Bu the vulnerable: antipsychotics atypical among children and the elderly

 Pharmaceutical companies have recently paid out the largest legal settlements in U.S. history - including the largest criminal fines ever imposed on corporations - for illegally marketing antipsychotic drugs. The payouts totaled more than $5 billion. But the worst costs of the drugs are being borne by the most vulnerable patients: children and teens in psychiatric hospitals, foster care and juvenile prisons, as well as elderly people in nursing homes. They are medicated for conditions for which the drugs haven't been proven safe or effective - in some cases, with death known as a known possible outcome.

The benefit for drug companies is cold profit. Antipsychotics bring in some $14 billion a year. So-called "atypical" or "second-generation" antipsychotics like Geodon, Zyprexa, Seroquel, Abilify and Risperdal rake in more money than any other class of medication on the market and, dollar for dollar, they are the biggest selling drugs in America. Although these medications are primarily approved to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, which combined affect 3% of the population, in 2010 there were 56 million prescriptions filled for atypical antipsychotics.

In a presentation this week at an American Psychiatric Association meeting, Dr. John Goethe, director of the Burlingame Center for Psychiatric Research in Connecticut, reported that over the last 10 years, more than half of all children aged 5 to 12 in psychiatric hospitals were prescribed antipsychotics - and 95% of these prescriptions were for second-generation antipsychotics. Many of these children didn't have a condition for which the drugs have been shown to be helpful: 44% of youngsters with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and 45% of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were treated with them.

Pharmacologically, the ADHD prescriptions make no sense: FDA-approved drugs for the condition raise levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, while antipsychotics do they opposite, lowering them.

Geothe also noted another study that showed that the number of office visits by children and teens that included antipsychotic drug prescriptions rose 600% from 1993 to 2002. "The obvious second-generation bias is very apparent in these data, as is the irrational use of antipsychotics for indications such as PTSD and ADHD for which there is no controlled evidence whatsoever that these are safe or effective treatments," says Dr. Bruce Perry, senior fellow at the ChildTrauma Academy in Houston. (Full disclosure: Dr. Perry is my co-author on two books.)

The situation may be similar in state-run juvenile detention systems. Late last week, an exposé by the Palm Beach Post revealed that antipsychotics were among the top drugs purchased by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), and were largely used in kids for reasons that were not approved by the government - for instance, sleeplessness or anxiety. The Post reported:

In 2007, for example, DJJ bought more than twice as much Seroquel as ibuprofen. Overall, in 24 months, the department bought 326,081 tablets of Seroquel, Abilify, Risperdal and other antipsychotic drugs for use in state-operated jails and homes for children.

That's enough to hand out 446 pills a day, seven days a week, for two years in a row, to kids in jails and programs that can hold no more than 2,300 boys and girls on a given day.

Among the psychiatrists hired by the state to evaluated incarcerated kids, about a third received drug company money, the Post reported. Those 17 psychiatrists wrote 54% of the prescriptions for antipsychotics; the 35 doctors who did not take such payments wrote the rest. In other words, one-third of doctors - all of whom were paid by drug companies - wrote more than half of all antipsychotic prescriptions for the state's locked-down youth.

The statistics on children in foster care are equally alarming. Youth in foster care are not only three times as likely to be medicated as comparable low-income youth on Medicaid, but more than half are treated with antipsychotics. It is not likely that all or even most of these children have a condition for which antipsychotics have been approved by the government to treat.

Among the problems with unnecessary use of antipsychotic medications is that they can cause serious, sometimes irreversible, damage. Atypical antipsychotics are associated with weight gain and may double users' risk of Type 2 diabetes. Recent research also suggests that they may shrink the brain and there is little data on how they affect brain development during the teen years, when the brain grows more than at any other time but infancy. Indeed, youth are more vulnerable than any other group to the drugs' worst side effects (excluding death).

"The majority of antipsychotic medication use in children and adolescents has not been limited to the few age groups or conditions for which there is credible evidence of efficacy and safety," says Perry. "There is no reason to expect irrational prescribers to change their bad habits."

He adds that many experts would argue that if doctors began prescribing antipsychotics "responsibly and cautiously" - that is, being mindful of the lack of efficacy data and the evidence of harm - the rate of prescriptions in children would drop by 90%.

Meanwhile, rates of prescriptions for patients at the other end of the lifespan are also out of control. In nursing homes, 14% of residents have been given at least one prescription for a second-generation antipsychotic, according to a government investigation. A full 88% of these prescriptions are given to people with dementia, despite the fact that these drugs may double the risk of death in these patients (there is a black box warning on the drug to this effect). The investigation estimated that $116 million Medicare dollars have been spent filling antipsychotic prescriptions that never should have been written.

So why are these drugs so widely prescribed? Aggressive drug company marketing is only one part of the story. A key reason they are overused in institutional settings is that they are sedating, making patients easier to manage. Secondly, unlike other sedative drugs, they are not associated with misuse (with the possible exception of Seroquel, which has fans among some addicts). In fact, most people resist taking antipsychotics, which is why overmedication is much more common in settings where people are locked-in and compliance can be forced.

(More on TIME.com: U.S. Aims to Reduce Overdose Deaths, But Will the New Plan Work?)

The second point - that these drugs are not considered addictive - by itself probably accounts for a big part of why drug companies have been able to get away with so much misleading marketing and the resultant overprescribing. Although prescribing of traditional sedatives like benzodiazepines (Valium, Xanax), which are vulnerable to misuse, is limited by their status as controlled substances, few people enjoy misusing antipsychotics (side effects like weight gain, pleasurelessness, movement disorders and low energy and motivation are not generally sought by recreational drug users), so they can be prescribed for unapproved uses like behavior control and sleep-inducement in children and the elderly.

In other words, addiction is basically seen as a worse side effect than death. The fact that the most vulnerable youth and elderly often cannot advocate for themselves has made it easier to sweep the problem under the rug.

Fortunately, there is at least one bright spot in this depressing picture. The main patent on Risperdal expired in 2007, and those for Zyprexa and Seroquel expire this year. Geodon's patent expires next year, while Abilify's comes up in 2015. When most drugs go off-patent, drug companies' marketing pressure - and profits - will subside, perhaps keeping children and the elderly safer from inappropriate medication.

Too many children getting antibiotics for asthma

while the guidelines recommend antibiotics for asthma, almost a million children with respiratory condition is prescribed drugs each year at the United States, a new study concludes.

"We are trying to reduce unnecessary antibiotics prescriptions, and suggests that as pediatricians, we are prescribing them too often, said researcher principal Dr. Ian M. Paul, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Hershey's State.".

Why doctors prescribe antibiotics for asthma is not clear, Paul said. One of the reasons could be that physicians in treatment of severe asthma attack "feel the need to cover all their bases in also prescribing antibiotics", he suggested.

Sometimes parents can ask doctors to give their child antibiotics, but it does not appear to be a big factor, Paul noted. "There are probably some in clinical practice, but I do not think that happens all that often - certainly not in one in every six visits for asthma," he said.

"The encouraging conclusion was, when asthma education delivered during the visit, antibiotics were less likely to be prescribed", he added. When asthma education was not part of the visit, 19% of the time antibiotics were prescribed, compared to 11% when the teaching of asthma has been given.

"This suggests that we can raise families and patients and explain the causes of asthma and, hopefully, reduce prescribe them unnecessary antibiotic", said Paul.

The dangers of over-prescribing antibiotics are that it encourages the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and there are side effects to drugs themselves, Paul said.

The report was published in the online edition may 23 of Pediatrics.

The study, the team used Paul data from the National ambulatory medical and hospital care surveys Ambulatory Medical Care survey to see the rate of antibiotics prescribed for children between 1998 and 2007.

During this period, there were a few 60.4 million visits of medical care for children with asthma for which no prescription of antibiotics was justified. However, antibiotics were prescribed 16 percent of the time, researchers have discovered.

Primary care physicians were more likely to prescribe antibiotics, while that emergency physicians are less likely to prescribe them, said Paul.

Other factors that are linked to increased antibiotic prescription included corticosteroids and treated in the winter, the researchers noted.

However, when visits to primary care doctors included asthma, education, the antibiotic prescription rate has declined, Paul said.

In a second study in the same journal, Belgian researchers, led by Dr. Kris De Boeck, the Department of pediatric pulmonology and infectious diseases at University Hospital of Leuven, are like overprescription of antibiotics for asthmatic children.

These researchers found children treated with asthma drugs were 1.9 times more likely to also obtain a prescription for antibiotics, compared to children not treated with drugs against asthma.

In fact, 35.6% of children who have been prescribed drugs against asthma was also prescribed antibiotics, the researchers found.

"This finding highlights the need for education opportunities inform clinicians that this co-prescription should be limited," the authors concluded.

Commenting on the two studies, Dr. Paul Krogstad, Professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of California, Los Angeles and co-author of an editorial in the magazine that accompanies it, said that "these articles indicate that antibiotics and anti-asthmatic were very commonly prescribed two tandem here and Belgiquequi is in conflict with national and international recommendations that emphasize that the" antibiotics have no systematic use in the care of asthmatics. ?

Antibiotic overuse confuses the patient and the family, said Krogstad. "They do not understand the true nature of asthma as an inflammatory, not an infectious disease,"he explained.""

In addition, over-prescribing antibiotics leads to personal risk and society, said Krogstad.

"Personal risks include allergic reactions, side effects, drug interactions and costs." Societal costs include the costs associated with the medication and the choice of drug-resistant bacteria. Antibiotic overuse is reduced, but this remains an area where improvement is badly needed, "he says.

If children under 13 years is on Facebook?

In a perfect, law-abiding world, no child under 13 years of age has a Facebook account. But this world is quite far from being ideal, if tweens of 7.5 million - and younger children - fishing trolling social media giant are a gauge. Now, if Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gets its way, this already impressive number will explode.

Last week, Zuckerberg said top of the NewSchools Venture Fund in Burlingame, California, that he would like that young children to be allowed to attend his site. Technically, Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA the MCH) prohibited websites that gather data on users access to any person under 13. In reality, however, COPPA is quite ineffective.

Reports of consumers (CR) recently announced the results of an annual survey which concluded that "" more than a third of minors of 20 million who actively used Facebook in the last year"have 13 years of age."

According to Techland of the TIME.com blog, "that number could be low, it is only based on the parents who knew that their minor children were members of Facebook:"

in fact CR found that more than 5 million 7.5 minors about Facebook were as young as "" 10 and less. "."... This is not the worst of it. CR also concluded that minor children using Facebook have been without supervision by parents. The site claims - not wrong - that this exposes them "malware or serious threats like predators or bullies."

Consider other issues raised in the report as: 15% of Facebook users all post "their current location or travel plans", 34% after their date of birth in full, and 21% of the children after the names and images of their children.

What privacy Facebook control, your bastion against all reprehensible things? CR found about "one in five" were not to use them.

Even Zuckerberg insists on the fact that the connection on Facebook - for purposes of educational, natch - is a must for young children. "This will be a struggle take us at some point," CNNMoney quoted him saying. "My philosophy is that, for the education you need start a really, really very young."

(Information on Time.com: Photos: around the world with Facebook)

Zuckerberg, not so remote age no welcome 13 itself, says that Facebook has not begun research on how to open the site for young children and to protect them at the same time. "Because of the restrictions we have not even begun this process, learning" he said. "If they are lifted, then we would begin to learn what works." We take many precautions to ensure that they [the younger children] are safe. ?

Phew. This is reassuring.

Still, it is undeniable that children will simply have the same powers of judgment as adults. Consider, for example, the New Hampshire young crying on Facebook that bin Laden did not first offed his mathematics teacher before being killed. "With hindsight, it is mortifiée that she said that, but it is a child of 13 years," mother of the girl, Kimberly Dell'isola, told a local television station.

(Information on Time.com: Alaina Giordano, Mom stage 4 Cancer, with Out spoke of losing her children)

This is exactly why the Publisher of Consumer Reports is not quite as cavalier as Zuckerberg on little ones friending and marking to their hearts content. Last Friday, the non-profit Consumers Union was concerned that children and adolescents do you really why it is so important to self-censoring which they share with the online world. "We urge Facebook to strengthen its efforts to identify and terminate the accounts of users aged 13 years of age and to implement more effective age-verification methods for users to sign new accounts""," Ioana Rusu, counsel for regulations for consumers Union, wrote in a letter to Zuckerberg.

According to the Los Angeles Times, letter of the Rusu comes on the heels of a congressional hearing to question the safety of minor users of Facebook:

, Chairman of the Committee of Senate Commerce John d. Rockefeller (D - va) said that it was "indefensible" that Facebook had only 100 employees to monitor the activities of its 600 million users.

At the hearing, Facebook Chief Technology Officer Bret Taylor said Facebook closes the accounts of persons recognized to lie about their age. But he acknowledged that Facebook depends on other users noted minor users.

The Union of consumer urges of Facebook is more "diligent and effective" to save the millions of minors who frequent the site. He suggested a few ways to do: make the default privacy minors setting one that facilitates sharing with "friends only" instead of "friends of their friends;" for the average user, which is equivalent to approximately 17 000 people. And to engage in an "eraser" button that users can click to remove embarrassing information posted on the site while they were minors.

Japan to join the Pact of custody of children

TOKYO- the Japan Friday decided to join an international Covenant that defines procedures for resolving disputes concerning cross-border child custody, after years of foreign pressure to do so.

At the meeting of the cabinet of Friday, the Government has agreed to sign the 1980 Hague Convention which extends custody rights non-Japanese parents whose children are moved to the Japan by a former spouse.

Spokesman head of Government, Yukio Edano told a press conference, "It is desirable to be consistent with the rules of the international community," according to Jiji Press.

Approval of the Parliament of the decision could come in the fall, the Nikkei daily said in its online edition.

The Japan is the only large industrial nation which has not signed the Treaty.

Tokyo has been in recent years under pressure from the United States and other countries to accede to the Treaty, as the Japanese courts almost never give the custody of foreign parents, particularly fathers, when international marriages break.

Activists say that thousands of foreigners, mostly men, have been barred at some point to see children taken to the Japan by the partners of which he was separated.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan is due to announce the plan when he attends a Summit of the G8 in France next week, Japanese media reported.

Sent by United States, the European Union and nine other Governments called on the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in February last to sign the Treaty.

Last year the House of representatives approved a resolution condemning the Japan "abduction and illegal detention" of children and urging the alloy close to act immediately to resolve cases involving us parents.

The resolution of the House said 136 children were in the Japan, against the will of an American mother company.

Children of Parents deployed can cope with risks of mental health

 children whose parents are deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq face a higher risk of psychiatric problems requiring hospitalization, a new study indicates.

Researchers at the University of the Uniformed Services of the Health Sciences have followed more than 375,000 children, ages 9 to 17, whose parents are in active service between 2007 and 2009.

"There was a risk of 10% increased hospitalization in aged 9 to 17 children whose parents have been deployed,", said Dr. Jeffrey Millegan, disaster and fellow preventive Psychiatry at the University of the Health Sciences Uniformed Services.

He presented the findings this week at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Honolulu.

In all, researchers have discovered that the child provided for in the study have been hospitalized for a mental or behavioral health problem, remain a median of eight days.

Of this, approximately one third, or 858 children had parents who have been deployed during the period of study.

After taking into account factors such as history of psychiatric problems, Millegan arrived at the risk of 10% increased. When he looked at length relatives of deployment, he found the selected link only when the parent has spent six months plu.

More attention must be paid to the mental health of children of military parents of active service when they are deployed, the researchers said.

What can do parents to reduce the impact? While the research of resilience is still in its infancy, Millegan suggests that family physicians should ask the parents to be deployment how do their children.

Parents and other persons who are aware of the risk, said, can better catch mental health problems when they are less serious than those requiring hospitalization.

The study was considered novel by Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein, Chairman of the Board of the American Psychiatric Association on Communications, who hosted the Monday press conference announcing the findings.

"There really was no this kind of research to date on the effect on children," he said. Previous research linked the parent deployment to war with increased anxiety and behavioural problems in their children.

Borenstein said the conclusion on the length of the deployment with an effect on the mental health of the child is of particular interest. With more research, he said, the number of times that that a parent is deployed would probably considered have an effect, too.

For now, he said, the research may help to inform the persons concerned and awaken their for attempting to minimize the risk.

Millegan also concluded that the children with a history of mental health problems were more likely to have again. Psychiatric history of the civilian parent also affected the risk of the child of hospitalization for mental health problems.

Increased mental health problems, said Millegan, are likely related to obvious family disturbance that occurs when a primary care provider for a period of time.

Further research revealed that mental health problems can affect the deployed parent and which parent stays home, suggesting it could be a trickle-down effect. "It is quite clear that [mental health problems encountered by parents] may have an influence on children," he said.

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, data should be considered preliminary until published in a refereed journal.

Study sees the link between Psoriasis, obesity in children

the prevalence of psoriasis - a chronic inflammatory disease of the skin - is significantly higher in overweight children and obésités, researchers found.

The study of Kaiser Permanente, published online in the journal of Pediatrics, also found that adolescents with psoriasis (regardless of their body weight) have higher cholesterol, putting them at greater risk for heart disease.

"This study suggests a link between obesity and psoriasis in children," lead author of the study Corinna Koebnick, researcher, Department of research & evaluation of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California, said in a press release of Kaiser Permanente.

"But our findings also suggest that the increased risk of heart disease in patients with psoriasis begins in childhood in the form of higher levels of cholesterol." "We might need to monitor the young patients of psoriasis more closely to cardiovascular risk factors, especially if they are obese,", Koebnick said.

With the aid of electronic health records to study 710,949 children various racial and ethnic, researchers have discovered the obese children were almost 40 per cent more likely to have psoriasis that children of normal weight. Even more at risk, extremely obese children were almost 80 per cent more likely to have psoriasis that children of normal weight. In addition, it was four times more likely to psoriasis to be severe or more widespread among the young obese and normal weight children.

The study also revealed that, compared to children without psoriasis, teen with the State of the skin had 4 to 16 per cent of the higher levels of cholesterol and liver enzymes, regardless of their weight.

Psoriasis, often seen simply as a condition of the heaviness of the skin, may put children at risk of metabolic disease (like diabetes, metabolic syndrome and heart disease), as in adults, the study authors noted.

"It has been well described that adults with psoriasis have increased cardiovascular risk factors, but now, we examined these issues in children," the study's main author, Dr. Jashin j. Wu, Director of clinical research and residency program associate and Director of the Department of Dermatology at the Medical Centre of Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles, said in the press release.

"As follow us these patients over 30 to 40 years, we will be able to determine if these increased cardiovascular risk factors increase in turn the risk for major adverse cardiac events," said Wu.

The researchers acknowledged that the study had limitations due to its transversal design, where body weight and information on psoriasis were assessed at the same time and stated that these issues would be met in future studies.

Rushdie's midnight children' s shooting secret

COLOMBO- under the veil of secrecy, the first film adaptation of the famous novel by the controversial author Salman Rushdie "Midnight children" has finished shooting in Sri Lanka.

Director Canadian Deepa Mehta chose the South Asian island as a location instead of the India or Pakistan, where the book is defined, to avoid problems with religious fundamentalists.

"It"? s received the Muslims, "Mehta said the Canadian newspaper, the Globe and Mail, who obtained access to all before the end of the filming Sunday." "" And I'm Hindu. ?

Rushdie received a fatwa of Islamic regime of the Iran in 1989 condemning him to death for his novel "The Satanic Verses", which has forced the British writer to live in hiding under the protection of the police for years.

For.

Despite forcing all the production team and distribution to sign confidentiality agreements, the three-month shoot was almost déraillée when word made it to the Iran, a close ally in more isolated Sri Lanka.

After the filing of a complaint from Tehran, Sri Lankan authorities reverse their approval for the production, leaving Mehta stunned a few days in the work on what it described as its largest of the film.

She appealed against the ban of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, who agreed to allow the filming to continue.

"The President listened to those who were for and against the film and ordered the drives to continue," said an official of the Office of Rajapakse, who asked not be named.

Sri Lankan team of the Film production company, who coordinated the production, confirmed the shooting had been produced despite the objections of the Iran weekend.

"We have taken great care to avoid attracting controversy, but the Iranians were discovered on this subject," Director of the company Divraj Perera told AFP.

600-Page novel acclaimed Rushdie, who won the Booker prize in 1981, was considered almost impossible because of the complexity of the plot and the wide range of characters and places.

A television adaptation of five parts previously written by the author of Indian origin was never produced.

The novel deals with the history before and after the independence of the India through the eyes of the Saleem Sinai, whose birth coincides with that of the independent India on the stroke of midnight on 15 August 1947.

In 1993, he was chosen as "Booker of Bookers" - the best novel to have won the award to date.

"The heart and soul of the book is intact, and his humour and I hope that its contents too emotional", Mehta said Tuesday The Times of India.

The Director, whose previous work will include the trilogy of "fire", "Land" and "Water", admitted that the pressure of the project had weighed on its approach to the end of filming.

"I thought:" Oh my God, it is going to be crappy. ". What I did? The beloved book of all time. I? m an idiot. Salman will hate it?, "she told the Globe and Mail."

She SearchText Rushdie in desperation, he would have answered: "whenever I finish a book, I think that it?". crap s. "and sometimes it is not".

The film, which is in English, Hindi and Urdu, will be released as "Winds of change" in the first half of 2012 and was prévendu in many countries, including the Canada, Great Britain, France and the Japan.

Rushdie wrote the script and was involved in the choice of actors, which include Seema Biswas, who has played in "Water of Mehta", Rahul Bose and Shahana Goswami.

Protagonist Saleem Sinai should be played by newcomer Satya Bhabha.

Mehta is no stranger to controversy. It crossed Hindu fundamentalists in 1996 when his film "fire" was released, depicting two stepsisters who become emotionally close and then physically involved.

Cinemas were burned and his latest film "Water", produced in 2005, has been delayed for years demonstrators in the northeast of the burned India the game and threatened to rape the female expressed.

She said confidentiality agreements that all participants were forced to sign during the filming of his latest project was needed to prevent other events.

"We really wanted to make this film," she told the Globe and Mail. "And the price is silence

Crowded Mozambique classes children drive at night school

Lights in the single-story classroom throw yellow pools on the sandy playground, while in a corner a few group around a popcorn machine. Although most of the 62 students left class when the teacher has not been, Joana is optimistic.

"Patience brings victory," said 31-year-old mother stoically.

"Perhaps when you leave the teacher comes and then you miss the lesson," she tells AFP.

His challenge is a routine for students in one of the poorest countries of the world, which is struggling to educate his youth but also adults failed next to tuition during decades of war.

Classes have an average of 66 students per teacher and managed schools in three teams of 7: 00 to 10: 00 to deal with numbers.

After starting a family, Joana returned to school with classmates of half his age to improve its chances of finding a good job. Even basic education would reserved in the Southern African country where adults have an average of 1.2 years of schooling, according to the Organization of the United Nations.

Finally, the ninth grade student takes the homeland of the Escola Primaria do Triunfo road in Maputo. It is difficult not knowing if the teacher will come or not, she said.

"We had two lessons (in the last half)." In the tenth year we? ll have problems. ?

The mathematics class has already been cancelled because no teacher is available, so the school closes earlier than the usual 10: 00 pm.

Approximately 81% of Mozambique's children go to primary school, although the numbers of decreased offshore as aging, but there is no space or teachers to manage all, especially when returning adult students are added in.

School of night began under the Portuguese colonizers, but Mozambique retained the system after independence in 1975 to deal with the overflow of the student.

This means that the Aida Bila, 16, a sometimes walk the five kilometres (three miles) home in the dark if public transport stopped or his family can afford the fare.

Help although aspiring lawyer is concerned about the missed lessons, teachers them during exams, she said.

"They don?". "t always provide answers, but sometimes they y.".

Even when teachers are present, many students come to school to socialize, said educator Carlos Francisco.

"The system created the conditions that they lose interest," said. "In the lower classes, they are automatically transmitted, then they come here and cannot read or write."

Francisco teaches design, but without no instrument to direct its course. 29-Year-old father is working 14 hours a day to three schools in support of his family, but some educators have even worse hours, he said.

"The Government tries to improve, only the country that has so many challenges." Admittedly, this is bad. ?

Mozambique has budget 22.8 billion meticals (730 million dollars, EUR 493 million) for education this year, approximately 18% of the national budget.

International donors contribute to at least 85 million dollars (57 million euros) of the education budget, but it should reduce donations due to the global economic crisis.

In addition the authorities cut parts of the budget to channel money subsidies after the death of 14 in the riots in September although education as a whole received more money this year.

"It affected the functioning of the Ministry," according to the Ministry of education, planning director Manuel Rego.

Do with the riots last year, it is time to do a good job"with the budget, he said.

The authorities are more schools and training teachers despite the setbacks, Rego adds.

"Even if it is difficult to see, much improved conditions."

One encouraging point is the enrolment of girls, with almost a girl by boy in primary schools.

All the same, education improve not for students of 6.9 million of the country soon, with a target of the Millennium development goal 2015 of 55 students per teacher little likely, recognizes the Rego.

"We won". t be able to extend the network of schools in the coming years. ?

Tonsils ablation could cure bedwetting in some children with apnea sleep

 half of the children with sleep apnea who wet the bed could stop their UI if their tonsils or sleep is removed, new research suggests.

Obstructive apnea (OSA) sleep is marked by interruptions of respiration; during his sleep It is common among children with enlarged tonsils or sleep. Exactly how the results in the bedwetting sleep apnea is not fully understood, but hormonal changes may play a role.

However, half of the 417 children in this latest study, which had the sleep apnea and who were arrested bedwetters bed wetting after they had their tonsils or deleted sleep. In the study, the children were aged 5 to 18 years and were followed for only less than a year after their surgery on average.

Those that did not prevent bed wetting after surgery were more likely to be born prematurely, be men, being obese or have a family history of bedwetting, the investigators noted. Premature birth was the best index prediction of continuous UI after surgery.

"If they have not seen an ear, ENT specialist, see one to see if the child anchored bed OSA that can be cured by the tonsils or Mucoepidermoid removal," said study author Dr. Yegappan Lakshmanan, head of the Pediatric Urology of the Michigan children's Hospital, in Detroit.

The findings were presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA), in Washington, D.C. presented research at medical meetings should be regarded as preliminary in until it was published in a peer medical journal.

There are many other causes of bedwetting, said Lakshmanan. "5 To 7 million children are bedwetters, and causes of the fall into three main groups: issues of the bladder, problems related to sleep, and kidneys,"he explained.""Children in this study wet the bed sleep-related problems. ?

Then why were not all cure? "Nocturnal enuresis is multifactor even these groups and that we should be able to determine the cause of all children", said Lakshmanan.

"There are several possible causes of bedwetting, and sleep apnea is clearly one of them," said Dr. Lane s. Palmer, Chief of Pediatric Urology Medical Center the MCH Cohen again of Hyde Park, New York

"There are positive effects of this surgery tonsils - or adenoid-deletion, but I don't know that I leap tonsils or sleep out of my child as a primary treatment of bedwetting," he said. "Children with sleep apnea and UI should see an otorhinolaryngologist first."

"This study really points to the fact that children who have other sleep problems should be considered for UI because all that is fall sleep at night can lead to bedwetting," said the spokesman for the AAU Dr. Anthony Atalaa urologist at Wake Forest University in Winston - SalemN BW.

"If a child bedwetting, pay attention to their sleep habits and to observe, while they are asleep, and you can see if they breathe at a steady pace and otherwise, seek additional aid," said Atala.

Children with sleep apnea can be difficult to rouse, which can cause bedwetting, said Dr. Dennis Kitsko, an Otolaryngologist at children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. "But not all children with sleep apnea will wet the bed, and not all are bedwetter will sleep apnea".

Still, "snoring in children is abnormal, said Dr. Linda Dahl, an ear doctor ENT at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York." "" "Broaden children snore because their tonsils and sleep, and they have other behaviors that go with apnea sleep, including bedwetting, eventually", she explained.

"There are many ancillary benefits that you may not attribute to the removal of tonsils grand and sleep, as stop bedwetting," Dahl said.

Children taking ADHD medications at low risk of heart problems

kids taking drugs for controlling attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are more at risk of heart problems that children taking ADHD Drugs, a new study concludes.

"ADHD drugs can increase heart rate and blood pressure, which could increase the risk of cardiovascular outcomes," said principal investigator Sean Hennessy, Assistant Professor of epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of medicine in Philadelphia.

But this study, comparing the ADHD drug users non-users, found no difference in the frequency of deaths between groups or cardiac problems, Hennessy said.

The findings should reassure parents that drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall are not related to an increased risk of cardiovascular events, said Hennessy. However, the study cannot put to rest all fears, said an expert.

Dr. Steven Lipshultz, Professor and Chair of Pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of medicine, does not believe that this study has settled the debate because it fails to take children into account problems of existing heart.

"This in no way said that, in children with underlying disease, drugs are safe or unsafe," he said.

Concerns that ADHD Drugs could increase the risk of heart problems, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration 2007 headed for ADHD drug manufacturers to produce a guide to drugs that would alert physicians and parents and patients at risk.

Hennessy said there were a few anecdotal reports of death, heart attack and stroke in children taking ADHD medications. "However, given the millions of children with these drugs, it is not surprising that some events would be reported," he said.

In the new study, "there is no validated cases of heart attack or stroke in children with ADHD medication," he said. "There is that a handful of cases of sudden death in children with ADHD Drugs and risks were not statistically higher than in the group not to take these drugs."

In a secondary analysis, other researchers and he reported "statistically high" associations between principal diagnosis, sudden death and ventricular arrhythmias on medical applications and the use of Atomoxetine (Strattera) methylphenidate (Ritalin, other) and "any medicine ADHD" in children and adolescents who have distributed to users.

However, due to the low rate of subjects that have been correctly diagnosed on the main assessment, researchers wrote that these results seem to be "not reliable in this age group."

About 9.5% of the children of the U.S. have parent-reported ADHD, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The neuro condition is characterized by inattention and hyperactivity which begins in childhood and often interferes with school, family life and social relations.

The report is published online on May 16 in Pediatrics.

The study, the Hennessy team used two databases to collect data on 241,417 children aged 3 to 17 years taking an amphetamine like Adderall, Strattera, or methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta) for ADHD.

In 2007, almost 5% of children aged 4 to 17 years one of these drugs, prescribed the CDC reported.

The researchers compared the incidence of sudden cardiac death, abnormal heart rhythm and death of all other causes among children with these events in 965,668 children rates do step ADHD medication.

After each case has been validated with the assistance of outside experts and some decided to be classified incorrectly, the researchers found no statistical difference for one of these events, including stroke, between two groups of children. In addition, none of the children on ADHD drugs proved have suffered a heart attack, and no features were related to the ADHD drug exposure.

The study was funded by pharmaceutical giant Irish County, which makes add/ADHD medication Vyvanse, Adderall XR and others.

Commenting on the findings, Lipshultz said, "I believe that this industry-sponsored study has the potential to be misunderstood".

"This study is able to look carefully at the where are the main concerns", he added.

The study does not specifically separate these children with heart disease other Lipshultz said, adding that the greatest concern of the FDA has been with the use of these drugs in patients with underlying disease. In fact, drugs may be contraindicated for these children, he said.

These drugs are a great benefit for children with ADHD, said Lipshultz. "However, he y still safety concerns regarding the use of therapy increasing in children, especially children with health disorders, underlying" he said.

The authors themselves wrote that, because it is so little of cardiovascular events occurred in the study group, it was not possible to permanently exclude an association between drugs for ADHD and an increase in the rate of heart problems.

Alaina Giordano, Mom stage 4 Cancer, with Out spoke of losing her children (Time.com)

Divorce is often unpleasant, but from time to time, the details of a dislocation especially take ahold of the soul and let go. One such case involves Alaina Giordano, a mother of two who is struggling against stage 4 breast cancer. April 25 Giordano lost custody of her children, when a judge ruled that they must leave their Durham, N.C., living with their father to Chicago by June 17, because, essentially, the judge said, a healthy dad is preferable to a sick mother.

Giordano was surprised. It was expecting an open-and-shut case. Quickly, an elementary school friend jumped into action, gifles a Facebook page that he hoped would spread the word and help the Giordano to attract a pro bono lawyer who could challenge the decision of the judge Nancy Gordon. It seeks an altruistic Attorney being Giordano does earn income - she is a mother in the home (SAHM, natch), the most severe jobs - a fact which has been used against him at the battle of custody, triggering a wave of support from fellow SAHMers.

(Information on Time.com: should a mother losing custody of her children because she has Cancer?)

Concerned about health Giordano was also a primary problem in the custody battle. Cancer was diagnosed in 2007, approximately six months before she moved with her family to Durham so that her husband, Kane Snyder, could studying for his MBA at Duke University. The cancer has metastasized to his bones, which is not really a good thing. But his regimen is now the disease at Bay; She said that it will not propagate actively. And is anyone guess how long she will live.

In the meantime, she said that she was able to parent and, if his recent media schedule is a gauge, compete with the endurance a triathlete. On Wednesday, Giordano was in New York for an advertising blitz. She woke at 5 a.m. to arrive at the issuance of today with her children, aged 11 years Sofia and Bud of 5 years. She did her interview. his children met with Matt Lauer. Subsequently, it has eliminated another interviews shortly, including the Gayle King Show and CNN, where they were going to Michele Obama brother and Anderson Cooper.

Then, there was breakfast with dinner with the children at the Hard Rock Cafe and the cousin of Giordano (haunted Jekyll and Hyde Club having proved too spooky for Bud). They gallivanted through Central Park and ended the day of the hearing of "The Addams Family", a musical comedy. "I am fully functional," said Giordano.

(Information on Time.com: what we can learn from the demerger of Schwarzenegger-Shriver)

While waiting with his children for his flight back in North Carolina, Giordano talks with Healthland fighting words - for his life, but especially for its children. (Kane Snyder was also asked to comment for this post, but it does not return emails or phone calls).

Healthland: How do your children know about what is happening?

Giordano: They know there is a judgment of the Court and I had to tell them that the judge said that they have to move. I told them the night of the decision. I was still in shock, at the time there. I tried to be diverted. I said I wanted to stay with me, but the judge decided otherwise.

My daughter may be somewhat stoic, like me, but when it was just me and she, she began screaming, crying. She is not out of bed, did not want to leave the apartment. My son was very anxious. It won't let me out of his sight. He sleeps with me. They know that, when someone forces you to do something, this is not love.

HealthLand: What kind of relationship have your children with their father?

Giordano: He is their father, and I do my best to be honest with them but also be jealous of their relationship with him. They like their Daddy. When my son said: "Daddy hates you and you hate Daddy", I say, "I do not hate your father, but I'm not happy with his behaviour."

HealthLand: Is it visit frequently?

Giordano: I can't really say how often. He came to visit for a night in February, a night in March, and the judge ordered [the children] go there for the week of spring break, so that they did. Approximately eight weeks in the fall when he did not come to see.

HealthLand: What did you do before the birth of your children?

Giordano: I worked as a paralegal in Philadelphia. [Snyder] was a boy. I took the LSAT, but when I had children I stayed home, and it was his first degree and finishing work. In August 2005, he became a consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, so he was far away. ... I went on excursion [School]. I was the mother of the room. My children came always first.

HealthLand: It seems that there must be something going on in addition to your illness to justify a decision to guard it. There are allegations of fraud and abuse. What happens there?

Giordano: I admitted my cheating. He admitted his. In North Carolina, there is a link you get alimony, therefore he has really gone after me on this. ... It has always been an abusive relationship. Nothing in the documentation. I was a witness to testify that she had seen him physically assault me from my son. The judge learned that, and then writing there was no domestic violence which were eligible under what law he was.

HealthLand: What are your next steps?

Giordano: I need a lawyer to file this appeal ASAP. I had to borrow money for an attorney so I'm looking for pro bono. Outlawyered [Snyder] me like crazy. He left with everything.

I'm trying to do steps to regret. I believe that everything happens for a reason. After I get my children or get to keep them, I would like to see legislation enacted to protect people who are sick of losing their children.

HealthLand: What's your prognosis?

Giordano: Unknown. This is what makes the evil judge comfortable. No one knows. People live for five years, 10 years, more time. I get so many emails, saying: "I have stage 4 cancer and I raised my children." Emails are a great upside.

See this article on Time.com

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Engaging drama of "Declaration of war" of cancer in children (Reuters)

CANNES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Declaration of war", the function of Gauls sophomore writer-director-actress Valerie Donzelli, which opened the Cannes critics week, is a commitment, but not quite convincing representation of a battle that began when his minor son of filmmaker was diagnosed with brain cancer.

Filled with Nouvelle Vague atmosphere, punctuated by musical montages and sudden gusts of feeling, "War" was right weapons to conquer arthouse audiences both at home and abroad, giving the young French author more international visibility.

Based on of Donzelli and writer-star and ex-boyfriend of the Jeremie Elkaim life real test, the story is autobiographical, through, in him giving a scale which would have been more difficult to nail down in a purely fictitious tale. Reality factor also allows the duo to engage in many flights of fancy, sprinkling their story of everything: a Magnolia-style sing-a-long a romance quickly edited directly "Jules and Jim."

Yet, by engaging in a range of styles, which were already amply exposed small budget of the 'The Queen of heart' Director debut - and in relying on a great soundtrack to film hits which includes everything from J.S. Bach to Laurie Anderson "Superman" the drama is broadcast by some attempts of too numerous to be cinematically spontaneous and perhaps even too revealing cute at certain intervals.

Despite these snags, there are still several times tearing in the tale of young lovebirds (Donzelli) Juliet and Romeo (Elkaim), including electrical during a party meeting is soon followed by the birth of their son, Adam (Cesar Desseix), an adorable toddler little begins to show signs of alarming disease. After a few more in most disturbing of doctor visits - and Donzelli is at its best by revealing aspects tragicomic France labyrinthine hospital system - a tumour is detected in the brain of Adam, initiating a long period of fear, confusion and anticipation that no parent would want on their worst enemy.

Jump (and sometimes jump-cut) chronologically to the period of four years in which Adam was submitted to major surgery followed by chemotherapy treatment, Donzelli focuses less on procedures medical raw on the way in which parents face, or cannot cope with the affliction. In this sense, war is not in contrast to the recent "rabbit hole", except that here there is still hope that the child will survive, although such hope is so exhausting to maintain that he eats away relationship Juliet and Romeo.

Ultimately, it is regrettable that Donzelli and Elkaim, appearing in a total of five films in various sections of the Cannes this year are no more on their chops acting to support the weight of what was clearly a traumatic experience for each of them. This is particularly frustrating in coils, the latter film, as important aspects of the plot are hidden via voiceover or constant use of music.

Technical achievements are the worlds above Donzelli freshman effort, with colourful imagery crisp by Sebastien Buchmann ("Memory Lane") which makes it a pleasure to battle to look at.

Camp: New perspectives for sick children

Catherine MacLean at the hospital in 2001 and MacLean as a first year of College this year.In 1996, Catherine MacLean has learned that she had Aplasia, hospital stays became his normHole in the Wall Gang Camps, started by Paul Newman, has contributed to its more normal lifeThere crossing, campers learn how the world could be if a diagnosis is not controlling their every moveAs Catherine finishes up its first year of College, she looks forward to many opportunities

in 1996, when she was 4 years old, Catherine MacLean learned that she had Aplasia. For seven years, she lived a transfusion to another visit to the hospital to visit to the hospital. It was not until summer 2002 that his world suddenly included what was possible beyond the walls of his illness. She was 11.

For many years between, the disease controlled his life - Aplasia is a type of failure of the bone marrow which made it impossible to produce enough red blood cells in support of his body.

In 2001, Catherine spent three weeks in solitary confinement in a clinic so that she could get a bone marrow transplant. All visitors had to rub into the room, and her mother should wear a surgical mask if she was sleeping there.

When she returned to school, Catherine had maintained on the school plan, but the social environment in school makes for a difficult transition.

"I was certainly clearly aware that I was different from other children in my class, in many ways - in terms of maturity, take risks," Catherine told CNN.

"It is just this gap in experience, because I just did things and places that they simply do not have."

To help meet the other including children, Catherine doctors encouraged to go to a summer camp special for seriously ill children. The hole in the Wall Gang Camps were launched by actor Paul Newman "to recognize the chance;" the chance of it, the benevolence of it in my life and the brutality of it in the lives of others, is particularly savage for children because they may not authorized good fortune of a lifetime to correct the situation.

Catherine camp attended Ashford, Connecticut, is administered by the nurses, physicians and advisors of the cabin, and he is proud of giving kids, a place where they feel "safe, respected and loved."

For these children, suffering from diseases such as hemophilia, sickle cell anemia and cancer, it is a chance to see beyond the walls of the hospital for what the world might be like if a diagnosis is a not controlling their every action, clinics and hospital rooms were not as secondary residences.

Canton of Jimmy CEO has been with the camp since it began in 1988. He described as a place where children are encouraged to look beyond what they thought was possible: "they have been told repeatedly and repeatedly what they cannot do." And camp reminded them that there are lot of things they can do. ?

Nicole Kucine is a pediatric hematologist and oncologist who gets more training at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and has been volunteering in the camp for four years. Outside of the summer, she works closely with many sick children in hospitals and clinics. at the camp, she sees sick children in a different light.

This that she sees - children dancing around dining rooms, inviting, and insisting on the fact that she join in-is invigorating.

"Seeing kids so as to not to take account of their illness was incredible." They have to take a medication when they eat their meals, was not a big problem. They could be normal, "she told CNN."

"Normal" does was not something Catherine who know well in advance of the camp. The beginning of the camp has coincided with the first anniversary of its transplantation and its doctors began just to use the word "cure."

At the camp, Catherine was adopted by young advisers, eager to make his acquaintance. Many advisors were in College, which helped her to imagine what was for if long was intangible future.

"My kind of vision for my life has always been very limited, and he was always very well one day by day." It was like in a week, I must get an another transfusion blood and in a few months, we are going to change my medication and in a few months, we will gonna transplant, "she said on CNN.

The experience has enabled Catherine suggests, "there are things out there." I can set long-term objectives now. I can have long term goals. There are things that I will be able to.

Friends of his own camp always provide support and understanding today, when the "normal" life can get complicated. Explain the complexities of his illness might be difficult for a college freshman, trying to make new friends. But his friends camps can commiserate on routine checks and the results of trials that any explanation.

The camp also modifies the way children interact with the authority figures. In hospitals, there are always of many guards often things to sick children who are uncomfortable, as the drawing of blood or give them drugs.

Events such as the "silly Olympics", the camp puts kids back in the driver's seat. Correctly answering trivia questions win campers the right to launch a spoonful of pudding in the face of their adviser or an adviser to spraying with a Super Soaker, or perhaps make lemonade mix into the mouth of the Advisor.

"Silly Olympics is, here is the figure of this authority, but you are allowed to run pudding on them, you are allowed to strike back, you are allowed to type to take control of the situation in a way that many of these children get control over their bodies and their lives just completely removed". "to their" said Catherine.

At the hospital, you're a patient, that's all, you are; in many ways, you are your disease. Here, you get up on stage and you are a singer or you are a craftsman in wood shop or you are a fisherman, you get to try different things and so you can take back a sense of "I like to fish."I am good at celaJ have discovered this talent, "she told CNN."

This year, when Catherine ends up to the first year of College, she welcomes many possibilities, such as medical research and graduate studies. But she said that the camp has also opened his eyes to the social aspect of medicine, and she plans to enter the public health or seeking a job that supports patients.

But for the moment, it is all excited on his summer job. It will be back at the camp who has changed his life, but this time as an advisor.

Thousands of very sick children around the world, summer camp is not only a place to escape from the parents and make new friends.

A little waiting can be good for children injured in the head

NEW YORK  - the observation of some of the children after a head injury can help doctors decide to those in need of a head of x-ray, according to a new study published in Pediatrics.

This is important because researchers are still not certain if too many of these x-ray, computed tomography or CT, could cause cancer decades later.

CT scans can help doctors recognize the serious head injuries who need treatment. But the observation is probably a good strategy for children who have a serious brain injury risks, but are not serious symptoms, said Dr Lise Nigrovic in Boston at the hospital for children, who worked on the study.

If a kids appears to the ER very quickly after a head injury, "you can just not been enough time to develop symptoms" she told Reuters Health. Or a kid "may have some symptoms that make you a little concerned, but you just want some time" before making a decision to an x-ray.

"We all want make sure you use computed tomography in cases where it is likely to be positive and that save us the children of radiation for those we know are very unlikely to be positive," Dr. Martin Osmond, of the children's Hospital of Eastern Ontariotold Reuters Health.

"This study adds important new information on which to observe" before making this decision, said Osmond, who has no connection with the new study.

Nigrovic and colleagues examined data on more than 40,000 children with head trauma that have been taken to one of the 25 different emergency rooms.

The original data had been collected by the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network. Doctors treating children made a note in their files if each child was kept in the hospital and observed by physicians and nurses before they decided to perform a CT scan or not.

About 5,400 children - or 1-7 - have been observed. These children were slightly less likely to get a CT scan: 31 per cent of them had x-ray head, compared to 35% of children when doctors took this decision immediately.

In both groups, less than 1 of every 100 children had serious brain damage.

Twenty - six children that have been observed and sent home without a CT scan later returned for a x-ray - and 1 of them eventually have a brain injury diagnosed by x-ray.

The research team concluded this conclusion that the observation of some children before taking the decision on a CT scan may be a safe and effective way to reduce the number of these analyses.

Nigrovic gave the example of 4 years who have fallen a swing. "They're complained of headache (and) they vomited once at home," she said. But they are awake and talking 2 hours after the injury, making doctors less fear. "It's a great patient for observation," she said.

Osmond believes that the study is an accurate picture of how doctors are now treating these patients: in cases serious doctors will get an analysis immediately, in cases where they believe that symptoms are sufficiently mild, they are likely to send patients home, but when in doubt, they observe you the child to see if there are changes, he explained.

Osmond added, some questions still remain. For example, we know not just how long it is logical for doctors to observe children deciding whether or not to do a CT scan or send them to the home.

Which, as well as how safe it is put off CT scans by observing a wounded child, will be at the heart of future research, said Nigrovic.

Why children need recess and exercise

Research shows that recess is benefical for children.Recess is one of the few inexpensive opportunities we have to get kids movingChildren who don't get recess miss out on valuable life lessonsStudents most likely to get little or no time outside are in low-income, urban neighborhoods

More and more researchers, educators, and parents are realizing that not only is playground time good for kids-it is crucial. Here's why it just may be the fourth "R" in school, and what you can do to make sure your child gets a healthy dose of downtime.

Let me put this out there: I totally get it. Teachers are under pressure to make sure they've drilled reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic deep into their students' brains -- and there are only so many hours in the school day.

So if you have to get rid of an "extra" activity to make way for more book time -- well, you might as well go for the playtime. After all, school is supposed to be about learning, right? And what mom doesn't want her kid to ace The Test?

Still, I could see the toll it was taking on my daughter Mari, when, two weeks before fourth-grade testing, she dragged herself off the bus and into our kitchen -- exhausted, tense, and frazzled.

Turns out the only break she'd had during her six-and-a-half-hour school day was for a 22-minute lunch (quiet talking only). Recess had been "suspended" for two weeks so the teachers could get in extra test prep--and by this point Mari hadn't seen the monkey bars, bounced across a hopscotch board, or breathed fresh air for days.

She was toast.

And I was fuming.

I mean, prisoners get more time out on the yard than the fourth-graders at my kid's school -- and I thought it terribly unfair that my 9-year-old was being denied something as basic as a respite from her classroom.

This recess hiatus was a problem. The anecdotal proof was sitting -- melting down -- before my eyes. And, as it turns out, there is plenty of hard evidence, too.

A recent multicenter study of more than 11,000 eight- and nine-year-olds, led by pediatric researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in New York, showed that kids who had at least 15 minutes of recess a day (even just 15 minutes!) behaved better in class.

According to study author and developmental pediatrician Romina Barros, M.D., their conduct was likely better because, after hours of concentration, they were able to give their exhausted brains a rest before going back to absorbing information -- something many young kids can only do well for about a half hour at a time.

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Gimme a break!

Dr. Barros decided to conduct the study after observing a young patient's classroom -- to see how antsy the student and his peers were by lunchtime. They were given no work breaks, save for 15 minutes of quiet snacking at their desks.

"They couldn't stand up or walk around, the heat was on in the classroom, and by noon -- when it was time for them to go eat -- I had a headache," recalls Dr. Barros, who has two daughters of her own, one of whom is now in school.

"It took the kids in that class fifteen minutes just to line up. They were fried." Think about it: As adults, we value -- in fact, we demand -- a little downtime during our workday. "But kids aren't allowed to say 'I need a break,' then get up and leave," Dr. Barros says.

In addition to the mental pause, recess appears to be the most effective way to keep kids active. A study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that 42% of the nation's schoolchildren get most of their total daily exercise at recess -- more than do so in P.E. or after-school programs.

For sure, in light of America's childhood-obesity problem (17% of kids between 2 and 19 are obese), participating in recess is one of the few inexpensive, readily available opportunities we have to get kids moving.

What's more, children who don't get recess miss out on valuable life lessons, according to Susan Ohanian, an education advocate and author of "What Happened to Recess and Why Are Our Children Struggling in Kindergarten?"

"Anybody who knows anything about children -- particularly little kids -- knows that they learn so much on the playground: how to get along, negotiate, make and follow each other's rules, talk to one another, and fall down and get back up again," says Ohanian, who, in addition to being an instructor at an alternative high school in Troy, New York, has taught third, seventh, and eighth grade in public schools there.

"But for kids these days, lunch is too short, they don't get a chance to talk to anybody, sometimes they can't even get a drink or go to the bathroom -- civilized things adults take for granted. It's barbaric."

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What happened!

It's been quite a while since I've experienced recess, but I have incredible memories of my time on the playground: I loved playing jacks and Miss Mary Mack with my best friend, Stacey; I almost got my butt kicked in a schoolyard brawl with the nerdy girl, Kim; and the slide gave me the perfect cover for staring at and daydreaming about Sean, who I thought was the cutest boy, like, ever.

Most of all, I couldn't wait to feel the sun kiss my face as I soared higher and higher on the swing -- a rare delight for this latchkey kid who couldn't go outside until my mom came home from work. Recess was everything to me.

So, if research has proven that recess is good for kids, why are more and more schools eliminating it? Studies suggest that as many as 40% of schools nationwide have cut recess -- citing lack of time, supervision, and resources.

Students most likely to get little or no time outside, says Dr. Barros, are those in low-income, urban neighborhoods where play areas are scarce -- and teachers are busy trying to raise their students' test scores to meet strict federal No Child Left Behind standards.

Meanwhile, there are some parents who don't object to seeing recess go away. They often have less than fond memories of the playground, and are keen on sparing their children the bullying they endured.

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Moms fight back

But there is also a large group of moms who couldn't disagree more. When Jennifer van Rosmalen, of Peoria, Arizona, heard that her 9-year-old son -- and the entire fourth grade -- had lost recess privileges for forgetting to bring pencils to music class, she thought it "cruel and unusual punishment."

And she was flabbergasted when her 11-year-old told her that the sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students in his middle school had gone without recess for six months because of an unspecified incident on the playground.

"To me, it's like taking away air or depriving someone of sleep," she says. "These things are essential for health and well-being, and so is recess."

Van Rosmalen says she appealed to the principals of both her children's schools -- even offering to work as a recess monitor at the middle school -- but with no luck. (The first principal, now at another school, doesn't recall the incident Van Rosmalen described; the second denies the mom's account.)

For Marie Walton, a Howell Township, New Jersey, mom of two, the outcome was different. She dug in, fought her children's school district to make recess a priority -- and won.

Walton started her mission after finding out, during a meeting about raising money to install new playground equipment, that the kids in her second-grade son's elementary school rarely, if ever, went outside for free play.

"I was just shocked," says Walton. "I grew up in this town, and I immediately thought of my fifth-grade teacher -- who took us outside, even if it was drizzling or snowing. I was floored that these kids were expected, at such a young age, to sit all day."

Armed with mounds of research -- and some 300 signatures from like-minded parents -- Walton spoke before the local Board of Education, arguing for playtime for all other township's schools.

"So much pressure has been put on our teachers to produce high test scores," she told the board. "Perhaps you would see [the kids] perform better if they were given a chance to release the anxieties and stress of everyday school pressures."

It took many months of advocacy -- and a movement-sparking front-page story in the local newspaper -- for the board to implement guidelines that, while not mandatory, ask schools to fit in at least 20 minutes of recess daily and to limit punishing students by taking away playtime.

The fight wasn't easy, Walton concedes, but was well worth it--if only to help her kids make it through the long day. "They need fresh air," she says. "And it's up to us, as parents, to fight for their right to take a break."

She and some other moms later got a more sweeping bill introduced before the state legislature. (At press time, that bill hadn't made it through the governor's office; a new one has been introduced.)

As for my own frazzled child, things -- happily -- turned around. A new principal, who seems to recognize the importance of playground time, has stepped in at Marl's school.

Marl's enjoying her time outside, where she's found new best friends, gets to work off some steam, and, best of all, is able to just goof off for a while, hanging on the monkey bars, feeling the calluses on her hands and the wind through her locks.

How to get recess back

What you need to know to fight for your child's right to play midday.

1. Get informed. Arm yourself with plenty of research about the importance of play to kids' development.

You'll find great resources at Peaceful Playgrounds, an advocacy group whose Right to Recess Campaign includes downloadable PowerPoint presentations and studies to support the argument. You can also connect with your state's "recess advocate," who can help gather information and resources.

2. Get galvanized. Teresa Evanko Bilello, a Muncie, Indiana, mom of two, rallied a core group of parents to speak at school-board meetings so they could see she wasn't the only mom riled up about the lack of recess at her children's schools.

"Make yourselves a nuisance if necessary," says Bilello, whose efforts successfully brought playground time back to the schools' schedule.

3. Get to the higher-ups. Talking to your child's principal about reinstating or extending recess is a good start. But if you're really looking to change school policy, take your case to the local school board (or higher!), where system-wide reform can be made.

And remember says Walton: "We're the ones who vote these people into their positions. If they don't give your school what it needs, you can replace them with leaders who will."

One in 38 children in the South Korea may have Autism: study (Reuters)

CHICAGO/Seoul (Reuters) - a 38 children in the South Korea may have autism, a surprisingly high number based on a new approach to research suggesting that autism is a global problem which is significantly underdiagnosed, researchers said Monday.

The estimate, which translates by 2.64 per cent of the children is much higher than the 1 per cent approximately seen in studies in the United States and in Europe.

The study is the first to estimate the autism in Korea in the South, and while the study must be confirmed, it suggests autism may be more common than they thought.

"We surprised us." Yes, "said Dr Shin Young Kim from Yale University, whose study was funded by the advocacy group speaks of autism and published in the American Journal of Psychiatry."

The team of Kim used a careful research method involving 55,000 children aged 7 to 12 in the city of Goyang Korea of screening. The team interviewed on the behaviour of their children, parents, and then follow-up assessments of children likely to confirm their diagnosis.

This population-based approach was designed to capture the cases which could not be detected by methods that use the school or medical records to identify children with autism.

"The high prevalence of this new population, that we included in our study - children without previous delays development or mental health problems," said Kim.

The rate of autism in children in special schools was 0.75%, compared to 1.89% in normal school classes.

Autism rates were climbing over the last decade, in part due to changes in the way it is diagnosed.

Instead of a single diagnosis, autism is a spectrum of diseases ranging from a profound inability to communicate and mental retardation to mild symptoms as with Asperger's syndrome.

WORLD CONCERN

In Asia, parents are ignorant in large part on the disorder, which has no cure, and are reluctant to face.

"Many parents in Korea does not recognize the symptoms of autism." "We are not sure which figure is correct, but if this is the case, number of children with autism may be underdiagnosed,", said a spokesman at a specialist clinic.

"A problem that seems to pop up frequently, it is that parents do not want to recognize that their children may be autistic, said the woman, who asked not be named.

"Many do not recognize the need for clinical care, which is essential,", said a doctor at a such another clinic. "Korean culture can make it more difficult (accept) autism."

The highly structured nature of Korean schools - in which the school day can exceed 12 hours - may also contribute to a high number of children with autism not detected.

"For quiet, high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorders, this environment can reduce the likelihood of referrals to special education programs," the team wrote.

Geraldine Dawson of Autism Speaks said the study "confirms that autism is a world concern of health".

But it also suggests that research methods current are underestimating autism in the United States and elsewhere.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates autism affects about 110 children.

Dr. Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp, an epidemiologist at the CDC, said that it is probably method for the estimation of the prevalence agency - with the emphasis on probable cases - lack some of the children.

"We know that we do are not capturing all of the cases," she told Reuters in a telephone interview.

In regards to the study of Korea in the South, she said: "we are concerned as this prevalence is high, but we must bear in mind that they are using a different methodology." Using different methodology gives you different estimates, "she said."

But Craig Newschaffer, a researcher of Autism at Drexel University in Philadelphia, which has seen the study, said there may be other reasons, that the estimates of the Korea of the South are higher.

"Most of the cases came from the sample of the general population," he said, which was attended by only about 60 per cent of the parents. He said in ordinary schools, parents who have concerns about their child's development could have been more likely to participate than those who had no concern.

But to Newschaffer, numbers are less important than the conclusion that autism is so widespread.

"Autism is a major problem of public health of the United States, in Europe and probably in the world." I do not think that this is a game changer, but I think we must be more attentive to determine why. ?

(Other reports by Tan Ee Lyn in Hong Kong.) (Editing by Eric Beech)

Dads eat outdoors have children who eat Out, study finds

the fathers have a major influence on how often their children eat fast food and other types of restaurants, shows new research.

The study includes 312 families in Houston who were interviewed on schedules of parents, parenting style, beliefs about family meals and the amount of time children spend in the car with the parents. Children in families were ages 9 to 11 and 13 to 15.

Factors associated with eating more included: two parents having standard working hours. children spend more time in the family car; and the use of the fathers of restaurants, according to researchers at the Texas A & M University.

Meals served in restaurants tend to be higher in fat, calories and salt than meals prepared at home, researchers, said in a press release of the newspaper.

The authors of the study made special note of the strong association between fathers and children use of and the time spent in fast food restaurants and full service.

The study is published in May / June issue of the journal of Nutrition, education and behaviour.

"As demonstrated by food, as behaviour based on the home and food fast food, catering for track from childhood to adolescence to young adulthood, fathers should be encouraged to model healthy food choices when they get food and eating with children at home." After all, fathers who believe that the dinner is an important family ritual reduce the use of fast food; This perception should be encouraged among the fathers, "study author Alex McIntosh, said in a press release of the newspaper.

The results highlight the importance of identifying the factors that increase the use of American families in restaurants, according to researchers.

Treatment of children for the costs of environmental ills U.S. $76 (b) a year (HealthDay)

 children's health problems caused by the pollution of air, exposure to chemicals toxics and other pollutants environmental cost United States 76.6 billion in 2008, a new study concludes.

Which was 3.5 per cent of the country's total health spending, this year, compared to 2.8% in 1997, said researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and colleagues.

They examined the cost of cancer in children and chronic diseases such as asthma, autism, attention deficit disorder and intellectual disability related at least in part to toxins and contaminants in water, air, soil and foods, as well as in homes and neighbourhoods.

Costs included medical and fresh indirect such as labour productivity lost relatives to take care of sick children.

Among the key findings:

Cancers of the child cost 95 million.Poisoning by lead cost 50.9 billion.Autism costs 7.9 billion.Intellectual disability cost 5.4 billion.Exposure to mercury (methylmercury) cost 5.1 billion.Disorder ADHD cost $ 5 billion.Asthma cost 2.2 billion.

The study, funded by the Kresge Foundation, appears in the may issue of the journal Health Affairs.

"Left unchecked, will these preventable environmental factors continue to affect the health of our children and to raise health care costs," author of the study Leonardo Trasande, of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, said in a press release of the newspaper.

"By updating laws to protect the public health and environmental regulations, we can reduce the number of victims taken by factors on the health of children and the economy," said Trasande.

Football legend Steve Young urges children, Parents to play Safe (HealthDay)

the Parents who suspect that their child has suffered a concussion, while sports must immediately take the players off the coast of the area - even at the risk of embarrassing their kid - to avoid the potentially permanent brain injurythe legend of football Steve Young.

At a press conference Monday on the prevention of injuries to young held by Safe Kids USA sports, Young joined experts to describe what parents should look for when dealing with some of the most serious injuries athleticsuch as concussions, heat stroke and muscle and joint overuse.

Young, a former NFL quaterback who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005, said that he has suffered several concussions throughout his 30 years career, an issue "affects to the forefront, such that it should be."

"This is an infamous injury with all kinds of gradations, each contextual to the person," said Young. "You know how things will affect you." The key is not push - which is still a very dangerous mistake. ?

Approximately 10 per cent of American children 38 million participation in sport each year are treated to a sports injury, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about half of these injuries are avoidable.

A recent national survey sponsored by Safe Kids USA and Johnson & Johnson found that generally little concern expressed parents on the number of potential injuries that might support sports team game, with only concussions and dehydration causing "much" or "a little" to worry about their children.

About 86% of surveyed parents said their child injury was "only a portion of the game" and that he probably would have happened anyway. The survey was followed by similar research conducted in 2000, who has studied the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour on the safety of the young athletes of parents.

"There is much more benefit to the participation of sports that risk, but we must manage risk correctly," Gerard Gioia, Director of the program, safety from concussion, recovery & Education (SCORE) for children National Medical Center told the press conference.

Gioia and Young advised parents to be alert to any change in the behaviour of the child, in the moments after a blow on the head or the body which causes the head to the jerk forward that can cause a concussion. Most of the time, the player will lose not conscience, but perhaps appear dizzy, dazed or simply spell.

"As long as parent, I might interfere with my child or I might embarrass coach if I think they are acting differently," Young said. "There is enormous pressure to stay on the ground and this is why in many ways, the athletes are not the best judges [capabilities]." In fact, in many respects, they are the worst judges. ?

To avoid heat stroke, which can occur during heavy exercise and high temperatures, children should monitor their urine before practices and games colour to calculate their fluid needs, said Douglas Casa, chief operating officer of the Korey Stringer Institute of the University of Connecticut.

Athletes should aim to drink sufficient fluids for urine color of lemonade instead that the color of Apple juice, said Casa. The water is ideal for events less than an hour, he added, while the Gatorade sports drinks are a choice of best for more than an hour events requiring more electrolytes.

Overuse injuries - as pitcher elbow so-called - are caused by repetitive muscle and joint movements which degrade tissues without giving him a chance to heal, said Casa. Safe Kids USA recommends that young athletes take off 10 weeks per year from the same sport played for several seasons.

Children involved in team sports spend on average 7.4 hours per week practicing or playing games, with the boys spend about 20% more time than girls and youth from 10 to 14-year-spending significantly more time that 5 to 9 years.

Almost all parents surveyed believed sports organized team provide positive experiences for their children and 31% said learning values like teamwork and sportsmanship work was the most important benefit. Interviewed sports included football, soccer, field hockey, basketball, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, baseball, softball, and T-ball.

Young advised parents to learn the rules of sports their children play and publicize their coaches, but not step to push to play the game itself. He said that motivation must come from the children.

"If you are the forefront and pushing, I don't know if it is in good health over a period of time", he said.

Camp: New perspectives for sick children

Catherine MacLean at the hospital in 2001 and MacLean as a first year of College this year.In 1996, Catherine MacLean has learned that she had Aplasia, hospital stays became his normHole in the Wall Gang Camps, started by Paul Newman, has contributed to its more normal lifeThere crossing, campers learn how the world could be if a diagnosis is not controlling their every moveAs Catherine finishes up its first year of College, she looks forward to many opportunities

in 1996, when she was 4 years old, Catherine MacLean learned that she had Aplasia. For seven years, she lived a transfusion to another visit to the hospital to visit to the hospital. It was not until summer 2002 that his world suddenly included what was possible beyond the walls of his illness. She was 11.

For many years between, the disease controlled his life - Aplasia is a type of failure of the bone marrow which made it impossible to produce enough red blood cells in support of his body.

In 2001, Catherine spent three weeks in solitary confinement in a clinic so that she could get a bone marrow transplant. All visitors had to rub into the room, and her mother should wear a surgical mask if she was sleeping there.

When she returned to school, Catherine had maintained on the school plan, but the social environment in school makes for a difficult transition.

"I was certainly clearly aware that I was different from other children in my class, in many ways - in terms of maturity, take risks," Catherine told CNN.

"It is just this gap in experience, because I just did things and places that they simply do not have."

To help meet the other including children, Catherine doctors encouraged to go to a summer camp special for seriously ill children. The hole in the Wall Gang Camps were launched by actor Paul Newman "to recognize the chance;" the chance of it, the benevolence of it in my life and the brutality of it in the lives of others, is particularly savage for children because they may not authorized good fortune of a lifetime to correct the situation.

Catherine camp attended Ashford, Connecticut, is administered by the nurses, physicians and advisors of the cabin, and he is proud of giving kids, a place where they feel "safe, respected and loved."

For these children, suffering from diseases such as hemophilia, sickle cell anemia and cancer, it is a chance to see beyond the walls of the hospital for what the world might be like if a diagnosis is a not controlling their every action, clinics and hospital rooms were not as secondary residences.

Canton of Jimmy CEO has been with the camp since it began in 1988. He described as a place where children are encouraged to look beyond what they thought was possible: "they have been told repeatedly and repeatedly what they cannot do." And camp reminded them that there are lot of things they can do. ?

Nicole Kucine is a pediatric hematologist and oncologist who gets more training at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and has been volunteering in the camp for four years. Outside of the summer, she works closely with many sick children in hospitals and clinics. at the camp, she sees sick children in a different light.

This that she sees - children dancing around dining rooms, inviting, and insisting on the fact that she join in-is invigorating.

"Seeing kids so as to not to take account of their illness was incredible." They have to take a medication when they eat their meals, was not a big problem. They could be normal, "she told CNN."

"Normal" does was not something Catherine who know well in advance of the camp. The beginning of the camp has coincided with the first anniversary of its transplantation and its doctors began just to use the word "cure."

At the camp, Catherine was adopted by young advisers, eager to make his acquaintance. Many advisors were in College, which helped her to imagine what was for if long was intangible future.

"My kind of vision for my life has always been very limited, and he was always very well one day by day." It was like in a week, I must get an another transfusion blood and in a few months, we are going to change my medication and in a few months, we will gonna transplant, "she said on CNN.

The experience has enabled Catherine suggests, "there are things out there." I can set long-term objectives now. I can have long term goals. There are things that I will be able to.

Friends of his own camp always provide support and understanding today, when the "normal" life can get complicated. Explain the complexities of his illness might be difficult for a college freshman, trying to make new friends. But his friends camps can commiserate on routine checks and the results of trials that any explanation.

The camp also modifies the way children interact with the authority figures. In hospitals, there are always of many guards often things to sick children who are uncomfortable, as the drawing of blood or give them drugs.

Events such as the "silly Olympics", the camp puts kids back in the driver's seat. Correctly answering trivia questions win campers the right to launch a spoonful of pudding in the face of their adviser or an adviser to spraying with a Super Soaker, or perhaps make lemonade mix into the mouth of the Advisor.

"Silly Olympics is, here is the figure of this authority, but you are allowed to run pudding on them, you are allowed to strike back, you are allowed to type to take control of the situation in a way that many of these children get control over their bodies and their lives just completely removed". "to their" said Catherine.

At the hospital, you're a patient, that's all, you are; in many ways, you are your disease. Here, you get up on stage and you are a singer or you are a craftsman in wood shop or you are a fisherman, you get to try different things and so you can take back a sense of "I like to fish."I am good at celaJ have discovered this talent, "she told CNN."

This year, when Catherine ends up to the first year of College, she welcomes many possibilities, such as medical research and graduate studies. But she said that the camp has also opened his eyes to the social aspect of medicine, and she plans to enter the public health or seeking a job that supports patients.

But for the moment, it is all excited on his summer job. It will be back at the camp who has changed his life, but this time as an advisor.

Thousands of very sick children around the world, summer camp is not only a place to escape from the parents and make new friends.