Commentary on a study that compared immediate vs delayed appendectomy for children with perforated appendicitis, published June 2011 in the Archives of Surgery.
Medscape General Surgery

A task force has updated the guidelines for the first time in nearly 25 years.
Medscape Medical News

A recent study, which found that children using cell phones do not have a higher risk for brain cancer, is flawed and the findings are biased, say some scientists.
Medscape Medical News

This guideline from the New York State Department of Health offers clinicians practical guidance on smoothing the transition from pediatric to adult care for young adults with HIV.
Medscape HIV/AIDS

An American Academy of Pediatrics Clinical Practice Guideline and technical report address diagnosis and management of an initial urinary tract infection in febrile infants and young children.
Medscape Medical News

A large proportion of teenagers regularly and frequently take some form of medication without receiving targeted information about the risks and benefits, according to a review of current research, to be presented at the annual congress of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) tomorrow (Tuesday)...

Recognition of bipolar disorder in adolescents is now clearly established. However, whether bipolarity exists in children remains controversial despite numerous studies that have been conducted on this topic in the last fifteen years...

Children who go through puberty at a faster rate are more likely to act out and to suffer from anxiety and depression, according to a study by researchers at Penn State, Duke University and the University of California, Davis...

According to an investigation conducted by scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 1995 and 2008, ischemic stroke hospitalization rates rose up to 37% in adolescents and young adults aged between 15 to 44 years...

Immunization, Including Flu Vaccine, Can Thwart Pneumonia in Children, Guidelines Suggest Immunizations, including a yearly flu vaccine, are the best way to protect children from life-threatening pneumonia, according to new guidelines from the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) -- Current treatment and...

Obese kids with asthma take more medications, find it harder to control their symptoms, have more flare ups, and make more ED visits than children with asthma who are not obese or overweight, researchers from the University of California, San Diego, reported in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology...

Are you aware of this dangerous "legal high"?
Medscape Pharmacists

In this discussion, physicians get heated up over whether it's OK to wear scrubs outside the hospital. What side are you on?
Medscape Family Medicine

Background: Decision Aids (DA) are well established in various fields of medicine. It can improve the quality of decision-making and reduce decisional conflict. In neonatal care, and due to scientific equipoise, neonatologists caring for extreme low birth weight (ELBW) infants are in need to elicit parents' preferences with regard to the use of indomethacin therapy in ELBW infants. We aimed to develop a DA that elicits parents' preferences with regard to indomethacin therapy in ELBW infants. Methods: We developed the DA for the use of the indomethacin therapy in ELBW infants according to the Ottawa Decision Support Framework. The development process involved parents, neonatologists, DA developers and decision making experts. A pilot testing with healthy volunteers was conducted through an evaluation questionnaire, a knowledge scale, and a validated decisional conflict scale. Results: The DA is a computer-based interactive tool. In the first part, the DA provides information about patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) as a disease, the different treatment options, and the benefits and downsides of using indomethacin therapy in preterm infants. In the second part, it coaches the parent in the decision making process through clarifying values and preferences. Volunteers rated 10 out of 13 items of the DA positively and showed significant improvement on both the knowledge scale (p = 0.008) and the decisional conflict scale (p = 0.008). Conclusion: We have developed a computer based DA to assess parental preferences with regard to indomethacin therapy in preterm infants. Future research will involve measurement of parental preferences to guide and augment the clinical decisions in current neonatal practice.

(MedPage Today) -- Bubonic plague is still around, but the bacterium appears to have become less deadly than the one responsible for the Black Death that killed a third of 14th-century Europeans. Also in this week's Lab Notes, how CRP may be like Spider-Man.

Circumcision rates have gone way down. Researchers found that the procedure is somewhat less common today than it was 10 years ago. The report was written in light of research that proves circumcision greatly reduces the risk of contracting HIV and numerous other STDs during penile-vaginal sex...

(MedPage Today) -- Injuries caused by air and paintball guns have declined in recent years but still account for more than 20,000 emergency department visits annually, according to a government study.

According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, immunization rates for the majority of the recommended preventable long-standing vaccines are either being sustained or have climbed above 90 % for children aged 19-35 months. Anne Schuchat, M.D...

Immunizations, including a yearly flu vaccine, are the best way to protect children from life-threatening pneumonia, according to new guidelines from the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)...

Parents who want to improve their child's motivation to complete homework this school year need to change their own attitude and behavior, according to a new study by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers...