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Lab technicians can run a test for lead, and for ammonia, but not for pesticides. They’re concocted from a mix of chemicals in different quantities, with different properties and tolerance levels. If only the difficulty of tracking them down in the bloodstream was their only downside.

Geneticist Francis Collins, MD, PhD, wearing a double helix tie, told a story of a man who drops his keys in a dark parking lot, but only looks under one floodlight. It’s not where he dropped his keys, but it’s the only place he can see.

The stem cell’s pluripotency is an almost mythical mutability, able to turn into a nerve cell, a bone marrow cell, a muscle cell, a hepatic cell–anything. Turning that myth into a reality is the work of George Q. Daley, of the Harvard School of Medicine.

A new American Academy of Pediatric (AAP) clinical report, “Prevention of Rickets and Vitamin D Deficiency in Infants, Children, and Adolescents,” recommends all children receive 400 IU a day of vitamin D, beginning within the first few days of life.

In assessing the current state of vaccine management in the pediatrician’s office, Stuart Cohen, MD, did not mince words.

Heidi Feldman, MD, PhD of the Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, Calif. helped pediatricians gained insight into how to recognize normal development in speech and language in children.

Speaking to an overflow audience at this year’s AAP Conference, Robert Frenck, MD, a professor of infectious diseases (ID) at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, prefaced his talk on community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA- MRSA) management by saying, “we just don’t know the all answers yet.”

A 14-year-old boy who recently moved to the area comes to your practice for a sports physical. When you enter the exam room, you are immediately struck by his stature; he is tall and thin, with long arms and legs. He is also wearing glasses. You greet your patient first, and then stretch out your hand to greet Mom, who rises from a chair in the exam room. You note that Mom is markedly tall as well. The question for you is: Is this Marfan syndrome, or is your patient simply near-sighted and naturally tall?

Over the last few years, the incidence of hypertension (HTN) in children has risen, noted Beth Vogt, MD, of Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, as she spoke in Boston to a packed room of concerned pediatricians. In addition to a rise in HTN, the average blood pressure (BP) of American children is also increasing. Several studies have shown that elevated blood pressure is under-recognized; the increase in HTN may also be associated with the childhood obesity. The recommendations below offer some insight in how to identify the child with elevated BP, and how to approach treatment.

About ten minutes into the plenary presentation by Jack Shonkoff, MD, Harvard School of Public Health, he said, essentially, “no kidding.”

When is a one-week-old newborn not one week old? When she’s a late preterm baby, delivered before 37 weeks-gestation. Late preterm children often have slower biological development, are at greater risk for cerebral palsy, and suffer cognitive deficits, said Marliee C. Allen, MD, of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

“The mind is what the brain does,” said Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s John D. E. Gabrieli, PhD, leading off Sunday’s connected plenary sessions on the brain and early childhood development. His focus was on how functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has changed what we know about how child brains differ from adult brains.

In April 2008 the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) came out with its latest policy statement on strength training by children and adolescents. The statement considers weight training or resistance training safe, with the proper supervision and technique. However, longer-term injury data is needed, and weight training is not recommended for the general population. The AAP policy also states that it is against competitive power lifting and body building.

Newborn screening has been a major advance in preventative medicine, Harvey Levy, MD, FAAP, explained. However, are too many infants being diagnosed due to newborn screening?

The respective roles of communication, phone triage management, and documentation are essential if pediatricians want to protect themselves from possible costly malpractice lawsuits, emphasized Gary N. McAbee, DO, JD, Professor of Pediatrics (Neurology) at the Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine in Camden, N.J.

It’s not the first, or for that matter, the second or third most pressing issue for office-based pediatricians. But disaster preparedness is steadily becoming more relevant issue.

While they may be a part of American culture, a simple handshake or thumbs up may offend some of your patients and their parents. That’s one of the take-home messages of a talk presented by anthropologists Geri-Ann Galanti, PhD, California State University, Los Angeles, and David Katz, PhD, US Naval War College, Newport, R.I. to pediatricians at this year’s American Academy of Pediatrics meeting in Boston.

Groans, gasps, and cries of disgust greeted many of the images shown at Saturday’s plenary presentation by Jean Kilbourne, PhD. But she wasn’t a dermatologist, or an oral surgeon, or any other doctor showing off wince-inducing injuries.

No one would try to set up a brand new widow or widower on a blind date. It’s too soon, the bereaved spoue needs time to grieve and process the loss before they can try to establish a new bond with someone else.

The good moments of Reneé R. Jenkins’ one-year tenure as president of American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) made her feel like she was wearing a tiara. The bad moments made that tiara feel like it was a target.

Two things happened at the 1995 Special Olympics that stayed with Timothy P. Shriver, PhD, its chairman and CEO. The first involved President Clinton, and a bunch of cameras.

Martha Ann Keels, DDS, PhD, of Children’s Pediatric Dentistry at Duke University, provided a case-based overview of the management of pediatric dental trauma at the 2008 American Academy of Pediatrics’ National Conference and Exposition in Boston.

Wouldn’t it be great if your patient’s medical records preceded her to the emergency room? Or your patient’s surgical procedure arrived in his medical record prior to a follow-up visit with you? That’s the dream of electronic health records (EHRs).

The health of children is affected by the degree of income and education their parents have attained, according to a study published by the Commission to Build a Healthier America at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Fan use may be associated with a lower risk of sudden death syndrome (SIDS), as reported in the October Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) said that the drug companies it represents are voluntarily changing product labels of cough and cold medicines to warn against use of these products in children younger than 4.