by Children's Hospital Boston staff on February 28, 2010
by Children's Hospital Boston staff on February 27, 2010
by Children's Hospital Boston staff on February 26, 2010
By Aaron Bernstein, MD, MPH, physician in Medicine at Children’s and faculty, Center for Health and the Global Environment
For many parents, having kids changes everything (or almost everything). Sleep schedules, meal choices, work routines and more may get revamped with the birth of a child. The transformation, though, often goes still deeper.
More so than at any other point in life, new parents rethink their relationship with the environment and especially how it may affect the health of their child. Find a home with newly purchased water filters and air purifiers, hormone-free meat and milk, pesticide-free produce and whose inhabitants spend more time spent outdoors than most and you likely have found yourself the home of a family with young children. [click to continue…]
by Children's Hospital Boston staff on February 26, 2010
Media expert Michael Rich, MD, MPH, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston, answers your questions about media use. Last week, he discussed if parents are legally responsible when their teens engage in sexting.
Here’s this week’s question:
Q: I took my sons to see Avatar over vacation, and while I sat there with giant 3D glasses on, I wondered if scientists know anything about whether 3D affects how children process the experience of a movie?
Thrilled by 3D in Wilmington, MA [click to continue…]
by Children's Hospital Boston staff on February 25, 2010
by Stuart Goldman, MD, Co-Director of Children’s Mood Disorder Program
The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is in the draft stages of revising their fifth edition. While the DSM has limitations and at times is a bit controversial in the psychiatry community, it is the official diagnostic guide. The new edition which is scheduled for 2013 has a few suggested changes that could have some impact on your child and family. [click to continue…]
by Nancy Fliesler on February 25, 2010
This image shows the green fluorescent signal from telomeres, bits of DNA at the tips of chromosomes (shown in blue). The intensity of the green signal is one indicator of telomere length, which is a measure of cellular "aging" and determines how many times a cell can divide.
Stem cell research is in its infancy, but a new study led by Children’s Suneet Agarwal, MD, PhD, and George Q. Daley, MD, PhD, investigators in Children’s Stem Cell Transplantation Program, reveal these cells’ unique powers to teach us about devastating, hard-to-treat diseases – and, in this case, cancer and aging.
In Children with dyskeratosis congenita, a rare condition that leads to premature aging, genetic mutations impair a key enzyme called telomerase that builds up the tips of our chromosomes, known as telomeres. When cells aren’t able to maintain their telomeres, the chromosomes become vulnerable to all kinds of damage, and the cell “ages” more quickly and stops dividing. As a result, children with dyskeratosis congenita have bone marrow failure – they’re unable to make enough blood cells to sustain the body. This requires a bone marrow transplant – an especially punishing procedure for these children, whose other tissues and organs are also failing because of the disease. [click to continue…]
by Lois Lee, MD, MPH on February 24, 2010
Lois Lee, MD, MPH works in Children’s Emergency Department Injury Prevention Program
Hot dogs, popcorn, gum, candy, marshmallows—These may seem like fun delicious foods to most people, but to young children under the age of 3 they are potential choking hazards that can even lead to death. These foods are about the size of a young child’s airway and can cause a blockage which can be fatal if the child can’t breathe. [click to continue…]
by Children's Hospital Boston staff on February 24, 2010
Walking down the cereal aisle at the supermarket, it’s impossible to miss the declarations of health benefits prominently located on the fronts of the colorful boxes. The Nutrition Facts Panel—a valuable consumer resource that lists a product’s sugar, salt, fat and calorie content—is usually printed on the side of the box. But do parents searching for a healthful choice even bother to read the nutritional information when the front of the box suggests the product is made of “whole grain goodness” and “immune-boosting” vitamins?
Unfortunately many don’t and that’s a real problem, says David Ludwig, MD, PhD, in a commentary co-authored with Marion Nestle, PhD, MPH, and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). “We’ve arrived at the deplorable situation of Cocoa Krispies being marketed as a way to protect children from H1N1 flu, because it has a few added vitamins,” says Ludwig.
Consumers tend to believe claims on the front of packages, according to recent research, and perceive health statements to be endorsed by the government. But few health claims on food products have any basis in science at all. And unlike medications, food product labels don’t have to disclose their potential ill effects, such as obesity from high added sugar content. [click to continue…]
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