Highlight HEALTH

As 2007 comes to a close, I would like to thank you for your readership. Just over one year ago, I launched two websites, Highlight HEALTH and the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory. Here at Highlight HEALTH, my goal was to write about biomedical research I found interesting and to make it easier for people to understand research findings, empowering them to have more productive discussions with their physicians and to make informed decisions about healthcare. The Highlight HEALTH Web Directory is my endeavor to catalog and make available health-related websites I find to be informative and useful. More recently, I’ve also started writing about Web 2.0 in Health, Fitness and Medicine, and plan to publish a series of review articles on a number of health-focused social networks.

This past month, I started the Highlight HEALTH Network, an aggregation of content from both sites to allow readers to keep up with the latest articles on Highlight HEALTH and the newest additions to the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory, all from a single source.

Here are the most popular articles for 2007 (top 20 based on the number of page views/number of days posted):

1. The Highlight HEALTH Network RSS Dashboard Widget
2. Smoking Cessation Timeline: What Happens When You Quit
3. Dichloroacetate Not Ready for Therapeutic Use
4. The Highlight HEALTH Network
5. New Common Cold Virus Variant Deadly
6. Common Therapy for Prostate Cancer May Promote Metastasis
7. Overweight Kids and TV: An Advertising Epidemic
8. Saline Nasal Irrigation More Effective than Spray for Chronic Sinus Symptoms
9. Pediatric Grand Rounds 2.8
10. The Genetics of Panic Disorder
11. Smoking Duration vs. Intensity and the Impact on Lung Cancer Risk
12. Social Networks and Health - The Research and the Reviews
13. Quercetin
14. American Obesity Rate Levels Off
15. Biodegradable Polymers for Drug and Gene Delivery
16. Individual Genetics, Coffee Consumption, BRCA1 and Breast Cancer
17. The Flu, Your Health and the Importance of Vaccination
18. SCHIP Funding and Fiscal Irresponsibility
19. DNA Amplification by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
20. Sinus Congestion

Thank you and Best of Health in the coming year!

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Just in time for the holidays, Highlight HEALTH and the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory now offer an aggregated news feed.

The Highlight HEALTH Network is currently an aggregation of content from two news feeds:

• Highlight HEALTH
• The Highlight HEALTH Web Directory: New Additions

The aggregation of both feeds allows readers to easily keep up with the latest articles on Highlight HEALTH and the newest additions to the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory. You can subscribe to the Highlight HEALTH Network via RSS or email.

Do you currently subscribe to feeds on either Highlight HEALTH or the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory? Not to worry … these single feeds will continue uninterrupted. However, by subscribing to the Highlight HEALTH Network, you can stay up-to-date with new articles and websites, all from a single source.

Here’s some highlights of recent articles on Highlight HEALTH:

Here’s some highlights of recent additions to the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory. Hint: click on the category title to see all the websites currently listed.

Next up: plans to add a third feed to the Highlight HEALTH Network, which will include articles and reviews on Web 2.0 in Health, Fitness and Medicine from the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory.

Happy Holidays!

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At midnight just over a week ago, the seventh and final edition of the children’s wildly popular Harry Potter series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, was officially released.

To commemorate the occasion, each section of this week’s PGR begins with a quotation or some dialogue from the story. A total of 25 blog articles are included in this edition, each one just as magical as the next, and I hope you enjoy reading them all as much as I did. I intentionally kept my comments short so that you can focus on the content of each article.

So, without further delay, I present to you Pediatric Grand Rounds 2.8.

Health and Science

Breath Spa for Kids

Shinga leads this edition of PGR with two articles on the MMR vaccine. As the parent of a 2 year-old, I can appreciate the confusion and anxiety surrounding this controversial topic. Shinga responds to a number of common vaccination rumors in Fitzpatrick and Halvorsen Speak About Vaccines: Whom Do You Trust?. She follows that up by addressing the question Why Can’t We Have Single Jabs While There Is Uncertainty?

Junkfood Science

Always intelligent and articulate, Sandy Szwarc injects a dose of reality to refute the media’s alarming reports on “high” mercury levels that really aren’t high. Booster shots with mercury looks at the latest ‘mercury is hurting kids’ fears.

Angry Toxicologist

Before we leave the subject of vaccines, we visit the Angry Toxicologist who’s responding to a recent comment regarding the lack of an extreme view one way or the other towards vaccination in the Stupidity of Lying.

Tales from the Womb

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), meaning tissue death of sections of the bowel, is typically seen in premature infants. Neonatologist Phillip V. Gordon reviews a cohort study investigating NEC and its association with formula products. Drawing upon the results of two additional studies evaluating the effects of formula or breast milk on the development of NEC, From the Journal of Perinatology advocates the use of breast milk not only for mothers of term infants with known preconditions for NEC, but for every neonatal intensive care unit patient.

Med Journal Watch

Christian Bachmann writes that parents Better Let Kids Play in the Sun, suggesting that protecting children from the sun may do as much as seven times more harm than good.

Genetics and DNA

Eye on DNA

Which Came First? The Genes or the Divorce? That’s the question Hsien-Hsien Lei poses after reviewing two studies examining divorce and depression in children and their parents.

ScienceRoll

Bertalan Meskó had the opportunity recently to see how geneticists work in a pediatric deparment and has some suggestions to combine Web 2.0 and Clinical Genetics: In Practice.

Gene Sherpas: Personalized Medicine and You

Steve Murphy reviews a survey of pediatric Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) doctors and the use of genetic testing when evaluating childhood hearing loss in Pediatric Ear Nose and Throat but Not Gene Specialists. The Gene Sherpa asserts that the results demonstrate why genetic counselors and geneticists are needed.

Working with Patients

Musings of a Distractible Mind

Seriously amusing … or is it amusingly serious? … Dr. Rob offers some tips that may help future office visits go better in his letter To My Patients.

Tiggers don’t Jump

Judy discusses how difficult it is to teach heel stick draws in Preceptor — Learning to Teach Heel Stick Blood Draws.

Random Acts of Reality

Tom Reynolds, an E.M.T. working for the London Ambulance Service, writes about two calls and Two Children.

Recollection and Emotion

Chrysalis Angel

Chrysalis Angel, always one to write with inspiration and hope, recalls delivering a baby boy some years ago and wonders at the ability of creatures’ big and small to have offspring as Life’s Circle Goes On.

Unintelligent Design

Clark Bartram, the keeper of PGR, ruminates about doctors showing emotion in Delivering Bad News: When Good Doctors Go Sad. The story continues with some engaging discussion and comments at the end of the post.

Healthy Children

Dr. Steven Parker writes about euphemisms and developmental disabilities in “Developmental Delay” or “Mentally Retarded?” Getting Off the Euphemism Treadmill.

Universal Health

The ever eloquent N=1 recalls Some Enchanted Evening, a pediatric nursing rotation in a unit that housed cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and an evening of sandwiches and excitement.

Unique But Not Alone

In a heartfelt post, Jen acknowledges the daily struggles her daughter Meghan, born prematurely with Alpha-1 (a genetic disorder of the liver), faces and recalls when she was Discharged from NICU.

Neonatal Doc

Neonatal Doc writes about pregnancy and newborn Loss and how there aren’t any good words of comfort at such a time.

Nutrition and Health

Junkfood Science

Sandy Szwarc reports on The Real Tragedy, how heavy focus and media attention on the childhood obesity epidemic is having a dangerous counter effect on young people.

Dr. Gwenn Is In

While we’re on the subject of childhood obesity, Dr. Gwenn gives us a News Flash - Dancing Veggies Don’t Work! and suggests that replacing the dancing veggies with dancing kids eating veggies may be more effective. I think she might be right.

FoodSpark

Oliver’s Story starts with love and concern for a son. Cindy discusses treating Ollie’s physical and developmental issues through diet with some amazing results.

Being a Parent

Belvidere, Nebraska Pop. 98

Looking for tips on child care? The mayor of Belvidere, Nebraska presents an amusing manual on Child Care Maintenance that includes many excellent suggestions picked up over the years. A must read!

Family Connection

In a blogging community of central Ohio parents, Marcia describes Mothering, New York Times Style. She’s convinced something is being lost in the fast-paced mechanical pretense of life.

The Diet Dish

Tara Gidus discusses Nursing No No’s; food and non-food related dangers for nursing mothers to avoid.

The Preemie Experiment

Stacy asks if she’s been giving her daughter Too Much Praise?. In a society that’s overdoing more and more, I think it’s something that every parent should examine.

Conclusion

That concludes Pediatric Grand Rounds 2.8 - I hope the presentation left you spellbound. It’s been a pleasure to host this edition and I’d like to thank everyone that contributed articles. Be sure to take a moment and let your fellow bloggers know this issue of PGR is available so that everyone’s hard work can be appreciated and enjoyed by all.

Clark Bartram is looking for future Pediatric Grand Rounds hosts. You can find both the PGR hosting schedule and past editions at the Pediatric Grand Rounds Archive.

The next issue of Pediatric Grand Rounds is being hosted by Spooner Jenkins of Belvidere, Nebraska Pop. 98 on Sunday, August 12th.

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