News

The news this week from the floor of the commercial Exhibit Hall of AAP 2004 National Conference and Exhibition is that the most common allergic reaction has a cure. More than 55 million Americans develop allergic contact dermatitis from exposure to poison oak, poison ivy, or poison sumac (Toxicodendron species) every year. According to a report by researchers at St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network in Bethlehem, Pa., relief with the new soap product of alcohol solubles and anionic surfactants is just 30 seconds away.

You, as a pediatrician, can change the world. Not every time and not with every issue, but political advocacy by AAP members does carry clout in Washington.

When a parent of Southeast Asian background refuses to meet your eyes during an examination of her child, warning bells go off. The parent is uncomfortable, has something to hide, is trying to protect something embarrassing or inappropriate . . . Not so!

Is plastic surgery the right choice for adolescents? One plastic surgeon, speaking to an audience of pediatricians, says "maybe." "This is a particularly vulnerable population," cautioned Julia Corcoran, MD, attending plastic surgeon at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. "They are adults in so many ways, but not in all."

Many clinicians approach questions of substance abuse in their adolescent patients from the wrong perspective: They focus solely on the negative &#8212 the risk factors &#8212 instead of on the positive &#8212 teens' numerous protective factors. The result, say researchers from Texas and Maryland, is that patients and parents get less help than pediatricians can actually provide.

"If you are not a lobbyist, you are not doing your job as a pediatrician." That was the blunt challenge from Tom Pendergrass, MD, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington and chair of the legislative committee of the Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Don't use a computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), or other electronic tools at the office and at home? It's time to catch up with your colleague - for good reason!

Pediatricians can help young victims deal with the trauma of child abuse, but they can also exacerbate problems associated with abuse.

Headaches are a significant pediatric problem - and pediatricians who don't recognize and treat them aren't doing their job, according to a Stanford University researcher who spoke at the AAP 2004 National Conference and Exhibition Saturday.

Unintended consequences are alive and active in pediatric endocrinology. When the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of growth hormone to treat idiopathic short stature in 1993, pediatricians found themselves trying to decide how short is short enough to treat.

The 'golden gate' to the Golden State has much to offer explorers, sightseers, history buffs - and everyone else

CPD Showdaily images

Could this be an autoimmune hemolytic anemia? That's doubtful: The Coombs' test was negative.

With dietary vitamins having potent immunomodulating effects in vitro and in animal models, investigators were led to examine whether vitamin supplementation during infancy affects the risk of asthma and allergic disease in early childhood.

In the halls of the federal bureaucracy, October 1 is traditionally celebrated as Fiscal New Year's Day, when agencies and departments can start spending the funds Congress has appropriated to run the government.

I'm no magician, but I've found a trick to engage apprehensive 2- to 4-year-olds during examinations.

Flu immunizations, prescribing errors, nail polish, and teething myths.

Q. Children, even young ones, are always so busy these days. But have we gone too far?

As Internet access saturates our society, you have many more opportunities to communicate with patients and families electronically. Embrace the

Waiting until a child gets older before addressing weight concerns may be too late. Routinely assessing weight and providing anticipatory guidance about eating and physical activity can help prevent weight problems from taking hold--possibly for a lifetime.

In this installment, the author helps you distinguish among vascular malformations, hemangiomas, and less common vascular tumors of infancy and identify the lesions associated with congenital syphilis. The first part of this article appeared in the July 2004 issue.

In this installment, the author helps you distinguish among vascular malformations, hemangiomas, and less common vascular tumors of infancy and identify the lesions associated with congenital syphilis. The first part of this article appeared in the July 2004 issue.

Open your ear!

A survey in an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse urban community revealed that about one quarter of nearly 5,000 adolescents ate seven or more meals with their families in a single week.

Investigators compared four protocols for treating major depressive disorder in adolescents who ranged from 12 to 17 years old.

The Food and Drug Administration's Psychopharmacologic Drugs Committee and the newly-formed Pediatric Advisory Committee have called for a "black box" warning that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant drugs carry a risk of suicidal behavior in children.

It is three years now since the calamity of September 11. Three years is long enough for researchers to count the number of children orphaned on that dreadful day and launch the earliest studies of how children react to what these experts call "traumatic bereavement."