ParentDishhttp://www.parentdish.comParentDishhttp://www.parentdish.com/media/feedlogo.gifParentDishhttp://www.parentdish.comen-usCopyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Cellphones Don't Raise Risk of Brain Tumors in Kids, Study Findshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/07/28/cellphones-dont-raise-risk-of-brain-tumors-in-kids-study-finds/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/07/28/cellphones-dont-raise-risk-of-brain-tumors-in-kids-study-finds/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/07/28/cellphones-dont-raise-risk-of-brain-tumors-in-kids-study-finds/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Credit: AFP/Getty Images

Put down that cell phone, child! It'll rot your brain and give you cancer!

No reason to put the fear of God into your iPhone-loving kid. We can't comment on the brain rot, but a new study does show that children who use cell phones have no greater risk of getting brain cancer than kids who don't use them, Reuters reports.

Researchers looked at brain tumor patients ages 7 to 19, to gauge their risk of getting cancer from cellphones, and found the patients weren't any more apt to be phone fanatics than the control subjects who were cancer-free, according to the news service.

"If mobile phone use would be a risk factor, you'd expect cancer patients to have a higher amount of usage," Professor Martin Roosli, who conducted the study, published this week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, tells Reuters. The research was partly funded by cellphone operators, the news service adds, although they had no part in the study's design, analysis or interpretation of data.

The World Health Organization said in May that cellphone use could increase the risk of some types of brain tumors, Reuters reports. But this study didn't find a connection.

"What we found was that there was no (significant) difference in the amount of use," Roosli tells the news service, adding that any risk "would be a really small risk."

Roosli tells Reuters future studies should look at longer-term use of cellphone use among kids.

"(This study) provides quite some evidence that use of less than five years does not increase the chance of a brain tumor, but naturally we don't have a lot of long-term users," he tells the news service.

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]]>brain cancerbrain tumorscancercellphonescellphones cancermobile phonesLesley KennedyThu, 28 Jul 2011 16:00:00 ESTParents' Attitude Affects Kids' Diabeteshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/07/28/parents-attitude-affects-kids-diabetes/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/07/28/parents-attitude-affects-kids-diabetes/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/07/28/parents-attitude-affects-kids-diabetes/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Credit: Getty Images

Kids with diabetes need to regulate their diets, monitor their blood-sugar levels and take the appropriate amount of insulin.

They also need parents with the right attitude.

Researchers at the Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel find that parenting styles and attitudes play a big role in how well teenagers manage their diabetes.

Internal Medicine News reports lead researcher Maayan Shorer and her colleagues defined three parenting styles:

  • Authoritative. This is characterized by clear limits on the child set by the parents in a caring, noncoercive manner.
  • Permissive. This is characterized by few efforts by the parents to direct and limit the child's behavior.
  • Authoritarian. This is characterized by a coercive, harsh and punitive approach and parental attempts to control the child's behavior.
Researchers looked at 100 adolescents, as well as 79 mothers and 63 fathers, and found an authoritative approach, especially by fathers, resulted in kids doing a better job managing their diabetes. On the flip side, kids did a lot worse when parents were either permissive or authoritarian.

The worst results came when kids picked up on a sense of helplessness, especially among mothers.

There are several morals to the story, researchers tell Internal Medicine News. One of the biggies is that dads need to get more involved.

"Unfortunately, our clinical experience along with the empirical evidence suggests that compared with mothers, fathers tend to take a too-small role in their child's diabetes management and exert fewer efforts at monitoring the child," Shorer says. "We believe fathers should be more engaged in their child's routine diabetes care, and to do so, specifically, by adopting an authoritative stance."

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]]>diabeteshealthkids and diabetesparental attitudesparenting stylesTom HendersonThu, 28 Jul 2011 13:00:00 ESTUpdate: Doc Takes Heat for Suggesting Kids Be Removed From Obsese Parentshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/07/18/update-doc-takes-heat-for-suggesting-kids-be-removed-from-obses/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/07/18/update-doc-takes-heat-for-suggesting-kids-be-removed-from-obses/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/07/18/update-doc-takes-heat-for-suggesting-kids-be-removed-from-obses/#commentsFiled under: ,

Credit: Getty Images

Boston pediatrician David Ludwig suggested children should be taken away from their obese parents.

Uh, why is everyone looking at him like that?

MSNBC reports Ludwig's comments, made in the Journal of the American Medical Association, have touched off an intense controversy among parents who can't agree on whether he should be barbecued or fricasseed.

Ludwig, in a piece he co-wrote with Lindsey Murtagh of the Harvard School of Public Health, recalled a 3-year-old girl who weighed in at his Boston clinic at 90 pounds. Her parents reportedly had physical disabilities, little money and difficulty controlling her weight.

Last year, he wrote, she returned at age 12 weighing 400 pounds. She had diabetes, cholesterol problems, high blood pressure and sleep apnea.

Ludwig wrote that might be an example of a case where parental rights should be taken away. At least temporarily.

MSNBC reports Ludwig has since received a flood of emails from angry and terrified parents, while other medical experts have jumped on him for suggesting kids be removed from otherwise functional and supportive parents.

Ludwig says the article was meant to promote a dialogue on childhood obesity.

"It's absolutely understandable that if someone with an obese child heard the government could swoop in and take that child away, (they would) be frightened and outraged," Ludwig tells Reuters. "I want to emphasize that foster care should only be the last resort when all other options have failed."

In his replies to parents, Ludwig provides copies of his original piece, pointing out where it says removing children from the home is rarely the solution.

"It's just been heartbreaking to see how the story has been wildly exaggerated by some of the media, causing a great deal of pain and suffering for people," Ludwig tells Reuters.

Ludwig adds state intervention could also include financial support to families, social services, access to safe recreation areas and even parenting courses to help manage a child's uncontrolled eating habits.

"The ultimate answer to the obesity epidemic is not to blame parents, it's to create a more healthful and supportive society," he tells the news service. "But until we get there, what do we do about that 14-year-old, 400-pound child who's not facing increased risk of illness 20 years from now, but who's facing life-threatening complications today?"

Related: Doctor: Some Parents Too Fat to Have Kids

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]]>childhood obesitydavid ludwigfat kidsobese kidsTom HendersonMon, 18 Jul 2011 15:00:00 ESTIt's Safe to Have a Baby if You Have Multiple Sclerosis, Study Findshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/28/multiple-sclerosis-pregnancy/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/28/multiple-sclerosis-pregnancy/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/28/multiple-sclerosis-pregnancy/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

multiple sclerosis

Mothers with MS had more babies born with physical disabilities, but the difference was not statistically significant and further research is needed. Credit: Getty Images

If you have multiple sclerosis, don't worry about having a baby.

According to U.S. News & World Report, a new study confirms pregnancy is generally safe for women with the disease.

The magazine reports Canadian researchers studied 432 births to mothers with multiple sclerosis and 3,000 births to women without the disease between 1998 and 2009. They found no significant differences in either the rate of premature births or the number of low-birth weight infants.

The likelihood of cesarean versus vaginal delivery also was the same. However, mothers with MS had more babies born with physical disabilities, but the difference was not statistically significant and further research is needed, the magazine reports.

"Our finding that MS was not associated with poor pregnancy or birth outcomes should be reassuring to women with MS who are planning to start a family," study author Mia van der Kop, a member of the MS research group at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, tells the magazine.

Her team noted that women with MS were more often overweight or obese, which is associated with greater risk during pregnancy and birth.

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]]>MSms pregnantmultiple sclerosisMultiple Sclerosis pregnancypregnancyTom HendersonTue, 28 Jun 2011 16:00:00 ESTYoung Cancer Survivors' Battles May Just Be Beginninghttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/28/young-cancer-survivors/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/28/young-cancer-survivors/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/28/young-cancer-survivors/#commentsFiled under: ,

young cancer survivors

Ten percent of survivors are at higher risk of life-threatening tumors for the rest of their lives. Credit: Getty Images

Even when children beat the odds and survive cancer, they may not be out of danger.

A study by researchers at St. Jude Children's Hospital concludes 10 percent of survivors are at higher risk of life-threatening tumors for the rest of their lives.

According to a hospital press release, the study involved 14,358 people enrolled in the federally funded Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. St. Jude researchers found that 1,382 (or 9.6 percent) of survivors developed new tumors unrelated to their original cancers.

About 386 of those survivors (30 percent) developed third tumors. Four or more tumors were found in 153 survivors.

"These findings show that when you describe adult survivors of childhood cancer it is not sufficient to describe their risk of a first subsequent cancer, but to acknowledge that some of these patients are at risk for multiple cancers," Gregory Armstrong, the study's lead researcher and an assistant member of the St. Jude Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Control, says in the press release.

"This is the first study to more fully enumerate that risk."

He adds the research drives home the importance of cancer screenings among survivors.

"Too often, survivors still are not getting these important cancer screening tests beginning as early or as often as recommended," Armstrong says.

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]]>cancercancer researchcancer survivorshealthst jude childrens research hospitalst judesyoung cancer survivorsTom HendersonTue, 28 Jun 2011 15:30:00 ESTStates Consider Banning Teens From Tanning Bedshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/28/states-consider-banning-teens-from-tanning-beds/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/28/states-consider-banning-teens-from-tanning-beds/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/28/states-consider-banning-teens-from-tanning-beds/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Watch a PSA using humor (sort of) to convince teens not to tan. Do you think this will work?
Banning Teens From Tanning Beds

Citing skin cancer risks, legislators have debated over whether or not states should ban tanning beds used by minors. Credit: AP

LOS ANGELES (AP) - If a proposed law passes, California teens under 18 will need a fake ID to "fake and bake" themselves to a golden brown.

Citing skin cancer risks, legislators have joined lawmakers in at least 21 other states who have debated bills this year to ban or restrict tanning bed use by minors.

Teens under the age of 14 are already banned from tanning beds in California, and older teens need parental permission. But lawmakers in the Golden State are considering banning anyone under age 18 from using tanning beds, even if a parent says it's OK.

Sen. Ted Lieu, who proposed the more stringent legislation, says the parent signatures on permission forms are often forged, and tanning salons benefit financially by looking the other way. The bill has been approved by the Senate and faces review by the Assembly policy committee Tuesday.

Lieu chides vain teens who make a habit of slipping into tanning beds, saying they're short-sighted because "you will age doing this. Your skin will look more leathery later on."

According to the Food and Drug Administration, exposure to UV radiation, whether from the sun or a tanning bed, can cause skin cancer, burns, premature skin aging and eye damage. Approximately 30 million Americans visit tanning salons every year, and 2.3 million of those are teens, the FDA says.

"There is no such thing as a safe tan," according to the agency. "The increase in skin pigment, called melanin, which causes the tan color change in your skin is a sign of damage."

In 2009, a World Health Organization research group classified UV-emitting tanning beds as "carcinogenic," adding that health officials should strongly consider restricting minors' access to sunbeds. WHO, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Dermatology all support legislation banning the use of sunbeds and lamps for teens younger than 18.

Tanning businesses across the country are feeling the heat.

Along with California, lawmakers in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania are considering banning tanning beds for people under age 18. Similar legislation failed this year in Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota and New Mexico.

Legislators in Massachusetts are considering a ban for teens under 14 or 16 in two separate bills. Lawmakers in Florida, Kentucky, Vermont and Washington rejected such measures this year.

John Overstreet, a spokesman for the Indoor Tanning Association, said sunscreen sellers are behind the legislative push and tanning beds are not proven to cause melanoma, the most deadly type of skin cancer.

California's bill is sponsored by the state's dermatology association and a cancer research group called AIM at Melanoma, which lists major drug companies, including Pfizer Inc. and Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co., as its sponsors.

Overstreet said business owners in his trade group worry that the legislation would hurt small businesses already struggling in the current economy. There are now about 878 tanning businesses in California, a number that's seen a 24 percent drop since 2009 because business has cooled, he said.

In areas where teens do a lot of tanning like college towns or affluent areas, Overstreet said, the legislation could mean a 10 percent hit to tanning salons' income.

"UV tanning is by far what people want," said Overstreet, saying tanning is a personal choice that shouldn't be interfered with by government.

"Tanning lamps and beds are designed to mimic the noontime sun, and you use them a measured amount of time," he said.

But according to American Academy of Pediatrics, powerful tanning beds produce radiation levels up to "10 to 15 times higher than that of the midday sun" and frequent tanners get a level of radiation that is not found in nature.

More than a million cases of skin cancer were diagnosed in the U.S. last year, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.

Cancer survivor Lisa Andrews, 41, said she shouldn't have trusted tanning salon salespeople for medical advice. As a teenager, she went in for tanning bed stints one to three times a week in the winter months.

"I've always lived in California, and I wanted to have the blond hair and the brown skin and live up to all that California girl stuff," said Andrews, who now protects her naturally pale skin with religious use of sunscreen. "I remember thinking I was so ugly when I was my own skin color."

At age 35, she was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma on her leg, and she is now vigilant about watching her skin for signs of cancer. She attributes the cancer to her time in the tanning bed, which she also came to rely on for the euphoric buzz she would feel after the experience.

Exposure to UV rays from tanning beds or the sun may be addictive because the radiation may cause release of endorphins in the skin, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

For the past five years, Long Beach resident Samantha Healey has slipped into a tanning bed up to four times a week.

"I almost get, like, re-energized," the 23-year-old said.

Healey has worked in tanning salons in California and Nevada and says rebellious teens do try to forge their parents' signatures.

Wayne LaVassar, who owns 14 tanning salons in the Los Angeles area, says he requires parents to come in to sign permission slips at his California Tanning Salons. Requiring in-person authorization would be an appropriate middle ground instead of a ban, he said.

Missouri lawmakers are considering a bill this year that would require parents to sign off on their children's tanning, but similar measures failed in Connecticut, Nevada, South Dakota and West Virginia.

In North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island, legislators are weighing whether a doctor's note should be required for teens under 18. Iowa and Washington rejected such a requirement this year.

LaVassar said he doesn't understand why legislation is moving in so many states when tanning beds are overseen by the FDA and parents should have the right to make decisions for their kids.

"I don't believe the sun is bad for you. I believe too much sun is bad for you," he said. "We should be sending a message of moderation and responsibility."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. This article was written by SHAYA TAYEFE MOHAJER, Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

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]]>Banning Teens From Tanning BedscaliforniacancertanningAssociated PressTue, 28 Jun 2011 09:30:00 ESTChildren With Diabetes Lobby Congresshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/23/children-with-diabetes-lobby-congress/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/23/children-with-diabetes-lobby-congress/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/23/children-with-diabetes-lobby-congress/#commentsFiled under: ,

children with diabetes

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Transforming Lives Through Diabetes Research hearing in Washington, DC. Credit: Paul Morigi/Getty Images


A special interest group descended on Capitol Hill en masse June 22, looking to press their agenda with Congress.

You know Washington, D.C. Everyone wants something in this town. Kids with diabetes apparently want to live.

ABC News reports some 150 little lobbyists from across the country participated in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's annual Children's Congress to ask adult lawmakers to fund diabetes research.

"I am here to ask you to continue to do your part and fund research to find a cure," Jonathan Platt, an 8-year-old from Tarzana, Calif., testified before Congress. "A cure for diabetes means that I could go to any summer camp and have sleepovers whenever and wherever I want. It means I could be a regular kid again. Most of all, it would mean I would not have diabetes."

Diabetes research foundation officials estimate 3 million Americans have Type 1 diabetes, and 15,000 more children are diagnosed with the disease each year.

Kerry Morgan, a 14-year-old from Glen Allen, Va., participated in three clinical trials for diabetes patients, including one last October that tested artificial pancreas technology.

"I can honestly say the closed loop artificial pancreas trial was the most amazing experience of my entire life and holds so much promise for people living with this disease," she testified. "On the day the artificial pancreas is finally approved and released, people with this disease can say, 'Diabetes: There's an app for that.' "

Among those testifying was Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. ABC reports she shared her own story of living with juvenile diabetes with the group of delegates.

Sotomayor learned she had Type 1 diabetes at age 7. Before she was diagnosed, Sotomayor had chronic thirst and wet the bed. "I was ashamed," she told delegates. "It's a disease you have to deal with, but you can."

Eventually, she told kids, having to monitor her body taught her discipline, which helped her as a student and a judge.

"Figuring out how I felt all the time, all of that taught me discipline," she said.

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]]>children diabeteschildren with diabetesdiabetessotomayortype 2 diabetesTom HendersonThu, 23 Jun 2011 15:00:00 ESTOh, for Crying Out Loud, Shower Before You Go Swimming, Will Ya?!http://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/21/shower-before-swimming/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/21/shower-before-swimming/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/21/shower-before-swimming/#commentsFiled under: ,

Shower Before You Go Swimming

Not showering before swimming puts your children at risk of getting sick. Credit: Corbis

If your kid has diarrhea, he probably shouldn't take a dip in a public pool.

All together now: "Eeeeewwwww!"

You would think that would be common sense. However, researchers at the University of Michigan have found when it comes to swimming pools, many parents are ... what's the clinical term?

Dumber than a bag of hammers!

For instance, if your child has not bathed in a week and uses various body parts as snot rags, you would want him to shower before taking his assorted microbes out for a swim, right?

Sigh. The Grand Rapids Press reports only 26 percent of parents in the study thought all those "shower before you swim" rules posted at community pools were actually serious. On the plus side, 64 percent of them realize pool water is not a beverage, and kids shouldn't go around drinking it.

"Parents seem to understand the risk of contaminated water for their kids, but few have their kids take the necessary preventive steps to keep everyone healthy," Dr. Matthew Davis, who led the national poll on children health, tells the newspaper.

The poll was conducted on behalf of of the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. Some of the results were icky.

What many parents do not apparently know is that showering is crucial to preventing the spread of germs. So is not pooping or peeing in the pool. No, chlorine does not kill every germ that comes its way. Especially cryptosporidium.

If you take a few laps in a pool that doubles as little Stinky McStinkerson's bath and/or toilet water, you could end up with 10 action-packed days of diarrhea, cramping and vomiting from cryptosporidium, George Fogg, a pediatric infectious disease specialist with the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, tells the Grand Rapids Press.

Cryptosporidium has been busy lately, the newspaper reports -- with cases of crypto poisoning increasing from 3,411 cases in 2004 to 10,5000 in 2009.

In people with healthy immune systems, Fogg tells the newspaper, the illness is "self-limiting." Still, it's not a lot of fun.

To avoid unpleasantries in the pool, Fogg says parents need to go back to the old-fashioned notion of making their kids shower before swimming. Oh, and something else.

"You really need to get down into the diaper region," he tells the newspaper. "I don't know how many people do that."

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]]>germsshower before swimmingShower Before You Go Swimmingshoweringswimming pool germsTom HendersonTue, 21 Jun 2011 13:00:00 ESTAntipsychotics Have Dramatic Consequences in Kids, Study Showshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/21/antipsychotics-in-kids/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/21/antipsychotics-in-kids/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/21/antipsychotics-in-kids/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Antipsychotics

Children can experience dramatic weight gain and insulin resistance just weeks after taking the drugs for the first time. Credit: Getty Images

Careful with the crazy pills.

Doling out antipsychotic to kids for the first time can be a case of the cure being worse than the disease.

Researchers found children can experience dramatic weight gain and insulin resistance just weeks after taking the drugs for the first time, Medscape.com reports.

Lead researcher, John W. Newcomer, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Miami, tells Medscape that prescribing antipsychotics has become trendy in the past 15 years or so -- even though there is no sudden epidemic of schizophrenia in children.

"The increase was due to the rising use of antipsychotics for disruptive behavior disorders," he says.

In other words, your kid acting a little hyper? Bomb him with meds.

Newcomer led the study while he was at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo. Researchers studied 125 kids who were prescribed Aripiprazole, Risperidone or Olanzapine for behavior problem. Newcomer admitted kids were less aggressive and irritable on the drugs.

"They got a lot better," Newcomer tells Medscape. "I was actually stunned at how much better they got. It gave me some margin of sympathy that I didn't have before for why the child psychiatrists and the pediatricians are using so much of these drugs."

But at what cost?

Kids who participated in the study showed significant weight gain and their bodies became less receptive to insulin. Their body fat shot up an average of 8.98 percent while their sensitivity to insulin decreased by an average of 3 percent.

"There was quite a bit of variability among the treatments in terms of increased fat, but just about everybody sloped upwards," Newcomer tells Medscape.

Kids on Olanzapine plumped out the most, he adds. The weight gain with Risperidone and Aripiprazole was much less.

The moral of the story for parents?

"If you have to use antipsychotics, with the emphasis on the 'have to,' then you want to pick the agents with the lower risk for metabolic outcomes," Newcomer recommends.

To view the original article on Medscape, click here to login.

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]]>Antipsychotic Drugs Aripiprazole Risperidone Olanzapine InsulinAntipsychoticshealthTom HendersonTue, 21 Jun 2011 12:00:00 ESTBrain Scans May One Day Diagnose Autismhttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/01/brain-scans-autism/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/01/brain-scans-autism/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/06/01/brain-scans-autism/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Brain Scans

Technology may soon lead to autism discovery via scans. Credit: Getty Images

Someday soon a brain scan might be able to tell you why your child is obsessed with trains and incessantly quotes "The Simpsons."

He may have autism, and a scan of his brain may confirm it. Just don't be surprised if Thomas the Tank Engine shows up in there.

"We know now it is possible to objectively differentiate the autistic brain from the typical brain using a functional MRI imaging technique," researcher Joy Hirsch, a professor of neuroscience and director of the Functional MRI Research Center at Columbia University Medical Center, tells WebMD.

Knowing it's possible is a big deal, she adds. Now, technology just needs to catch up.

"It's an important advance, but it's not there yet," she says.

Hirsch knows because she and her team of researchers wanted to document language problems in autistic kids with brain scans.

"The idea of the study was to determine if functional imaging, which looks at both structure and function of the brain, could provide a diagnostic indicator of autism," she tells WebMD.

Autism is currently diagnosed subjectively by observing kids' behavior and development.

Hirsch's team scanned the brains of 12 kids diagnosed with autism who have language problems. As a control, they also scanned 15 kids without autism.

"We had them listen to narratives that were recorded by their parents," Hirsch tells WebMD. The scans measured their brain activity as the children listened to the narratives and encoded speech.

"We hypothesized that the autistic children would encode the language narrative less efficiently than the normal population," Hirsch tells WebMD.

Among autistic kids, they found less brain activity in the superior temporal gyrus -- an area of the brain associated with sentence comprehension.

Eventually, Hirsch tells the website, diagnosing autism may be possible earlier.

"This is a starting point," she says.

David Yousem, director of neuroradiology at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution in Baltimore, is not so sure.

"It is unlikely that neurologists or neuropsychologists will be using functional MRI to diagnose autism," he tells WebMD. "This really is a disorder that runs much deeper than how a child's brain responds to readings."

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]]>autismautism brain scansBrain Scanslanguage developmentTom HendersonWed, 01 Jun 2011 14:30:00 ESTMeasles Pose Threat to Unvaccinated Infantshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/27/measles-pose-threat-to-unvaccinated-infants/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/27/measles-pose-threat-to-unvaccinated-infants/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/27/measles-pose-threat-to-unvaccinated-infants/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Measles

Children and adults who remain unvaccinated and develop measles put others in their community at risk. Credit: Getty Images

The United States has been hit by the worst measles outbreak since 1996, posing a threat to infants too young to be vaccinated against the disease.

Quick! Blame someone!

The Los Angeles Times says you can wave a finger (you choose which one) at travelers to Europe and Asia.

Think of measles as filmmaker Roman Polanski. Although eliminated from the United States, it took up residence overseas. Occasionally, it meets with American visitors, visitors who bring home little souvenirs from their trip.

Bear in mind, the Times reports, "outbreak" doesn't mean the return of the plague. There have been 118 cases (none of them fatal) in the United States reported to the Centers for Disease Control between January and May.

Still, according to the Times, that's the highest number of cases reported during that time period since 1996.

Because infants younger than 12 months old are too young to be vaccinated, health officials' brows are slightly knitted.

Your best defense, CDC officials tell the Times, is to get adults and older kids vaccinated.

"Children and adults who remain unvaccinated and develop measles also put others in their community at risk," the CDC says in an official statement. "For infants too young for routine vaccination and persons with medical conditions that contraindicate measles immunization, the risk for measles complications is particularly high. These persons depend on high MMR vaccination coverage among those around them to protect them from exposure."

Oh, and the next time you go to Europe? Just bring back a T-shirt.

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]]>MeaslesvaccinesTom HendersonFri, 27 May 2011 16:00:00 ESTBritish Kids a Bunch of Physical Weaklings, Study Showshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/23/british-kids-physical-weaklings/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/23/british-kids-physical-weaklings/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/23/british-kids-physical-weaklings/#commentsFiled under: ,

British Kids

British kids can do fewer sit ups and are less able to hang from wall bars. Credit: Getty Images

All right, what's all this then?

It seems some of you British chaps have gotten a bit soft, eh, what? Bad form, that. Shakespeare might have called every man jack of you a finical, pigeon-livered quatch buttock.

Care to defend your honor? Sorry, lads, but that would require getting off your bums. And the London Daily Telegraph reports today's young blokes would rather play video games than get physical.

The newspaper suggests Britain might be raising a generation of pathetic gits who would rather sit about like they're on holiday at Brighton rather than get out and climb a bloody tree.

British researchers tell the Telegraph the situation has gotten worse over the past 10 years. British kids can do fewer sit ups and are less able to hang from wall bars. And they're generally just not as muscular. It's like they all went out and joined the chess club.

The study, published in the children's health journal Acta Paediatrica, has Brits going on about the need for kids to get outdoors.

"This is probably due to changes in activity patterns among English 10-year-olds, such as taking part in fewer activities like rope-climbing in PE and tree-climbing for fun," lead researcher Gavin Sandercock of Essex University tells the Telegraph. "Typically, these activities boosted children's strength, making them able to lift and hold their own body weight."

Researchers compared a group of 315 Essex kids today to a similar group of 10-year-olds in 1998. They found the current crop of kids weak.

Specifically, 27.1 percent fewer kids could do sit ups. Arm strength fell by 26 percent and grip strength by 7 percent. Twice as many kids today could not hold their own weight when hanging from wall bars.

"Climbing trees and ropes used to be standard practice for children, but school authorities and 'health and safety' have contrived to knock the sap out of our children," Tam Fry of the Child Growth Foundation tells the Telegraph. "Falling off a branch used to be a good lesson in picking yourself up and learning to climb better. Now fear of litigation stops the child climbing in the first place."

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]]>british children weakbritish kidsphysical educationTom HendersonMon, 23 May 2011 15:30:00 ESTDentists More Likely to Deny Kids on Medicaid Urgent Care Appointments, Study Findshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/23/dentists-more-likely-to-deny-kids-on-medicaid-urgent-care-appoin/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/23/dentists-more-likely-to-deny-kids-on-medicaid-urgent-care-appoin/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/23/dentists-more-likely-to-deny-kids-on-medicaid-urgent-care-appoin/#commentsFiled under: ,

medicaid dentists

If you don't have private insurance, dentists are less likely to see children with oral emergencies, Reuters reports. Credit: Getty Images

Sorry, kiddo. You'll just have to deal with that excruciating tooth pain you're feeling. See, you're covered by Medicaid, and there are kids with private insurance who we'll be getting to first.

A new study conducted in Cook County, Ill., shows if you don't have private insurance, dentists are less likely to see children with oral emergencies, Reuters reports. Oh, and even when the dental practice is enrolled in Illinois's Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program, dentists are still giving priority to kids with private insurance.

The findings, published in Pediatrics, show dental access for low-income families varies from state to state.

"I believe it comes down to financial incentives and administrative burden," Nancy Maserejian, a researcher at New England Research Institutes, who was not involved in the study, tells Reuters. "The amount of money dental practices get paid to do the same procedure is a lot less when Medicaid is reimbursing them."

To conduct the Illinois study, University of Pennsylvania researchers asked six women to say they were the mom of a 10-year old boy with an urgent care injury of a broken front tooth, Reuters reports.

The "moms" called 85 dental offices in Cook County, which includes Chicago, two different times, once saying they had Medicaid coverage, and once saying they were covered by Blue Cross, according to the news service.

Nearly two-thirds of the Medicaid calls resulted in the women being shut out of an appointment, while more than 95 percent of those claiming to have Blue Cross were told they could be seen, Reuters reports, adding that 30 percent of the Medicaid moms who called practices enrolled in the state's Medicaid program also were denied appointments.

The news service notes that all of those offices, however, "were willing to make an appointment when mothers offered to pay in cash instead."

The study points out that Illinois Medicaid payments are, on average, a little more than half of normal dental service charges, Reuters reports.

"Often state Medicaid programs are very cumbersome," Tegwyn Brickhouse, head of pediatric dentistry at Virginia Commonwealth University, tells the news service. "They may have varying fee schedules ... it's very complex in terms of just being able to treat the patient and file the claim."

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]]>dentistinsurancemedicaidmedicaid dentistprivate insuranceLesley KennedyMon, 23 May 2011 12:00:00 ESTBabies of Smoking Moms Born to Gasp and Wheezehttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/20/smoking-during-pregnancy/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/20/smoking-during-pregnancy/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/20/smoking-during-pregnancy/#commentsFiled under: ,

smoking during pregnancy

Women who smoke are more likely to have children with asthma. Credit: Getty Images

You don't have to be a smoker to gasp and wheeze like one.

All you need is a mother who ignored the warnings and smoked when she was pregnant with you. She could well have altered your basic genetic code to where you'll periodically be fighting for breath all your life.

Maybe you can thank her by giving her a debilitating condition of her own someday.

The Daily Mail in London reports researchers at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles have found women who smoke are more likely to have children with asthma. That's because their smoking fundamentally alters their unborn babies' DNA.

The process is called DNA methylation -- and even though it conjures images of Frank Sinatra taking a long drag on a smoke while slinging his sport coat over this shoulder -- researchers tell the Daily Mail it is definitely not cool.

DNA methylation causes negative changes in the AXL gene, a key player in many cancers that beset humans.

"We found that children exposed to maternal smoking in utero had a 2.3 percent increase in DNA methylation in AXL," researcher Carrie Breton tells the Daily Mail. "These results confirm results from a prior study and present compelling evidence that environmental exposure to tobacco smoke during pregnancy may alter DNA methylation levels."

Researchers asked mothers and grandmothers to complete detailed questionnaires about 173 children, the Daily Mail reports, adding that DNA samples were also collected from the cheek cells of mothers and children for examination.

According to the newspaper, researchers found a "smoking" gun. Breton tells the Daily Mail there's only one conclusion.

"Environmental exposures occurring in utero have the potential to affect DNA methylation patterns before birth," she says.

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]]>asthmapregnant smokerssmokingsmoking during pregnancysmoking researchTom HendersonFri, 20 May 2011 15:00:00 ESTAustralian Parents Pay the Price for Doubting Vaccineshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/18/australian-parents-doubting-vaccines/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/18/australian-parents-doubting-vaccines/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/18/australian-parents-doubting-vaccines/#commentsFiled under: , ,

australian parents

Australia has a full-blown epidemic on its hands. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

As cases of whooping cough are spreading in the land Down Under, Australian doctors are warning parents of newborn babies to keep their children home.

The London Daily Telegraph reports Australia has a full-blown epidemic on its hands, largely because Australians bought into wild stories about the dangers of vaccines.

"It's a phenomenon where highly educated people feel they need to do their own research on what is best for their child and there is skepticism of official government policy," Rob Menzies, deputy director of the National Centre for Immunization Research and Surveillance, tells the Daily Telegraph.

"But a lot of people are likely to find wacky anti-vaccination sites where a lot of the information is distorted," he adds. "It is not helping that people opt out of vaccination. It puts their children at risk, and it puts other people's children at risk."

The Daily Telegraph reports northern Sydney has seen 669 cases of whooping cough this year, followed by southeastern Sydney with 522 cases. The Illawarra region was next highest, followed by western Sydney and southern Sydney.

The epidemic has infected one in five children at a school near Lismore, according to the newspaper.

"With vaccination rates so low in this area we say to the mothers of newborns, do not take them out in the community," pediatrician Chris Ingall tells the Telegraph. "We're appalled at how many kids are getting whooping cough because the chardonnay set and the alternatives don't vaccinate their children."

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]]>australian parentsvaccineswhooping coughTom HendersonWed, 18 May 2011 14:30:00 ESTFlorida Ob-Gyns Turning Away Overweight Womenhttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/18/florida-ob-gyns-turning-away-overweight-women/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/18/florida-ob-gyns-turning-away-overweight-women/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/18/florida-ob-gyns-turning-away-overweight-women/#commentsFiled under: ,

overweight women

Some obstetricians are refusing to see women who are obese. Credit: Getty Images

The modern Hippocratic Oath states in part:

"I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm. But no fat chicks. Man, I hate fat chicks."

So, no, the stuff about fat chicks is not an official part of the oath. However, the Florida Sun-Sentinel reports some obstetricians might want to add it in: They are refusing to take in women who are, shall we say, horizontally challenged.

The docs claim it's because certain exam tables and other equipment allegedly can't handle women who weigh more than 200 pounds, according to the newspaper. Physicians say the women could hurt themselves, or worse, file a lawsuit.

A total of 15 out of the 105 ob-gyns polled by the Sun Sentinel set weight limits and refuse to see women who threaten to put the "Hippo" in Hippocratic Oath.

"People don't realize the risk we're taking by taking care of these patients," Albert Triana, who has two ob-gyn practices in South Miami, tells the Sun-Sentinel. "There's more risk of something going wrong and more risk of getting sued. Everything is more complicated with an obese patient in gyn surgeries and in [pregnancies]."

Ob-gyn partners Jeffrey Solomon and Isabel Otero-Echandi similarly turn away women who tip the scale at 250 pounds or more. Their office manager, who asked not to be named, tells the newspaper the doctors don't want to end up sending overweight women to specialists.

"This is not a high-risk practice," the office manager tells the Sun-Sentinel. "They are not experts in obesity."

Some doctors and medical ethicists, however, worry about what Hippocrates would think of all this.

"If I had that policy, I wouldn't have a practice. I'd lose half my patients," Maureen Whelihan, a West Palm Beach, ob-gyn, tells the newspaper. "We never turn down anyone. We would see them, and if we had to, we would refer them to a specialist."

Leaders of eight local, state and national medical associations tell the Sun-Sentinel they have never heard of doctors turning away patients just because of weight. Several said fat people with no other health issues do not need special treatment.

"No doctor should be unable to treat patients just because they are heavy," Bruce Zafran, a Coral Springs, ob-gyn, tells the newspaper.

A spokesman for the Obesity Action Coalition in Tampa tells the Sun-Sentinel weight restrictions smack of discrimination.

"This completely goes against the principles of being a doctor," James Zervios tells the newspaper. "Health care professionals are there to help individuals improve their quality of health, not stigmatize them according to their weight."

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]]>ob-gynob-gynsobese pregnancyobesityoverweight womenpregnancyTom HendersonWed, 18 May 2011 12:00:00 ESTNo Link Found Between ADHD Drugs and Heart Problemshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/17/no-link-found-between-adhd-drugs-and-heart-problems/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/17/no-link-found-between-adhd-drugs-and-heart-problems/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/17/no-link-found-between-adhd-drugs-and-heart-problems/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

ADHD drugs

WebMD reports kids who take drugs for ADHD are not at a greater risk for heart attacks or strokes. Credit: Getty Images

If you're bombing with your child with meds to control his hyperactivity and short attention span, you might have worried all those chemicals were sending him to an early grave.

Well, relax.

WebMD reports kids who take Adderall, Ritalin, Strattera and all the other trendy drugs for ADHD are no more likely to keel over on the playground than other children.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine looked at the number of people on ADHD meds who have heart attacks, stroke and abnormal heart rhythms and compared them to the rates among the rest of the population. WebMD reports they didn't find any big differences.

Officials at the U.S. Federal Drug Administration announced early last month they are doing their own study that should prove "reassuring," but those results haven't been released yet.

"Until the final FDA results are published, our study should provide some additional reassurance," lead University of Pennsylvania researcher Sean Hennessy tells WebMD. "One of the most important findings was that the risk of death was no higher in kids taking these drugs."

Some 2.7 million children and teenagers in the United States take Adderall, Ritalin, Strattera or other drugs for ADHD, according to WebMD.

Some the drugs increase blood pressure and heart rates in children. Reports of sudden cardiac death in children led to labeling changes for some of the drugs, warning parents of possible cardiovascular risk in patients with heart problems.

But WebMD reports University of Pennsylvania researchers found no connection between heart attacks, strokes and ADHD medications. In fact, they couldn't so much as one cardiovascular incident in the insurance claims they pored over from California, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio.

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]]>adhdadhd drugsheart attackheart diseasemedicationTom HendersonTue, 17 May 2011 15:30:00 ESTCT Scans Not Always Best Response to Head Injurieshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/10/ct-scans-head-injuries/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/10/ct-scans-head-injuries/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/10/ct-scans-head-injuries/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

CT Scans

It might be a good idea to observe children for awhile before getting them a CT scan. Credit: Getty Images

One of the first things you want to do after a child has suffered a head injury is get him a CT scan. Right?

No, actually.

Reuters reports it might be a good idea to observe children for awhile. If it turns out they don't need a computed tomography (CT) scan, they can avoid an unnecessary dose of radiation.

Lise Nigrovic at Children's Hospital in Boston worked on a study that concludes this is especially true for children who have some risk of a serious brain injury, but aren't showing serious symptoms.

Nigrovic tells Reuters if a child goes to an emergency room very soon after a head injury, "you may just not have had enough time for symptoms to develop."

Or, a child may have some concerning symptoms, she adds, "but you just want a little time."

According to Reuters, Nigrovic and her fellow researchers reviewed data on more than 40,000 children with head injuries who were taken to one of 25 different emergency rooms.

In one case, a child fell off a swing, developed a severe headache and vomited once. Nonetheless, doctors waited before giving him a CT scan. Two hours later, he was a awake and talking and more or less back to his old self.

"We all want to make sure that we use CT scanning in the cases where it's likely to be positive and that we save children from the radiation for those that we know are very unlikely to be positive," Martin Osmond at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario tells Reuters.

Osmond was not among the researchers, but, he adds, "this study adds important new information about who to observe."

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]]>CT scanct scanshead injuriesTom HendersonTue, 10 May 2011 13:30:00 ESTHaving Bipolar Parents Can Be (Who Knew?) Stressfulhttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/09/bipolar-parents/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/09/bipolar-parents/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/09/bipolar-parents/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

bipolar parents

Imagine dealing with the vacillations and contradictions of someone else's bipolar disorder when you're a kid. Credit: Getty Images

Parents can be stressful. They're really annoying and they go about saying stupid and embarrassing things. Now research suggests kids are even more stressed out when their parents are bipolar.

No, they're not. Yes, they are. No, they're not. Yes! No! YES!

You see the problem.

Imagine dealing with the vacillations and contradictions of someone else's bipolar disorder when you're a kid -- especially when the someone else is your parent.

So the study by researchers at the Concordia University in Montreal linking parents' bipolar disorders to their children's stress may seem like something of a no-brainer.

But according to a press release posted on EurekAlert.com,researchers measured and quantified that stress scientifically. What they found is that cortisol, a stress hormone, shoots up in kids when their parents are bipolar.

"Previous research has shown that children of parents with bipolar disorder are four times as likely to develop mood disorders as those from parents without the condition," senior researcher Mark Ellenbogen, Canada research chair in developmental psychopathology at Concordia, says in the press release.

"The goal of our study was to determine how this is happening," he adds.

Researchers previously measured cortisol levels in kids. In this study, they followed up with the same kids now that that they are in their late teens and early adulthoods.

Their cortisol levels were still elevated. This could mean they'll have emotional problems.

"Our study demonstrates that affected children are biologically more sensitive to the experience of stress in their natural and normal environment compared to their peers," says Ellenbogen in the release. "This higher reactivity to stress might be one explanation of why these offspring end up developing disorders and is a clear risk factor to becoming ill later on.

"We think we might be beginning to understand where we can intervene to actually prevent this increased sensitivity from developing," he adds.

"We believe this sensitivity develops during childhood and our suspicion is that if you could teach both parents and their offspring on how to cope with stress, how to deal with problems before they turn into larger significant stressors and difficulties, this would have a profound impact."

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]]>Bipolar DIsorder Parents Cortisol Stress Children Hormones Reseabipolar parentsbipolar parents with childrenTom HendersonMon, 09 May 2011 16:30:00 ESTUsing a Bottle at Age 2 Can Mean Obese by Kindergarten, Study Findshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/05/using-a-bottle-at-age-2-can-mean-obese-by-kindergarten-study-fi/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/05/using-a-bottle-at-age-2-can-mean-obese-by-kindergarten-study-fi/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/05/05/using-a-bottle-at-age-2-can-mean-obese-by-kindergarten-study-fi/#commentsFiled under: ,

bottle obesity

Kids still drinking from a bottle at the age of two could end up obese. Credit: Getty Images

Back away from the bottle.

Researchers have found many clues as to what helps make kids fat, and the latest is serving your toddler a bottle.

ABC News reports kids who are still drinking a bottle of milk at the age of 2 could end up obese by kindergarten.

In the journal Pediatrics, Temple University researchers say weaning children from the bottle by 12- to 14- months could help lower U.S. childhood obesity rates, according to the network.

One 8-ounce bottle of whole milk adds up to 150 calories -- that's 12 percent of the daily dietary needs of a healthy 2-year-old child, ABC reports.

Looking at data from 6,750 participants -- all born in 2001 -- in the Ohio Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, the network says more than one in five kids continued to use a bottle by the time they were 2.

At 5 1/2, nearly 23 percent of those bottle users were obese, compared to 16.1 percent of those who went off the bottle at a younger age, ABC reports, adding that factors including Mom's weight, birth weight, breast-feeding and others were accounted for.

"If the bottle use is going on too long, it's serving a purpose for which it was never intended," Keith Ayoob, a registered dietician and director of the nutrition clinic at the Rose R. Kennedy Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, tells the network.

Using a bottle too long also can lead to teeth decay, Ayoob tells ABC. He says two glasses of milk a day offers "a primary source of protein and a whole bunch of other nutrients," but otherwise, kids should drink water.

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]]>bottlebottle feedingbottle obesitychildhood obesitychildrenobese childrenobesityweaning bottleLesley KennedyThu, 05 May 2011 11:30:00 EST