Debora Porter

Adam@Home by Rob Harrell ( GoComics.com )   source https://www.thepediablog.com/2023/04/30/sunday-funnies-555/

Alive from Christopher Dormoy on Vimeo : When my daughter is painting or drawing, I always encourage her to understand that’s not the result which is important, but the way she have use and explore mediums. There are so many techniques and ways to use mediums and tools to bring an artwork to life. In this example, paint is a fabulous material to play with and experiment with.     source https://www.thepediablog.com/2023/04/29/cool-video-of-the-week-556/

To determine which risk-prediction model best predicts clinical deterioration in children, at different stages of hospital admission, in low-middle-income countries (LMICs). source https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(23)00290-1/fulltext?rss=yes

from University of Medicine and Health Sciences https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpWVz9RDLog via UMHS YouTube Channel

from University of Medicine and Health Sciences https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpWVz9RDLog via UMHS YouTube Channel

*This post originally appeared on The PediaBlog on April  28, 2016.   Early Warning     We begin screening for high cholesterol at the 4-year-old checkup by asking parents (usually with the help of a questionnaire) whether or not they or their close relatives have been diagnosed with high cholesterol, are taking medications to treat high cholesterol, have a history of early heart disease (under the age of 55), or don’t know their family history. If any of these questions are answered in the affirmative, pediatricians might be compelled to check a child’s complete lipid profile with a blood test. Many pediatricians follow AAP guidelines and screen children for high cholesterol between 9-11 years old and again at 18 years old. One questions parents often ask is: “Why do you screen for cholesterol so early in life?” Prior research has shown that atherosclerosis (“hardening of the arteries”), which is caused by the deposition of cholesterol and inflam...

The term burnout describes a condition of work-related stress that leads individuals to exhaust their mental and physical resources1. Burnout is a manifestation of negative psychological symptoms, including apathy, nervousness, restlessness, and demoralization, which may also be associated with physical problems, including headaches, sleep disturbances, and gastrointestinal disorders2. This condition can affect any worker performing any task, in any work environment. However, the most severe consequences of a stressful working condition are generally observed in the helping professions3,4,5, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and staff members of private and public health organizations who are dedicated to others4. source https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(23)00289-5/fulltext?rss=yes

Most physicians in the United States have institutional compensation benchmarks based on those provided by various organizations such as the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), and Association of Administrators in Academic Pediatrics (AAAP), while other organizations collect data on compensation, including base and incentives and work relative value units (wRVUs). Benchmarks on work expectations that clearly define work effort, whether clinical time expectations, academic, or administrative, are less common. source https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(23)00288-3/fulltext?rss=yes

Breastfeeding Moms Need Support   By Brian W. Donnelly, M.D., F.A.B.M. AHN Pediatrics Northland     In “Breast or Bottle – The Illusion of Choice,” Dr. Amy J. Kennedy chronicles the difficulties she faced when breastfeeding her baby: The question was always posed to me in a hurried manner, an item on a long checklist that the obstetrician, labor and delivery nurse, and pediatrician all needed to get through: “Will you breast or bottle feed?” As a first-time mother, I was anxious about the uncertainties that lay ahead and uncomfortable with the never-ending strings of questions about my upcoming delivery. As a physician, I was relieved when we got to the breast-feeding question. It was a simple answer, a yes–no question. I confidently answered “breast-feed!” each time I was asked, assured by the science I had learned in medical school and by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations to exclusively breast-feed for at least 6 months, followed by con...

  The American Academy of Pediatrics explains  to parents why playing with young children is essential for their health and development: Play helps build important social-emotional, cognitive, language and self-regulation skills. When you play with your child, you also help create the safe, stable and nurturing relationships they need to thrive.   Constructive playtime promotes flexible thinking, creativity, and longer attention spans. And play helps build a big heart :​​ More than ever, we need to raise little humans who are empathic and caring. The world has a lot of complex issues going on, and will need problem-solvers who can hear each other out and collaborate.   Clinical psychologist Dr. Laura Markham says play serves as a “release valve” for childhood emotions: All day, every day, children have to manage an avalanche of complicated feelings [fear, anger, jealousy, humiliation, panic, disappointment]. The normal challenges of every day life for...

To characterize the relationships between social determinants of health (SDOH) and outcomes for children born extremely preterm. source https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(23)00285-8/fulltext?rss=yes

Dr. Carlos A. Villanueva Soto is a UMHS Class of 2023 graduate and starts an internal medicine residency at the University of Puerto Rico in Carolina, PR this summer. The UMHS Endeavour spoke to Dr. Villanueva Soto about why he wanted to become a doctor, why he chose UMHS over other Caribbean medicals schools, his deep passion for helping people in his native Puerto Rico and the doctor shortage on the island, and much more. Read more: https://www.umhs-sk.org/blog/dr.-carlos-a.-villanueva-soto-on-internal-medicine-residency-in-pr from University of Medicine and Health Sciences https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmyIvJvlOLg via UMHS YouTube Channel

Dr. Carlos A. Villanueva Soto is a UMHS Class of 2023 graduate and starts an internal medicine residency at the University of Puerto Rico in Carolina, PR this summer. The UMHS Endeavour spoke to Dr. Villanueva Soto about why he wanted to become a doctor, why he chose UMHS over other Caribbean medicals schools, his deep passion for helping people in his native Puerto Rico and the doctor shortage on the island, and much more. Read more: https://www.umhs-sk.org/blog/dr.-carlos-a.-villanueva-soto-on-internal-medicine-residency-in-pr from University of Medicine and Health Sciences https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmyIvJvlOLg via UMHS YouTube Channel

  Just when you thought the deadliest drug threat in American history couldn’t get any deadlier, Rachel Treisman has news for you: Federal authorities are warning Americans about an emerging public safety threat: fentanyl mixed with xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer that’s been linked to a growing number of overdose deaths across the country. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration issued an alert [in March] of a “sharp increase in the trafficking of fentanyl mixed with xylazine,” which is also known as “tranq” or “tranq dope.”   Shishira Sreenivas tells us more about the drug — a central nervous system depressant commonly used by veterinarians to quickly sedate pets and farm animals for as long as 4 hours — and how it has made its way into the illicit drug supply: Xylazine, commonly known as “tranq,” is a non-opioid sedative analgesic medication that’s largely mixed into (adulterated) and used as an additive with other opioid substances like heroin, fentanyl, a...

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is associated with significant morbidities and high mortality in preterm infants, yet mechanisms contributing to the pathogenesis of PH, the impact of early pulmonary vascular disease (PVD) on the risk for BPD, the role for PH-targeted drug therapies, and long-term pulmonary vascular sequelae remain poorly understood. PVD is not a homogeneous disease, rather, PVD in the setting of prematurity includes various phenotypes as based on underlying pathophysiology, the severity of associated PH, the timing of disease onset, its contribution to hemodynamic and respiratory status, late outcomes, and other features. source https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(23)00286-X/fulltext?rss=yes

For the latest installment of our 2023 Residency Match series, we spoke to Dr. Kirthana (“Kerthy”) Sugunathevan about her medical education at UMHS and her upcoming general surgery residency Match at Detroit Medical Center Sinai Grace in Michigan. The UMHS Endeavour spoke to Dr. Kerthy about growing up in a small town in Canada as the daughter of immigrants, how she didn’t initially plan on becoming a doctor, why she chose UMHS over other medical schools as a Canadian studying medicine abroad, why she decided to apply for a general surgery Match, and more. Read more: https://www.umhs-sk.org/blog/dr.-kerthy-sugunathevan-on-general-surgery-match-in-mi from University of Medicine and Health Sciences https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7StmEu0kP7M via UMHS YouTube Channel

For the latest installment of our 2023 Residency Match series, we spoke to Dr. Kirthana (“Kerthy”) Sugunathevan about her medical education at UMHS and her upcoming general surgery residency Match at Detroit Medical Center Sinai Grace in Michigan. The UMHS Endeavour spoke to Dr. Kerthy about growing up in a small town in Canada as the daughter of immigrants, how she didn’t initially plan on becoming a doctor, why she chose UMHS over other medical schools as a Canadian studying medicine abroad, why she decided to apply for a general surgery Match, and more. Read more: https://www.umhs-sk.org/blog/dr.-kerthy-sugunathevan-on-general-surgery-match-in-mi from University of Medicine and Health Sciences https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7StmEu0kP7M via UMHS YouTube Channel

Infantile Epileptic Spasms Syndrome (IESS) is a rare, but very serious epilepsy. In IESS, sometimes termed “infantile spasms”[1], seizures can be subtle and mistaken for startles, reflux, or other benign movements, with delayed diagnosis common.[2] At the same time, delay to treatment reduces the chance of successfully controlling infantile spasms, and increases the risk of permanent neurodevelopmental impairment. This makes infantile spasms a “never miss” diagnosis for pediatricians. source https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(23)00284-6/fulltext?rss=yes

  More than 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year in the United States, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), with nearly 1 in 5 requiring emergency medical attention. As one might expect, children are the most common victims, accounting for at least half of all dog bites, and they are more likely to suffer severe injuries — especially to the head, face, and neck — as a result. What might be surprising is that most bites affecting young children occur while interacting with familiar dogs during everyday activities. In a nation that keeps about 85 million dogs as pets (45% of households have more than one), the AVMA reminded everyone earlier this month during National Dog Bite Prevention Week that “dog bites pose a serious health risk to our communities and society.” Any dog can bite: big or small, male or female, young or old. Even the cuddliest, fuzziest, sweetest pet can bite if provoked. Remember, it is not a dog’s breed that determines...

Stone Soup by Jan Eliot ( GoComics.com )           Read The PediaBlog’s  weeklong celebration of Earth Week 2023 beginning here .   source https://www.thepediablog.com/2023/04/23/sunday-funnies-554/

Science Moms / By The Time from Spencer Creigh on Vimeo .   Happy Earth Day!   source https://www.thepediablog.com/2023/04/22/cool-video-of-the-week-555/

To determine the relationship between lung ultrasound (LUS), chest x-ray (CXR), radiographic and clinical evaluation in the assessment of lung volume in preterm infants source https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(23)00279-2/fulltext?rss=yes

Despite advances in the care of infants born extremely preterm the risks of mortality and significant morbidity remain high and difficult to predict with certainty.1,2 Obstetricians and neonatologists have long partnered to counsel expectant parents facing extremely preterm birth, unified by the foundational principle that in some cases, outcomes are so uncertain and potentially so bad that parents should have the ultimate say in whether resuscitative efforts are initiated in the delivery room.3 For decades, we have obsessed over how we ought to define the borders of the mythical “grey zone” of gestational viability, in a seemingly Quixotic effort to define sharp gestational edges to the zone of parental discretion. source https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(23)00282-2/fulltext?rss=yes

To determine the long-term risk of new adverse psychosocial outcomes among adolescents diagnosed with a concussion compared with those not diagnosed. source https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(23)00278-0/fulltext?rss=yes

Currently, mal de débarquement syndrome (MdDS) has been reported only among adults. This case series describes three pediatric MdDS patients. MdDS presentation in children is similar to that of adults, although frequency of comorbid conditions is greater. Diagnostic delays are common and likely due to under recognition of MdDS among children. source https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(23)00277-9/fulltext?rss=yes

*This post commemorating Earth Day originally appeared on The PediaBlog  on April 22, 2021.   Happy Earth Day 2021!     Happy Earth Day! 52 years after its first observance, Peter Dykstra takes us down memory lane: An American invention largely credited to U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson and student activist Denis Hayes, Earth Day’s 1970 debut drew millions of people to rallies and events in big cities and small towns; grade schools, and college campuses. After its grand 1970 debut, Earth Day became a decidedly more mundane event until 1990. Several years of telegenic eco-disasters—the horrific chemical release in Bhopal, India; the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown; the Exxon Valdez oil spill; and more – re-ignited public passions. Hopefulness? By this time, I had hoped over 52 Earth Days that we had accomplished a little bit more.   In 52 years Earth Day went from highlighting “righteous civil disobedience and social justice activism,” says Emily Atkin, ...

The very first Earth Day was a really big deal when I was a kid back in 1970, and it’s still a big deal for kids today. That’s because children’s health is, even more than their parents’, threatened by environmental degradation and destruction. Kids today have a deep understanding that the climate crisis is posing real dangers to their present and future health and prosperity. Fortunately, a swelling number of their parents and pediatricians — adults who actually have a voice and some capabilities to reverse the growing threats covered on The PediaBlog this week (from plastic and petrochemical pollution , for example, and from air pollution ) — also comprehend this basic climate reality. With Earth Day 2023 just two days away, it’s important to recognize how difficult it is for children to grow up in places that are toxic, on a planet where the climate system is rapidly deteriorating. It’s been tough for parents , too. So it is encouraging to see children and teenagers, who face de...

In this interview, Dr. Vandeveer discusses why he chose UMHS for his Medical school and Interventional Radiology as a medical specialty. from University of Medicine and Health Sciences https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8npIHaVY0_4 via UMHS YouTube Channel

In this interview, Dr. Vandeveer discusses why he chose UMHS for his Medical school and Interventional Radiology as a medical specialty. from University of Medicine and Health Sciences https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8npIHaVY0_4 via UMHS YouTube Channel

To examine the associations between race and ethnicity and length of stay (LOS) for US children with acute osteomyelitis. source https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(23)00251-2/fulltext?rss=yes

Looking ahead to Earth Day 2023 this Saturday, April 22, Earth Day Network organizers take a look back in time to see what inspired  one billion Earthlings in more than 190 countries to celebrate the very first Earth Day in 1970: In the decades leading up to the first Earth Day, Americans were consuming vast amounts of leaded gas through massive and inefficient automobiles. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of the consequences from either the law or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. Until this point, mainstream America remained largely oblivious to environmental concerns and how a polluted environment threatens human health.   Then, in 1962, everything changed. The publication of “Silent Spring,” written by Pittsburgh-area native Rachel Carson, quickly “raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and the inextricable links between pollution and public health.” By 1970, the f...

If plastic pollution continues to rise, it is estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic in Earth’s oceans by weight than fish. (Google Images)   During Earth Week 2023 , Earth Day Network organizers focus their attention on plastic pollution : Plastic pollution is one of the most visible sources of pollution. We see plastics everywhere in our daily lives and those same plastics, more often than not, end up harming our Earth’s waterways, natural landscapes and ecosystem health. The use of plastics is also increasing at a rapid rate.   It’s hard to believe that three-quarters of all the plastic that exists on Earth today was made after 1990 — the year many of us were first learning about the dangers of climate change. Let that sink in for a moment: 75% of all the plastic ever made is less than 33 years old. And the production of plastic, marketed to a global audience, is growing quickly. The life of plastic begins at the wellhead, where fracking fo...

To investigate long-term outcomes of infants who survive despite life-and-death discussions with families and a decision to withdraw or withhold life-sustaining interventions (WWLST) in one neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). source https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(23)00249-4/fulltext?rss=yes

  Happy Earth Week! The week of environmental education and action will culminate this Saturday, April 22 — Earth Day 2023 . This year’s theme is Invest In Our Planet : The Earth Day 2023 theme is focused on engaging the more than 1 billion people, governments, institutions, and businesses who participate in Earth Day to recognize our collective responsibility and to help accelerate the transition to an equitable, prosperous green economy for all. We are focused on reframing the conversation, accelerating action, and bringing everyone together to understand that  this is within our reach if we work together.   Of all the environmental health challenges covered on The PediaBlog in recent years, it is rising temperatures, melting glaciers, rising seas, and extreme and dangerous weather from climate change that seems to garner the most attention and cause the most anxiety among parents and children, says pediatrician Rebecca Philipsborn, M.D.: Climate chan...