You Need 'D' to Avoid a 'C'

Pregnant women are four times more likely to require a C-section if they have a deficiency in vitamin D.

A study at Boston University links vitamin D deficiency to muscle weakness and high blood pressure. Study author Dr. Michael Holick says both those problems may increase the risk of having a Caesarian section.

He suggests that pregnant women begin talking a vitamin D supplement. "There is no downside to doing this," he says.

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Autism in the UK is now 1 in 88

Autism Rate in the UK is now 1 in 88... and 1 in 54 boys.
Autism catastrophe

Published Date: 28 November 2008.

The most recent government study confirmed that the rate of autism in the UK now stands at one child in 88, with the rate for boys, who are most likely to be affected, around one in 58. Make no mistake, this is a public health catastrophe.

As a result of parental demand, Autism Treatment Trust opened a clinic in Edinburgh in 2006 and to date has arranged comprehensive testing and commenced treatments for more than 300 autistic children. The results of the tests have been striking and a remarkable pattern is emerging: gastrointestinal issues are common, particularly inflammation; food intolerances and allergies feature regularly, as do immune abnormalities and heavy metal toxicity. Many of these children are very ill. All are treatable.

The belief that autism is solely genetic in origin is unsustainable; environmental factors must be at play. You do not get genetic epidemics.

BILL WELSH
President, Autism Treatment Trust
Stafford Street
Edinburgh

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Extreme Makeover: Autism foreclosure?

Millions tuned in four years ago as the ABC hit show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" outfitted the Oak Park, Michigan home according to the family's needs for their teenage son, Lance, who is autistic and blind, and his parents are deaf. And as the family now fends off foreclosure, supporters are rallying to their side again.

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My Comment:

It looks like getting an Extreme Makeover is like winning the lottery. I remember driving by the house during the summer months and seeing Lance using the cool swingset that they built.

Watch the Channel 7 New's story on the pending foreclosure:


YouTube video of the Extreme Makeover Home Edition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86TN0bA2QnI

Channel 7 news story:
http://www.wxyz.com/content/news/seenon7priority/story/Extreme-Outpouring-of-Support-for-Vardons/rmDc6vh40UOtwBO1XcT6dg.cspx

Detroit News story:
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081211/METRO/812110392/1409/METRO

Google News stories:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Vardon+extreme+makeover

Fever Gets a Bad Rap

As freaked out as you might get, fever is not dangerous! Fever is a good thing because it helps fight the infection that is causing it. You have to get to a temperature above 108 degrees before you need to worry about brain damage.

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My Comment:

Great article by a new pediatrician blogger on the Detroit News website. Click on read more to see the entire article or just read the summary below:

"If fever is the only worry sign and the child is over 3 months old, I won't be sending him in. I don't really care what the measured temperature is. It could be 100.4 or 104. If the child is acting OK, I won't be worried. On the other hand, regardless of the degree of fever, if a child is lethargic or so irritable you can't calm him down, you should make that trip into the ER for sure."

Cleveland Clinic to Reveal Docs Financial Ties

Hospitals around the country are pushing for full disclosure of their doctors' financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry to help patients determine whether their doctors are making money from drug and device companies.

The Cleveland Clinic, one of the nation's leading medical centers, will announce this week its decision to fully disclose all of its doctors' and scientists' financial ties with pharmaceutical companies and medical device makers on its Web site, www.clevelandclinic.org

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My Comment:

This is a great step in the right direction. An individual's health is so important, that we should hold doctors to a higher standard that any other "industry". However, he drug industry has already infiltrated the nation's medical schools, so doctors are already behind the eight ball, in terms of being influenced by drugs.

Some highlights of the article:

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"I don't care at all. I really, truly don't," said Judith Ursitti of Dover, Mass., whose son, Jack, 8, has autism. "When I take Jack to a specialist, I research their level of knowledge and how they treat other patients. If I see that they have financial ties to other companies, it doesn't bother me, as long as they are knowledgeable about my son's condition."

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"I actually think that the push to disclose is rather a reproach to the ethical compass of my profession," said Dr. Nortin Hadler, a professor of medicine and microbiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "The fact that we think that disclosing somehow means that there is no further conflict of interest seems a rather flimsy argument."

Hadler said that the push for full disclosure among many medical centers accomplishes very little in terms of eliminating doctors' conflicts of interest, and instead highlights how widespread the problem of pharmaceutical and industry ties are among our nation's physicians and researchers.

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