News

Many painful and stressful procedures are performed in neonatal intensive care units in Paris, France, and most of them are not accompanied by analgesia, researchers report in the July 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Population-based initiatives aimed at preventing excess weight gain complement clinical preventive strategies and treatment for obese people, according to an article published online June 30 in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Overweight children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are more likely to have metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk factors than overweight children without NAFLD, according to research published online June 30 in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Babies who weigh more than 10 pounds at birth are twice as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis as adults compared to babies with an average birthweight, reported researchers in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

The enterocele was partially resected in an attempt to maximize bowel length, but the intestinal tracts could not be completely separated. Postoperatively, both infants remained hypoxemic and became increasingly septic despite antibiotic therapy and critical life support. Support was ultimately withdrawn on the 65th day of life on parental request.

A 14-year-old white girl whose menstrual periods have not begun presents with concerns that many of her peers are already menstruating.

Two weeks before admission, he had visited the emergency department (ED) because of the headache. Migraine was diagnosed and ibuprofen had been prescribed. The headache persisted despite NSAID therapy, and the patient returned to the ED 2 days later. At that time, he had upper respiratory tract symptoms and a temperature of 39.4C (102.9F). CT scans of the head without contrast demonstrated pansinusitis with complete opacification of the frontal sinuses and frontal soft tissue swelling. The patient was admitted and given ampicillin/sulbactam intravenously for 3 days.

Dr Crane and Mr Schoonmaker, who were at the campground, write that an inordinate amount of highway traffic resulting from a local bikers' rally prevented them from transporting the patient to a medical facility. Emergent wound closure had to be performed with available materials. After the wound was flushed, a household cyanoacrylate adhesive, Krazy Glue, was used to close the laceration. To add lateral support and to reduce the risk of wound dehiscence, Dr Crane embedded hair trimmed from the patient's scalp into a second layer of glue. To replicate wound closure tape, the hair was applied perpendicular to the laceration. Azithromycin suspension was available; 1 tsp (5 mL) was given initially followed by 2.5 mL daily for 4 days.

In pre-pubertal schoolchildren in the United Kingdom, sustained physical activity above the government-recommended intensity of three metabolic equivalents of thermogenesis for 60 minutes per day is associated with improved metabolic health without affecting body mass index. But fewer than half of boys and only one in eight girls meet this guideline, according to the results of a study published online June 30 in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Forty percent of underage drinkers in the US get free alcohol from adults, according to new survey results, and 6% receive it from their parents.

Increased funding of Medicaid mental health services and expansion of Medicaid's Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) program in California resulted in increased delivery of mental health services, especially in rural areas and communities historically receiving low levels of funding, according to study findings published in the June issue of Medical Care.

Incidents of exercise-related sudden cardiac arrest in youths in the United States have generally resulted in poor survival during the past seven years, although a trend toward improved survival has developed recently, researchers report in the June issue of Heart Rhythm.

The 2007-2008 rotavirus season began three months later than usual and has been significantly milder, suggesting that 2006 recommendations for infants to be vaccinated at ages 2 months, 4 months and 6 months with the RotaTeq vaccine may be having an impact, according to an interim report issued June 25 in the early release edition of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Perinatal outcomes are significantly better when women with substance abuse problems receive treatment integrated with prenatal visits, according to research published online June 26 in the Journal of Perinatology.

It is becoming increasingly common for children to be identified with congenital long-QT syndrome because of family screening, and with appropriate therapy, survival is excellent among both probands and non-probands, according to a report published in the June 15 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology.

Federal safety officials announced one of the largest crib recalls in the nation's history, with retailers voluntarily pulling 320,000 items due to breaking slats or spindles that can cause injury.

The introduction of the recommended vaccine RotaTeq has coincided with a weaker rotavirus season this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the recently approved Rotarix should also be recommended, as reported by Reuters.

Summertime is associated with camping, sports, and other physically engaging activities for children. However, the more kids become active, the risk of injuries and other health issues increases accordingly. These facts and figures may be useful when speaking to parents about preventing summer injuries.

Mothers often engage in infant care practices that increase the risk of sudden infant death, including bed-sharing, placing infants in a prone position for sleep in a bassinet, or cluttering the bassinet with objects that can cause suffocation, according to two studies published online June 26 in the Journal of Pediatrics.

In children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, those with the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val108/158Met polymorphism are more likely to demonstrate poor task-oriented behavior, according to a report published online June 25 in Neuropsychopharmacology.

Adults with vascular dementia are more likely to have had lower cognitive ability scores in childhood than their counterparts without vascular dementia, although there is no association between lower childhood cognitive ability and risk of Alzheimer's disease, according to the results of a study published online June 25 in Neurology.

Behavioral assessment may not give an accurate picture of pain in infants because they may process pain at the cortical level and not exhibit any behavioral changes, according to research published in the June issue of PLoS Medicine.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given final approval for cetirizine hydrochloride syrup (Zyrtec), according to Taro Pharmaceutical Industries.

In patients with Marfan's syndrome, the use of angiotensin II-receptor blockers is associated with a significant decrease in the rate of progressive aortic-root dilation, according to the results of a small study published in the June 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

A mouse model of tuberous sclerosis, a disorder associated with mental retardation, autism and epilepsy, replicates some aspects of the disorder such as the defects in learning and memory, which can be reversed with a drug, according to study findings published online June 22 in Nature Medicine.

A subset of cells present in the epicardium, the epithelial sheet lying over the heart, can migrate into the heart and differentiate into cardiomyocytes, which could be used someday to repair the heart, according to the results of a study published online June 22 in Nature.

The postmarked Dear Doctor letter containing drug safety alerts may be going the way of the mimeograph, the buggy whip, and the 8-track.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new single vaccine for immunization against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, poliomyelitis, and Haemophilus influenzae type b, according to officials at sanofi pasteur.

The American College of Chest Physicians has published updated guidelines for the prevention, treatment and management of thrombosis in populations such as pregnant women, children and hospitalized patients in a supplement to the June issue of Chest.

Students in a positive social environment at school may be less likely to start smoking, as reported June 20 in the online journal BMC Public Health.