News

Contemporary Pediatrics will offer a new section on practice management periodically in this space, focusing specifically on issues important to pediatricians.

Federal spending on children is expected to fall markedly over the next several years, although that funding had risen in previous years.

A bouncing 8-month-old baby boy comes to your office with a blistering eruption and a very worried mother.

According to an evaluation of the cost effectiveness of immunoprophylaxis with palivizumab against respiratory syncytial virus infection, based on actual cost and observed RSV incidence rates in various pediatric risk groups during the 2004 to 2005 RSV infection season in Florida, the answer is no.

A 15-year-old girl has a fever and rash.

The Simplified Motor Score can replace the Glasgow Coma Scale for predicting outcomes of traumatic brain injury in the out-of-hospital setting, according to a new study.

The Male Genital Mutilation bill scheduled to appear on the November ballot to ban circumcision in San Francisco was ordered removed by a Superior Court judge on the grounds that state law already regulated medical practices and that such a measure would infringe on religious freedom.

A comparison of real-time polymerase-chain-reaction-based testing of liquid and dried-saliva specimens with standard rapid culture of saliva specimens obtained at birth showed that PCR assays of both types of saliva specimens have high sensitivity for detecting congenital cytomegalovirus infection.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning parents and caregivers that Salmonella Typhimurium present in pet frogs is responsible for a national outbreak of Salmonella illness and continues to pose a serious risk to children, especially sick children.

What does society do when one person's behavior puts the greater community at risk? We make them stop.

In vitro tests for allergen-specific immunoglobulin can assist in the diagnosis and initial management of atopic disorders.

Preterm births have declined, infant mortality before the first birthday has dropped, and the number of babies born to adolescents has fallen.

As we continually enhance our ability to prevent and treat a wide variety of conditions that threaten the health and lives of our children, our tolerance diminishes for ailments that seemed trivial when infection shortened too many lives.

Giving children intravenous (IV) fluids early in the course of Escherichia coli infection appears to lower the odds of developing severe renal failure.

This 1-year-old African-American boy is being followed for developmental delays. His 35-year-old mother has no known health problems, and this was her third pregnancy.Premature delivery at 27 weeks was uncomplicated, yielding appropriate birth weight and Dubowitz scores for gestational age.

Although parents still need to be warned that allowing infants to sleep in adult beds is a dangerous practice that should be avoided, bedsharing with toddlers does not seem to negatively affect their behavior or cognition, according to a new study. Find out what may cause those problems.

Teenagers may seem to be not listening but they actually may be having trouble hearing. And the reason may not always be their ubiquitous iPod earbuds, especially if they live in a home where someone smokes, new research has suggested. That study recommended that pediatricians consider secondhand smoke exposure to be a risk factor for hearing loss in adolescents and screen accordingly.

In its first 12 years, the chicken pox vaccine was been an unqualified success, dramatically reducing deaths and hospitalization in young people, even among groups that cannot be vaccinated. Researchers speculate that the newer 2-dose formulation could completely eliminate any severe outcomes from the childhood disease.

For many kids, their medical home is at school. A $95 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services to 278 school-based health centers this month means 440,000 more children will be able to get the primary care, mental health services, dental exams, health education, and chronic disease monitoring they need?without having to miss hours of class time.

In the aftermath of a shocking case of child abuse by a pediatrician in Delaware, the American Academy of Pediatrics has published a new policy statement on protecting children from sexual abuse by health care providers. Meeting the recommendations may require changes in the way your pediatric practices operates.

Rarely encountered these days, scarlet fever is believed to be caused by sensitization to an erythrogenic toxin produced by strains of group A beta-hemolytic streptococci.

A sleeping 12-month-old child was spotted alone in a parked car by a passerby. The passerby observed the situation for a period of time, only to see no one returned for the child. The passerby then called 911 for help after an undetermined length of time.

A right parietal cephalhematoma was first noted on this 2-week-old girl 2 days after her birth.

The overwhelming majority of you voted “yes” when asked whether you saw a role for state intervention and possible placement in protective custody of children with life-threatening obesity. We’d like to hear your thoughts about this issue …. For example, how long would you counsel the patient’s parents before you called child protective services? What’s your BMI cutoff? What are your concerns about the home into which an obese child might be placed, and the potential psychological fallout of being removed from home? And when is it “safe” for the child to return home? For those of you who answered no, please tell us how you help children with life-threatening obesity short of considering removing them from their home? Please send us your comments-just click here and type into the comments box. Thank you. -The Editors

Designed to create an excellent care environment among patients, parents, and care providers, AAP says that the medical home should be ?accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family centered, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally effective.? A new study provides a perspective on accessibility to the medical home for children who may need comprehensive primary care the most?those with public health insurance.

The age of children does seem to affect how well amblyopia responds to interventions, but a new study suggests that treating older children remains worthwhile, even if their response is less pronounced than in younger children. Find out how long to continue treatment, even for children older than 7 years.

Although drug regimens such as the protease inhibitor lopinavir-ritonavir may have lowered the HIV transmission rates in newborns to less than 1%, a study finds that postnatal treatment with the combination was more likely to cause adrenal dysfunction in newborns when compared with a zidovudine-based treatment. Read about the nuances of the study and the researchers? recommendations.

The myth of the hypoallergenic dog is so pervasive that even President Obama?s family adopted a Portuguese water dog because of his daughter?s allergies. But a new study says that neither the First Dog, Bo, nor any other breeds actually are hypoallergenic. Here?s information to help you counsel parents on the pros and cons of getting a family dog and when.

Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) may now be internationally accepted for diagnosing diabetes, but it appears to be far less accurate for adolescents than adults, according to a new study. Read the results and analysis of a recent study here.

Concussions don?t cause confusion just for young athletes. Recent research on the subject confounds pediatricians, too, making it less clear how to follow guidelines and new legislation calling for physician evaluation and medical clearance before returning to play. Our experts review the concerns and considerations.