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Stress Dose Hydrocortisone Effects on Neurodevelopment for Extremely Low Birthweight Infants
 Stress Dose Hydrocortisone Effects on Neurodevelopment for Extremely Low Birthweight Infants 150 150 Abbie Miller
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First placebo-controlled study on stress dose hydrocortisone and neurodevelopment shows that higher doses of hydrocortisone are not associated with brain injury or neurodevelopmental impairments, but may not be effective in reducing risk for bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Hydrocortisone is one of the 15 most frequently prescribed…

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Treating Sickle Cell Disease in the United States
 Treating Sickle Cell Disease in the United States 1024 575 Abbie Miller
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While people with sickle cell disease have better outcomes in the United States and other Western countries, progress in treating the disease has been slow moving. Sickle cell disease is marked by painful sickle cell crises, in which sickle-shaped cells get distorted in the…

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Challenges of Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer
 Challenges of Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer 150 150 Anthony Audino, MD
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Among the unique challenges of AYA cancer, anxiety often increases after treatments are completed as the patient reintegrates back into “normal life.” The definition of the adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patient has evolved over time, but it is now formally defined as…

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Understanding Genetic Predisposition to Cancer
 Understanding Genetic Predisposition to Cancer 1024 683 Susan Colasce, MD and Elizabeth Varga
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When should families who have children with cancer be concerned about inherited cancer predisposition? One of the most common questions parents ask when their child is diagnosed with cancer is, “Does this put my other children at higher risk for developing cancer as well?”…

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Psychological Strategies for Pediatric Weight Management
 Psychological Strategies for Pediatric Weight Management 150 150 Tyanna Snider, Psy.D
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Motivational interviewing, having developmentally appropriate expectations, and behavioral strategies are among the tools needed to support pediatric weight management. Almost everyone has tried to stop a bad habit or change a negative behavior – it’s hard! Think about all the New Year’s resolutions you’ve…

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Making Progress: Advances in Life-Long Care for ACHD
 Making Progress: Advances in Life-Long Care for ACHD 150 150 Abbie Miller
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With adults comprising two-thirds of the CHD population, the AHA has released a scientific statement outlining the needs of this growing demographic. The need for a life-long approach to cardiac care for patients with congenital heart disease is a crusade that has been long…

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Enteral Therapy Thursday: Professionals Sharing the Patient Experience
 Enteral Therapy Thursday: Professionals Sharing the Patient Experience 150 150 Jennifer Smith, MS, RD, CSP, LD, LMT
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A multidisciplinary team puts themselves on enteral nutrition for a day to gain insights into the patient experience. Enteral nutrition for Crohn’s disease is a well-established practice using liquid formulas to treat Crohn’s disease.  Patients who choose this form of treatment either drink the…

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Using Informatics to Help Identify Patients for Research
 Using Informatics to Help Identify Patients for Research 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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Researchers use Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside (i2b2), a system that can rapidly convert a large amount of clinical data into searchable information, to dramatically reduce the time needed for patient cohort identification. Patient cohort identification, or the process of finding patients…

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Researchers Describe Molecular Switch Controlling “Chameleon” Bacteria
 Researchers Describe Molecular Switch Controlling “Chameleon” Bacteria 150 150 Abbie Miller
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Closing the gap on developing a vaccine for middle ear infections. Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and Griffith University’s Institute for Glycomics in Australia have discovered groundbreaking evidence that will help vaccine developers in their search for a vaccine against multiple infections of the…

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Racism in Our Hospitals and Communities: Everyone Matters
 Racism in Our Hospitals and Communities: Everyone Matters 150 150 Kelly Kelleher, MD, MPH
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Let’s touch all families by erasing racism from children’s hospitals. Here at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, we are engaged in an important new initiative: Everyone Matters. The idea is simple — we each have effects that ripple far beyond us through our everyday actions and attitudes toward…

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Toddler playing with toys
The Childhood Roots of Illness
 The Childhood Roots of Illness 1024 575 Dave Ghose
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A growing body of scientific evidence reveals the dramatic impact of early-life adversity on lifelong health. Kelly Kelleher, MD, compares childhood health to a boulder sitting on the peak of a mountain. A slight push could send the boulder in many directions. And once…

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Do Overly Restrictive Feeding Practices Contribute to Obesity?
 Do Overly Restrictive Feeding Practices Contribute to Obesity? 150 150 Anne Unger
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Researchers are discovering that the way caregivers feed their kids may be just as important as what they give them to eat. It is estimated that by 2020, 16 million kids under the age of 5 will be obese. Currently, most public health initiatives…

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Designing a Center for Collaborative Care
 Designing a Center for Collaborative Care 150 150 Marc Levitt, MD
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Reducing Practice Variation in Pediatrics
 Reducing Practice Variation in Pediatrics 150 150 Jonathan Slaughter, MD, MPH
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With variations in practice existing even between practitioners at the same institution, research can provide the keys to standardizing care and improving outcomes. Practice variation occurs when care providers diagnose or treat patients differently, even in the setting of similar disease presentation and risk…

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Data-Driven Health Care Delivery
 Data-Driven Health Care Delivery 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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Health care enterprise data warehouse (EDW) technology, analytics and cross-functional teams are leading to improved quality and efficiency of patient care. Big data has big potential, but despite the value of electronic health record (EHR) systems in digitizing care at hospitals, data-driven improvements are…

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What Do DALYs Mean for Pediatrics?
 What Do DALYs Mean for Pediatrics? 150 150 Dave Ghose
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An emerging, innovative metric could radically change childhood health policy. A new way of looking at illness is beginning to change how public health officials view life and death. The concept — called DALYs — offers a fuller view of disease that could have…

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Adolescents, Young Adults and Cancer: What Are the Issues?
 Adolescents, Young Adults and Cancer: What Are the Issues? 150 150 Abbie Miller
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Adolescents and young adults with cancer have unique needs that may explain their plateau in survival rates, despite improved survival rates in other age groups. At an age when achieving independence and experiencing life milestones are most important, adolescents and young adults facing a…

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Talking to Adolescent Patients About Marijuana
 Talking to Adolescent Patients About Marijuana 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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With legalization spreading across the United States, it’s hard to know what to say to teens curious about marijuana. Legal in 23 states and the District of Columbia. Renowned in pop culture. Affectionately called everything from “wacky tobaccy” to “hippie lettuce.” Marijuana isn’t going…

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Do You Believe in Integrated Health Care?
 Do You Believe in Integrated Health Care? 150 150 Miguel Saps, MD
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Patients are more than a segregated set of organ systems. Treating them as whole beings requires the practice of integrated medicine. I believe in an integrated approach to health care. The care of patients is often envisioned as fractionated, with different specialists taking care…

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A Watershed Moment for Cancer Virotherapy
 A Watershed Moment for Cancer Virotherapy 150 150 Timothy Cripe, MD, PhD
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A recent decision may define the future of virotherapy’s role in the clinical treatment of cancer. At 4:50 pm on Wednesday, April 29 2015, the votes were cast: 22 in favor, 1 against. With this overwhelming majority, an advisory committee sent a clear message to the…

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Crohn’s Disease Not Exempt From Racial Disparities
 Crohn’s Disease Not Exempt From Racial Disparities 150 150 Gina Bericchia
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Disparities exist among pediatric Crohn’s patients of different races for a number of health care metrics. A study published in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases found significant differences in hospital readmissions, medication usage and both medical and surgical complications of children with Crohn’s disease related to race.…

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Technology Expands Access to Translational Medicine
 Technology Expands Access to Translational Medicine 150 150 Abbie Miller
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When primary care physicians, specialists and all the lab work in their arsenal fail to provide a diagnosis for debilitating symptoms, patients earn the label of “undiagnosed.” These undiagnosed patients wait with unresolved symptoms for medical research to catch up with them. The Undiagnosed Diseases…

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Prodigy and Autism Share a Common Genetic Link, Study Finds
 Prodigy and Autism Share a Common Genetic Link, Study Finds 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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Researchers have discovered the first molecular genetic evidence for a shared etiology between prodigy and autism. A new study published in the journal of Human Heredity last month found that child prodigies share some of the same genetic variations with people who have autism. These findings could help…

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Color photo, family portrait of Reagan, a young girl with an orphan disease, her parents, and their dog
Orphan Disease Seeks Parents, Funding
 Orphan Disease Seeks Parents, Funding 1024 575 Kevin Mayhood
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Research on rare pediatric diseases often remains underfunded and obscure until motivated families give scientists — and their own children — a much-needed shot at potential therapies worthy of federal funding. Reagan McGee’s pediatrician couldn’t figure out why she had cold after cold. Her parents,…

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Colorful illustration showing how fibrosis, or a spiky lumpy mass of scar tissue, forms over healthy liver tissue when the liver attempts to repair and replace damaged cells
Fighting Fibrosis
 Fighting Fibrosis 1024 575 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Fibrosis is an unmet medical challenge with no satisfactory test and insufficient therapy. Now, one naturally occurring cellular component could simultaneously diagnose and heal patients. It’s much more than a million-dollar idea. The person who invents a simple blood or urine test that can…

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Preserving Biopreservation
 Preserving Biopreservation 1024 575 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Funding challenges, operational complexity and poor visibility threaten the field of human tissue biobanking. How sustainable are biorepositories? The Children’s Oncology Group (COG) boasts the collaboration of more than 9,000 pediatric cancer experts. They treat patients and research disease at more than 200 hospitals around the…

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InSight: A Window to the Heart
 InSight: A Window to the Heart 720 530 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Cardiac MRI for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is a potentially fatal congenital heart defect affecting blood flow. It requires multiple palliative surgeries, starting within the first week of life. Nationwide Children’s employs a hybrid surgical approach. Hybrid Stage I (not…

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Patients Without Borders
 Patients Without Borders 150 150 Dave Ghose
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Immigrant children represent the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. What can pediatricians do to help these vulnerable patients? James Duffee, MD, MPH, watched the immigrant population change dramatically during his 15 years as a community health pediatrician and child psychiatrist in Springfield,…

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To Rest or Not To Rest?
 To Rest or Not To Rest? 150 150 Kevin Mayhood
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Ebola in Children Creates Ethical Quandary
 Ebola in Children Creates Ethical Quandary 150 150 Kevin Mayhood
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Do you keep a parent in the room while the virus rages inside a child? The Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone has challenged emergency preparedness at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota like nothing before — even more than the early days of…

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A Shift in the Antibiotic Prophylaxis Debate?
 A Shift in the Antibiotic Prophylaxis Debate? 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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The RIVUR trial laid to rest certain questions surrounding antimicrobial prophylaxis in children with vesicoureteral reflux. But it also launched a new debate. The Randomized Intervention for Children with Vesicoureteral Reflux (RIVUR) trialwas supposed to provide clear direction for pediatric urologists. To date, it…

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Conflicting Directions for BPD Treatment
 Conflicting Directions for BPD Treatment 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Treatment of bronchopulmonary dysplasia differs dramatically among institutions. But why does variation matter? Recent studies report extreme variation among hospitals ordering three common medications for chronic lung disease, or bronchopulmonary dysplasia, calling into question the appropriateness of their use and the reason for their…

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Placental Transfusion Confusion
 Placental Transfusion Confusion 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Medical professional organizations cannot reach consensus regarding delayed cord clamping and umbilical cord “milking.” Nearly every relevant professional organization has its own recommendations for placental transfusion techniques known as delayed umbilical cord clamping and milking. But it’s unclear whether additional research will lead to…

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Beyond the Basics: Enrolling Children in Research
 Beyond the Basics: Enrolling Children in Research 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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The ethics of pediatric research include far more than the concepts of autonomy and assent. Consent and assent. Competence and autonomy. Physicians are familiar with the catchphrases of ethical research, but the deeper researchers dig, the more they find that the field’s current understanding…

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Study Finds Cow’s Milk is Added to Breast Milk and Sold to Parents Online
 Study Finds Cow’s Milk is Added to Breast Milk and Sold to Parents Online 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Deceptive Internet advertisements for human breast milk may put infants at risk. What do parents (and doctors) need to know about milk sharing? A study published yesterday on the safety of human breast milk bought over the Internet found that 10 percent of samples contained added…

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The Continence Predictor Index
 The Continence Predictor Index 150 150 Marc Levitt, MD
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Are We Properly Capturing the Maternal-Child Health Continuum?
 Are We Properly Capturing the Maternal-Child Health Continuum? 150 150 Irina Buhimschi
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An obstetrician doing research at a children’s hospital may seem out of place. But not according to one clinician-scientist, who believes that maternal health and child health are inextricably intertwined. Traditionally, doctors divide into those who practice adult medicine and those who practice pediatrics.…

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Advancing Pediatric Anesthesiology Through Research
 Advancing Pediatric Anesthesiology Through Research 150 150 Joseph Tobias, MD
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Pediatric anesthesiology research is a relatively new phenomenon. But one clinician-scientist believes it is the key to bringing the field into the “big leagues” of evidence-based medicine. Over the past 30 years, the field of pediatric anesthesiology has expanded with the recognition of the…

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Big Data: Ride the Bandwagon, Sell Hot Dogs at the Show, or Jump Out of the Way?
 Big Data: Ride the Bandwagon, Sell Hot Dogs at the Show, or Jump Out of the Way? 150 150 William Ray, PhD
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Big Data has big potential. But can it truly tell you what you want to know? Big Data. It’s all the rage, and if you listen to the hype, you might get the impression that it’s going to cure cancer, bring about world peace…

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Early Detection of Bipolar Spectrum Disorders in High-Risk Children
 Early Detection of Bipolar Spectrum Disorders in High-Risk Children 150 150 Abbie Miller
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A new study finds key symptoms are associated with the development of bipolar disorder among children of parents with the condition. New research published today in the American Journal of Psychiatry indicates a strong link between subthreshold manic episodes and likelihood of developing bipolar disorder…

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Illuminating Vasospasm in Children with Traumatic Brain Injury
 Illuminating Vasospasm in Children with Traumatic Brain Injury 150 150 Jan Arthur
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Understanding reasons for dangerous vessel constriction following brain injury may help define treatment or prevention options. Vasospasm, or severe narrowing of blood vessels, is a dangerous complication observed in children with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. In a paper recently published in Critical Care…

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Bacterial or Viral? New Technique to Clear Muddy Waters
 Bacterial or Viral? New Technique to Clear Muddy Waters 150 150 Jan Arthur
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Transcriptional profiling could help reduce inappropriate administration of antibiotics for lower respiratory infections in hospitalized patients. Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) are one of the most frequent reasons for hospitalization in adults and children worldwide. However, in most cases, establishing the cause of the…

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Speeding Up the Genome Analysis Process
 Speeding Up the Genome Analysis Process 150 150 Jan Arthur
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New software analyzes human genomes faster than other available technologies, empowering population-scale genomic analysis. Investigators at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have developed an analysis “pipeline” that slashes the time it takes to search a person’s genome for disease-causing variations from weeks to hours. An article…

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Cholesterol Screening: What’s the Right Approach?
 Cholesterol Screening: What’s the Right Approach? 150 150 Dave Ghose
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The jury is still out on whether universal testing of children is a good thing. To screen or not to screen? For pediatricians, that question is far from answered when it comes to universal cholesterol testing. Despite an endorsement of the practice from an…

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How to Build and Lead a Successful Medical Department
 How to Build and Lead a Successful Medical Department 150 150 V. Rama Jayanthi, MD
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Fostering an environment that supports evidence-based medicine, professional development and equal footing for clinician-researchers is a critical challenge for medical leadership. You can spot the collaborative leader because he’s rejected the heroic, solitary model of leadership. He doesn’t try to dominate his organization as…

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Be Your Own Career Advocate
 Be Your Own Career Advocate 150 150 Linda Cripe, MD
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A successful cardiologist and neuromuscular disorders researcher shares her hard-won tips for getting what you want out of your career in academic medicine. The road to securing your first faculty position is long and frequently marked with significant personal and financial sacrifice. It is…

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Probing for Links Between Psychotropic Drugs and Severe Liver Disease
 Probing for Links Between Psychotropic Drugs and Severe Liver Disease 150 150 Kevin Mayhood
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Drugs that help minors with severe mental health disorders may put overweight and obese patients at risk for severe liver disease. In a paper that appears to be the first to suggest the connection, the authors point out that youths who suffer from psychiatric…

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Digital Education for Patients and Families
 Digital Education for Patients and Families 150 150 Mike Patrick, MD
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When patients and parents want health information, they often turn to the Internet. Let’s make sure they’re finding the right sources. In the digital age, young patients and their parents have an encyclopedic world of health information at their fingertips. Answers are available on…

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The High Cost of Antibiotic Redundancy
 The High Cost of Antibiotic Redundancy 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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As many as 78 percent of non-federal U.S. hospitals frequently prescribe redundant antibiotics, according to a study appearing in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. Over a four-year period, these hospitals accounted for 32,507 cases of antibiotic regimens with overlapping antimicrobial spectra, resulting in more than $12…

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Disparities in Care: Beyond Insurance
 Disparities in Care: Beyond Insurance 150 150 Dave Ghose
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A Minnesota study suggests the ACA’s Medicaid expansion won’t be enough to reduce persistent health care disparities among minority groups. The health care gap isn’t just about insurance. A variety of barriers — including transportation, inconvenient office hours, cultural biases and confusing information — prevent…

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Colorectal Cancer Screening and the Pediatric Subspecialist
 Colorectal Cancer Screening and the Pediatric Subspecialist 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Screening a 15-year-old for pre-cancerous polyps may seem a bit unusual, as colon cancer is widely considered an adult disease. But for children with a family history of Lynch syndrome, a hereditary condition that increases the risk of colon and other cancers, life-threatening malignancies…

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Survivors of Congenital Heart Disease Report Poor Risk Knowledge and High-Fat Diets
 Survivors of Congenital Heart Disease Report Poor Risk Knowledge and High-Fat Diets 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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A new study suggests that CHD survivors may lack knowledge about their disease and would benefit from education about future risks and health behaviors. Over 1 million adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) currently reside in the United States. These individuals are at heightened…

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Informing the Discussion on rhGH for Idiopathic Short Stature
 Informing the Discussion on rhGH for Idiopathic Short Stature 150 150 Juan F. Sotos, MD
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Growth hormone treatment for children with idiopathic short stature has remained controversial. Based on my experience and that of others, I recommend treatment. The use of growth hormone for idiopathic short stature has remained controversial in the field of endocrinology, mainly because of previous…

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A New Take on Obesity Prevention: The Maternal-Child Relationship
 A New Take on Obesity Prevention: The Maternal-Child Relationship 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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In the past 30 years, obesity has quadrupled in adolescents and more than doubled in children, affecting even preschool-aged children. The majority of childhood obesity prevention strategies focus on energy balance, targeting behaviors and environmental changes to increase physical activity, decrease sedentary behavior or…

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Mystery Rising: Why is T1D Incidence Rising Globally?
 Mystery Rising: Why is T1D Incidence Rising Globally? 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Type 1 diabetes used to be rare. Late 19th-century estimates put its incidence at about 0.004 percent of the world’s population. But by the end of the 20th century, most nations reported a number 350 times that rate. With many countries continuing to experience…

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Stressed Out: Toxic Stress and Child Brain Development
 Stressed Out: Toxic Stress and Child Brain Development 150 150 Dave Ghose
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Stress, in small doses, can be good for children. When they argue with another child over a toy or attend a new school or daycare, the experience can teach them valuable coping skills. Even a more intense event, such as the death of a…

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Getting to the Point: Are Safety Needles Really Safe?
 Getting to the Point: Are Safety Needles Really Safe? 150 150 Kelli Whitlock Burton
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Sharp hypodermic needles are, as the name implies, sharp. Just ask the nearly 400,000 U.S. health care workers who are accidentally pricked each year. Most needle sticks aren’t serious, but the potential for exposure to bloodborne diseases has led many hospitals to discontinue the…

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Building the Modern-Day Vaccine
 Building the Modern-Day Vaccine 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Vaccine development used to be straightforward. Now, the challenges are many and the successes are few. What will it take to overcome the obstacles presented by both immunology and society? For 160 years, vaccine after vaccine succeeded at safely and effectively preventing its targeted…

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InSight: Working Up the Nerve
 InSight: Working Up the Nerve 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Using regional anesthesia to numb nerves reduces pain and speeds recovery in pediatric orthopedic surgery. Ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia has been used in adult patients for more than a decade but is now being used more regularly in pediatric patients, especially for orthopedic procedures. Femoral…

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Body, Heal Thyself: Harnessing Our Innate Immunity
 Body, Heal Thyself: Harnessing Our Innate Immunity 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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What the urinary tract’s front-line defenses can teach us about our innate ability to self-heal …. and thwart antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is on the rise, health care-acquired infections are becoming harder to treat and even simple infectious illnesses account for billions of dollars…

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Enteral Therapy on Trial
 Enteral Therapy on Trial 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Micah Cohen sat down at the dining room table in his family’s Columbus, Ohio, home and took the first sip of a new therapy he hoped would relieve the symptoms of his Crohn’s disease. The thick, sweet chocolate shake, rich with nutrients, felt heavy…

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Delays and Difficulties: Fecal Microbiota Transplants as Therapy
 Delays and Difficulties: Fecal Microbiota Transplants as Therapy 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Use of fecal microbiota transplantation to treat a wide range of disorders is in limbo while the FDA decides how to regulate the therapy. Between 1997 and 2007, Clostridium difficile bacterial infections among U.S. children more than doubled and its mortality rate among all U.S. cases…

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An Unwelcome Blast from the Past: Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding
 An Unwelcome Blast from the Past: Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding 150 150 Kelli Whitlock Burton
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Most pediatric specialists who began practicing medicine in the mid-1960s have probably never seen a case of vitamin K deficiency bleeding. Robert Sidonio, MD, had seen just one, and that was during his fellowship. And then, in February 2013, an infant came in to the…

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Thinking Outside the (Tool) Box: How Techniques From Alzheimer’s Research Illuminate the Pathophysiology of Preeclampsia
 Thinking Outside the (Tool) Box: How Techniques From Alzheimer’s Research Illuminate the Pathophysiology of Preeclampsia 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Irina Buhimschi, MD, has a habit of getting lost. In July 2007, that poor sense of direction proved to be a fortunate flaw. Having wandered into the wrong presentation at the Protein Society’s national conference, she hovered in the back to get her bearings.…

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Adult Congenital Heart Disease: Let’s Finish What We Started
 Adult Congenital Heart Disease: Let’s Finish What We Started 150 150 Curt Daniels, MD
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Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect, diagnosed in nearly 1 percent of all births in the United States. Traditionally, life expectancy in many infants with severe CHD was limited to months. However, advances in medical and surgical care have led to remarkable…

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The End of “Under 12″
 The End of “Under 12″ 150 150 Kelli Whitlock Burton
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UNOS board eliminates age classification for child lung transplant candidates and alters rules for pediatric heart transplants. Many in the pediatric field were surprised last year when a federal judge ordered that a 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl with cystic fibrosis be added to the national adult…

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Mock MRI Scanners to Reduce Anesthesia Use
 Mock MRI Scanners to Reduce Anesthesia Use 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Initial research supports the use of MRI practice sessions and mock scanners to avoid sedation and alleviate patient and parent anxiety before an MRI. Studies exist for populations such as patients with ADHD and diabetes, but to date no studies appear to investigate the use of a…

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Using Zinc for Growth Delays in Babies Born Preterm
 Using Zinc for Growth Delays in Babies Born Preterm 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Zinc supplementation in extremely low birth-weight (ELBW) infants with chronic lung disease improves weight gain and linear growth, according to a retrospective study performed at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The study is one of the first to look at the association between zinc supplementation and growth in…

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Do Your Patients Understand You? Strategies to Improve Patient-Provider Communication
 Do Your Patients Understand You? Strategies to Improve Patient-Provider Communication 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
By:

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, Title V, defines health literacy as the degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain, communicate, process and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions. However, over a third…

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The Dilemma of Undertriaged Trauma Cases
 The Dilemma of Undertriaged Trauma Cases 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Nationally, at least one in three children ages 5 and under with major trauma receive their definitive care at a level III trauma center or non-trauma center, according to arecent study in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. Among children ages 6 to 17, the…

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Out of Drugs: Planning for the Unthinkable
 Out of Drugs: Planning for the Unthinkable 150 150 Dave Ghose
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Pediatric cancer specialists have faced an enormous challenge in recent years. With critical chemotherapy drugs often in short supply, they’ve been forced to improvise alternative treatments or purchase medicine from questionable secondary sources. These practices raise safety and ethical concerns. Emerging evidence indicates that…

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ADHD Medications Do Not Curb Adult Height
 ADHD Medications Do Not Curb Adult Height 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of children being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has increased from 7.8 percent to 11 percent in the last decade. Specifically, approximately 2 million more U.S. children between the ages of 4…

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AAP Statement on School Start Times May Be Challenging to Implement
 AAP Statement on School Start Times May Be Challenging to Implement 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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The American Academy of Pediatrics published a statement in August supporting delayed start times for middle and high schools to help combat chronic sleep deprivation. Research indicates adolescents naturally experience a shift in their circadian rhythm that makes sleep difficult prior to 11 PM. But since…

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Sinus Infection Test Could Curb Antibiotic Overuse
 Sinus Infection Test Could Curb Antibiotic Overuse 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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Antibiotic misuse, overuse and resistance have significant consequences for patients and hospitals, but determining the primary cause of sinusitis remains a clinical challenge for physicians. Now, diagnostic technology co-invented by researchers at The Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital will better equip physicians…

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Reframing Hope in Pediatric End-of-Life Care
 Reframing Hope in Pediatric End-of-Life Care 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
By:

As physicians, you want to do more good than harm. And it is often believed that telling the truth about poor end-of-life expectations will lead to hopelessness in patients and families, causing more harm than good. But study after study on prognostication has shown…

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“Learning” Health Care Organizations
 “Learning” Health Care Organizations 150 150 Kelly Kelleher, MD, MPH
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In the push toward innovative health care, “learning” systems may offer solutions for evaluating new technologies without the challenges of randomized trials. “The only constant is change.” – Heraclitus The pace of innovation in health care is breathtaking and unlikely to slow in our…

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1 in 8 Children Exposed to Violence 5 or More Times in a Year
 1 in 8 Children Exposed to Violence 5 or More Times in a Year 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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The average pediatric subspecialist sees two to four child polyvictims each day. What can physicians do to help these children and their families? According to the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), 60 percent of children have directly experienced or indirectly witnessed…

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Liquid Danger
 Liquid Danger 150 150 Dave Ghose
By:

Henry Spiller, MS, DABT, never used to worry too much about nicotine poisoning. If a child ate a cigarette, he might throw up but wasn’t going to die. Then e-cigarettes took off about seven years ago and changed the equation. Now, Spiller and other…

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Witnessing a Parent’s Injury Can Leave Kids with PTSD, Study Suggests
 Witnessing a Parent’s Injury Can Leave Kids with PTSD, Study Suggests 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD
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When parents have an injury, their children are more likely to experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. What can pediatric health professionals do to help these families? In June, Pediatrics published the first-ever study examining the effect of civilian parents’ injuries on their uninjured…

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Antibiotics Alone are a Successful Treatment for Uncomplicated Acute Appendicitis in Children
 Antibiotics Alone are a Successful Treatment for Uncomplicated Acute Appendicitis in Children 150 150 Kelli Whitlock Burton
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Using antibiotics alone to treat children with uncomplicated acute appendicitis is a reasonable alternative to surgery that leads to less pain and fewer missed school days, according to a pilot study. The research, led by a team at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and published online…

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Mentoring Junior Faculty: Fostering Tomorrow’s Leaders
 Mentoring Junior Faculty: Fostering Tomorrow’s Leaders 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Clinicians from institutions nationwide offer insight on how to piece together effective mentorship strategies in pediatrics. Mentoring may be a familiar concept to most pediatric professionals, but whether it occurs effectively in practice is less obvious. Research on the topic suggests a widespread lack…

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Gene Therapy’s Road to Redemption
 Gene Therapy’s Road to Redemption 150 150 Kelli Whitlock Burton
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Fifteen years ago, gene therapy suffered a highly visible fatality, leaving the field in shambles. Now, one team’s efforts at gene therapy for muscular dystrophy suggest the field may finally be on track to deliver on its initial promise. During the first few weeks…

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Aiming for Zero
 Aiming for Zero 150 150 Kelli Whitlock Burton
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Efforts to eliminate preventable harm in pediatric care are making progress. But can we make it to zero? In October 2008, Richard Brilli, MD, stood in a silent conference room, waiting for his audience to digest the news he’d just delivered: hundreds of significant…

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Evolution of an Atlas
 Evolution of an Atlas 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Adult brain atlases have existed for years. Why is it so crucial — and so difficult — to build one for preemies? Even experts need maps. They give perspective, scale and orientation. They can show both current location and the final destination. And in…

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A Brave New World of Data
 A Brave New World of Data 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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According to William C. Ray, PhD, of the Battelle Center for Mathematical Medicine in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, novel techniques prototyped for understanding protein data could soon enable the visualization of large sets of demographic data, displaying contingency tables and group…

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Printed Motion: Holding Molecular Movement
 Printed Motion: Holding Molecular Movement 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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When student researcher Shareef Dabdoub discovered the appealing aesthetics of a transcriptional regulator from the Streptococcus family, he knew that cellular biology had handed him a work of art. And by using a computer program to predict the 3-D configuration of the molecule and its most…

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By the Book: Anticoagulation for CHD
 By the Book: Anticoagulation for CHD 150 150 Kelli Whitlock Burton
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The American Heart Association (AHA) has released its first evidence-based guidelines on anticoagulation in congenital heart disease (CHD). Anticoagulation is a key element in managing patients with congenital heart disease. Despite the therapy’s widespread use, there are no established guidelines on anticoagulants in this…

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Diagnosis Focus
 Diagnosis Focus 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Up to one in 10 blood clots in women occur in teen contraceptive users. When a teenage girl presents with chest pain, most doctors likely think first of anxiety, muscle injury or heartburn. In most cases, this is entirely appropriate. But if the girl…

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A Knowledge Gap
 A Knowledge Gap 150 150 Kelli Whitlock Burton
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Study suggests many pediatricians feel unqualified to treat genetic conditions.

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(Some Other) Mother’s Milk
 (Some Other) Mother’s Milk 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
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Women who can’t breastfeed often turn to the Internet for breast milk. But is it safe?

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