Primary care clinicians are called on to care for adolescents in a time with increasing pharmacologic agents that are available in the management of these patients. The emphasis in this book is on the current pharmacologic treatment of common medical disorders in adolescents. Selected topics of practical relevance in adolescent medicine are covered. The goal of this book is to provide a succinct and practical guide specifically written for practicing physicians and allied health professionals who work with adolescents.

Primary care clinicians are called on to care for adolescents in a time with increasing pharmacologic agents that are available in the management of these patients. The emphasis in this book is on the current pharmacologic treatment of common medical disorders in adolescents. Selected topics of practical relevance in adolescent medicine are covered. The goal of this book is to provide a succinct and practical guide specifically written for practicing physicians and allied health professionals who work with adolescents.

Just a few decades ago, children born with significant congenital anomalies or genetic and metabolic diseases perished at an early age and very few survived into their teens and even less into adulthood. Congenital heart disease, major errors in metabolism, cancer, cystic fibrosis and many other major diseases were fatal. Because of that many physicians in adult primary care did not have the opportunity to see patients with these problems and thus unable to learn how to care for them. In this book, we have recruited highly qualified and experienced physicians to compile what is to the best of our knowledge, the first book dealing entirely with the issue of children's diseases in adults. Our goal is to provide a resource for all health care providers in order to help with caring for such adult patients. We believe that it will be valuable to all health care providers who provide care to adults with children's diseases. To our knowledge, there is no such resource available for practitioners which will make this book desirable.

Increasingly more and more children with developmental disabilities survive into adulthood. Pediatricians and other clinicians are called upon to care for an increasing number of children with developmental disabilities in their practice and thus there is a need for a practical guide specifically written for paediatricians and primary care clinicians that addresses major concepts of neurodevelopmental pediatrics. In the United States, the specialty training leading to a conjoint board certification by the American Board of Pediatrics and American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, requires a total of 6 years of training (2 years of pediatrics, 1 year of neurology, 18 months of child neurology, 18 months of neurodevelopmental disabilities). As of December 2006, in the US, there were 241 pediatricians and 55 child neurologists certified in the subspecialty of Neurodevelopmental Disabilities. Thus most of the children with developmental disabilities are seen by pediatricians and therefore it is important for these pediatricians to be well informed of common issues in the field. The 60,000 or so pediatricians in the United States (and hundreds more in other countries) are the main target audience for a practical book on neurodevelopmental pediatrics.

While much needs to be done in order to minimize the suicide attempts and suicides of adolescents, the work of Stop Youth Suicide (SYS) campaign and the comprehensive grassroots approach is showing signs of success in the state of Kentucky. The 2013 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) showed that for the first time, indicators of youth suicide in the state are at or below the national average, where they were previously always above. In the three rural counties where the school systems have partnered with SYS and the Division of Adolescent Medicine in Lexington, there is an actual absence of completed suicides compared to the average of three per year prior to this partnership. In order to maintain and improve that statistic, we must ensure that students do not have easy access to weapons, guns and drugs by ensuring that these items are properly stored in homes where children are present. Kentuckys educators must continue to develop ways to provide safe and supportive school environments. In this book, the authors have gathered presentations from the 2017 Annual Stop Youth Suicide Campaign Conference, which we hope will be of interest and help to the readers.

Human sexuality involves sexual attraction to another person, which for the most part is to the opposite sex (heterosexuality), some to the same sex (homosexuality) or some having both (bisexuality) or not being attracted to anyone in a sexual manner (asexuality). Human sexuality is determined by many factors, like cultural, political, legal and philosophical aspects of life, but also morality, ethics, theology, spirituality and religion. Sexuality is as old as mankind and interest in sexual activity is very much related to the onset of puberty and the period of schooling. In this book, we have gathered papers from around the world in order to discuss issues of sexuality from an international perspective.

Adolescent violence is a very visible violence in our modern society, where you just have to open the newspaper or the television and you find yourself right in the middle of it. In order to understand the scope of the problem, we need to look at the epidemiology of global violence. Each year, more than 1.6 million people world-wide lose their lives to violence and for every person who dies as a result of violence, many more are injured and suffer from a range of physical, sexual, reproductive and mental health problems. Violence places a massive burden on national economies in health care, law enforcement and lost productivity. We are talking about a major public health problem. Programs for intervention have been researched and long-term follow-up indicates that early intervention is working and even if such programs would seem to demand a substantial economic investment, they have been proven cost-effective in the long run. In this book, we have gathered presentations on bullying, aggression, violence, suicide and prevention from an international perspective.

Adolescent sexuality and gynecologic care of young patients are topics which make most clinicians uncomfortable. This is due to a lack of knowledge and training in many circumstances. Assumptions based upon knowledge of adult gynecology alone may be hazardous for pediatric and adolescent patients. These children and young women often do not have access to specialists who are able and willing to care for their gynecologic issues at an appropriate level. The primary care setting is often the most comfortable venue for a number of these patients. The concept for this book was to provide a reference for primary care providers without highly specialized gynecology textbooks, just to focus on what providers tackle on a daily basis. The first edition was well received and the feedback was good. In the 10 years since the first edition was published, our knowledge has improved and many new methods, medications and devices were added to daily practice. Those changes prompted the Editors to provide an updated version of the book, while keeping its essence intact.

Adolescence is the critical period or rather process in human development, where the individual leaves the dependency of childhood and enters a period in which dramatic changes occur, eventually resulting in what society identifies as adulthood. It is a complex developmental time involving sociological, psychological and physiological issues that starts with puberty and ends sometime in the third decade of life with central nervous system maturation (parents would want this period to be much quicker and shorter). The goal of adolescence is to develop an autonomous adult, who is capable of functioning at intellectual, sexual, and vocational levels acceptable to society. Prevention and management of health problems in children and adolescents can prevent considerable morbidity in adults. Working with adolescents is difficult, frustrating and very rewarding at the same time. In this book, we have gathered international research to show you a picture of health issues in adolescence and during the school period of human development.

A mantra has developed in the late 20th century and early 21st century that has an underlying bias again overweight and obese individuals, who are blamed for their "disease" and told by society to lose weight or suffer the consequences. Art was used from 22,000 BC through the 19th century to glorify obesity, while art of the current era vilifies or mocks obesity. Considerable discrimination awaits the obese child, adolescent, or adult in current society, whether in the form of bullying in school, limited social life, or job refusal. Concern over obesity leads many youth to unhealthy diet practices that involve starvation and/or bulimic features. In this book, leading international experts discuss obesity in adolescence. Indeed, what are the ethics of obesity management for the health care professionals of today? Perhaps proper obesity management begins with an examination of why obesity was desired for so many centuries, an acceptance that obesity is not the patient's fault, that many overweight/obese individuals are happy as well as healthy and that the economics of current obesity "treatment" must be re-examined and reconfigured. This book has been created and edited by four leading physicians in child health and human development.

In the Western World the leading causes of mortality continue to be accidents, homicide, suicide, sexually transmitted infections, eating disorders and teen pregnancy. All are preventable yet they continue to happen. This book is a collaboration among many clinicians and researchers and addressing these issues by having discussions on various aspects of adolescent behaviours, parenting and educating adolescents from different countries and different cultures.

The Internet has become an important channel for communication, source of information, education tool, entertainment hub and social network in the contemporary world. With the popular use of smart phones, people can connect to the internet at any place, at any time. However, easy accessibility, anonymity, rich entertainment programs, and information explosion in the internet also attract young people to an extent that may adversely affect their physical health, psychological well-being, family life and academic performance. Although there is no agreed upon definition and assessment of "internet addiction", there are research findings showing that problems or pathological use of the internet can lead to a wide range of personal, interpersonal, family and social problems. Hence, internet addiction is an emerging public health concern in different places in the world. Overall speaking, this is a valuable piece of work which is very useful to paediatricians, health professionals and researchers in the field of Internet addiction.