News

A guide to help overweight status in children.

An anxious mother asks you to evaluate two slowly growing asymptomatic nodules on the third and fourth fingers of her healthy 4-month-old son.

Implementing the new expert recommendations on the stubborn problem of overweight/obesity in children.

An infant presents with blood-streaked stools.

A National Governors Association panel sets a deadline for electronic records for pediatric patients.

Halfway through her term as AAP President, Dr. Renee Jenkins, talks with CP and shares her views on the issues of child advocacy, reimbursements, residency programs, and what she would like to see from America's next Commander in Chief.

A reader discusses concerns about use of the over-the-counter drug ipecac among adolescents.

An editorial discussing recent misleading information related to vaccines and autism.

A proposal for stricter manufacturing standard by the state of Washington has the toy industry pledging to stop selling toys in the Evergreen State.

As pediatricians, we have been encouragingcar seat and seat belt use by our patients formany years-checking them off our list ofanticipatory guidance to be given at healthmaintenance visits. If we are not runningshort on time, we may even remember to remind preteensthat they should not get in the car with anyonewho has been drinking or using drugs. But are thereother issues we should be mentioning related to gettinginto cars that pose a risk to our patients?

A discussion of three types of Genital Lesions: Phimosis, Paraphimosis, and Hypospadias.

The patient's medical history was unremarkable. He had been born via normal vaginal delivery. His father had a history of strabismus. The child had fix-and-follow vision in both eyes. Extraocular muscle movement appeared normal. A Hirschberg test showed orthophoria. A Bruckner test showed symmetrical red reflexes in both eyes. Cycloplegic refraction revealed moderate hyperopic correction, which was symmetrical in both eyes. No retinal or optic nerve head defects were noted on dilated fundus examination.

An age-dependent increase in ceramide levels in the lungs of mice with cystic fibrosis causes many of the symptoms of the disease, which can be reversed by an inhibitor that normalizes ceramide levels, according to research published online March 30 in Nature Medicine.

Adverse drug events were the third leading cause of nonfatal injuries among infants, and the sixth leading cause of nonfatal injuries, among children ages 1 to 4 that led to emergency department visits from 2004 to 2005.

Although teenagers are aware that loud music from their MP3 players can damage their hearing, they choose not to lower the volume, according to the March Journal of Pediatrics.

An increasing body of evidence has advanced the understanding of social anxiety disorder as a distinct condition with neurobiological underpinnings, according to a seminar published in the March 29 issue of The Lancet.

While the participation of children in clinical trials has substantially improved childhood cancer survival rates, enrollment in cancer treatment clinical trials is lacking among 13- to 24-year-olds, according to two articles published in the April issue of The Lancet Oncology.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced this week that it is investigating a possible association between the use of Singulair (montelukast) and mood and behavioral changes, suicidal thinking/behavior and suicide. Singulair, a leukotriene receptor antagonist, is used in the treatment of allergic rhinitis and asthma.

The benefits of making drugs accessible through over-the-counter sales must be constantly reviewed in light of adverse reaction information that subsequently becomes available, according to an article published in the March 29 issue of BMJ.

Adolescents who regularly have abdominal pain face a substantially higher risk of depressive symptoms than those who seldom have abdominal pain, according to research published in the March issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Positive Phase III results from a vaccine that combines four existing immunizations together were reported online by Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's updated guidelines on infection control by health care workers restate the standard precautions such as hand hygiene and appropriate protection, but also now incorporate respiratory hygiene and coughing etiquette, according to an article published in the March issue of the AORN Journal.

Most Americans -- including those with health insurance -- are deeply concerned about the cost and quality of health care and believe that the system requires fundamental reform, according to the 2008 Health Care for America Survey conducted by the AFL-CIO and Working America, which was released March 25.

In children under age 5 with a first febrile urinary tract infection, renal ultrasonography should be routinely performed, according to research published in the March issue of Urology.

Individuals who were born preterm have diminished long-term survival and rates of reproduction compared to individuals born at term, according to the results of a large population-based study in Norway. The findings are published in the March 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Localized neuroblastoma in infancy often regresses spontaneously, and a watchful-waiting strategy that avoids chemotherapy and extensive surgery may be appropriate in some patients, according to new research published in the March 20 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The prevalence of familial cases in juvenile-onset Behcet's disease indicates that there may be a genetic component to early expression of the disease, according to study findings published in the April issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Children with healthy diets perform better in school than children with unhealthy diets, according to the April Journal of School Health.