MSNBC
October 5, 2009

"After much ballyhoo, vaccinations against the swine flu become available this week. But don't try to make that appointment just yet.

This week's initial shipments to states are so small that, with a few exceptions for children, most states are reserving them for health workers so they'll stay healthy enough to care for the flu-stricken and vaccinate others."

Jezebel
October 5, 2009

"Two studies show more American kids have autism spectrum disorders than previously thought, about one in a hundred. But critics caution that the study methodology may be flawed.

A previous estimate had put the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (including Asperger's, which affects the young artist pictured above) at one in 150, but a new telephone survey and a more in-depth CDC estimate indicate the disorders are more common. Some of the rise may be due to improved detection, but Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, says, "The concern here is that buried in these numbers is a true increase. We're going to have to think very hard about what we're going to do for the 1 in 100."

The Boston Globe
October 2, 2009

"When Kim Zielinski was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 at the age of 33, well-meaning friends inundated her with products bearing a little pink ribbon. Each product’s maker promised a cut of the sales price to a breast cancer charity, and these friends felt they were supporting the cause and, by association, Zielinski. A petite brunette who’s now 35, she was enormously grateful for the millions of dollars that these pink-ribbon products direct each year to charities that fund breast cancer research and education.

But it wasn’t long before she got a little sick of the pink. “I felt kind of hateful,” says the insurance company sales manager who lives in Charlestown. “I was like, ‘What makes you think I like pink now?’

Time
October 2, 2009

"If you want to know if Elvira Henares-Esguerra has the guts to lead a synchronized, global moment of breastfeeding taking place on Friday across 18 countries, bear in mind that this is a woman who didn't hesitate to nurse her child in front of an audience of 700 as she shared the stage with Philippines' President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2005. "You should have seen the [officers]," says Henares-Esguerra, recalling the moment her four-year-old son ran to the stage during the President's speech to inaugurate World Breastfeeding Week in the Philippines. "They all wanted to rush and catch him. But they were too slow."

Bringing more awareness to the broad benefits of breastfeeding has been a global movement for decades. Not only is breast milk considered by Unicef and many others to be the most nutritious food for babies, containing important antibodies and changing its composition as a baby grows, but studies have shown breastfeeding also has clear economic benefits for families over using milk formula products."

The New York Times
October 2, 2009

"Swine flu is now widespread across the entire country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday as federal health officials released Tamiflu for children from the national stockpile and began taking orders from the states for the new swine flu vaccine.

Also, as anecdotal reports and at least one poll showed that many Americans are nervous about the vaccine, officials emphasized that the new shots were nearly identical to seasonal ones, and said they were doing what they could to debunk myths about the vaccine.

Dr. Anne Schuchat, the disease control center’s director of immunization and respiratory disease, said there was “significant flu activity in virtually all states,” which, she added, was “quite unusual for this time of year.”"

Time
October 2, 2009

"What parent hasn't used candy to pacify a cranky child or head off a brewing tantrum? When reasoning, threats and time-outs fail, a sugary treat often does the trick. But while that chocolate-covered balm may be highly effective in the short term, say British scientists, it may be setting youngsters up for problem behavior later. According to a new study, kids who eat too many treats at a young age risk becoming violent in adulthood.

The research was led by Simon Moore, a senior lecturer in Violence and Society Research at Cardiff University in the U.K., who specializes in the study of vulnerable youngsters. Moore had been investigating the factors that lead children to commit serious crimes, when, during the course of his work, he discovered that "kids with the worst problems tend to be impulsive risk takers, and that these kids had terrible diets — breakfast was a Coke and a bag of chips," he says."

The New York Times
October 1, 2009

"TLC said Thursday that it had suspended filming of the Gosselin children on its hit reality series “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” after a lawyer for Jon Gosselin told the cable channel in a letter that that production crews were forbidden from entering the Gosselin family home.

The letter from Mr. Gosselin’s lawyer was reported Thursday on “The Early Show” on CBS. The report said the letter was dated on Tuesday, the same day that TLC announced it would sideline Mr. Gosselin and rename the reality show “Kate Plus Eight.” The original “Jon & Kate” show drew a wide audience last spring when the couple’s marriage effectively collapsed, culminating in an on-camera separation announcement in June."

The Christian Science Monitor
October 1, 2009

"The news from a major new education study is encouraging: Student achievement is going up, and the gaps in test scores between subgroups - such as between African-Americans and whites - are closing across all grade levels and subjects.

The study, released Thursday by the Center on Education Policy (CEP), examines student performance in all 50 states since 2002, when the No Child Left Behind Act took effect. It paid particular attention to the achievement gaps for minority and low-income students.

The report focused on "trend lines" - for Latino students in fourth-grade reading, for instance, or for low-income students in high school math - and examined the gaps between lines. The gaps narrowed in 74 percent of all trend lines the researchers examined, most often because the gains made by lower-performing groups outpaced those made by the top-performing group."

Los Angeles Times
October 1, 2009

"Researchers at Harvard University and Children's Hospital Boston will sequence the genomes of at least 85 people diagnosed with autism in a bid to tease out the genetic basis for some cases of the neuropsychiatric disorder.

Funded by $4.5 million from the federal stimulus package, the study's broad outlines were unveiled Wednesday.

The study's first phase will focus on 85 autistic patients from the Middle East. All have a recessive form of the disease, and all are linked by common ancestry. Studying this unique population, researchers have already narrowed the hunt for the common genetic mutation they share to an area that represents just 1% of their genome."

Slate
October 1, 2009

"The discovery of Butt Elmo was a surprise at the moment when surprises are least welcome: while changing a diaper. One of the earliest lessons of baby care is that bad things happen in the open air, so speed and routine are essential. Off with the old, wipe, slip on the new, fasten—but why were the Pampers backward?

The rule was simple, I had thought. Diapers came with a cartoon character printed on the front and blank space on the back. That way, when you pulled a flat new one out of the package—working half-asleep, in dimness, possibly without lenses—you immediately knew which side was which. But I had learned that lesson abroad, where the child was born, and now we were back in America with a pack of American Pampers. And the American diapers had Sesame Street characters printed on both sides."