In the last decade, there's been a boom in children running races that were once strictly for adults. Getting kids outside and active is obviously a good thing. But are the physical and mental demands of long-distance running safe for children? At what age is competition appropriate, and what do parents need to keep in mind? WUSTL pediatric sports medicine specialist Mark Halstead, who has been a distance runner for most of his adult life, offers advice.

References:

1. Aug. 30, 2009 — Girls Gotta Move in the Health.com

"There are a lot of mixed messages that are being sent to families," says pediatrician Rachel Moon, who has probed several widely read parenting and women's magazines and found that many photos in articles and advertisements clash with what the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parents do to keep infants safe while asleep.
WUSTL pediatrics professor Bradley Thach comments.

References:

1. Aug. 17, 2009 — What's Wrong With This Picture? Baby Is in Danger in the U.S. News & World Report online

WUSTL pediatrician Mark Manary, a doctor who has long treated malnourished people, is working with plant scientists trying to improve the nutritional content of food.

References:

1. July 29, 2009 — Scientists, doctors unite to fight malnutrition in the MSNBC.com

and 27 others.

Rates of infant mortality due to accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed have quadrupled since 1984, a new study shows. WUSTL pediatrics professor Bradley Thach says coroners and others are beginning to understand that many SIDS cases should be classified as suffocations.

References:

1. Jan. 29, 2009 — Infant Suffocation Deaths Are Rising in the CBS News.com

and 1 others.

Black churches that hold blood drives after informing parishioners about the importance of blood donations for children with sickle cell disease will get a big upsurge in first-time donors, new research shows. WUSTL School of Medicine sickle cell researcher Michael DeBaun comments.

References:

1. Dec. 24, 2008 — Black churches help enlist first-time blood donors in the Reuters Health Medical News

and 4 others.

The first gene linked to clubfoot has been identified by WUSTL researchers who analyzed the DNA of 35 extended family members of a male infant with clubfoot.

References:

1. Oct. 27, 2008 — Gene Plays Key Role in Clubfoot in the U.S. News & World Report

and 8 others.

Readily available phosphate-binding drugs could help prevent heart disease in people with chronic kidney disease, a new study in the the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology finds.
WUSTL researchers led by pediatric nephrology specialist Keith Hruska and pediatrics instructor Suresh Mathew comment.

References:

1. April 23, 2008 — Cutting Phosphate May Protect Kidney Patients From Heart Trouble in the The Washington Post

and 11 others.

As personal genetic testing takes off, some worry that marketing is getting ahead of science.
With each new marketing push comes new criticism. Some say DNA testing doesn't belong in virtual clinics: One key issue is regulation.
WUSTL pediatrics and genetics specialist Thomas Morgan worries that the business is getting ahead of the science. "I might scare myself or reassure myself falsely based on the very limited knowledge that we have."

References:

1. April 21, 2008 — May We Scan Your Genome? in the Newsweek

WUSTL pediatrics professor and lead author Bradley Thach comments on an injury data analysis of crib bumpers from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The study reported that firm pads can suffocate an infant by trapping his head in the space between the bumper and the mattress.

References:

1. Feb. 1, 2008 — Safety Alert: Crib Bumpers in the Parenting

Obese children show early signs of heart disease, according to WUSTL medical school researchers led by pediatric cardiologist Angela Sharkey.
The study was published in the Winter 2007 issue of the Journal of Cardiometabolic Syndrome.

References:

1. Oct. 18, 2007 — Obese Kids Shows Signs Of Heart Trouble in the WNBC.com (NY)

and 42 others.

WUSTL pediatrics professor Mark Manary has spent years providing an enriched peanut butter mixture to malnourished children in the sub-Saharan country of Malawi.
It's known as a ready-to-use therapeutic food, and it has been a quantum leap in feeding malnourished children in Africa.
Manary's team, including WUSTL freshman Zachary Linneman, published a study about feeding children the peanut butter through Malawi's health-care system in Maternal and Child Nutritionthis summer.

References:

1. Sept. 13, 2007 — Peanut butter project helps starving children in the Associated Press State & Local Wire

and 16 others.

Vaccines for people and for cattle are just two approaches under development to prevent or treat food poisoning by the strain E. coli O157:H7.
Right now, scientists can do little medically to fight the pathogen, which was responsible for two severe outbreaks last fall.
WUSTL pediatrics professor Phillip Tarr, a gastroenterology specialist, comments on the difficulty of treatment.

References:

1. May 1, 2007 — Scientists Look to Vaccines in the War on E. Coli in the The New York Times

and 1 others.

Another article on a new WUSTL study led by pediatrics professor Louis Muglia that says that even when accounting for differences in education, income and the mother's health, black women are still more than twice as likely to deliver prematurely. The reason, the study suggests, is genetics.
The study appears today in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

References:

1. Feb. 9, 2007 — Repeat preterm birth rates high in black women in the Reuters.com
2. Feb. 9, 2007 — Genetics linked to early births in the Kansas City Star

and 10 others.

WUSTL psychiatry and pediatrics professor John Constantino writes about the need for early diagnosis of developmental disorders in children.
Neurodevelopmental delays in any area can interfere with normal processes and behaviors in characteristic ways, but there remains considerable controversy over the question of when you can first recognize problems.
Autism is a primary disorder of social development whose earliest signs are usually apparent by 18 months, but may be recognizable even earlier.

References:

1. Jan. 8, 2007 — Autism or Something Else? in the ABCNews.com

Part of the alarm over cases of E. coli poisoning, such as the current spinach-linked outbreak, has been the difficulty in treating the most severe cases -- when toxins produced by the bacterium cause kidney failure. But researchers have been working for two decades to learn more about the illness and now think they will eventually have ways to limit the damage.
WUSTL pediatrics professor Phillip Tarr comments. Tarr treated many of the children who fell ill in 1993 in the Pacific Northwest from E. coli poisoning involving contaminated, under-cooked meat.

References:

1. Sept. 25, 2006 — Search for an E. coli defense in the Los Angeles Times

and 1 others.

Federal health officials said Thursday that more explicit labeling was just one proposal under consideration for allowing fresh spinach back on the market. Others include stepped-up regulation of how spinach is grown and processed.
WUSTL pediatrics gastroenterology professor Phillip Tarr describes the illness and what people should do if they think they have the illness.

References:

1. Sept. 22, 2006 — Officials consider spinach labeling plan in the Associated Press

and 32 others.

References:

1. — Officials Consider Spinach Label in the San Francisco Chronicle

Article looks at how parents can raise a smarter child.
It was once thought that intelligence was completely determined by genetics, but it turns out that isn't true. The environment a child is raised in and whom a child is raised by play huge roles in determining how smart and socially adept he or she will be.
WUSTL pediatrics and genetics professor Jonathan Gitlin comments.

References:

1. July 26, 2006 — How To Raise A Smarter Child in the Forbes.com

Static electric shock won't ruin a cochlear implant, but it will require an inconvenient trip to an audiologist. Static electricity is so much of a worry and hassle for the deaf that WUSTL electrical engineer Robert Morley has a grant to study one of its main sources: plastic playground slides. Some new "all inclusive" playgrounds, have deliberately included metal slides, which don't produce static electricity. But many others don't -- including some that are supposed to be accessible to disabled children. Morley, who helped pioneer digital hearing aids, got a small federal grant to study the issue.

References:

1. Dec. 12, 2005 — Static poses risk to deaf children in the Boston Globe
2. Dec. 9, 2005 — Static from plastic slides can drop deaf children back into silence in the Fort Wayne News Sentinel (IN)

and 5 others.

Article on two studies surveying pediatricians and their effectiveness in treating overweight children. Many doctors find obesity difficult to treat because it is a complicated problem. The doctor's own weight could affect his comfort level in counseling an overweight child. WUSTL pediatric endocrinologist Neil White comments.

References:

1. Aug. 15, 2005 — Pediatricians' Weight Could Be Obstacle in the Associated Press

and 102 others.