Smiles for Kids Blog
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Playing doctor
Via the Philadelphia Enquirer:
Young patients act out medical procedures on dolls to help them come to terms with their own treatments.
About 35 staffers help patients conduct such play at Children's Hospital. The program is one of more than 400 similar efforts in the United States and Canada, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The idea is to lessen the terror that kids may feel before a scary procedure. Research shows that structured play can reduce stress.
Read the whole story here: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/health_science/20080728_Playing_doctor.html
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Mirfield parents tell others ‘Do not wait to seek treatment’
From the Huddersfield Daily Examiner (UK)
A MIRFIELD couple say specialist treatment has had a massive impact on improving their daughter after she was born with a rare condition.
And they have urged other parents to act quickly if they ever have a child with the same problem.
Kate Fisher and Alex Gleghorn had premature twins, Matilda and Harry, and at first there were fears they could have cystic fibrosis.
They waited anxiously for the results which, thankfully, proved negative.
But it is a mis-shapen head that has since caused little Matilda problems.
The 18-month-old has brachycephaly – known as flat head syndrome – and needs to wear a helmet 23 hours a day.
The couple claim that if health workers had spotted it sooner, Matilda would be on her way to a perfectly-shaped head.
When she was 15-months-old her parents spent £2,000 on a special helmet called a Starband in a last-ditch bid to correct the problem.
In just two months it has already made an improvement to little Matilda’s head shape.
Her parents now want to highlight the issue among other parents.
Monday, August 11, 2008
East Peoria teenager is an inspiration to teammates
Via NBC's Week.com
"I’ve coaches baseball for 14 years and I’ve never met a kid with more heart and courage and a greater work ethic than Karson," said Plummer. "He’s the epitome of toughness and he’s just a pleasure to work with."
Karson is one of his team's best players, even though he uses a prosthetic right leg and has an underdeveloped right hand, a condition known as Amniotic Band Syndrome (ABS). Karson catches, and throws, with his left hand. And he's one of the best pitchers on his team.
Karson was a newborn when his right leg was amputated just below the knee. But he's never complained. Once, his prosthetic leg fell off running to second base. He crawled in safely. He even taught himself how to juggle. He's so inspired those around him that they're trying to raise money to buy Karson prosthetic leg made specifically for athletes.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
More Teens Getting Breast Reduction Surgery
Part of the reason breast reduction surgery has become more popular among teens Gordon says that children have higher body weights than in previous years and girls are hitting puberty earlier than ever before
Read the story here:
Friday, July 11, 2008
Mom's smoking tied to oral birth defect
Via Reuters UK
Pregnant women who smoke or regularly breathe second-hand smoke may be raising the odds that their baby will be born with a cleft lip, a new study shows.
Cleft lip and cleft palate are among the most common types of birth defect. They arise when the tissues that form the roof of the mouth and the upper lip do not fuse properly, sometime between the fifth and ninth week of pregnancy.
Read the story here.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Link between maternal folate intake and incidence of cleft palate unlikely
Link between maternal folate intake and incidence of cleft palate unlikely
Previous studies have indicated a link between maternal intake of multivitamin supplements containing folate and decreased occurrence of cleft lip and/or cleft palate, and studies in animals have shown positive direct results. However, most studies in humans are more ambiguous. It is difficult to distinguish the effects of a specific nutrient, which are generally entwined with the effects of other nutrients, and many previous studies display design flaws (lack of randomized sampling, insufficient sample size to have statistical significance, inconsistent results*).A new study in The Cleft Palate–Cranofacial Journal reports that the link between periconceptional folate intake and cleft palate or cleft lip may be weaker than previously thought. In a population-based, statistically comprehensive study of almost 500 infants in the U.K., Little et al. used multiple measures of folate status and detailed assessments of confounding factors and found no correlation between prevalence of orofacial cleft and dietary or supplemental folic acid. A slight correlation was found between the presence of folic acid antagonists and increased orofacial cleft incidence. Smoking and alcohol intake, use of medications, maternal age, medical history, reproductive history, and family history of clefts did not show any confounding effects.It is possible that other factors correlating to dietary folic acid may play a role in orofacial cleft incidence, but this study found that higher folate intake did not prevent or reduce the occurrence of cleft palate or cleft lip.
Cleft lip and palate (CLP) are the most frequently occurring birth defects in the United States, affecting nearly 7,000 children yearly, or 1 in every 600 newborns.
To read the entire study, visit: http://www.allenpress.com/pdf/cpcj-45-04-420-427.pdf
The Cleft Palate–Craniofacial Journal is an international, interdisciplinary journal reporting on clinical and research activities in cleft lip/palate and other craniofacial anomalies, together with research in related laboratory sciences. It is the official publication of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA). For more information, visit http://www.acpa-cpf.org/.
*Studies in Norway and California have reported a weak correlation in mothers who reported taking no supplements before becoming pregnant and then started taking supplements (Norway) or who ate fortified cereal (California) during the first three months of pregnancy. However, other studies show no change in orofacial cleft prevalence before and after the introduction of cereal fortification (Canada, Texas) or with/without use of supplements (2 large multistate US studies).
[Folate and Clefts of the Lip and Palate—U.K.-Based Case–Control Study: Part I: Dietary and Supplemental Folate; The Cleft Palate–Cranofacial Journal], 2008, Vol. 45(4):1–8.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Preventable lawn mower injuries can be devastating
Via UPI.com
U.S. medical societies say a child needs to be at least 12 years old to operate a lawn mower safely and at least 16 to operate a ride-on mower.Click here to read the full article.
"Many children who sustain lawn mower injuries must undergo reconstructive surgery for months, sometimes years, after the initial accident," Dr. Richard D'Amico of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons said in a statement. "The look on parents' faces can be truly heart-wrenching. We are the physicians called to treat these devastating injuries, but (we) would do anything to prevent them in the first place."