The hiring pool improved for schools when the recession squeezed teachers, study finds.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner said that half of Chicago teachers were "illiterate" in a 2011 email, recently released to a city newspaper.

For years, Gustavo, an architect from Central America, felt drawn to working in the Arabian Peninsula. Then, on a short-term trip, he saw what it could be like to use his profession overseas.

From age 17, Ana Maria prayed to serve God in Switzerland. While she waited, she became a dance instructor with no idea dance would become her ministry.

Despite being aware of the need for discretion when talking about Jesus, Argentinian Cecilia felt no fear while she was in Central Asia.

Penn State Schuylkill senior Abigayle Kaiser has embraced leadership roles on campus throughout her undergraduate experience. From Schuylkill Benefitting THON, to the Lion Ambassadors, the Blue & White Society and so much more, Kaiser is a student who did it all. As she nears graduation with a full-time marketing job secured, Kaiser reflects on her time as a Penn Stater.

"Are all my elves ready? OK, off we go!" A group of Santa and his elves head out into Karuizawa, Japan, to share God’s love.

OMer Chris Griffioen was asked to perform a juggling show at an elderly care facility, and has since been invited to visit regularly.

In Japan, the birth and life of Jesus Christ is hardly known. For this reason, Christmas is a wonderful opportunity to point people to Him.

Two OMers were asked to help a church network deliver relief supplies to churches in Kumamoto after two large earthquakes had struck the area.

Nearly 20 years after voting to restrict bilingual education in a state with more than 1 million schoolchildren who don't speak English as their first language, California voters appear poised to reverse that ban.

Education Week catches you up on the week gone by with a thoughtful look at recent news in K-12 education.

The extra work that many dual-language bilingual educators take on "too often goes unrecognized and is never remunerated," a new small-scale study concludes.

Arizona is expected to repeal its longstanding ban on bilingual education, following similar moves in California and Massachusetts in recent years.

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s recent remarks on his willingness to work with segregationists resurrected his long-ago efforts to oppose school busing. Will it hurt his campaign?

This year's November elections—a preview to next year's nationwide showdowns—cast their own spotlight on education, a dynamic that played out most prominently in the Kentucky governor's race, where teachers organized to unseat a combative incumbent who'd sparred with them.

Docosahexaenoic acid is important for fetal brain development and visual acuity in infants. Infants born prematurely are at particular risk for docosahexaenoic acid insufficiency because they may not have benefited from a full trimester of the mother's lipid stores.

This is the first study in which the administration of fish-oil lipid emulsion in very low birth weight infants from the first day of life is described. The influence of fish-oil lipid emulsion on the regression of retinopathy seems to be worthy of further investigation. (Read the full article)

The extent to which young adults' laboratory-confirmed sexually transmitted disease results and self-reported sexual behaviors are consistent has not been assessed in a nationally representative sample.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether young adults' reports of recent sexual behavior (presence of penile/vaginal sex in the previous 12 months) correspond with the presence of laboratory-confirmed nonviral STDs assessed by nucleic acid amplification testing. (Read the full article)

There have been no previous large studies of congenital heart disease in very low birth weight infants.

This study characterized the frequency, mortality rate, and lesion distribution of serious congenital heart disease in very low birth weight infants by using a large international multicenter database. (Read the full article)

Autism has been associated with pregnancy and birth complications that may indicate a suboptimal prenatal environment. Although the interpregnancy interval (IPI) may affect the prenatal environment, the association between the IPI and risk for autism is not known.

Using full-sibling pairs from a large population, the authors examined the association between autism and IPIs. Second-born children conceived after an IPI of <12 months had more than threefold increased odds of autism relative to those with IPIs of ≥36 months. (Read the full article)

The current standard of care includes informing women about prenatal testing and newborn screening for cystic fibrosis and providing genetic counseling to parents whose child is referred for sweat-testing. Despite counseling, early data identified some persistent confusion about residual risk.

Prenatal discussions about carrier testing and newborn screening for cystic fibrosis are not routine. Parental anxiety about abnormal results from a screen is decreased after speaking to a genetic counselor when scheduling the sweat test. Despite counseling, residual risk continues to be poorly understood. (Read the full article)

Optimism later in life is protective against a range of health problems. It has commonly been a focus in adolescent mental health promotion. Cross-sectional studies suggest a protective effect against adolescent health risks, but prospective studies have been lacking.

Optimism is somewhat protective against adolescent health risks; the strongest effect was seen against the onset of new depressive symptoms. Its protective effect against heavier substance use and antisocial behavior was modest and only for the highest categories compared to the lowest. Promoting optimism along with other positive aspects of psychological and emotional style has a role in mental health promotion that is likely to be enhanced if an intervention also addresses risk and protective factors in an adolescent's social context. (Read the full article)

Few epidemiological studies, which included varied exposure assessment, have investigated the relation between drinking-water–disinfection byproducts such as trihalomethanes and hypospadias, and their results have been inconclusive.

Little evidence was found for an association between trihalomethanes and hypospadias, but a novel association between water consumption and hypospadias was found. Factors that influence maternal water consumption, or other contaminants in tap or bottled water, might explain this finding. (Read the full article)

Cardiovascular risk factors predict the development of premature atherosclerosis. As the number of risk factors increases, so does the extent of these lesions. Assessment of cardiovascular risk factors is an accepted practice in adults but is not used in pediatrics.

In this study, the authors discuss how the presence of ≥2 cardiovascular risk factors is associated with vascular changes in adolescents. The findings were compared with the Patholobiological Determinants of Atherosclerosis in Youth risk score to demonstrate that a simple method of clustering is a reliable tool to use in clinical practice. (Read the full article)

The use of steroids as a treatment for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy results in a slower progression in weakness. Bisphosphonates often are used in conjunction with steroid therapy to enhance bone health.

The combination of steroids and bisphosphonates seems to be associated with significantly improved survival rates compared with treatment with steroids alone. (Read the full article)

Intussusception is the most common cause of intestinal obstruction in young children. To date, there have been no prospective studies that have been able to develop a reliable clinical prediction model to determine which patients are at low risk for intussusception.

This study is the largest prospective cohort study to date to evaluate children with possible intussusception. It includes both univariate and multivariate analyses to develop clinical prediction models for patients at low risk for intussusception. (Read the full article)

The professionalism of physicians can have an impact on patient care and satisfaction and physician career success and is increasingly emphasized in residency training programs.

This study was an examination of the perspectives of families of pediatric patients and of pediatrics residents on the attributes of professionalism in physicians. Important overlaps were found between the attributes of professionalism prioritized by patient families and resident physicians. (Read the full article)

It has been well documented that exposure to tobacco marketing is a risk factor for smoking initiation among youth. However, few studies have tested the specificity of this association.

This study extends findings from other studies and shows (from a longitudinal design) that exposure to cigarette advertising is significantly associated with youth smoking initiation, whereas exposure to advertising for other commercial products is not. (Read the full article)

Many patient and family demographic characteristics are well-known risk factors for nonurgent emergency-department use. No previous study has examined the primary care physician perspective on parental decisions regarding specific nonurgent emergency-department visits by children.

When discussing specific instances when families in their practices sought nonurgent care for children in the emergency department, physicians believed that parents acted appropriately. Neither parents nor primary care physicians saw nonurgent emergency-department visits as a significant enough problem to warrant change. (Read the full article)

Approximately 27% of children with rotavirus in the hospital acquire it while hospitalized for another condition. Pediatric rotavirus vaccination greatly decreased the number of children hospitalized with rotavirus from 2007 to 2008.

Routine community-based rotavirus infant vaccination protects hospitalized children from acquiring rotavirus. Thus, community-based vaccination efforts should be encouraged as a strategy to decrease hospital-acquired rotavirus. (Read the full article)

Nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP) has been the initial respiratory support for many preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). Nasal intermittent positive-pressure ventilation (NIPPV) seems to increase the beneficial effects of NCPAP by combining it with ventilatory inflations.

This study suggests that NIPPV, as an intial respiratory support for preterm infants with RDS, is feasible and safe and may have beneficial effects, when compared with NCPAP. (Read the full article)

No studies have focused on the financial impact of fellowship training in pediatrics.

The results from this study can be helpful to current pediatric residents as they contemplate their career options. In addition, the study may be valuable to policy makers who evaluate health care reform and pediatric workforce-allocation issues. (Read the full article)

Primary care providers (PCPs) identify patients with undescended testis (UDT) and refer them to surgical specialists. Referral beyond the recommended times for orchiopexy has been reported, and PCPs' accuracy in identifying and distinguishing UDTs from retractile testes has been questioned.

We describe 3 observations that are strongly correlated with UDT, that is, birth history of UDT, prematurity, and visible scrotal asymmetry. UDT diagnoses are best made by 8 months of age, to reduce confusion with testicular retraction and to facilitate timely orchiopexy. (Read the full article)

Although gastroenteritis guidelines describe the need to perform oral rehydration, it remains underused, resulting in excessive use of intravenous rehydration. Other interventions, such as antiemetic administration, vary according to location, often resulting in differences in cost and outcomes.

In this nationwide cohort, intravenous rehydration use varied dramatically. Use was associated with the institution providing care and an increase in the need for future health care provider visits. Use of ondansetron also varied significantly across Canada. (Read the full article)

Associations between short sleep duration, obesity, and metabolic dysfunction have been proposed for children but have not been explored appropriately.

The main findings included a nonlinear trend between sleep duration and body weight and the finding that children's sleep averaged 8 hours per night regardless of body weight. Lower sleep duration values were strongly associated with increased metabolic risk. (Read the full article)

The efficacy of intravenous immunoglobulin and corticosteroid pulse combination therapy for refractory Kawasaki disease has been established. The Egami score can be used to predict which patients are likely to have refractory Kawasaki disease.

As a new strategy for primary treatment, intravenous immunoglobulin and corticosteroid pulse combination therapy is safe and effective for patients predicted to have refractory Kawasaki disease based on the Egami score. (Read the full article)

Educators, public health authorities, and law enforcement are confronting an increasing number of cases in which youth made sexual images of themselves and other minors and transmitted them via cell phones and the Internet.

This study provides the first detailed and comprehensive national estimate of the percentage of youth who create and distribute various kinds of sexual images. (Read the full article)

Most childhood HIV is acquired through perinatal transmission, some of which is preventable. Practitioners need to understand what proportion of perinatally acquired HIV infections are attributable to missed prevention opportunities.

Missed prevention opportunities include lack of early HIV testing for pregnant women; suboptimal use of antiretroviral medications during pregnancy, labor, or delivery or for the neonate; breastfeeding; and vaginal delivery when maternal viral load was ≥1000 copies/mL. (Read the full article)

Pediatric weight gain is a critical aspect of the obesity epidemic. Chronic stress produces physiologic perturbations capable of altering brain mechanisms related to eating as well as those implicated in self-regulatory behaviors.

We show that early childhood risk exposures are associated with weight gain in adolescence, independent of childhood BMI. We also find that deficiencies in self-regulatory processes help explain the link between chronic stress and adiposity. (Read the full article)

Gallbladder disease in children is an evolving entity and studies suggest an increasing frequency of symptomatic pediatric gallbladder disease and resultant cholecystectomies.

Hispanic ethnicity and obesity are epidemiologically significant risk factors for symptomatic gallbladder disease in the pediatric population. (Read the full article)

Spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress type 1 (SMARD1) is a progressive, inherited neuromuscular disease manifesting with diaphragmatic paralysis in the first year of life. All patients need mechanical ventilation.

We describe the natural course of SMARD1, developed a scoring system, and defined prognostic values. The clinical outcome of the patients was heterogeneous, and residual enzymatic activity of the IGHMBP2 protein was associated with a more benign disease course. (Read the full article)

Children with sickle cell disease are at high risk of complications from influenza infection and have been recommended to receive annual influenza vaccine since the 1970s. Few safety studies, however, have examined the safety of influenza vaccine in this population.

This large cohort study did not find an association between influenza vaccination and hospitalization for sickle cell crises in children with sickle cell anemia. (Read the full article)

Chorioamnionitis is associated with preterm birth and an increased risk of common adverse outcomes of prematurity, including early-onset sepsis and neurodevelopmental impairment. The effect of chorioamnionitis on postnatal immune function and risk of late-onset infection is unknown.

Chorioamnionitis, which complicates many preterm births, is independently associated with a significantly reduced risk of late-onset sepsis in preterm infants. The findings suggest that chorioamnionitis may modulate the development of postnatal immunity in a clinically significant manner. (Read the full article)

Children with special health care needs (CSHCN) account for more than one-third of pediatric health care costs. Little is known regarding the impact of shared decision-making (SDM) over time on child health care expenditures and utilization.

In a national sample, we found that increasing SDM was associated with decreased health care costs and utilization for CSHCN. Results support prospective studies to determine if pediatric interventions to foster SDM reduce the financial burden of caring for CSHCN. (Read the full article)

Available clinical prediction rules to identify children with cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis at low risk for Lyme meningitis include headache duration, cranial nerve palsy, and percent cerebrospinal fluid mononuclear cells. These rules require independent validation.

These clinical prediction rules accurately identify patients at low risk for Lyme meningitis in our large multicenter cohort. Children at low risk may be considered for outpatient management while awaiting Lyme serology. (Read the full article)

Human rhinovirus infections are common in children. Although historically associated with upper respiratory tract illness, rhinoviruses are increasingly recognized for their role in the exacerbation of asthma. Their role in bronchiolitis and severe lung disease in premature infants is unclear.

The authors of this study prospectively explore the role of rhinoviruses in premature infants using molecular techniques and identify these agents as the most frequent cause of hospitalization in this population. (Read the full article)

The quality of the relationship between mother and child affects the child’s neurodevelopment, emotion regulation, and stress response. Extreme or sustained stress responses are associated with dysregulation of physiologic systems involved in energy balance, which could lead to obesity.

The prevalence of obesity in adolescence was more than twice as high among those youth who in early childhood had poor-quality relationships with their mothers compared with those with better relationships. (Read the full article)

Extreme preterm birth is associated with developmental shortcomings that may reduce exercise capacity and participation in physical activities in later life. The number of studies addressing these issues in adolescent populations is limited, test methods differ, and results are diverging.

Exercise capacity after preterm birth was in the same range as in term-born control subjects. Participation in physical activity was lower in preterm subjects compared with control subjects; however, the response to exercise in terms of increased aerobic capacity was similar. (Read the full article)

Sleep problems are common during childhood, but screening for sleep problems in the clinic setting is often cursory. Moreover, there are few longitudinal studies examining the prevalence and persistence of sleep problems in young children.

Patterns of sleep problems vary across early development, but sleep problems arising in infancy persist in 21% of children through 36 months of age. Parent response to a nonspecific query about sleep problems may overlook relevant sleep symptoms and behaviors. (Read the full article)

Upper respiratory tract infections (URIs) are very common in children. Currently, there are no effective preventive measures for URI. There are no studies on the effect of montelukast for prevention of URI.

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of preschool-aged children, 12-week prophylactic treatment with montelukast did not reduce the incidence of URI. (Read the full article)