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What's the motivation behind the increasing pressure on deans and department chairs to increase diversity among students, trainees, and faculty members?

A 9-year-old girl presented with a 3-hour history of unremitting severe cramping in her hands and legs. A similar episode occurred a month earlier, but it resolved with massage.

A 16-year-old boy complains of right lower leg pain that began 2 weeks earlier, after his first week at a summer basketball conditioning camp. Before he left for the camp, he was jogging off and on, averaging a few miles a week. At camp he began running 7 miles a day and doing sprints 3 times a week.

On waking up from a nap, a 5-month-old infant was noted to have a watery right eye. The mother thought an eyelash was the problem and flushed the eye with water. Soon afterward, the eye watered again and began to close. There was no history of injury, foreign body, upper respiratory tract symptoms, or fever.

Musculoskeletal infections in children include osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, and pyomyositis. Most of these infections are bacterial. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common organism in children in all age cat-egories. Others include group A Streptococcus, Neisseria meningitidis in purpura fulminans, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and Borrelia burgdorferi.

This 9-month-old infant was brought for evaluation of anteroposterior elongation of the cranium. The infant was born at term via uncomplicated vaginal delivery. His mother had noticed that his head was more elongated and narrower than his sibling's. He had achieved appropriate motor and social milestones for his age. Neither parent had a family history of abnormal head shape. The rest of the examination findings were unremarkable.

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During hot summer months, children and adolescents flock to pools to keep cool. But a multitude of problems-including coughing and shortness of breath-can arise if pool chemicals are not stored safely. Remind parents to seal all original containers of pool chemicals to keep their children safe when cooling off this summer. And there's more good advice to offer to owners of home pools where children congregate.

According to research released at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, high school football players sustain almost the same level of head impact as college players. This news is important to bear in mind as another Fall football season comes on at high schools nationwide.

Speaking at the American Academy of Dermatology Summer Meeting in July in San Diego, James Q. Del Rosso, DO, advised physicians not to overlook the possibility of truncal involvement in patients who come in for treatment of facial acne vulgaris.

A decline in the adolescent birth rate in 2004 to its lowest recorded level is one among many findings in the federal government's annual monitoring report on the well-being of the nation's children and youth. The report covers the most recent years for which data are available and, in the case of adolescent births, reveals a prevalence of 22.1 births for every 1,000 females between the ages of 15 and 17 years in 2004, down from 22.4 for every 1,000 in 2003. Other noteworthy findings from "America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2006," reflect changes in the infant mortality rate, prevalence of overweight, and rising math and reading scores among elementary school students.

Guide for Parents: Bees, wasps, and other ?stingers?: Keep your child safe! Bees, wasps, and other ?stingers?: Keep your child safe!

The author traveled to India to learn about the polio eradication effort as a summer project after her first year of medical school. It was a singular opportunity to witness global public health work at its most ambitious.

Nationally, immunization levels are higher than ever, but new challenges mean no rest for the pediatric community. Consider these tips on maintaining immunization coverage-to help you preserve and extend essential protection for children in your care.

With the exploding popularity of pocket-sized digital audio and video players, such as Apple's iPod, so many people have instant access to information at their fingertips in the form of so-called "podcasts." But what exactly is a podcast? And how can its popularity with youth, and, often, their parents, work for your practice?

Pioneering physicians took inspiration from chickens and zoos and envisioned a means to reduce mortality in premature newborns. The idea worked, they strutted their stuff before the public, and the rest is medical history.

Some normal variants of pubertal development-particularly premature adrenarche and thelarche-can be managed by the generalist. Here is how to recognize those conditions-and to spot situations that warrant immediate referral.

What's causing this newborn's feeding problems?

Summertime stings-which actually peak in incidence late in the season-can result in either a mild local reaction and a lesson learned, or a systemic allergic reaction with a devastating outcome. Here are strategies to help you and your patients prevent stings and their potentially devastating outcomes.