Pediatric News articles from November 2006

Pediatric News archives from November 2006

Pediatric palliative care: new paradigm.(News)
November 1, 2006... ANAHEIM, CALIF. -- Pediatricians will play the central role in coordinating palliative care of seriously ill children in an evolving paradigm that centers on "family-focused comfort care" from the time of diagnosis, not just when aggressive...

FDA approves first agent for treating autism symptoms: risperidone treats irritability, aggression.(News)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The Food and Drug Administration has approved risperidone for treatment of irritability associated with autism. This approval addresses aggression, deliberate self-injury, and temper tantrums in children from age 5 through adolescence. In...

Fluzone TIV is effective, safe very young infants.(News)
November 1, 2006... Toronto -- Infants from 6-12 weeks of age can safely and effectively be vaccinated against influenza, Dr. Janet Englund reported in a late-breaking abstract presentation at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. ...

Variant of MET gene linked to increased risk of autism.(News)
November 1, 2006... Researchers have discovered that a common genetic variant of the MET receptor tyrosine kinase on chromosome 7q31 is associated with a 2.27-fold risk of having autism. The finding supports other works in autism that "indicate altered...

Cold-adapted nasal flu vaccine looks promising.(News)
November 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- Medimmune's investigational cold-adapted trivalent influenza vaccine appears to have a highly favorable risk-benefit profile in children aged 12-59 months without a history of wheezing, Dr. Robert Walker said at the fall meeting of...

Guillain-Barre syndrome-MCV4 link still unclear.(News)
November 1, 2006... Atlanta -- Guillain-Barre syndrome has been reported in 17 recipients of the tetravalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine, but it's unclear whether the association is causal, Dr. Robert L. Davis said at a meeting of the Centers for Disease...

Menactra supply restored, resume routine vaccination.(News)
November 1, 2006... Atlanta -- Supply problems with the tetravalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine have been resolved, and routine vaccination of 11- to 12-year-olds should be resumed. That recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's...

Mumps outbreak continues in many states; clusters appear at 3 campuses.(News)
November 1, 2006... Atlanta -- The mumps outbreak that began in December 2005 at an Iowa university totaled 5,824 cases in 45 states by mid-October--and it isn't over yet, Dr. Gustavo H. Dayan said at a meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's...

New algorithm for cyclic vomiting syndrome is underway.(News)
November 1, 2006... Boston -- Recognizing the red flags in children with suspected cyclic vomiting syndrome-unusual GI symptoms, metabolic triggers, and abnormal neurologic symptoms--forms the basis of a new treatment algorithm, Dr. B U.K. Li reported at a meeting...

CDC pushing new strategies for flu vaccination.(Infectious Diseases)(Centers for Disease Control)
November 1, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Targeting health care workers, reaching out to grandparents, promoting workplace vaccination, and extending the vaccination season are among the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's short-term efforts to improve...

Few young children got flu vaccine in 2004-2005.(Infectious Diseases)
November 1, 2006... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that data from a nationwide telephone survey indicate that only 18% of children aged 6 months to 2 years were fully vaccinated for influenza in the 2004-2005 influenza season. To...

CDC survey reveals gaps in public's flu knowledge.(Infectious Diseases)
November 1, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Much of the public harbors misperceptions about influenza and vaccination against it, according to data from a nationwide survey presented at a press briefing sponsored by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. The...

Flu vaccine-naive children aged 5-8 years need two shots, study shows.(Infectious Diseases)
November 1, 2006... (Children aged 5-8 years who have not previously received a flu vaccine need two doses of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine, based on antibody response data from 222 children in a prospective, open-label study. Prior studies have...

FluMist found beneficial for asthmatic patients.(Infectious Diseases)
November 1, 2006... Young children with asthma or a history of respiratory tract infections may have an alternative to the standard influenza shot, according to findings of two recent studies. The only vaccine currently approved for use in children is the...

Childhood immunization charts to be split in two.(Infectious Diseases)
November 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- Get ready to clear a bit more wall space in your office come January. Beginning in 2007-2008, the annual harmonized childhood and adolescent immunization schedule will be split in two, with a chart on one page devoted to children...

E. coli: prevention is best cure.(ID Consult)
November 1, 2006... The recent outbreaks of Escherichia coli O157:H7 linked to spinach and lettuce remind us yet again how limited our tools are when it comes to treating this infection and its sequelae. Focusing our efforts on prevention is by far the best...

C. difficile, other pathogens often in ED stool samples.(Infectious Diseases)
November 1, 2006... Nearly half of children with diarrhea at one emergency department over a 3-year period had stool samples containing pathogens, including Clostridium difficile and Shiga toxin--containing Escherichia coli, according to the results of a new...

Intussusception rates with rotateq lower than expected, CDC reports.(Infectious Diseases)
November 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- No major safety issues have arisen thus far with the new rotavirus vaccine, Penina Haber said at a meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. In fact, rates of...

Replacement serotypes spur resistance fears: despite pneumococcal vaccine successes, penicillin nonsusceptible infections may be increasing again.(Infectious Diseases)
November 1, 2006... ASPEN, COLO. -- Although the conjugate heptavalent pneumococcal vaccine has decreased penicillin resistance rates among those serotypes of the bacteria included in the vaccine, there is already some evidence that "replacement" serotypes are...

Despite vaccine, some at risk for invasive pneumococcal disease.(Infectious Diseases)
November 1, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- The highest rates of invasive pneumococcal disease were seen in children younger than 2 years of age in a Massachusetts study, Dr. Katherine K. Hsu reported during a poster session at the annual Interscience Conference on...

No benefit of antihistamines, decongestants found in OME.(Infectious Diseases)
November 1, 2006... Antihistamines and/or decongestants serve no benefit for children who have otitis media with effusion, a Cochrane review of medical literature has concluded. In fact, children who used them experienced an 11% spike in side effects such as...

'Tough choices' feared on HPV vaccine access.(Infectious Diseases)(human papilloma virus vaccine)
November 1, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The challenge of paying for vaccinations has become even greater now that the human papilloma virus vaccine is on the immunization schedule. At a meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, representatives from...

Bacterial tracheitis gains prominence.(Clinical Capsules)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Bacterial tracheitis, a relatively uncommon infection, may have outpaced viral croup and epiglottitis as the most common potentially life-threatening upper airway infection in children, based on data from 127 patients treated in a single...

Child care ills decrease with time.(Clinical Capsules)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Children younger than 3 years of age were at increased risk of acute respiratory infections during their first months of attendance at child care facilities, but the risk decreased as they got older and spent more time in child care, according...

Menactra protects despite error.(Clinical Capsules)(Drug overview)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Persons who mistakenly received the meningococcal conjugate vaccine (Menactra) subcutaneously rather than intramuscularly were nonetheless sufficiently protected, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The...

Use of raw milk persists despite rabies scare.(Infectious Diseases)
November 1, 2006... SAN ANTONIO -- People who drank raw milk purchased at an Oklahoma dairy where a cow tested positive for rabies last year were screened for susceptibility--and in some cases given postexposure prophylaxis--yet this did not deter most from...

Tympanograms are useful to estimate middle ear effusion.(Infectious Diseases)
November 1, 2006... Two methods for estimating the odds of middle ear effusion were confirmed in a review of tympanometric and otoscopic data from children younger than 3 years conducted by Clyde G. Smith, M.S., an audiologist at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh,...

Hygiene reduces shigellosis in day care centers.(Infectious Diseases)
November 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- Maintaining proper hygienic practices appears to substantially reduce the spread of shigellosis in day care centers, according to an investigation of a widespread shigellosis outbreak affecting at least 645 individuals in Missouri in...

Respiratory tract infection Rx habits highlighted.(Infectious Diseases)
November 1, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- Internists prescribed the most broad-spectrum antibiotics and pediatricians the most narrow-spectrum antibiotics for respiratory tract infections in a national managed care population, Katie J. Suda, Pharm. D., reported in a...

HIV-risky business persists among adolescents.(Infectious Diseases)
November 1, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The findings of a large survey reinforce the ongoing prevalence of risky sexual and substance abuse behavior among young people that could promote the spread of HIV infection, Angulique W. Outlaw, Ph.D., said in a poster at the...

Daily stress management works in the classroom.(Behavioral Pediatrics)
November 1, 2006... PHILADELPHIA -- A 10-minute, daily stress management intervention delivered in an elementary school classroom can decrease feelings of anxiety and improve a child's ability to relax, Dr. Denise Bothe said at the annual meeting of the Society...

Asthma symptoms flare more in anxious or depressed youth.(Behavioral Pediatrics)
November 1, 2006... The presence of an anxiety or depressive disorder in asthmatic children aged 11-17 years is associated with an increase in asthma symptoms, reported Dr. Laura R Richardson of the University of Washington, Seattle, and her colleagues. "We...

Somatic symptoms could describe pediatric anxiety in DSM-V.(Behavioral Pediatrics)
November 1, 2006... A majority of children with a DSM-IV anxiety disorder report at least one somatic symptom, according to data from 128 children and adolescents aged 6-17 years, wrote Golda S. Ginsburg, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. ...

The choking game.(Behavioral Consult)(incidence of deaths and brain injuries from fainting games)
November 1, 2006... The headlines come sporadically from around the country--northern California, Idaho, North Carolina, New Hampshire--each depicting the tragic death of a teenager who had been playing what some call "the choking game." The true incidence of...

Caretakers miss some moderate neurodevelopmental risk.(Behavioral Pediatrics)
November 1, 2006... PHILADELPHIA -- Parent reports can be used in the neurodevelopmental screening of young children, but parents may miss those at moderate risk, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral...

Childhood violence tied to later mental illness: traumatic stress in youth is linked not only to depression and PTSD, but also to medical maladies.(Behavioral Pediatrics)(post-traumatic stress disorder)
November 1, 2006... NEW YORK -- Traumatic stress in youth is the single most important contributor to later psychiatric morbidity and mortality, according to a new report. The report of the American Psychiatric Association Task Force on the Biopsychosocial...

Undesirable ad content prevalent during TV sporting events.(Behavioral Pediatrics)
November 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- More than one-quarter of commercials that aired during televised sporting events contain content undesirable for viewing by children, according to an analysis presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics. ...

Tools abound for behavioral, mental screening.(Behavioral Pediatrics)
November 1, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Pediatricians don't do a very good job of screening children and adolescents for behavioral and mental health disorders but there are plenty of useful screening tools out there, Dr. Barbara J. Howard said at a meeting sponsored by...

Identify learning disorders early.(Behavioral Pediatrics)
November 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- Pediatricians can play a key role in the early identification of children with potential learning disabilities, Dr. Damon Korb said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Learning disorders are the most...

The unjaundiced eye.(Letters From Maine)
November 1, 2006... Here on the coast of Maine, the clam diggers fear a "red tide." This natural phenomenon is the result of a toxic algal bloom that doesn't harm the clams, but makes them dangerously inedible to humans. Some pediatricians seem to have a similar,...

Video games cause aggression.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... I read with interest the article concerning aggression in children which discussed the work of Dr. Susan Lomax ("The Source of Aggression Determines Therapy," September 2006, p. 29). I have been treating children with aggression in my...

Centers provide more than Mercy.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... While I am happy to read that Dr. David Tayloe has been able to expand the care given to the residents of rural North Carolina, his mention of patients being "at the mercy of some community health center" requires a response ("Satellite Clinics...

LAIV--the right tool for the job.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... It is with interest that I read Dr. Christopher J. Harrison's column about immunization ("Universal Flu Immunization Now," ID Consult, August 2006, p. 17). While in the past I would have had some disagreement with the idea of the...

Be clear on etiology and treatment.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... An article on Eastern equine encephalitis virus stated: "Given that EEEV, like malaria and dengue, is caused by a virus, there is no specific treatment..." ("Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus Spreads to N.H.," August 2006, p. 10). While...

Graphics not clear to the color-blind.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... I would like to point out that up to 10% of American males are color-blind. As one of those males, it would be very easy for me to misinterpret a graphic that accompanied one of your recent reports ("Several Crohn's Drugs Safe During Pregnancy,...

Reining in the 'Untamed Bea'.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... I recall a period during senior pediatric residency many years back when as a group we reviewed taped phone interchanges between local community pediatricians and "actor" parents who called the physician exchange with a variety of staged...

Monkey see, monkey Doo-Doo?(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... There is a collective conspiracy among health care providers and parents in the West to prevent age-appropriate toilet learning by children ("Toilet Training? Wait Until Child Wants to Please," July 2006, p. 22). Every parent who came to...

Should continuous glucose monitors be used routinely in pediatric patients? Detecting trends can improve therapy.(Point/Counterpoint)
November 1, 2006... Rutine monitoring of blood sugar is not enough to keep diabetes patients within the target range. Even when patients use as many as nine finger sticks a day, less than 30% of their glucose tests show levels between 90 mg/dL and 130 mg/dL....

Should continuous glucose monitors be used routinely in pediatric patients? Minimize potential risks first.(Point/Counterpoint)
November 1, 2006... For me the question hinges on the word routinely. If routine use means 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, I don't think we are there yet. These sensors are very important, and they are coming into clinical practice very...

Safety, efficacy shown for metoprolol, ramipril.(Clinical Rounds)
November 1, 2006... NEW YORK -- Two different classes of antihypertensive drugs were safe and effective for use in children based on results from two separate studies reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hypertension. A long-acting...

Verdeso foam, dermatop emollient cream.(New & Approved)
November 1, 2006... Verdeso Foam (Verdeso [desonide] Foam 0.05%, Connetics Corp.) The Food and Drug Administration approved Verdeso (desonide) Foam 0.05% for treatment of mild to moderate atopic dermatitis in patients 3 months and older. Recommended...

Children know best on asthma, depression link.(Clinical Rounds)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Child-reported depressive symptoms are more strongly associated with asthma than are clinician- or parent-reported symptoms, reported Dr. James Waxmonsky and his colleagues at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Clinically...

Unstructured play vital to healthy development.(Clinical Rounds)
November 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- Unstructured play time is necessary for children so they can develop cognitively, emotionally, and socially, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Unfortunately, today's hurried lifestyles and...

Sleep-robbing pain common in children with disabilities.(Clinical Rounds)
November 1, 2006... BOSTON -- Pain frequently interferes with sleep in children and adolescents with physical disabilities, results of a study suggest. Pain should be routinely assessed and managed to minimize the adverse effects it can have on patients and...

Special needs: realizing potential: nutritional needs in cerebral palsy.(Clinical Rounds)
November 1, 2006... The goal for nutritional assessment and intervention is to have healthy, alert, and interactive children who are able to take advantage of all that their environment has to offer. Adequate growth is the single most valuable indicator of...

The phenotype of pediatric type 1 diabetes is changing.(Clinical Rounds)
November 1, 2006... COPENHAGEN -- Type 1 diabetes, traditionally considered a disease of wasting, is now frequently diagnosed in children who are overweight, according to a new study. That means determining which pediatric patient has type 1 diabetes and which has...

The harder the stunt, the harder they may fall.(Clinical Rounds)
November 1, 2006... MIAMI -- Although cheerleading carries a low overall risk of injury, it accounts for more than half of all catastrophic sports injuries in females, Dr. Teri McCambridge said at a meeting on pediatric sports medicine sponsored by the American...

Screening cuts sudden death rate in young Italian athletes.(Clinical Rounds)
November 1, 2006... A national athletic screening program appears to have cut the rate of sudden death by 89% among adolescent and young adult athletes in Italy, according to Domenico Corrado, Ph.D., of the University of Padua, and his associates. However,...

Skin barrier function repair is the next advance in atopic dermatitis treatment.(Clinical Rounds)
November 1, 2006... SAN ANTONIO -- Treatment of atopic dermatitis in pediatric patients is shifting from symptom control to repair of the skin barrier function, Dr. Rebecca Lynn Smith said at a meeting of Skin Disease Education Foundation. "It used to be we...

Office-based workshops promote booster seats for "mid-sized" kids.
November 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- An office-based workshop appears to have greatly increased booster seat education in participating pediatricians" offices in the Cincinnati area, Dr. Rebeccah Brown said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics....

Rear-seat passengers less likely to die in crash.(Clinical Rounds)
November 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- Rear passenger seat use appears to be independently associated with a lower risk of death, according to a large matched-cohort analysis of car accidents with at least one fatality. The results of this study, which analyzed 23,308...

Push for safety in procedural sedation urged.(Clinical Rounds)
November 1, 2006... ANAHEIM, CALIF. -- Systems need to be developed between pediatricians and radiologists in individual communities to provide for safe procedural sedation for children undergoing procedures, Dr. Steven J. Weisman urged at a meeting sponsored by...

Office exam can detect neonatal heart-lung ills.(Clinical Rounds)
November 1, 2006... AMELIA ISLAND, FLA. -- Pediatricians can diagnose left-to-right shunt lesions, pulmonary overcirculation, and atrial and ventral septal defects in an office setting, Dr. Allison Cabalka said at a meeting on pediatrics for the primary care...

Gastric banding rids teens of weight, diabetes.(Clinical Rounds)
November 1, 2006... CALGARY, ALTA. -- Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding resulted in a mean excess weight loss of 42% at 6 months and 60% at 1 year in a study of 51 obese children and adolescents, Dr. Aayed R. Al-Qahtani reported at the annual Canadian...

Child Health Web site revamped.(www.nichd.nih.gov.)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has unveiled its redesigned Web site. The Web site is a portal to a wide array of information for patients and scientists--from child health to developmental disorders to women's...

Online RSV education.(F Y I)(respiratory syncytial virus)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... To promote the awareness and evidence-based care of children at risk for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, the online RSV University offers live and recorded Web conferences, practice-improvement tools, credit certificates and lapel...

Vaccinating children with asthma.(www.nfid.org.)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases has released a comprehensive report aimed at improving influenza vaccination rates in children with asthma. The report provides strategies for helping physicians address immunization barriers and...

Information on immunization drive.(child health services)(www.ecbt.org.)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Every Child by Two, an organization that strives to ensure immunization of all children in the United States by the age of 2 years, offers information on its Web site for physicians, health care workers and officials, and parents on the...

Alternative Medicine online.(F Y I)(www.nccam.nih.gov/health / whatiscam)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has online information about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The general information on CAM outlines the differences between complementary medicine and alternative...

A guide to herbs and good health.(http://nccam.nih.gov/health/herbsataglance.htm.)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Herbs at a Glance is a series of factsheets that provides basic information about specific herbs or botanicals, their common names, uses, potential side effects, and resources for more information. The information is available online for free;...

Sulfonylureas can replace insulin use in permanent neonatal diabetes.
November 1, 2006... MOSt patients with permanent neonatal diabetes caused by Kir6.2 mutations can safely stop insulin therapy and achieve better glycemic control by switching to oral sulfonylureas, according to results of a new study. "We recommend early...

Metformin may digest better in chewing gum.(Clinical Rounds)(Drug overview)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Copenhagen -- Metformin in a chewing gum? It could happen. That optimistic outlook comes from an analysis presented in a poster by Dr. Gerald Bernstein at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, showing...

Media-savvy teens smoke less.(Policy & Practice)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Teens who know how to detect subliminal prosmoking messages are less likely to smoke, research from the University of Pittsburgh found. Previous studies have shown that adolescents are swayed by glamorous depictions of smoking in advertising,...

More opt-outs mean more pertussis.(Policy & Practice)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... States that make it easier for parents to opt out of vaccinating their children have a much higher incidence of pertussis, according to a study in the Oct. 11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Forty-eight states allow...

Medicaid enrollment, spending slows.(Policy & Practice)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Spending by the states under the Medicaid program increased 2.8% during the state fiscal year 2006, the smallest increase in about a decade, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Improvements in...

FCC changes children's TV rules.(Policy & Practice)(Federal Communications Commission)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Officials at the Federal Communications Commission recently clarified the rules regarding requirements for children's television programming. Under the changes, TV broadcasters that have multiple stations must ensure that they air additional...

Consensus elusive on financial disclosure issues.(Practice Trends)
November 1, 2006... Officials in charge of disclosing financial interests in research agree that disclosure is important, but are confused about how to do so effectively and appropriately, Kevin P. Weinfurt, Ph.D., and his colleagues reported. Their survey of...

Survey finds pediatricians in U.S. satisfied with well-child system.(United States)(Survey)
November 1, 2006... Most pediatricians give the U.S. health care system good marks when it comes to providing well-child care, but many also favor changes such as providing some care by phone or e-mail, according to a national survey, Dr. Tumaini Coker and...

AAP releases phone care toolkit, policy Statement.(American Academy of Pediatrics)(www.aap.org)
November 1, 2006... A Practical toolkit and policy statement to help pediatricians build a system to bill for telephone care in their practices are now available from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Peter Dehnel discussed practical considerations for...

Special needs teens face rocky path to adult care.(survey on special needs to adult health care)(Survey)
November 1, 2006... BOSTON -- If those practicing in Rhode Island are any indication, primary care pediatricians have some work to do when it comes to incorporating guidelines provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics for the transition and transfer of...

Value-based competition seen as health system's future.(Practice Trends)
November 1, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Schemes measuring the quality of health care services against price will emerge in some local markets for several procedures in the next 2 years, Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt said at a meeting on health...

Palliative care gets ABMS nod as subspecialty.(American Board of Medical Specialties)
November 1, 2006... The field of palliative care took a major step forward in September when members of the American Board of Medical Specialties voted to approve hospice and palliative medicine as a recognized subspecialty. The application to recognize the...

Managing part-time employment.(On The Learning Curve)
November 1, 2006... As a mother and pediatrician who works 4 days a week, the issue of part-time employment is very relevant to me. I am fortunate to work in a very supportive practice, but even so, I sometimes feel conflicted about my decisions. On one hand, I...

Getting on board with SCHIP eligibility.(Health Policy: The Fine Line)(United States. State Children's Health Insurance Program)
November 1, 2006... A parent recently asked if her daughter might be eligible for SCHIP, which the parent had heard about from a friend. How is this program different from Medicaid, and what information should I provide to families? If talk of SCHIP, which...