News

Pediatric Puzzler: Swollen eyes (Orbital pseudotumor)

Don't immediately ask yourself "What's the diagnosis?" when parents bring a child with behavioral problems to you. Instead, answer key questions about the extent of the problems and the settings in which they occur.

Proper measurement of blood pressure is essential both to detect children with hypertension and to avoid over-diagnosis. Once the condition is identified, the pediatrician must decide whether the patient requires lifestyle changes alone or antihypertensive drug treatment as well.

Smallpox vaccination and adverse reactions/An 8-year-old with encopresis: A dramatic turnaround/Can small practices afford to give vaccines?/On the matter of "partial birth abortions"/Getting out those beads

The stimulants your patient is taking won't necessarily be in her chart under "medication history." Consumption of caffeine, ephedra, or another herbal stimulant may be an overlooked factor affecting your patient's health.

Homeopathy: Good or bad science?/Screening for autism

Although outbursts of lethal violence in Iraq, Israel, and Afghanistan last month continue to threaten the peace of the world, attention in the nation's capital focused on domestic concerns.

Q Now that summer is here, I get calls from parents asking how to keep their children from constantly scratching itchy rashes that occur during the warmer months.

In a conversation with a friend recently about my children, she said there ought to be a word or a term to describe offspring who have achieved adulthood—to distinguish them from pre-adult children. At the time, I had to agree with her, because my 18-, 21-, and 24-year-old progeny are surely no longer the small, dependent humans we usually think of as children.

Pediatric Puzzler: Fever and abdominal pain (cat-scratch disease)

Acute gastroenteritis has many possible causes but two main treatments--oral rehydration and early refeeding. Despite their proved effectiveness in preventing life-threatening dehydration from diarrhea, they are still underused.

Homeopathy: Good or bad science?/Screening for autism

The author reviews the presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of a handful (and they are a handful!) of dermatologic complaints: eczema, diaper rash, scabies, lice, and alopecia areata.

Something's "going around": Skin creases on a baby's limbs (Michelin tire baby syndrome, or congenital diffuse lipomatosis)

It isn't just about skin: Atopic dermatitis affects a child's psyche. To keep the disease under control, prescribe sufficient topical corticosteroids and administer a generous dosage of reassurance.

Although outbursts of lethal violence in Iraq, Israel, and Afghanistan last month continue to threaten the peace of the world, attention in the nation's capital focused on domestic concerns.

Pediatric Puzzler is about first seizure and hypoglycemia

The war in Iraq is over, as President Bush proclaimed from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln.

Reporting on the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is shooting at a moving target; what follows can only be a snapshot of how things looked at the end of May, when this issue of Contemporary Pediatrics went to press.

Q My patient is an 8-year-old boy whose progress I have been following since he was born. For the past four or five years he has had only one behavior problem—but it is a severe one: He refuses to have his bowel movements on the toilet.