Flu-like symptoms? Inquire about swine exposure
December 1st 2011With 10 cases this year of swine-origin influenza reported, mostly in children, the CDC is urging pediatricians to screen patients presenting with fever and respiratory symptoms for contact with swine. It also said you shouldn’t rely on commercially available diagnostic tests to tell the difference between swine flu and seasonal influenza A viruses. Here’s why.
Developmental/Genetic Topic Index
November 8th 2011• Abdominal Muscle Deficiency Syndrome • Branchio-Oto-Renal syndrome • Cerebral Gigantism • Cerebral Palsy • Chronic Granulomatous Disease • Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy • Eagle-Barrett Syndrome • Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (1) (2) • Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva • Fragile X Syndrome (1) (2) (3) • Hunter Syndrome • Iliac Horn Syndrome • Juvenile Hemochromatosis • Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome • LEOPARD Syndrome • Mowat-Wilson Syndrome • Onycho-Osteodysplasia • Organic Acidemia • Prune Belly Syndrome • Russel Silver Syndrome • Sotos Syndrome • Triad Syndrome • Trisomy 13 • Turner-Keiser Syndrome • Williams Syndrome
Contemporary Pediatrics, Digital Edition, November 2011
November 1st 2011Image Gently : Is overuse of CT scans harming our children? FDA's new role in tobacco control : Guidance to empower youth to say no There's an app for that : Best mobile medical applications for pediatricians Dermcase : Squiggly blue line on dorsal foot Puzzler : Newborn not having very swell time Updates : Acyclovir and HSV, Substance abuse screening, PPIs for suspected infant GERD, Glucocorticoids and preterm infants, community-acquired Pneumonia
Clinical guidelines issued for community-acquired pneumonia management
November 1st 2011New clinical practice guidelines issued by the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and the Infectious Diseases Society of America provide detailed recommendations for prevention, diagnosis, and management of community-acquired pneumonia in otherwise healthy infants and children in the outpatient or inpatient setting.
Autism risk increases with low birth weight
October 20th 2011Knowledge of a child’s birth weight can be a valuable tool when determining whether to screen for autism spectrum disorder. Patients who weigh less than 2,000 g at birth are 5 times more likely to have autism than the general population. How much does the autism incidence increase with a history of very low birth weight (less than 1,500 g)?
Hypertension risk greatly increased for children in top 15% of BMI
October 20th 2011Children in the 85th percentile for body mass index (BMI) are at greatly elevated risk for high blood pressure and require regular monitoring as well as possible interventions, according to a new American Heart Association study. The study of 1,111 healthy Indiana school children found that the adiposity effect on blood pressure was minimal until patients reached the overweight category, when it increased 4-fold. Find out why researchers believe the hormone leptin may play a role in the relationship between weight and blood pressure.
Pediatricians contribute to $6.7 billion annual cost of overtreatment
October 20th 2011Instead of too little, too late, in terms of medical care, are your patients getting too much, too soon? Pediatricians and other primary care physicians overtreat patients at a cost of $6.7 billion a year. Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, attributed the costs to performing unnecessary tests or prescribing unneeded medications. Can you guess in what areas pediatricians most contributed to the problem?
Teens’ alcohol risk predicted with 2 quick questions
October 20th 2011What if you could accurately assess risk for alcohol-related problems with just 2 straightforward questions? Here’s a new government-sponsored tool, developed in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics, that has been shown to have the greatest accuracy in predicting current or future alcohol issues in young people.
Social phobia in teens not just extreme shyness
October 20th 2011Social phobia is not just an extreme form of shyness in most teenagers, and it often requires referral and/or intervention from a pediatrician, according to recent research. In a recent study, 12% of teens who identified themselves as shy met the criteria for social phobia, and another 5% of those who did not consider themselves shy also met the diagnostic criteria. You may be surprised to discover how rare it is for adolescents with social phobia, even those with significant impairment, to receive treatment.
ADHD screening: Begin earlier, continue longer
October 20th 2011Evaluations for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) should begin in children at 4 years and continue until 18 years, which significantly expands the age range for recommended screening. Released at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference in Boston, Massachusetts, the clinical practice guidelines recommend behavioral interventions as the first-line treatment in preschool children. The guidelines also have some new suggestions related to methylphenidate treatment for children younger than 6 years.
Teens’ sleep deprivation could affect brain development
October 13th 2011Most US teenagers are sleep deprived-nearly 70% do not get 8 or more hours of sleep a night. Now, new research suggests that the implications of that may be more significant than simply parents being kept awake by late-night tapping on mobile phones or even by groggy teens nodding off in class. What did a study in mice find out about how short-term sleep restriction can affect the balance between growth and depletion of brain synapses?