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For years, the standard practice for children with feeding tubes has been to provide them with commercially available formula as a source of complete nutrition. While some children have no difficulty tolerating these formulas, others may experience problems such as significant vomiting, diarrhea, retching or growth issues. For these patients, a blended diet may offer a number of benefits. …Read More
The patient is back in your office with another bout of recurrent pneumonia — the third time this year. At 7 years old, he can’t wait to join his school’s soccer team, but his parents report that he gets winded easily. Does he have asthma? Or could his symptoms indicate another problem with his airway?
Symptoms such as noisy breathing, a barking cough, and frequent respiratory infections can signal tracheomalacia (also known as tracheobronchomalacia), says Russell Jennings, MD, surgical director for the Esophageal and Airway Treatment Center at Boston Children’s Hospital. In this condition, the airway narrows or collapses when a child breathes, leading to symptoms such as noisy breathing, a barking cough, recurrent pneumonia and cyanosis. …Read More
Marijuana use during adolescence is highly correlated with an increased risk of developing a psychotic disorder, and marijuana is thought to play at least a partial causal role in this relationship.
In a study published today in JAMA Pediatrics, we found that among adolescents presenting for routine medical care who reported marijuana use in the past year, approximately four in 10 reported experiencing at least one psychotic symptom during or shortly after using marijuana. While the neurological mechanisms of these symptoms are not well understood, our findings are concerning and need to be studied further.
This study is the first to document the rate of psychotic symptoms experienced during marijuana use; our findings can be considered a baseline for comparison as the variety, strength and formulation of marijuana-based products proliferates.
Read the study in JAMA Pediatrics and learn more about Boston Children’s Adolescent Substance Abuse and Addiction Program (ASAP).
About our experts:
Sharon Levy, MD, MPH, is the director of the Adolescent Substance Abuse and Addiction Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician and an associate professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
Elissa Weitzman, ScD, MSc, is an associate scientist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an associate professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
Clinicians generally recommend that patients discontinue use of exogenous hormones such as estrogen and testosterone before undergoing surgical procedures, due to the potential increased risk of blood clots and other complications. Yet there’s little evidence to support this practice in transgender people, according to a new systematic review by Elizabeth Boskey, PhD, and her colleagues in the Center for Gender Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital. In fact, there may be possible psychological harm in requiring trans patients to halt hormone therapy, she says. …Read More