171 Ashley Ave.
Charleston, SC 29425
843-792-1414
800-424-MUSC
|
 |
July 2007
This edition:
Letter From Our Chair
 |
L. Lyndon Key, MD
Professor and Chairman
Department of Pediatrics |
Dear faculty, Children's Hospital staff and other friends,
As I was thinking about professionalism, I realized that what I am really talking about is courtesy and genuine caring for our patients. Approaching health care in a big academic hospital is a scary business. I suspect our interns feel the pressure about this time of year, but many of us have forgotten the intimidation of going into the unknown at our most vulnerable, with our sick children, not knowing what will occur or what diagnosis will be made. For a long time, I have said in conferences and meetings that for most patients and their families, coming to the MUSC Children's Hospital is the most important thing that day. For many, it may be the biggest thing that they have ever tried to do. Our patients, and their families, need us to treat them with the respect they deserve as they courageously face unknown terrors and unfamiliar circumstances. Imagine how much a kind word or a gentle touch would mean.
[read more]
Feature Story
 |
Sally Webb, MD
Emergency Department |
Top summer injuries - and how to prevent them
With a little education and knowledge, most folks can help their kids avoid the top safety hazards this summer, says Dr. Sally Webb, pediatrician in MUSC's Children's Hospital Emergency Department.
Water- and auto-related accidents continue to be leading causes of injury and death in children.
"Boys are more likely to have water safety problems, as are African American adolescents. Also, over half of drownings or near drownings in the adolescent age group are associated with alcohol or drug use," cautions Dr. Webb.
[read more]
Darby Children's Research Institute News
 |
Bernard L. Maria, MD, MBA
Executive Director
Darby Children's
Research Inst. |
|
 |
Inderjit Singh, PhD
Scientific Director
Darby Children's
Research Inst. |
|
Transporters could more effectively deliver drugs to needed site
Researchers in the Charles P. Darby Children's Research Institute (DCRI) Laboratory of Drug Disposition and Pharmacogenetics think they may be able to improve the effectiveness of drugs by altering how they move through the body.
Drs. Lindsay DeVane, John Markowitz, and Jennifer Donovan are looking at the properties of proteins in the body known as "drug transporters." Drug transporters help move a drug through different barriers until it ends up where it's most needed.
"Drug transporters are sort of drug 'gatekeepers,'" says Dr. DeVane. "They are in a new category of proteins intensely researched in the last 10 years."
[read more]
Evidence-Based Tip
 |
Laura Cousineau, MLS
MUSC Library
Dept. of Pediatrics EBM Faculty |
Autism & Vaccinations: What does the evidence say?
On June 11, a special U.S. court began hearing arguments from lawyers representing parents of children with autism. These parents are claiming that their children's autism was caused by vaccination and are seeking compensation under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The news media carried reports of this case, most without referring to the medical evidence showing the safety of MMR and other vaccinations. These stories and the many Internet blogs about autism are fueling parent's fear of vaccination.
One of the contributors to the controversy is a study published in Britain in 1998 by Wakefield et al that did not prove an association between the MMR vaccination and autism. However, the authors suggested that a genetic predisposition to autistic disorders, along with functional vitamin B12 deficiency or chronic enterocolitis that was discovered after vaccination, might be related to the development of developmental regression. Even this weak inference was later retracted by 10 of its 12 authors, and the first author was found to have a conflict of interest.
[read more]
Obese children could be at risk in standard car seats
With rates of obesity in children increasing in South Carolina and nationwide, a group of MUSC researchers set out to determine whether some children are too heavy for -- and therefore unsafe in -- age-appropriate child passenger safety seats.
"Parents usually select car seats based on their child's age and weight. Because of the childhood obesity epidemic, we wanted to look at how many kids have an increased injury risk in car accidents. Obese children do not have a weight that appropriately matches their age," explains Dr. Paul Hletko, associate clinical professor in the Department of Pediatrics and a private practitioner in Georgetown, SC, who participated in the study.
Motor vehicle-related injury is the number one cause of unintentional injury and death in children in South Carolina and the US. Research shows that improper use of child automobile restraints contributes to the risk of such deaths.
[read more]
A special thanks to the following individuals for their efforts in putting together Kids Connection each month.
Editor: Bernard L. Maria, MD, MBA
Publisher: Jennifer Cherock (Trio Solutions Inc.)
Feature Writer: Mary Sue Lawrence, Trio Solutions Inc
Contributing Writers:
Lyndon Key,
Bernard Maria,
John Sanders,
Inderjit Singh,
Laura Cousineau
|
|
Print Version