Sexual minority adolescents take more behavioral risks than heterosexual peers
April 1st 2014High school students who are sexual minorities are more likely to take risks that increase their chances of cancer than their heterosexual peers, almost across the board, according to an analysis of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (YRBS).
Transition planning: Teaching sexual self-management
April 1st 2014Transition programs prepare adolescent patients for their transfer from pediatric to adult healthcare. Primary care physicians must incorporate sexual health self-management into transition planning for adolescents and young adults, but most especially for those with chronic illness or developmental disabilities.
Autism and gender: Are boys 'predisposed,' girls 'protected'?
April 1st 2014“We know there is gender bias in neurodevelopmental disorders, ranging from autism to intellectual disability,” begins Bradley P. Coe, PhD, senior fellow, Eichler Lab, Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, and coauthor of a new study that may help explain the gender chasm.
Environment, geography, and genes: More nature, less nurture when it comes to ASD?
April 1st 2014“It is well known that autism has a strong genetic component; that’s indisputable, but my interpretation [of this latest study] is that environmental insult also has a very strong effect.” The remark comes from Andrey Rzhetsky, PhD, Pritzker Scholar and professor of Genetic Medicine and Human Genetics at the University of Chicago, Illinois.
Racial and ethnic disparities in ASD diagnosis: What pediatricians should know
April 1st 2014Although evidence suggests there are no consistent differences in prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) according to race or ethnicity, there is also abundant research demonstrating racial/ethnic disparities in the diagnosis of ASDs.
Painful oral ulcers leave teen speechless
April 1st 2014A 17-year-old white female is transferred from an outside hospital with the chief complaint being painful oral ulcers. Over the last 72 hours, the pain from her ulcers has progressively worsened, leading to the inability to speak or eat. She also has a diffuse papulopustular rash. There is an extensive family history of autoimmune disease, and she tested positive for mononucleosis 2 months prior to hospitalization.
Office electronics: Choosing the best tech
April 1st 2014Previous Peds v2.0 articles have discussed cutting-edge technologies for screening patients and for expediting diagnoses. The technologies that are just as important in the pediatric office practice are the many electronic devices we often take for granted. Here’s the scoop on the tech you need to run an efficient, modern pediatrics practice.
Rare break for kids with rare diseases
March 27th 2014The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the first drug to receive a Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher, a new FDA program that aims to encourage development of new drugs and biologics for the prevention and treatment of rare pediatric diseases by helping speed such agents to market.
iPad use by kids younger than 2 may be just fine
March 20th 2014A pediatrician who is an expert on the effects of media on children-and who, not incidentally, helped write the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines on restricting media use by children aged younger than 2 years-says that 30 to 60 minutes per day spent using an iPad or similar device may be just fine for the age group.
Antibiotics cause most C difficile in kids
March 18th 2014The majority of all pediatric Clostridium difficile infections are the result of a recent course of antibiotics prescribed by a physician for some other condition, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
VIDEO: Determining if a fracture is the result of child abuse
March 11th 2014Crystal Murcia, PhD, of Contemporary Pediatrics talks to Emalee Flaherty, MD, from Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, about the recent American Academy of Pediatrics update on evaluating child fractures for physical abuse.
Parental smoking damages kids’ vascular systems
March 11th 2014As if reasons didn’t already abound as to why parents shouldn’t smoke, parental cigarette smoking deleteriously affects children’s vascular health up to 25 years after exposure, putting kids at greater risk as adults for stroke and cardiovascular disease, according to the first prospective study of its kind.