News

An obituary

An autopsy is educational as one physician might inform another as to the cause of death. The practicing physician, then educated, would be able to explain to family members the exact cause of the demise. Once understood, treatment of future cases might even be modified. In an obituary, we learn about the deceased, but can only mourn.

Transition programs prepare adolescent patients for their transfer from pediatric to adult healthcare. Primary care physicians must incorporate sexual health self-management into transition planning for adolescents and young adults, but most especially for those with chronic illness or developmental disabilities.

There is growing evidence that nutrition may play a role in managing symptoms of autism in some children. Here is a look at the current research supporting these nutritional interventions.

“We know there is gender bias in neurodevelopmental disorders, ranging from autism to intellectual disability,” begins Bradley P. Coe, PhD, senior fellow, Eichler Lab, Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, and coauthor of a new study that may help explain the gender chasm.

“It is well known that autism has a strong genetic component; that’s indisputable, but my interpretation [of this latest study] is that environmental insult also has a very strong effect.” The remark comes from Andrey Rzhetsky, PhD, Pritzker Scholar and professor of Genetic Medicine and Human Genetics at the University of Chicago, Illinois.

A 17-year-old white female is transferred from an outside hospital with the chief complaint being painful oral ulcers. Over the last 72 hours, the pain from her ulcers has progressively worsened, leading to the inability to speak or eat. She also has a diffuse papulopustular rash. There is an extensive family history of autoimmune disease, and she tested positive for mononucleosis 2 months prior to hospitalization.

Previous Peds v2.0 articles have discussed cutting-edge technologies for screening patients and for expediting diagnoses. The technologies that are just as important in the pediatric office practice are the many electronic devices we often take for granted. Here’s the scoop on the tech you need to run an efficient, modern pediatrics practice.

Riddling autism

Contemporary Pediatrics was already a 4-year-old toddler in 1980 when autism was first listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the bible of US psychiatry.

Rates of third-generation cephalosporin-resistant (G3CR) and extended-spectrum ß-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae infections are on the rise in kids, in both inpatient and outpatient settings across the country, according to a new study.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the first drug to receive a Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher, a new FDA program that aims to encourage development of new drugs and biologics for the prevention and treatment of rare pediatric diseases by helping speed such agents to market.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently released another list of tests and treatments that you should think twice about before employing.

A pediatrician who is an expert on the effects of media on children-and who, not incidentally, helped write the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines on restricting media use by children aged younger than 2 years-says that 30 to 60 minutes per day spent using an iPad or similar device may be just fine for the age group.

Researchers think they now know why children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit the hallmark symptom of withdrawing into their own inner world: They are paying attention to all the information their brains are processing while they are seemingly at rest.

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently weighed in on whether primary care behavioral interventions are effective in reducing use of illicit drugs and pharmaceuticals for nonmedical reasons in children and adolescents.

The majority of all pediatric Clostridium difficile infections are the result of a recent course of antibiotics prescribed by a physician for some other condition, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Crystal Murcia, PhD, of Contemporary Pediatrics talks to Emalee Flaherty, MD, from Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, about the recent American Academy of Pediatrics update on evaluating child fractures for physical abuse.

As if reasons didn’t already abound as to why parents shouldn’t smoke, parental cigarette smoking deleteriously affects children’s vascular health up to 25 years after exposure, putting kids at greater risk as adults for stroke and cardiovascular disease, according to the first prospective study of its kind.

The presence of a television in a child’s bedroom is associated with weight gain beyond that associated with just watching television in general, according to a recent study.

Incidences involving oral vaccine for protecting children against rotavirus gastroenteritis mistakenly being injected are increasing, according to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP).

About 1 in 10 pediatricians and family physicians has seriously considered not providing childhood vaccines because of cost, according to the results of a recent survey.

Although little is changing about the weight of most of our citizens, we may have made some progress combating the obesity epidemic among our preschoolers.