News

A 9-year-old male is transferred to your general pediatric service from the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) with a diagnosis of resolving inhalation pneumonitis. Your review of the admission history reveals that he had been admitted 2 days previously when he presented to the Emergency Department (ED) with the following history.

Amniotic Band Syndrome

This full-term infant was born with malformed feet and toes. Physical examination findings were otherwise normal. The child weighed 3.1 kg (6.9 lb) at birth; her Apgar scores were 9 at 1 minute and 9 at 5 minutes. Her mother (21-year-old gravida 2 para 1) had an unremarkable antenatal history and a normal vaginal delivery. There was no family history of congenital anomalies.

A new bill on dietary supplements recently passed by Congress will focus on adverse reactions that consumers suffer from supplements and various over-the-counter drugs, and should help identify those products that are most dangerous. The measure, S. 3546, would require that makers of dietary supplements and over-the-counter drugs inform the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) when they learn of "serious adverse events" linked to their products. The bill defines serious events as death, life-threatening experience, inpatient hospitalization, disability, birth defect, or medical/surgical intervention.

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Institute on Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) have discovered that the brain's fear hub likely becomes abnormally small in the most severely socially-impaired males with autism spectrum disorder. New findings suggest that social fear in autism may initially trigger a hyperactive, abnormally enlarged amygdala, which eventually gives way to a toxic adaptation that kills amygdala cells and shrinks the structure, said Richard Davidson, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin.

Most people go to the hospital to get healthy. That's not the case lately when people make a stop at the cafeteria. More and more, hospital cafeterias are serving fast food for patients, visitors, and staff. A recent study sought to determine the prevalence and type of brand name fast food (BNFF) in academic-affiliated hospitals. The study used medical students to report on fast food franchises at the teaching hospitals through which they rotate.

Beyond the pale

A 12-month-old Hmong male is brought in for evaluation of fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. What is causing his symptoms?

A 3 1/2 year-old boy's left eyelid is red and swollen with a small hole in the center, and he is unable to open the affected eye. What's the diagnosis?

As parents of twins, triplets, or even larger sets of multiples, you may feel your situation is unique. But the truth is, you have lots of company. The rate of multiple gestation and delivery is at record high levels worldwide. One in every 250 American deliveries is a multiple birth.