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The US Congress dramatically reduced children's access to health care by passing the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) this year, according to American Academy of Pediatrics President Eileen Ouellette, MD, JD, during an address Saturday morning at the AAP National Conference and Exhibition in Atlanta. The act was subsequently signed into law by President George W. Bush.

When deciding whether a tonsillectomy is indicated for a given patient, tailor your decision to the severity of symptoms and that patient's ongoing story, advised a specialist Saturday at the AAP's National Conference and Exhibition in Atlanta.

Molds are commonplace in virtually every modern environment, and are even present in the everyday jar of peanut butter sitting on the kitchen counter in most children's homes. The advice of Lynnette J. Mazur, MD, MPH, presented Saturday at a seminar at the AAP National Conference and Exhibition, was simple: Eat a balanced diet!

Allergies are not only becoming more prevalent but, in the case of food allergy, the natural course may be changing, according to Robert A. Wood, MD, professor of pediatrics and director of pediatric allergy and immunology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Playing outside is a long-held joy of childhood, but bugs and animals that can cause harm lurk in places where children are likely to be playing?including the lawn, the woods, and the playground. Dennis L. Murray, MD, professor of pediatrics at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, offered preventive advice that you can share with parents during a seminar, "Keeping Children Safe in the Great Outdoors" Saturday at the 2006 AAP National Conference and Exhibition in Atlanta.

A report issued late this past summer by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) provides practical strategies and tools to help pediatricians and other health care professionals increase what NFID considers an alarmingly low rate of influenza immunization among children who have asthma—part of an initiative to address immunization barriers and improve parental education about the importance of influenza vaccination for all children with asthma. Influenza vaccination has been shown to reduce morbidity and mortality in this high-risk pediatric population.

The section of the National Institutes of Health that conducts and supports research on human development, medical rehabilitation, and the health of children, adults, families, and communities, has launched its redesigned Web site with your need and interests in mind. The new National Institute of Child Health and Human Development site, http://www.nichd.nih.gov, provides easy access to information for clinicians and for researchers, patients, and the general public.

Before children get decked out as their favorite cartoon and television characters this Halloween, remind parents that peanuts and milk could be in the candy that young ones receive while trick-or-treating—a situation that could be life-threatening to those who have an allergy to one of these foods.

Care provided by a primary care practice that embraces the medical home model is better organized, more accessible, and less stressful to coordinate-so say parents of children who have special health-care needs. Here is a look at how you and your practice benefit from providing family-centered care within the medical home model.

This list of books help teach children about special differences.

A 13-year-old prodigy's complains of "not accomplishing his goals in his studies." What can you do to help?

Awareness of over-the-counter and prescription drug abuse among adolescents is a first step you can take toward curtailing this worrisome trend. Take care, however, not to risk interfering when patients need these medications.

Getting children who have asthma into the water can have remarkable effects on health, the authors' experiences demonstrate. Place a properly structured swimming program on your list of recommendations for these patients, they urge-or put it on your medical community's to-do list.

A palpable abdominal mass detected during a routine office visit is often the first indication of the presence of this rare but highly treatable tumor of childhood. A child cured of Wilms tumor requires on-going follow-up for potential long-term complications.

Care provided by a primary care practice that embraces the medical home model is better organized, more accessible, and less stressful to coordinate-so say parents of children who have special health-care needs. Here is a look at how you and your practice benefit from providing family-centered care within the medical home model.

As the medical profession evolves, the issues and challenges change, but the ongoing discussion continues to enrich professional practice.

Options for treating IBD now include nutritional therapy, probiotics, and biologics. And even therapeutic mainstays, such as steroids and immunomodulators, have undergone improvement. The authors bring you up to date on the newest therapies, the rationale for using them, and their potential for complications.

The new conjugate vaccine MCV4 promises longer duration of immunity and, perhaps, greater clinical efficacy than the polysaccharide vaccine MPSV4. Questions remain about booster doses, vaccinating young children, and safety.

An 11-month-old boy breaks out in a rash when he eats. Is it a food allergy or something else?

A 9-year-old boy has developed an itchy vesicular rash on his left leg that has spread to his other leg and to both arms and hands. What is the diagnosis?