Children – Stay On Track
September 26, 2009 by Dan
Filed under Encouragement
By Children Gazette
Sept. 24, 2009
For Children coping with a long-term illness that involves an extended hospital stay, keeping up with schoolwork can be difficult.
Fortunately, the dedicated staff at Miami Children’s Hospital has teamed up wiyj the hospital’s Family Advisory Council to provide tutoring services for children in need.
Here to Help
Short-term tutoring serves are available for patients who require at least a two-day hospital stay. Local teachers and college students volunteer their time to offer mind stimulating activities, educational support and private lessons or group sessions to help kids stay caught up with their assignments.
For children who have chronic conditions, an in-hospitals schooling program is available. In this program, patients leave their schools and enroll in the hospital’s education program, where teachers from Miami-Dade County schools provide the same lessons children would receive in a normal classroom setting.
To learn how you can volunterr as a tutor at Miami Children’s call (305) 662-8225.
Source: Miami Children Hospital
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Sticky Situation – Listening to Mom
September 25, 2009 by Dan
Filed under Encouragement
By Scholastic News
Sept. 25, 2009
Joey is walking home from school when he gets a text message from his friend Deirdre. She wants Joey to come to her house to see her new video-game system. Joey really wants to see Deirdre’s new game, but his parents told him to go straight home after school. What should Joey do?
Click on “Comments” to write a paragraph explaining what you think Joey should do.
Other Scholastic News readers will be posting their thoughts about this week’s ethical dilemma, too. So come back to the Sticky Situation blog to discuss their solutions!
Source: Scholastic News
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism
September 25, 2009 by Dan
Filed under Parent's Advice
By Lauren Gelman
Parents
Sept. 25, 2009
Concerns that vaccines may cause autism have been worrying parents since some research first introduced the theory in the late 1990s — even amid mounting evidence that continues to prove otherwise. In light of more new studies disputing the autism-vaccines link, here are some relieving answers to your most pressing questions.
Why do some people believe vaccines cause autism?
In the late 1990s, some researchers started raising concerns over the amount of thimerosal — a mercury-containing preservative — found in many children’s vaccines. Although thimerosal had been used as an anti-contamination agent for decades, until 1991 the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTaP) vaccination was the only thimerosal-containing shot recommended for infants and children. The hypothesis: As more thimerosal-containing vaccines like hepatitis B and Hib were added to the recommended schedule, researchers worried that babies were receiving too much of the chemical in too short a timeframe, which could potentially impact brain development.
In a totally separate (but coincidental) issue around this time, another group of researchers theorized that children who received the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine (which never did contain thimerosal) were more likely to develop autism than those who did not receive it.
But almost as quickly as these ideas were introduced, many larger, better-designed studies started disproving the link between vaccines and autism. Today, scientists are more confident than ever that vaccines play no role in the onset of this developmental disorder. Find out why here.
“If thimerosal in vaccines were causing autism, we’d expect that diagnoses of autism would decrease dramatically after the chemical was removed from vaccines,” says Eric Fombonne, MD, director of the psychiatry division at Montreal Children’s Hospital and a member of the National Institutes of Health advisory board for autism research programs.
But a large study recently published in Archives of General Psychiatry found that cases of autism continued to increase in California long after 2001, when thimerosal was removed from most childhood vaccines in the U.S. (it’s still found in some flu shots). “Not only did cases not decrease — but they continued to rise,” says Fombonne. “That tells us that something else must be responsible for rising rates of autism in this country.”
This study is the latest in a series of many others, in other countries and populations, which drew similar conclusions. “Thimerosal was removed from vaccines in Canada in 1996 and in Denmark in 1992,” says Dr. Fombonne. “Autism is still on the rise in those countries as well.”
And in 2004, both the World Health Organization and Institute of Medicine each concluded no link between autism rates and thimerosal exposure after examining the health records of hundreds of thousands of children.
To understand more about thimerosal safety, a brief chemistry/history lesson is in order. Thimerosal was removed from most vaccines by 2001 because researchers worried that children were being exposed to too-high levels from receiving multiple vaccinations in a short timeframe.
But this decision was based on what levels were considered safe for methyl mercury — the kind in fish, which is structurally very different from the ethyl mercury found in thimerosal. Although scientists suspected that thimerosal was much safer than methyl mercury, they decided to remove it anyway, just to be super-careful.
Now, new research published in the journal Pediatrics shows that babies excrete thimerosal too quickly for it to build up to dangerous amounts. In the study, researchers tested the blood mercury levels of Argentinean babies after they received routine childhood vaccinations (thimerosal is still used as a vaccine preservative there). They found that infants expel thimerosal about 10 times faster than fish mercury — so rapidly that it can’t accumulate in the body between vaccine doses.
“This study helps to debunk a crucial basis of the autism-vaccines theory, which held that babies were getting so many thimerosal-containing shots that the chemical would build up in the bloodstream and eventually cross over to the brain, where it could theoretically impact development,” says study author Michael Pichichero, MD, a professor of microbiology/immunology and pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “But thimerosal leaves babies’ bodies way too quickly for that to happen, which just adds more proof that this theory is extremely unlikely.”
Many people confuse the controversy over the vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella with that of thimerosal, but the two have always been totally separate issues. In fact, MMR vaccines have never even contained thimerosal.
The link between MMR and autism gained traction following the publication of a very small British study (it only included 12 kids) that found that children developed autism soon after they received the MMR vaccine. The theory: The measles portion of the shot causes inflammation and infection of the intestines, which can then spread dangerous proteins to the brain, causing damage that may lead to autism.
When this study was first published, it launched a frenzied debate that resulted in bigger, better-designed studies that have all failed to find any link between MMR and autism. Most recently, a study in Archives of Disease in Childhood examined three groups of kids who had received the MMR vaccine: those diagnosed with autism, those with special educational needs who did not have autism, and children developing normally. All three groups had the same measures of measles antibodies circulating in the bloodstream — a sign that the vaccine did not trigger any physiological changes unique to the autism group alone.
Researchers suspect that parents may mistakenly associate the MMR vaccine with autism because signs of autism first appear around 12 to 15 months, which is also when the vaccine is first administered.
Although the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, our expert advisors, and many other reputable organizations agree that vaccines do not cause autism, there are still small but vocal groups who believe they do. And amid that conflicting information, some parents might opt not get their children vaccinated “just to be safe,” because they worry about other possible reactions, or because of religious or other beliefs.
“But if you choose not to vaccinate your child, you are increasing his risk of contracting serious diseases that can lead to complications, hospitalization, and even death,” says Dr. Fombonne. For example, after the MMR vaccine was first linked to autism in England, many parents stopped vaccinating their children — and several children died during a measles outbreak in Ireland soon afterward.
For all the major childhood vaccinations (hepatitis B, rotavirus, DTaP, Hib, pneumococcal, polio, flu, MMR, chickenpox, hepatitis A, meningococcal), most experts agree that the many, many benefits from getting vaccinated far outweigh any possible side effects or risks.
If you have any questions about vaccines and autism or vaccine safety in general, be sure to address them with your pediatrician. A good doctor will listen to your concerns (not belittle them) and help you distinguish myth from fact so you can make the most informed decision for your child’s health.
Copyright © 2008 Parents.com.
Source: Parents
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Safe Kids:Prevent Trunk Entrapment
By Safe Kids/PIO
Sept. 24, 2009
Unlocked cars are open invitations for children to explore. To keep kids safer around vehicles, they must learn that cars are not toys and a trunk is never a good place to play.
Children can access trunks in several ways, even without having the vehicle’s keys. Most cars have a lever or button located near the driver’s seat that pops the trunk open, while other cars also have fold-down seats or a “pass through” that enables children to climb into the trunk from the back seat.
| Safety Tips To help prevent children from being trapped inside a car’s trunk, follow these safety tips:
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Q&A of the Week
Q: What is an emergency trunk release and how does it work?
A: Cars manufactured after 2001 must have an emergency trunk release – a glow-in-the-dark handle that will open the trunk from the inside in an emergency. Simply pull the handle and the trunk pops open. Teach your older kids how to use the emergency release once they are strong enough to use it to open the trunk but never allow your child to get into the trunk to test it.
Source: Safe Kids
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com