Standard Podcast [24:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (352)

This is part 2 of this 2-part Podcast for Peds series.

Hear these reports:

• Nursing Mothers’ Codeine Use May Be Risky for Infants: The CYP2D6 enzyme is involved in breaking down about 75 percent of all psychotropic medications, codeine being one of them. This is part of the early concept and specialty of ‘psychiatric pharmaco-genomics.’
• Noise Helps Memory Performance in ADHD Children: White noise appears to selectively improve the performance of kids with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Possible reason: stochastic resonance can be beneficial to dopamine deprived neural systems, with ADHD being one example. External auditory noise can restore low dopamine levels - and thus improve cognitive performance in these scholastically ‘low achiever’ children,
• In Utero Exposure to Smoking by Mother Can Increase Risk of ADHD: Maybe it’s time that this information be used to alert practitioners and families that at least some cases of ADHD may be preventable in utero!
• Computerized Training of Working Memory as a Therapeutic Strategy in ADHD: Working memory can be improved by computer-based training exercises in children with ADHD, and such training may be of clinical use for ameliorating the symptoms in ADHD.
• CDC Urges Meningitis Vaccine For All Adolescents: Tetravalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine is recommended for all 11- to 18-year-olds. This is the result of a vote by the CDC back in June (2007). Actual long-term risk-benefit ratio: unknown.
• Simple Approach to Reduce Part of World’s Pediatric Mortality Rates By Essentially 45%: Insecticide-Treated Bed Nets (‘mosquito nets’). You can donate any amount of money you wish - to provide nets for children in Africa – at www.nothingbutnets.net. According to the site: no portion of your donation will be diverted for ‘administrative’ costs.

OTHER REPORTS:

• Early Results Of Aricept Study Hint At Autism Improvement
• New Autism Research Funded
• Is Autism Prevalence Truly On The Rise?
• Majority Of Traumatic Brain Injuries Are Pediatric

Next week’s show: Installment #5 of Quest For The Best In Neurology: robots are extending the reach of Neurologists; nanomedicine has opened the way for nerve cell regeneration; and much more.

 

 #78 Ideology for Neurology - Installment #5 [37:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (871)

Publication Date: July 13th, 2007.

Installment #5 of Ideology for Neurology — working toward neurological perfection Focus: Stem cell therapy.

• Stem Cell Victory in California: CA Supreme Court just cleared the way for the state to use bond funding to pay for the Institute of Regenerative Medicine - a very large-scale stem cell research initiative.
• Stem Cells Treat Rat Paralysis: Paralyzed rats that received mouse embryonic stem cells (and differentiation factors) regrew motor neurons that resulted in roughly 50% recovery of strength in their limbs.
• Palliation Clinically Effective, Reduces Hospital Care Costs: In one patient group the savings were essentially $350 per day.
• Chronic Severe Pain Can Mean Death To Those Left Untreated: With adequate pain control, the % of patients with abnormal serum cortisol levels dropped to just 4% of the patients.
• Conduction Studies Don’t Imperil Cardiac Devices: Electrical output during nerve conduction studies probably don’t imperil implanted cardiac devices.
• Abusive head trauma easily missed in the ED: Shaken baby syndrome misdiagnosed in almost 30% of children.

And Last but not least: Honey-Maggot medicine–anyone?

Next week’s show: Nerve University — education, research and scholarship in neurology.

Weblinks:

• Harvesting one cell from the blastomere (image): www.sfgate.com
• Information on appellants to the CA stem cell legislation: www.curesforcalifornia.com
• Other than the official California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (the California stem cell agency) website, here’s the only other website devoted solely to news and information about CIRM: www.californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/
• This website lists the hospitals which accept cord blood donations for stem cells, and has contact information for Cryobanks International, which accepts cord blood donations from anywhere in the continental US: www.marrow.org.