Children’s Health

Parents’ attitude linked to kids’ chronic pain

Adolescents whose parents suffer from chronic pain may be more likely to develop ongoing pain too – especially if the parent tends to ‘catastrophize’ pain, according to new research.

“Children are careful observers of everything that we do as parents, and how we respond to our pain and to their pain is no different,” said Anna Wilson, a psychologist at Oregon Health & Science University who led the study.

Sometimes acting worried or repeatedly asking how a child is feeling can lead them to worry that the problem they are having is serious, even if it isn’t, Wilson said.

“Unfortunately, we know from many research studies that this (misplaced) worry tends to make pain worse,” she told Reuters Health.

In the study, 178 kids between the ages of 11 and 14 were recruited through their schools. They filled out questionnaires asking about ongoing physical issues such as backaches, stomach pain and headaches, as well as how much the pain interfered with their everyday lives. The adolescents’ parents answered similar questions about their own pain.

Both kids and parents also filled out surveys focused on how they coped with the child’s pain, such as whether parent or child felt helpless about the condition or blew the pain out of proportion.

About one-fourth of adolescents and two-thirds of parents in the study reported having chronic pain, and parental pain was significantly linked to the likelihood of that parent’s child having pain.

Having a parent with pain and having a parent who magnified the significance of pain boosted the risk that a child would also put more emphasis on the pain’s importance, the team reports in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.

The take-home point, according to Wilson, is that the most helpful way to approach ongoing pain in a child – such as repeated headaches or muscle aches – probably differs from the way a parent might act when the child has a short-term illness like stomach flu or a sprained ankle.

For that reason, it can be helpful for parents with chronic pain to seek outside help to pinpoint their own strengths, and to assist their kids in developing healthy ways to cope with pain and discomfort.

“Being a parent is hard; pain just makes it harder,” Wilson said.

“If you are a parent who has chronic pain and you are worried about how it might be impacting your child, talk with your own doctor, a pain psychologist or your child’s doctor,” she said.

Source: Reuters

As Schools Boost Access to EpiPens, Do Teachers Know How to Use Them?

Dr. Dave Stukus, a pediatric allergist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital says anyone with severe allergies knows that an epinephrine auto-injector can be the difference between life and death. With approximately two and a half million epinephrine auto-injectors (such as EpiPens and Auvi-Qs) in circulation, my colleagues and I at Nationwide Children’s Hospital want to ensure that people know how to administer them appropriately — you could save a life.

A new law signed by President Barack Obama on Nov. 13 last year provides states with financial incentives to pass laws that allow schools to stock epinephrine, and to treat children who do not have a prescription for the drug. As a result, more people will be administering auto-injectors for the first time.

It is not hard to use one, you just need to take action quickly. In fact, the most common reason associated with death from severe allergies is waiting too long to administer epinephrine.

The good news is that instructions are written and pictured on each auto-injector. One type of auto-injector even gives verbal instructions.

Here’s what you will need to know to correctly use an auto-injector:

1. Prepare the device

Pull off the safety cap. Make a fist around the syringe so the tip is pointing down. But there’s a warning: DO NOT PUT YOUR THUMB ON THE ORANGE TIP. The needle comes out of the orange tip.

2. Inject the medicine

While you do not need to apply excessive force, you will swing your arm a bit to inject the contents of an auto-injector (you need to provide enough force that the needle deploys from the auto-injector tip and delivers its contents directly into thigh muscle). First, hold the orange tip near the patient’s outer thigh to position the device at a 90-degree angle (needle-tip straight down), then swing the auto-injector against the patient’s outer thigh and press firmly against it until you hear a click. Hold the auto-injector against the thigh for 10 seconds. Then, remove the auto-injector from the thigh and massage the injection site for 10 seconds. You can leave the patient’s pants on if necessary; the device will work right through them.? [8 Strange Signs You’re Having an Allergic Reaction ]

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3. Get emergency medical help

Always call 9-1-1 after using epinephrine. The medicine may start to wear off or the reaction may come back. You can repeat the dose in 5 minutes if the child is not improving. Give the used epinephrine injector to a health care provider and ask for a refill right away if needed.

A few other things to note: Inhalers, such as albuterol and antihistamines (such as Benadryl), are not enough to treat severe allergic reactions. They can be given after epinephrine is used, if available. When in doubt, give epinephrine!

Do not store an auto-injector in a refrigerator or a hot car. It should be kept at room temperature. The liquid medicine in the pen should be clear. If it is discolored or has floating specks, get a new pen.

Source: live science

USDA allows more meat, grains in school lunches

The Agriculture Department says it’s making permanent rules that allow schools to serve larger portions of lean meat and whole grains in school lunches and other meals.

Guidelines restricting portion size were originally intended to combat childhood obesity, but many parents complained their kids weren’t getting enough to eat. School administrators say that rules establishing maximums on grains and meats are too limiting and make it difficult to plan daily meals.

The department eliminated limits and on meats and grains on a temporary basis more than a year ago. On Thursday officials made the rule change permanent.

The change was announced by Kevin Concannon, an undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services.

He says the department has delivered on its promise to give school nutritionists more flexibility in meal planning.

Source: USA Today

 

Special needs kid: 10 elementary solutions for healthy teeth

If your child has autism, a developmental check or a disability, we know that brushing, flossing, and dentist visits can be unequivocally challenging. Yet, verbal hygiene is crucial, generally since studies uncover special needs children are some-more expected than standard kids to have cavities and other dental problems.

Cavities, resin illness and verbal trauma

Special needs kids mostly have problem brushing effectively, since they might have deformed teeth or they don’t have a earthy or mental ability to be means to do it by themselves.

“They have an accumulation of house and germ all over a teeth and gums,” pronounced Dr. Steven G. Goldberg, contriver of a DentalVibe Injection Comfort System. So when food gets stuck, a germ feeds on it – causing cavities, resin illness and periodontal disease.

Kids who have wild movements, or children who punch their cheeks, lips, or tongues since their teeth do not accommodate properly, might also have verbal trauma.

Certain drugs with a high sugarine calm can means distended gums. Likewise, if a child uses a feeding tube, or cooking high sugarine dishes since of a disaster to thrive, he or she is some-more receptive to gingivitis, inflammation of a gums, and tartar, according to Dr. Rebecca Slayton, arch dental executive and chair of a National Children’s Oral Health Foundation’s systematic advisory board.

In addition, some kids who are orally antithetic and don’t like certain dishes and textures or a kick of brushing and a ambience of toothpaste are also some-more expected to have dental problems, Slayton said.

If your child has special needs, here are 10 ways we can keep his or her teeth healthy during home and make dentist visits stress-free.

1. Make brushing easy

For kids who need assistance brushing, put a toothbrush in a bicycle hoop so “they have something big, thick and squashy to reason onto,” Goldberg said. Brushing should always be supervised, and if floss doesn’t work, use a H2O pick. If your child bites, place compress on a behind teeth and afterwards brush.

2. Keep it fun

The progressing brushing becomes a pleasing experience, a easier it will be to make it a habit, according to Fern Ingber, boss and CEO of a National Children’s Oral Health Foundation: America’s ToothFairy. Try to brush when your child is many cooperative, and confuse him or her with song or something pleasant.

3. Start early

Your child’s initial revisit to a dentist should be a certain experience, so be certain to get there by age 1 or when a initial teeth erupt.

4. Find a good dentist

Most pediatric dentists work with special needs kids, though it’s critical to find one who is patient, will take time to explain all to your child, and work with we to make certain your child is comfortable. “If we get a merciful doctor, it will be a good experience,” Goldberg said.

5. Call ahead

When we make a dentist’s appointment, yield a staff with information about your child and his specific needs. A heads-up can concede them to set adult a bureau and make certain additional staff will be on palm to help. If your child can’t lay in a chair, a dentist can also find an alternative.

6. Do paperwork beforehand

Ask a bureau to send all of a paperwork forward of time, and move a duplicate of your word label with we so we can save time and give your child a courtesy he or she needs.

7. Bring a comfort object

Kids don’t know what to design during a initial dentist visit, so move a favorite blanket, toy, or toothbrush so they’re not afraid.

8. Prepare

Talk to your child about what to design during a dentist – from a chair that tilts behind to a collection a dentist uses. You can also ready by putting your child in your path and brushing his or her teeth. “They get used to a feeling of someone else touching their mouths and hovering over their heads. It’s a frightful feeling unless you’re used to it,” Goldberg said.

9. Use a right words

Ask a dentist previously what difference and phrases we should learn your child so if a dentist says, “open your mouth,” he or she know what to do.

10. Wipes, gels, and rinses

According to a investigate in a Journal of Dental Research, immature children who used xylitol wipes were significantly reduction expected to rise cavities. If we have to discharge your child’s remedy during night and you’ve already brushed his or her teeth, purify a mouth purify with xylitol wipes, Slayton suggests. Also, ask a dentist about an antimicrobial rinse or tradition trays with peroxide gel, dual methods that can assistance forestall cavities and resin illness too.

Source: Health medicine network

Multiple vaccines associated with increased infant mortality

As pentavalent vaccine has already created widespread controversy with reports linking increased morbidity and mortality to multiple vaccines in low-income countries, including Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and India, a new study published in the journal Vaccine has diametrically opposed to the extensively held conviction that more vaccines administered to infants the better.

The new observational study titled, ‘Co-administration of live measles and yellow fever vaccines and inactivated pentavalent vaccines is associated with increased mortality compared with measles and yellow fever vaccines only’ is a result of randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial conducted during 2007-2011 in the West African country Guinea-Bissau. The study has questioned the belief that vaccination is always a life-saving intervention.

Sayer Ji, “My personal belief about the expanding vaccination schedule, as well as increasing the number of vaccine antigens per vaccine, is we are engaging in unprecedented mass experimentation on our children, as there are simply far too many variables to control and understand now in order to make the determination that they are effective, much less safe. It is likely — and research bears this out — that the ultimate result of employing so vaccines, along with the known dangers of excipients and adjuvants, is increased morbidity and mortality in exposed populations.”

As the finding hold importance when one considers that pentavalent vaccines, with the efforts of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), aims to reach millions of children in several developing countries, he said, “Global vaccination campaigns are based upon a fundamental error in thinking. You can’t vaccinate away undernourishment, poor living conditions, or lack of water sanitation. Let these charitable programmes and the wealthy nations and corporations put their money where their mouths are and provide ‘first world’ solutions for third world problems.”

“India stands today as the mother to one of the most advanced, while also ancient, medical systems in the world, Ayurveda, and must consider the implications of casting its inheritance to the wind in favour of strictly Western medical interventions, many of which are being aggressively championed for reasons that are as much political and economic as they are humanitarian in nature,” he said.

“The primary suggestion I would give is to not ignore the significant body of peer-reviewed research that now exists showing the unintended, adverse health effects of vaccination which may in some cases far outweigh their purported benefit. Also, these are not strictly academic matters but the lives of our children and future generations are on the line,” Sayer Ji opined.

In the light of the study, Dr Jacob Puliyel, head of paediatrics at St Stephen’s Hospital, New Delhi, told , “I do not think international agencies will do anything till we highlight every death as unacceptable.”

Source; Green med info

Toys, Books Spread Infectious Bacteria

All those Christmas toys and books may spread more than good cheer. A new study has concluded that two common bacteria that cause colds, ear infections, and strep throat can live for long periods on the surfaces of toys, stuffed animals, books, cribs, and other child-related items — even after being cleaned.

The findings, published in the journal Infection and Immunity and reported by Medical Xpress, indicate Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus pyogenes persist on surfaces for far longer than has been believed.

The researchers said the study suggests that additional precautions may be necessary to prevent infections, especially in settings such as schools, day care centers, and hospitals.

“These findings should make us more cautious about bacteria in the environment since they change our ideas about how these particular bacteria are spread,” said Anders Hakansson, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. “This is the first paper to directly investigate that these bacteria can survive well on various surfaces, including hands, and potentially spread between individuals.”

S. pneumoniae, a leading cause of ear infections in children and respiratory illnesses, is widespread in daycare centers and a common cause of hospital infections, noted Hakansson. S. pyogenes commonly causes strep throat and skin infections in children and adults.

To reach their conclusions, the UB researchers tested the surfaces of toys and surfaces in a day care center. They found four out of five stuffed toys tested positive for S. pneumonaie and several surfaces, such as cribs, tested positive for S. pyogenes, even after being cleaned. The testing was done just prior to the center opening in the morning so it had been many hours since the last human contact.

“Bacterial colonization doesn’t, by itself, cause infection but it’s a necessary first step if an infection is going to become established in a human host,” he explains. “Children, the elderly and others with compromised immune systems are especially vulnerable to these infections.”

Source: news max health

Breast-feeding longer than six months tied to better cognitive development

Breast-feeding’s benefits have been backed by yet another study, the latest finding kids who were breast-fed for more than six months scored the highest on cognitive, language and motor development tests as toddler.

Earlier research tied breast-feeding to better thinking and memory skills. But how it’s related to language skills and movement and coordination had been less clear.

The new study, out of Greece, doesn’t prove breast-feeding is responsible for better development, but it shows a strong association, researchers said.

Most evidence “pretty clearly shows there are significant medical benefits of breast-feeding,” Dr. Dimitri Christakis, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington and director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, told Reuters Health in an email.

“I think that the evidence is now of sufficient quality that we can close the book on these benefits and focus instead on how do we succeed in promoting breast-feeding because all of the studies, including this one, that have looked at it have found a linear relationship, which is to say that the benefits accrue with each additional month that a child is breast-fed,” added Christakis, who was not involved in the study.

In the U.S., about 77 percent of new moms breast-feed their babies, according to an August study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Almost half follow the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendation of breast-feeding exclusively for first six months of a newborn’s life. Moms are also recommended to provide supplemental breast milk until a child is aged 1 year old or older.

The World Health Organization recommends breast-feeding even longer with complementary foods through age 2 and beyond.

But a March 2013 study found 40 percent of parents introduce solid foods too soon, before a baby turns 4 months old.

Given these rates, health officials often urge longer breast-feeding because it may protect against gastrointestinal tract infections, diabetes, respiratory infections, asthma and obesity, although one recent study did not find protections against childhood obesity. Moms have also been found to be less likely to develop breast and ovarian cancer if they breast-fed.

For the new study, Dr. Leda Chatzi from the University of Crete and her colleagues used data from a long-term study of 540 mothers and their kids.

When the babies were nine months old, researchers asked moms when they started breast-feeding and how long they breast-fed. They updated the information when the children were 18 months old. Psychologists also tested children’s cognitive abilities, language skills and motor development at 18 months.

About 89 percent of the babies were ever breast-fed. Of those, 13 percent were breast-fed for less than one month, 52 percent for between one and six months, and 35 percent for longer than six months.

Children who were breast-fed for any amount of time scored higher on the cognitive, receptive communication and fine motor portions of the test than children who weren’t breast-fed.

Scores on the cognitive, receptive and expressive communication and fine motor sections were highest among children who were breast-fed for more than six months, the researchers reported in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

For instance, on cognitive assessments with a normal score of 100, toddlers who were never breast-fed scored about a 97, on average. Kids who were breast-fed for more than six months scored a 104.

Chatzi and her colleagues expected to see more breast-feeding than they did.

“We were surprised by the fact that breast-feeding levels in Greece remain low, even though there is an ongoing effort by the Greek State to promote breast-feeding practices,” Chatzi told Reuters Health in an email.

“One of the reasons we see such a big drop off in the United States and elsewhere around four months is because women return to work,” Christakis said.

“The real challenge we have is with sustaining breast-feeding,” he said. “I believe very strongly that we need a public health approach to doing so because these are public health issues – improving child cognition and improving in this case as they showed a child’s physical development, benefits society as a whole and society has to support women achieving that goal.”

“We need to have baby-friendly work places that help women continue to either breast-feed or pump when they return to work,” Christakis said. “There’s that African proverb, ‘it takes a village to raise a child,'” he said. “It takes a village to breast-feed a child as well, and all sectors have to contribute.”

Source: Reuters

Early start to weight gain tied to later heart risks

Kids who start rapidly gaining weight early in childhood are more likely to have higher blood pressure and other signs of future heart trouble as preteens, a new study suggests.

“There’s a natural tendency early in life for children to thin out as they grow taller and gain stature faster than they gain weight,” Dr. Mark D. DeBoer said.

But eventually, all kids hit a point when they start gaining weight at a faster pace, and their body mass index (BMI) – a measure of weight in relation to height – begins to rise. That point is called the adiposity rebound.

The adiposity rebound typically happens around age four to six, DeBoer, who studies childhood obesity at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, told Reuters Health.

Some studies have suggested children who start to put on weight at a younger age are more likely to be obese later in life. The new report adds to those concerns.

“It helps I think give us a better understanding of what this might be impacting in addition to obesity,” Dr. Stephen Daniels said.

Daniels studies preventive cardiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, where he chairs the Pediatrics Department. Neither he nor DeBoer was involved in the new study.

Researchers led by Dr. Satomi Koyama of Dokkyo Medical University in Mibu, Tochigi, Japan, followed 271 children born in 1995 and 1996. Kids had their weight and height measured at least once every year through age 12 during infant health checks and then physical exams at school.

From looking at each child’s growth pattern, the researchers determined when children hit their lowest BMI, the age at adiposity rebound. After that, they got bigger every year.

Koyama’s team found the earlier both boys and girls reached that turning point, the heavier they were at age 12.

For instance, boys who started getting bigger around age three had an average BMI of 21 as preteens. That’s the equivalent of a five-foot-tall boy weighing 108 pounds.

Boys who didn’t start getting bigger until at least age seven had an average BMI of 17 – the equivalent of the same boy weighing 87 pounds.

Boys who had their adiposity rebound at a young age also had higher triglycerides and blood pressure at age 12. Although their numbers were still in the normal range, they could hint at signs of future heart problems, the researchers wrote Monday in Pediatrics.

For girls, the link between age at adiposity rebound and heart risks was smaller but still visible.

“Physicians should be tracking body mass index and should be checking for kids who are headed in the direction of being more obese,” Daniels said.

But, he told Reuters Health, parents and pediatricians won’t be able to tell exactly when children are at their adiposity rebound. And it’s not clear how to prevent it from happening early.

“There’s a strong possibility that these are children who inherited a genetic predisposition that made them more likely both to have early adiposity rebound and to have metabolic syndrome earlier in life,” DeBoer said.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors, including high blood pressure, that are linked to heart disease.

“The message is probably still more general, in terms of families working with pediatricians and family physicians to make sure that families have a healthy diet (and) that they have healthy opportunities for activity,” Daniels said.

Source: Reuters

Small Changes to Combo Meals can Help Cut Calorie Consumption

What would happen if a fast-food restaurant reduces the calories in a children’s meal by 104 calories, mainly by decreasing the portion size of French fries? Would children compensate by choosing a more calorie dense entrée or beverage? Researchers at Cornell University, Dr. Brian Wansink and Dr. Andrew Hanks, analyzed transaction data from 30 representative McDonald’s restaurants to answer that question.

Prior to 2012, the Happy Meal® was served with one of three entrée options (chicken nuggets, cheeseburger, hamburger), a side item (apples or small size French fry), and a beverage (fountain beverage, white milk, chocolate milk, apple juice). By April 2012, all restaurants in this chain served a smaller size “kid fry” and a packet of apples with each CMB. Wansink and Hanks found that this change in default side offerings resulted 98 of the 104-calorie decrease in the CMB.

With such a large decrease in calories, would children compensate by choosing a more calorie dense entrée or beverage? Wansink and Hanks found that 99% of children ordered the same entrée, and orders of chicken nuggets (the lowest calorie entrée) remained flat at nearly 62% of all orders. Yet, nearly 11% fewer children took caloric soda as a beverage and 22% more chose white or chocolate milk–a more satiating beverage. This increase was partially due to small changes in advertising for milk. Interestingly, the chocolate milk served in 2012 was of the fat-free variety compared to the 1% milk variety served previously. It also contained 40 fewer calories. Overall, the substitutions in beverage purchases resulted in 6 fewer calories served with the average CMB.

Small changes in the automatic—or default—foods offered or promoted in children’s meals can reduce calorie intake and improve the overall nutrition from selected foods as long as there is still an indulgence. Importantly, balancing a meal with smaller portions of favored foods might avoid reactance and overeating. Just as managers have done this in restaurants, parents can do this at home.

Source: Food psychology

Fetal stem cell grafts successfully help brittle-bone babies

In an international collaboration, researchers from Sweden, Singapore and Taiwan successfully treated two babies with a congenital bone disease that causes stunted growth and repeated fracturing by injecting them in utero with bone-forming stem cells.

Results of their longitudinal study have been published in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine.

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) not only stunts the growth of those who suffer from this disease, but the repeated fractures it causes are painful.

However, this condition can be recognized prenatally with an ultrasound, so researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published a paper in 2005 detailing how mesenchymal stem cells – connective tissue cells that form and improve bone tissue – were given to a female fetus in Sweden.

These stem cells were taken from the livers of donors, and the researchers note that though the donors and recipients were not genetically matched, there was no rejection.

In this recent study, the team explains how the girl experienced several fractures and had scoliosis by age 8. At this point, the researchers gave her a fresh stem cell graft from the same donor as before.

For the following 2 years, the child did not experience any new fractures and her growth rate improved. Today, the researchers say, she participates in dance lessons and gym class at school.

‘International effort needed’ for this rare disease
The team from Karolinska Institutet, along with colleagues in Singapore, detail how they gave another baby girl from Taiwan – who was shown prenatally to have OI – stem cell transplantation in utero.

The girl experienced a normal, fracture-free rate of growth until she was 1-year-old, at which point the team gave her a fresh stem cell treatment.

Her normal growth resumed, the team says, and now, at the age of 4, she is able to walk normally and has not experienced any new fractures.

“We believe that the stem cells have helped to relieve the disease since none of the children broke bones for a period following the grafts, and both increased their growth rate,” says study leader Dr. Cecilia Götherström, from Karolinska Institutet.

She adds:

“Today, the children are doing much better than if the transplantations had not been given. OI is a very rare disease and lacks effective treatment, and a combined international effort is needed to examine whether stem cell grafts can alleviate the disease.”
The team says they identified a male patient from Canada who was born with OI, which was caused by the exact same mutation that the girl from Sweden had.

Born with severe widespread bone damage, this boy was not given stem cell therapy like the girls were, and he experienced numerous fractures and kyphosis of the thoracic vertebrae – a condition that causes an extreme curvature of the spine, impairing breathing.

The untreated boy died within his first 5 months from pneumonia, the investigators say.

Although the researchers say their findings suggest the stem cell therapy treatment “appears safe and is of likely clinical benefit,” they add that “the limited experience to date means that it is not possible to be conclusive and that further studies are required.”

When asked what kind of research she and her team are planning for the future, Dr. Götherström told Medical News Today:

“We are presently transplanting stem cells to one patient once a year for 4 years to investigate the effects of repeated infusions.

Also, we wish to include more patients with severe OI to be transplanted in the future, which will require joint international efforts and financial resources.”

The study was funded by a grant from the Swedish Society for Medical Research.