Pediatrics for Parents articles from July - September 2005

Pediatrics for Parents archives from July - September 2005

Two new vaccines for 2006.(meningococcal conjugate vaccine)(tetanus/diphtheria toxoid/acellular pertussis vaccine )(Brief article)
July 1, 2005... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has added two new vaccines to the recommended childhood and adolescent immunization schedule. This brings the total number of different vaccinations children and adolescents should receive to...

Childhood depression: early recognition leads to successful treatment.
July 1, 2005... Until the early 1980s, few people thought children could suffer from clinical depression. Today we know that children can and do become depressed. Depression in children is not a passing phase or part of the normal ups and downs of growing up....

Mean girls (and boys): social aggressiveness is mainly determined by children's environment.
July 1, 2005... Aggressive behavior among children is a major risk factor for subsequent developmental maladjustment, both for the perpetrators and the victims. Children's aggressive behavior, however, incorporates more than inflicting physical harm. Children...

Is whooping cough only a baby's disease?(overview)(Disease/Disorder overview)
July 1, 2005... In the past year there have been reports of whooping cough outbreaks in middle and junior high schools. So what is whooping cough? Whooping cough, also called pertussis, is an illness caused by a bacteria called Bordetella pertussis. It...

Teenagers and weight ... extreme measures.
July 1, 2005... There is no doubt that teenagers who want to lose weight will go to extreme measures to do so. Because of their general sense of invulnerability, they rarely feel that the measures they take will be dangerous to their bodies. Appearance counts...

Asthma and tonsillectomy.(tonsillectomy to treat childhood ashtma)(Brief article)
July 1, 2005... Tonsillectomy in children with asthma is associated with a significant improvement in their asthma symptoms. According to David E Karas, MD, a pediatric otolaryngologist at Yale University, "We're not saying you get a tonsillectomy if you have...

Smoking and strep.(smoking causes bacterial infections)(Brief article)
July 1, 2005... The reasons parents shouldn't smoke around their children have increased by one. Children living with smokers are more likely to have infection-causing bacteria in their nose and throat, which may explain why the children living with smokers...

Dental fillings and IQ.(intelligence quotient)(Brief article)
July 1, 2005... "Silver" dental fillings are actually composed of silver, copper, zinc, and other metals held together by mercury. In the late 1970s it was discovered that this mixture, called an amalgam, continuously releases mercury vapors which are inhaled...

Little league lunacy.(analysis of little League baseball game)
July 1, 2005... Last weekend I attended my nine-year-old granddaughter's Little League baseball game. I spent most of the afternoon looking at the adults involved and wondering, "What are they thinking?" First, the young girls showed up in full uniforms:...

Nosebleeds.(disorder overview)(Disease/Disorder overview)
July 1, 2005... One minute your child is sleeping, playing, or quietly reading. The next minute there's a bloody shirt or sheet, and--especially--nose. They're scary looking, both for children and parents, but fortunately nosebleeds are much less dangerous...

Dangerous exposures down.(surveys on child exposure to secondhand smoke and lead)(Brief article)
July 1, 2005... According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HANES), our children's exposures to secondhand smoke and lead are decreasing. The report compared the secondhand smoke exposure...