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Clinicians can foster a working partnership with patients through the use of motivational interviewing.

Childhood obesity is one of the most challenging problems facing pediatricians today.

You are completing rounds as an intern one morning on the general pediatric ward when your colleague from the emergency department signs out a patient to you. She describes an 11-month-old black male who presented with a 4-day history of low-grade fever, nasal congestion, and decreased appetite, without vomiting or diarrhea.

During my medical school pediatric clerkship, I was assigned to spend one half-day per week at the office of a private pediatrician. Over time, it became clear that pediatricians must be active partners with parents in decisions regarding infant feeding and other activities if the disturbing trends of obesity are to be reversed.

Succimer, a drug used to treat lead poisoning in children, has limited efficacy in removing mercury from the body, according ot new research.

Complementary and alternative medicine - either medicinal CAM or the substitution of an unproven therapy for a conventional therapy - can lead to serious and fatal adverse events, especially when used in children, according to surveillance of one database.

An action plan to manage food allergy in schools should emphasize allergen avoidance, recognition of allergic reactions, and identification of situations that require injections of epinephrine.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for the CDC recommended a booster dose of vaccine for bacterial meningitis after reviewing recent evidence showing that a single dose of vaccine provides immunity for fewer than 5 years, a much shorter duration than previously believed.

Prominent posting of calorie information on fast-food menu boards greatly increases customers' awareness of calorie information and makes it more likely that they will make calorie-informed choices, a survey showed.

Findings of a study conducted in Denmark have added to accumulating evidence that exposure to neonatal jaundice is associated with autistic disorders and other disorders of psychological development.

Investigators in a new study prospectively examined 48 patients with infantile hemangiomas in the midline lumbosacral region that were at least 2.5 cm in diameter, finding that more than half the infants who underwent magnetic resonance imaging had spinal anomalies.

Who could have predicted the changes many of us have already seen during our careers as pediatricians?

A study published online in the Journal of Pediatrics reveals that 5- to 12-year-old children who consume caffeine?almost exclusively in beverages such as soda?are not more likely than their peers who do not ingest caffeine to wet the bed. But caffeine consumption and hours of sleep are correlated, with higher levels of caffeine associated with fewer hours of sleep.

Alcohol use appears to be associated with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), according to a new study published online in Addiction.

Daily marijuana use increased significantly among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders, according to the 2010 Monitoring the Future Survey, putting marijuana ahead of cigarette smoking by some measures.

Pediatric patients with renal disease secondary to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have nearly twice the risk of death compared with pediatric patients with renal disease secondary to other causes.

Physicians who care for children, including pediatricians and family care physicians, often locate their practices in areas where the number of child practitioners already is high and not where they are needed most.

One of the more common conditions pediatricians diagnose is deformity of the skull. Deformational plagiocephaly may be caused by compressive forces in utero (eg, multiple births) or by constant pressure on one portion of the newborn’s malleable skull when the infant is kept in the same supine position for prolonged periods.

Premature Adrenarche: A 7-year-old girl had growth of pubic hair for the past 6months. The hair was initially limited to the labia majoraand then extended gradually into the pubic area. Isolated Scrotal Hair of Infancy: Infant was born at term to a 32-year-old gravida 2 para 3 after a normal vaginal delivery. Scrotal hair developedat age 1 month.

This benign but impressive neonatal eruption progresses through several stages, beginning with pustules that quickly rupture and leave flat macules with collarettes of scale. The pustules may rupture in utero, and the neonate may present at birth with the macules, as was the case in this baby boy.

FDA is adding new information to the Warning and Precaution section of the benzonatate drug label to warn physicians and healthcare professionals that accidental ingestion can result in overdose and death among patients younger than 10 years.

A new Cochrane meta-analysis shows that giving vitamin A capsules to children from 6 months to 5 years of age reduces deaths as well as the incidence of certain illnesses.

Evidence is mounting that decreased levels of serotonin in brain tissues is associated with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

It is quite frustrating for all of us as children’s advocates to see little change in a high-risk family’s situation, despite the provision of available resources. Most pediatric health care providers and Child Protective Services (CPS) professionals would probably be able to share some uplifting accounts of families improving. However, I assume they could recall many more instances in which nothing seemed to change...

Catalyst for change : Motivational interviewing can help parents to help their kids Our picks : Best new tech products Dermcase : Spreading rash and papules in a 6-week-old Updates : H1N1, Pediatric Clinical Trials, Bronchitis

One-fourth of children with functional constipation will continue to have symptoms into adulthood.

Investigators assessed the relationship between adenovirus 36-specific antibodies and obesity in children to test the hypothesis that this type of viral infection may play a role in the epidemic increase in prevalence of pediatric obesity.

After laying groundwork in gene therapy for a couple of decades, we are now on the cusp of reaping benefits and are actually seeing efficacy in a large number of patients.