined a pharmacokinetic model of levodopa to a model of dopamine’s kinetics and a neurocomputational model of basal ganglia. The parameter values were either measured directly or estimated from human and animal data. The concentrations and behaviors predicted by our model were compared to available information and data. Using this model, we were able to predict levodopa plasma concentration, its related dopamine concentration in the brain and the response performance of a motor task for different stages of disease.

Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, 2020

Introduction. Most childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survivors develop chronic treatme... more Introduction. Most childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survivors develop chronic treatment-related adverse effects several years after the end of the treatment. Regular physical activity and a good cardiorespiratory fitness can decrease the risks of neurological disturbances and increase cognitive function scores. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of good cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activity levels on cognitive functions. Methods. We enrolled 219 survivors of childhood ALL. The participants underwent a cardiopulmonary exercise test, neuropsychological tests of executive functions (i.e. verbal fluency, cognitive flexibility, working memory, processing speed) and completed a physical activity questionnaire. We calculated the odds ratio to obtain the preventive fraction of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness levels on cognitive functions. Results. The cohort is 52% male and 48% female. A total of 182 survivors (83%) have a cardiorespiratory fitness below their predicted (<100%). Our analyses show that there is an association between good cardiorespiratory fitness and processing speed (preventive fraction of 70% for dominant hand (p < 0.01) and 65% for non-dominant hand (p < 0.01)) and with cognitive flexibility identified as the category switching measure of the D-KEFS verbal fluency (preventive fraction of 61%; p < 0.05). Conclusion. Good cardiorespiratory fitness and good levels of physical activity were associated to a preventive fraction for most cognitive function parameters measured. Good cardiorespiratory fitness levels were significantly associated with a lower prevalence of deficits in processing speed (i.e., dominant hand and non-dominant hand) and in cognitive flexibility (i.e., category switching) in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivors.

Journal of Health Psychology, 2020

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a novel treatment option for attention deficit ... more Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a novel treatment option for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. To facilitate translation into clinical practice, we interviewed parents of children who have experienced experimental tDCS. A grounded theory approach using open, axial, and selective coding provided seven emergent themes for acceptability: tDCS provides hope for parents, safety tolerability and side effects of tDCS versus medication, burden of treatment, education and trust with care providers, cost and coverage, unestablished tDCS efficacy versus established medication effectiveness, perceived compliance of tDCS versus medication. Results suggest tDCS is acceptable but depends on evidence of effectiveness and regular availability.

Innovation at the NHP/Food Interface, Apr 13, 2018

Concurrent use of Natural Health Products (NHPs) is common in patients using medication for Atten... more Concurrent use of Natural Health Products (NHPs) is common in patients using medication for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). NHPs are generally recognized as safe, however some can lead to adverse events, either alone or when taken concurrently with drugs. Adverse event reports (AERs) submitted to regulatory agencies can be used to evaluate safety of NHPs. Our goal is to identify AERs relating to potential herb-drug interactions and assess them for quality and causality, and to use complementary in-vitro assays to evaluate bioactivity. We systemically searched the FDable database for AERs involving commonly used NHPs with ADHD drugs (stimulants and non-stimulants). We obtained 53 reports from U.S. Food and Drug Administration through the Freedom of Information Act and evaluated their quality using multiple validated scales. We identified 8 AERs using less than 3 substances for causality assessments (4 St. John's Wort, 2 ginkgo biloba, 2 evening primrose oil) completed by four experts using 3 tools. Consensus of causality assessments ranged from doubtful to possible risk of an interaction, with an agreement on lack of information present in the AERs. In-vitro inhibition assays were performed with recombinant enzymes (florescence based) and human liver microsomes (using high-performance liquid chromatography) to determine effects of select NHPs on enzymes involved in ADHD drug metabolism. Preliminary data reveal St. John's wort and ginkgo biloba inhibit recombinant carboxylesterase 1 and that St. John's wort reduces human liver microsome-mediated metabolism of methylphenidate. Overall, causality assessments from high quality reports in conjunction with in-vitro data can aid in evidence-based decision making and fill imperative gaps in the safety of NHPs.