 Jenny Sun, PhD The impact of medication use during childhood and adolescence is understudied. Children have traditionally been excluded from randomized trials largely due to ethical concerns and the challenges of obtaining consent of minors, resulting in a lack of evidence to inform treatment decision making. Unfortunately, this lack of evidence-based prescribing has immediate and potentially lifelong consequences. An estimated 200,000 children in the United States visit the emergency department each year due to an adverse drug reaction. Beyond these urgent consequences, there is emerging research that points to long term impacts, specifically raising the question: could this lack of evidence on drug safety also be related to the increasing burden of youth-onest type 2 diabetes?
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 Kristina Lewis, MD, MPH, SM Despite a good run of over 50 years in the business, McDonald’s decided late in 2016 that the services of its friendly, funny clown, Ronald McDonald, were no longer required. The clown, it seems, had become a threat to public health. Why? Not because he was pushing trans fats on toddlers, selling sodas to six-year-olds, and hawking hamburgers to high-schoolers. Rather, this sudden call to action by McDonald’s execs was out of grave concern that Ronald might be.......scaring people (Gasp!!) After a series of creepy clown sightings across the United States last fall, it was felt that Ronald’s continued presence as a McDonald’s ambassador might be upsetting to children.
 Diabetes that appears for the first time in pregnancy is called gestational diabetes, and affects 5 to 20% of pregnant women. High blood sugar – also known as hyperglycemia – in pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes for both mother and child, including higher rates of pre-eclampsia, caesarian section, babies born large for their gestational age and shoulder dystocia, and hypoglycemia in newborns. We also know that treatment of gestational diabetes decreases the risk of these complications.
 A few weeks ago in Toronto, I had the pleasure of hearing my colleague Seth Berkowitz, a talented young researcher at MGH, present a project. His presentation was clear, his research methods thoughtful and his analysis impeccable. But after his talk, rather than praise, he got push-back. Why?
Because his findings challenged a popular theory for socioeconomic differences in healthy food access, obesity and diabetes; he found that living in a food desert does not affect individuals’ control over their diabetes.  DNA is at the base of all life: plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. I personally have always been fascinated by genetics. As a teen, I would dive into books explaining fundamentals of genetics; as a medical student I did an elective in clinical genetics and strongly considered genetics as specialty (but stuck with my original passion for endocrinology). Yet, as a post-doctoral fellow, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to invest my time in learning about the genetics of obesity and diabetes, since what I really want is to find better ways to prevent those conditions. But I got wrapped into population genetics and still love it.
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