Medical Treatment
Help for Depressed Children
About 69 percent of depressed children, aged 6 to 17, improved significantly while taking Zoloft for their depression, according to a study published in the August 27, 2003 JAMA, but data from the stu…
Common Over-the-Counter Medicines & Miscarriage
Women who take aspirin, ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil, etc.), or naproxen (Alleve) during pregnancy or just before may have an 80 percent increased risk of miscarriage, according to a study in the August 1…
Congratulations! You’ve made an important choice …
...to pursue CPR training. I salute you in your efforts to be trained to help save lives. In the United States, you can find a CPR event near you by just entering your zip code here. In any country yo…
CPR A Parent’s Responsibility
On August 3, 2003 James Safar, a man whose work saved many, many lives, died quietly at his home in Pennsylvania. He was 79 years old. He started the nation's first physician ? staffed ICU, but it was…
Landmark Good News For Children
On July 24 the United States Senate made history by passing the Pediatric Research Equity Act of 2003. The law would give the FDA authority to require medicine manufacturers to test medicines expected…
How Much Blood is too Much: Pediatric blood draw guideline
Often blood from children is drawn in the same big tubes used for adults. I applaud parents, nurses, or phlebotomists acting as advocates for children when large-volumedraws are ordered, to be sure t…
Does Paxil Kill Children?
On June 10, 2003 the British government issued a very strong warning about the antidepressant Paxil, called Seroxat in Britain, saying that it "should not be used in children and adolescents under the…
Monkeypox 3: Spreads From Person to Person?
The state of Wisconsin has reported suspected monkeypox in two healthcare workers who had no known animal exposure but who had been caring for earlier monkeypox patients on May 22. The symptoms are st…
Monkeypox 2: Containment
On June 11, 2003 the federal government authorized the use of its stores of smallpox vaccine to help contain the U.S. monkeypox outbreak. Meanwhile, the outbreak investigation continues to spread, fro…
Asthma and SARS
There has never been a better time to be sure your asthma is under control. With a proper treatment plan, most asthma symptoms can be prevented or minimized. Uncontrolled, the linings of the airways i…
A New ADHD Drug
Big News: On November 27, 2002, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Strattera (atomoxetine HCL), a new non-stimulant medicine for ADHD. This is the first new type of drug to be approved…
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) and Their Impact on Growth Rates
Some of the most widely prescribed medicines in the world are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). They are antidepressant medicines that have also been shown to be useful in a number of ot…
Antibiotic Progress? Mixed Results
Overuse of antibiotics leads to more resistant bacteria and to sicker kids. A survey of physicians published in the June 19, 2002 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association reports a sig…
A New Test For Asthma
Part of the problem in asthma is airway tightening (often treated with albuterol); part of the problem is inflammation in the lungs. This ongoing inflammation is often undertreated, resulting in more …
Asthma Star Power!
What do Glenn Close, Minnie Driver, Funkmaster Flex, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeff Goldblum, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Kelsey Grammer, Shaquille O'Neal, Gwyneth Paltrow, Diane Sawyer, and General Schwarzkopf all hav…
Wireless Camera “Endoscopy”
Imagine a tiny, disposable wireless videocamera in a capsule that can be swallowed. The device received final clearance by the FDA in May 2002 and is now available in the US (and more than 30 other co…
Asthma and Reflux
If your child has asthma, you should consider whether your child might also have reflux. More evidence of the relationship between gastroesophageal reflux and asthma was published in the April 2002 is…
Amazing Scientific Breakthroughs In Organ Generation and Regeneration
Already in 2002, two announcements herald amazing changes in medicine by the time our children are adults. Researchers at Tokyo University announced on January 5, 2002 that they had successfully grown…
Pleconaril — Cure For the Common Cold?
There is a lot of buzz about pleconaril, a new drug that makes a runny nose completely clear up a day sooner than usual and begins to ease the symptoms within a day. But we don't have to wait while th…
Single-Dose Antibiotic Approved for Ear Infection Treatment
While some children take medicines without a problem, many parents find it a struggle to get their children to take medicine -- if the parents even remember each dose. Common antibiotic regimens can r…