Mental Health

Children who were perinatally infected with HIV showed poorer scores on tests measuring cognitive ability, attention and motor function than their uninfected peers, according to results from a 2-year study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

I was the intern on call for the pediatric oncology service at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital when my mother called with news that my father had experienced a stroke. My colleagues covered the service while my wife and I drove quickly to my hometown a few hours away. My dad had, indeed, experienced a large middle cerebral artery stroke, but curiously he was also highly febrile (40.5C). In the hours and days to follow, we would learn that he had a large mitral valve vegetation, that he had group B Streptococcus bacteremia and that he would not survive the event.

Children who are exposed to chemicals in the womb may face a range of neurodevelopmental and other health risks as they mature. For example, new research shows that prenatal exposure to common household products can negatively impact a child’s IQ.

Object-related aspiration deaths in U.S. children declined 75% over 50 years, aided in part by policy changes to address choking hazards, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics.

The average amount of time children spend watching television or using a computer or mobile device exceeds AAP recommendations, according survey data published in JAMA Pediatrics.

I fell in love with immunology as a first-year medical student at Harvard in a class taught by the Nobel Prize-winning immunologist Baruj Benacerraf. It was the mid-1980s, and the HIV epidemic was emerging in all its perplexing horror, the virus devastating the immune system through unknown means. I had friends who were stigmatized and dying from HIV, which made it personal. When I was a third-year medical student in 1987, Chip Schooley was my ID attending. He was involved in clinical trials to treat HIV as well as laboratory research to understand HIV immunology. His brilliance and passion for patient care and research were inspiring, and that is when I became hooked on ID! I decided then that I would dedicate my career to fighting the HIV epidemic through clinical care and research to unravel how HIV evades and depletes the immune system. I was fortunate that Chip recruited me to perform my ID fellowship at the University of Colorado and then to join the faculty. Although there were many challenges, the path has been fulfilling. I would encourage anyone who wishes to pursue an academic career in ID to focus on what they think is important and find good mentors!

Findings from two studies published recently in Pediatrics emphasized the negative impact that food insecurity has on child health and the role that policies and recommendations play in mitigating this impact.

The number of ED admissions related to confirmed adolescent sexual abuse more than doubled from 2010 through 2016 in the United States, according to research published in JAMA Pediatrics.

More than 15% of adults in the United States reported four or more adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, according to a new CDC report. These events are significantly associated with poorer health and contribute to at least five of the top 10 causes of death in the U.S., the authors reported.

Children with autism spectrum disorder are 41% more likely to develop obesity than typically developing children living in the same geographical regions, according to findings from a systematic review and meta-analysis published in Pediatric Obesity.