Physicians across the country say that there has been increase of children with kidney stones. Despite hard data, Dr. Alicia Neu, who is a kidney specialist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore agrees.

Kidney stones can be terribly painful and are more often seen in adults. While the issue of kidney stones in children is new, it’s not surprising. Many children lead lifestyles that include little or no activity and high processed, high salt diets that can lead to the formation of stones.

A simple solution for the prevention of stones is to drink more fluids, says the National Kidney Foundation.

To read the entire story, please visit: http://healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=615685T

In a recent study that will be published in an upcoming issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers have found that when given a device to monitor severe type 1 diabetes, some adults and most children and teenagers had trouble using the device on a continuous basis. The device, which is inserted underneath the patient’s skin, monitors blood sugar levels and sounds an alarm when their levels become too high or low. For example, 83% of adults aged 25 years and older used the device 6 days a week or more. In contrast, 30% of teenagers aged 15 to 18 years old and only 50% of children aged 8 to 14 years old used the device 6 days a week or more. Why do you think that children and teenagers did not use the device as much as adults did?

It would be interesting to get the perspective of someone who has diabetes, or clinicians who have experience with this topic. Are the alarms an annoyance? Do they sound often?

For more information on this study entitled “Continuous Glucose Monitoring and Intensive Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes, funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, please visit:

The New England Journal of Medicine: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMoa0805017 or

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation: http://www.jdrf.org/

For information regarding the upcoming influenza season please visit: http://preventinfluenza.org/professionals.asp

This site includes information regarding the different types of vaccines, information on the different populations who should get vaccinated, healthcare worker vaccination and when to get the shot or mist.