Burtis B. Breese

Childhood antecedents of adult obesity Do chubby infants become obese adults

We investigated whether obese infants tend to become obese adults. Records of subjects born between 1945 and 1955 were reviewed to select three cohorts based on weight in the first six months of age, which exceeded the 90th percentile at least once, ranged between 25th and 75th percentiles or was below 10th percentile at least once. Three hundred and sixty-six subjects, now between 20 and 30 years of age, were located and their present height and weight determined. Thirty-six per cent of those exceeding the 90th percentile as infants were overweight adults, as compared to 14 per cent of the average age and light-weight infants. A significant increase (chi square = 17.2, p less than 0.001) in adult obesity was evident when the infant exceeded the 75th percentile that was independent of his height. Social class, educational level, and parental weight all correlated with adult weight (p less than 0.001). Sex and ordinal position of birth did not. The data suggest that infant weight correlates strongly with adult weight independently of other factors considered.

Parainfluenza viral infections in children: Correlation of shedding with clinical manifestations

Children presenting with acute respiratory disease to a private group practice in the fall of 1975 were studied to: (1) evaluate the efficacy in a pediatric office of a simple technics of obtaining nasal washes for the diagnosis of parainfluenza virus infections and (2) to determine the quantities of virus shed in relation to clinical characteristics. The nasal wash technic proved feasible for an office or clinic. Parainfluenza virus type 1 was recovered from 26 (74%) of 35 children with croup and from 40 (56%) of the total 72 children presenting with any form of respiratory illness. Virus was recovered significantly more often from children with croup and from those of younger age. The mean quantity of virus in 26 nasal washes was 2.97 log10 TCID50/ml. The shedding of greater quantities was correlated with younger age and the more frequent occurrence of laryngitis, pharyngitis, and fever.

PREVENTION OF RHEUMATIC FEVER

Excerpt The following recommendations for the prevention of rheumatic fever are published by request of the Council on Rheumatic Fever and Congenital Heart Disease of the American Heart Association...

Speech defects in children.

Chairman Bloomer: In leading this round table I have with me Dr. Charles Strother, Professor of Clinical Psychology in the College of Medicine of the University of Washington at Seattle. I am from the University of Michigan Speech Clinic in Ann Arbor. We are very glad to be with you at this round table because it suggests the close relationship between the fields of speech pathology and pediatrics. We come to the American Academy of Pediatrics as representatives of the American Speech and Hearing Association which is the national organization for professional people interested in the study of speech disorders, their causes and their methods of treatment. Perhaps you are familiar with the official publication of the Association, the Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders. We bring you greetings from the Association. I think you may be interested in a brief outline of our general plan of discussion for the afternoon. The first part of our discussion will review the importance of a knowledge of speech disorders to specialists in pediatrics. Next we shall discuss in some detail the nature of these disorders and the etiologic factors which are frequently encountered, and then we shall suggest methods for handling the speech problems which the individual child may present. We shall be glad to have your participation, your questions, and your comments at any time during our discussion. We feel that this subject is particularly timely because of the steadily increasing interest of pediatricians in the general aspects of child growth and development rather than in only the medical care of children.

THE COMPARATIVE INEFFECTIVENESS OF NAFCILLIN (A NEW ANTISTAPHYLOCOCCAL DRUG) AGAINST BETA HEMOLYTIC STREPTOCOCCAL INFECTIONS IN CHILDREN.

Nafcillin, one of the newer penicillins designed for use against penicillin‐resistant staphylococci, was compared with buffered penicillin G in the oral treatment of beta hemolytic streptococcal infections in children. Although usually effective, occasionally it was not, nor was it as reliable as buffered penicillin G for this purpose.