February 29, 2012, 12:01 amBy GRETCHEN REYNOLDS Hoping to learn more about how inactivity affects disease risk, researchers at the University of Missouri recently persuaded a group of healthy, active young adults to stop moving around so much. Scientists have known for some time that sedentary people are at increased risk of developing heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. But they haven’t fully understood why, in part because studying the effects of sedentary behavior isn’t easy. People who are inactive may also be obese, eat poorly or face other lifestyle or metabolic issues that make it impossible to tease out the specific role that inactivity, on its own, plays in ill health. click HERE to read more from the New York Times.

By H. GILBERT WELCH Published: February 27, 2012  Hanover, N.H.

EARLY diagnosis has become one of the most fundamental precepts of modern medicine. It goes something like this: The best way to keep people healthy is to find out if they have (pick one) heart disease, autism, glaucoma, diabetes, vascular problems, osteoporosis or, of course, cancer — early. And the way to find these conditions early is through screening. if you'd like to read more click HERE for the New York Times.

Every parent knows that talking to our children is crucial to how they learn. There’s even a special style of one-way conversation — “baby talk,” or “infant-directed speech” — that seems to come naturally to adults speaking to babies, and to help babies learn to speak more quickly. With toddlers, we do the same, holding up far more than our share of the conversational burden with a sort of narration designed, however unconsciously, to instruct, entertain and repeat key concepts. If you would like to read more please click HERE for the New York Times.

  February 20, 2012, 12:47 pm By JANE E. BRODY

One morning, a well-meaning swimming buddy called out for all in the Y locker room to hear: “I can’t believe Jane Brody doesn’t do yoga!”Click HERE to read more from the New York Times.

Enough already.

A year ago, The Wall Street Journal published an excerpt from Amy Chua’s book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” under the provocative headline “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior.” Now, in an article adapted from Pamela Druckerman’s soon-to-be-published “Bringing Up Bébé,” the Journal sets out to tell us “Why French Parents Are Superior.”

Click HERE to read more at the New York Times

In November, the question of whether that pediatrician could ethically refuse to treat the child was debated on the Armchair Ethicist, and here as well. Putting the ethical question aside, Dr. Douglas Diekema has a simple answer for pediatricians who might want to turn away those patients (and in his experience, many routinely do so, some by screening them before an appointment is even made): 

Click HERE to read more at the New York Times

Very small babies delivered prematurely by Caesarean section because they were not growing properly in the womb developed more respiratory problems than those who had induced vaginal deliveries, a new study found. The study adds to growing concern over the high rate of Caesarean section deliveries in the United States, which reached 32 percent, or nearly one in three deliveries, in 2007. Click HERE to read more at the New York Times.

 February 8, 2012, 12:36 pm By KJ DELL'ANTONIA “It’s not baby-sitting when Daddy does it.”

It’s not baby-sitting when Daddy does it. Who wouldn’t agree with that? The U.S. Census Bureau, apparently. When both parents are present in the household, the Census Bureau assumes for the purposes of its “Who’s Minding the Kids?” report, that the mother is the “designated parent.” And when the designated parent is working or at school, the bureau would like to know who’s providing child care.

Click HERE to read more from the New York Times

By ANAHAD O’CONNOR

   February 6, 2012, 12:01 am By NICHOLAS BAKALAR A massage after vigorous exercise unquestionably feels good, and it seems to reduce pain and help muscles recover. Many people — both athletes and health professionals – have long contended it eases inflammation, improves blood flow and reduces muscle tightness. But until now no one has understood why massage has this apparently beneficial effect. If you 

If you would like to read more please CLICK here for the New York Times.

 By DINA BAKS Op-Ed Contributor Published: January 30, 2012

January 30, 2012, 11:38 am By KJ DELL’ANTONIA

 By L. ALAN SROUFE Published: January 28, 2012  THREE million children in this country take drugs for problems in focusing. Toward the end of last year, many of their parents were deeply alarmed because there was a shortage of drugs like Ritalin and Adderall that they considered absolutely essential to their children’s functioning.Read more by clicking HERE to go to the New York Times.

Updated January 20, 2012 7:40 PM  The Gingrich Question: Cheating vs. Open Marriage

Debaters 

January 18, 2012, 12:17 pm By KJ DELL’ANTONIA

Does the question of whether or not a woman should have an epidural during the birth of her child really need to be a polarizing one? On Slate, Melinda Wenner Moyer considers the claims of both sides of the issue — all of which were impressed upon her during her pregnancy last year.

On the one side are the natural birth opponents, armed with research supporting the idea that epidurals lengthen labor, make pushing difficult, increase the risk of a Caesarean section, and leave the newborn unable to properly latch on to the breast after birth.

On the other are physicians and anesthesiologists with reassuring, possibly self-interested words: epidurals, most say, are perfectly safe. Ms. Moyer dug into the research.

What I discovered is that there aren’t many clear answers — epidural research has been fraught with methodological problems — but in sum, the concerns voiced by natural birthers are exaggerated.

  January 13, 2012, 4:27 pm By KJ DELL’ANTONIA A study published in the British Medical Journal this week provides stronger evidence that taking some antidepressants during pregnancy doubles the risk of a baby developing pulmonary hypertension. Researchers have long suspected a link between the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, and the condition, but previous studies have been small and inconclusive (with results ranging from there being no link to a six times greater risk). If you'd like to read more please click here for the New York Times.

 By NICHOLAS BAKALARPublished: January 9, 2012In two new studies, researchers have pinpointed the most common causes of stillbirths and have found that known risk factors explain just a small minority of cases. If you would like to read more please click HERE for the New York Times.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/magazine/how-yoga-can-wreck-your-body.html?pagewanted=1&src=recg

This was the situation I found myself in. In my 30s, I had somehow managed to rupture a disk in my lower back and found I could prevent bouts of pain with a selection of yoga postures and abdominal exercises. Then, in 2007, while doing the extended-side-angle pose, a posture hailed as a cure for many diseases, my back gave way. With it went my belief, naïve in retrospect, that yoga was a source only of healing and never harm. If you would like to read more please click here for the New York Times.

By ERIK ECKHOLMPublished: November 6, 2011 The white-bearded preacher, Michael Pearl, who delivered his sermon in stained work pants, and his wife, Debi, mixed warmly with the families drawn to their evangelical ministry, including some of their own grandchildren.

The pastoral mood in the hills of Tennessee offered a stark contrast to the storm raging around the country over the Pearls’ teachings on child discipline, which advocate systematic use of “the rod” to teach toddlers to submit to authority. The methods, seen as common sense by some grateful parents and as horrific by others, are modeled, Mr. Pearl is fond of saying, on “the same principles the Amish use to train their stubborn mules.” If you would like to read more please click HERE to go to the New York Times.