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As a child, there were many things I hoped I might live to see, almost none of which have come to pass. There are still no colonies on the moon. The only flying car in production is really just a single-engine prop with folded up wings. My mother has yet to be wrong about something. But now the wait is over, at least if you, like me, have been waiting since sixth grade to see Superman and Wonder Woman get it on!
Thanks to DC Comics publisher and artist Jim Lee, we will finally understand the real meaning of the words “power couple.” Of course I’m sure it will be very exciting for the first few years, when it’s all invisible jet getaways and counter-rotating the Earth for a do-over, but I hope to keep reading until the issue where Wonder Woman lassos Superman and forces him to tell the truth about why he won’t just once pick up his cape and put it in the Laundry Basket Of Solitude!
The Kindest Cut?
The biggest story in pediatrics this week has got to be the American Academy of Pediatrics' revised policy statement on infant circumcision. The last such statement, from 1999, can be summed up as follows: “Meh.” Coming down squarely in favor of not coming down on any side, the statement’s wishiness was matched only by its washiness. Not so the new policy, which declares loudly and strongly that the medical benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks, not so much as to make it a generally recommended thing, but enough that at least payers should cover the procedure if parents, after weighing all the variables in light of their own culturally-specific values, want it done.
Anti-circumcision activists (or “inactivists” as they call themselves) were quick to respond, protesting in front of the offices of the AAP’s California Chapter 1 in San Rafael and, at one point, bursting into the office to accuse pediatricians of genital mutilation and human rights abuses and also to get a refill on Folger’s Crystals with non-dairy creamer. While I do perform circumcisions, I have always secretly enjoyed the antics of the inactivists at AAP meetings, where they consistently field a small, dedicated team of protesters. With the meeting in New Orleans this year, I really can’t wait to see their booth, just to check out the swag!
What Would You Say
Do you ever wonder if the cello rental fee is really worth it, given that your son seems less of a Yo Yo Ma and more of a Yo Yo? A new study in the Journal Of Neuroscience suggests that kids who take music lessons even for a few years grow up to be better listeners. The study was not designed to address my most pressing question: “How soon does it work?” Ideally I’d sit my son down at the piano, show him Chopsticks, and then tell him to go clean up his room. Since it may take years to get my answer, I’m just going to start singing all my instructions to my kids, based on the greatest hits of the 1990s. There’s “U Can’t Touch This...Dessert Until You Clear The Table,” “Smells Like Teen Spirit...So Please Bring Me Your Laundry,” and “Unbelievable...That You Have Not Yet Finished Your Homework.”
Men Get A Break
When you think of Iceland, you probably think of the singer Björk, volcanoes like Eyjafjallajökull, and, uh, Björk. But Iceland is also home to Decode Genetics, the high-tech firm whose chief executive, Dr. Kari Stefansson, continues to mine the island nation’s extensive genetic database for blockbuster medical discoveries. Last week Stefansson, publishing in Nature, made a major leap forward in understanding the pathology of conditions like autism and schizophrenia in two words: old sperm.
That’s right, as men age it appears we collect more than ear hair and NASCAR bobbleheads; we collect mutations in our sperm, which we then pass on to our offspring. Where women transmit an average of 15 mutations regardless of what age they get pregnant, men’s rapidly dividing sperm rack up an average of two mutations a year, rising from 25 genetic misspellings at age 20 to over 65 by age 40. Future research will be directed at determining whether these errors stem more from failing to ask directions or from throwing away the instruction manual. A word to Wonder Woman: Superman was born in 1932, just saying.
David L. Hill, M.D, FAAP, is vice president of Cape Fear Pediatrics in Wilmington, NC and is an adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is Program Director for the AAP Council on Communications and Media and an executive committee member of the North Carolina Pediatric Society. He has recorded commentaries for NPR's All Things Considered and provided content for various print, television and Internet outlets. Dr. Hill is the author of Dad to Dad: Parenting Like A Pro (AAP Publishing 2012).
As a child, there were many things I hoped I might live to see, almost none of which have come to pass. There are still no colonies on the moon. The only flying car in production is really just a single-engine prop with folded up wings. My mother has yet to be wrong about something. But now the wait is over, at least if you, like me, have been waiting since sixth grade to see Superman and Wonder Woman get it on!
Thanks to DC Comics publisher and artist Jim Lee, we will finally understand the real meaning of the words “power couple.” Of course I’m sure it will be very exciting for the first few years, when it’s all invisible jet getaways and counter-rotating the Earth for a do-over, but I hope to keep reading until the issue where Wonder Woman lassos Superman and forces him to tell the truth about why he won’t just once pick up his cape and put it in the Laundry Basket Of Solitude!
The Kindest Cut?
The biggest story in pediatrics this week has got to be the American Academy of Pediatrics' revised policy statement on infant circumcision. The last such statement, from 1999, can be summed up as follows: “Meh.” Coming down squarely in favor of not coming down on any side, the statement’s wishiness was matched only by its washiness. Not so the new policy, which declares loudly and strongly that the medical benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks, not so much as to make it a generally recommended thing, but enough that at least payers should cover the procedure if parents, after weighing all the variables in light of their own culturally-specific values, want it done.
Anti-circumcision activists (or “inactivists” as they call themselves) were quick to respond, protesting in front of the offices of the AAP’s California Chapter 1 in San Rafael and, at one point, bursting into the office to accuse pediatricians of genital mutilation and human rights abuses and also to get a refill on Folger’s Crystals with non-dairy creamer. While I do perform circumcisions, I have always secretly enjoyed the antics of the inactivists at AAP meetings, where they consistently field a small, dedicated team of protesters. With the meeting in New Orleans this year, I really can’t wait to see their booth, just to check out the swag!
What Would You Say
Do you ever wonder if the cello rental fee is really worth it, given that your son seems less of a Yo Yo Ma and more of a Yo Yo? A new study in the Journal Of Neuroscience suggests that kids who take music lessons even for a few years grow up to be better listeners. The study was not designed to address my most pressing question: “How soon does it work?” Ideally I’d sit my son down at the piano, show him Chopsticks, and then tell him to go clean up his room. Since it may take years to get my answer, I’m just going to start singing all my instructions to my kids, based on the greatest hits of the 1990s. There’s “U Can’t Touch This...Dessert Until You Clear The Table,” “Smells Like Teen Spirit...So Please Bring Me Your Laundry,” and “Unbelievable...That You Have Not Yet Finished Your Homework.”
Men Get A Break
When you think of Iceland, you probably think of the singer Björk, volcanoes like Eyjafjallajökull, and, uh, Björk. But Iceland is also home to Decode Genetics, the high-tech firm whose chief executive, Dr. Kari Stefansson, continues to mine the island nation’s extensive genetic database for blockbuster medical discoveries. Last week Stefansson, publishing in Nature, made a major leap forward in understanding the pathology of conditions like autism and schizophrenia in two words: old sperm.
That’s right, as men age it appears we collect more than ear hair and NASCAR bobbleheads; we collect mutations in our sperm, which we then pass on to our offspring. Where women transmit an average of 15 mutations regardless of what age they get pregnant, men’s rapidly dividing sperm rack up an average of two mutations a year, rising from 25 genetic misspellings at age 20 to over 65 by age 40. Future research will be directed at determining whether these errors stem more from failing to ask directions or from throwing away the instruction manual. A word to Wonder Woman: Superman was born in 1932, just saying.
David L. Hill, M.D, FAAP, is vice president of Cape Fear Pediatrics in Wilmington, NC and is an adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is Program Director for the AAP Council on Communications and Media and an executive committee member of the North Carolina Pediatric Society. He has recorded commentaries for NPR's All Things Considered and provided content for various print, television and Internet outlets. Dr. Hill is the author of Dad to Dad: Parenting Like A Pro (AAP Publishing 2012).
As a child, there were many things I hoped I might live to see, almost none of which have come to pass. There are still no colonies on the moon. The only flying car in production is really just a single-engine prop with folded up wings. My mother has yet to be wrong about something. But now the wait is over, at least if you, like me, have been waiting since sixth grade to see Superman and Wonder Woman get it on!
Thanks to DC Comics publisher and artist Jim Lee, we will finally understand the real meaning of the words “power couple.” Of course I’m sure it will be very exciting for the first few years, when it’s all invisible jet getaways and counter-rotating the Earth for a do-over, but I hope to keep reading until the issue where Wonder Woman lassos Superman and forces him to tell the truth about why he won’t just once pick up his cape and put it in the Laundry Basket Of Solitude!
The Kindest Cut?
The biggest story in pediatrics this week has got to be the American Academy of Pediatrics' revised policy statement on infant circumcision. The last such statement, from 1999, can be summed up as follows: “Meh.” Coming down squarely in favor of not coming down on any side, the statement’s wishiness was matched only by its washiness. Not so the new policy, which declares loudly and strongly that the medical benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks, not so much as to make it a generally recommended thing, but enough that at least payers should cover the procedure if parents, after weighing all the variables in light of their own culturally-specific values, want it done.
Anti-circumcision activists (or “inactivists” as they call themselves) were quick to respond, protesting in front of the offices of the AAP’s California Chapter 1 in San Rafael and, at one point, bursting into the office to accuse pediatricians of genital mutilation and human rights abuses and also to get a refill on Folger’s Crystals with non-dairy creamer. While I do perform circumcisions, I have always secretly enjoyed the antics of the inactivists at AAP meetings, where they consistently field a small, dedicated team of protesters. With the meeting in New Orleans this year, I really can’t wait to see their booth, just to check out the swag!
What Would You Say
Do you ever wonder if the cello rental fee is really worth it, given that your son seems less of a Yo Yo Ma and more of a Yo Yo? A new study in the Journal Of Neuroscience suggests that kids who take music lessons even for a few years grow up to be better listeners. The study was not designed to address my most pressing question: “How soon does it work?” Ideally I’d sit my son down at the piano, show him Chopsticks, and then tell him to go clean up his room. Since it may take years to get my answer, I’m just going to start singing all my instructions to my kids, based on the greatest hits of the 1990s. There’s “U Can’t Touch This...Dessert Until You Clear The Table,” “Smells Like Teen Spirit...So Please Bring Me Your Laundry,” and “Unbelievable...That You Have Not Yet Finished Your Homework.”
Men Get A Break
When you think of Iceland, you probably think of the singer Björk, volcanoes like Eyjafjallajökull, and, uh, Björk. But Iceland is also home to Decode Genetics, the high-tech firm whose chief executive, Dr. Kari Stefansson, continues to mine the island nation’s extensive genetic database for blockbuster medical discoveries. Last week Stefansson, publishing in Nature, made a major leap forward in understanding the pathology of conditions like autism and schizophrenia in two words: old sperm.
That’s right, as men age it appears we collect more than ear hair and NASCAR bobbleheads; we collect mutations in our sperm, which we then pass on to our offspring. Where women transmit an average of 15 mutations regardless of what age they get pregnant, men’s rapidly dividing sperm rack up an average of two mutations a year, rising from 25 genetic misspellings at age 20 to over 65 by age 40. Future research will be directed at determining whether these errors stem more from failing to ask directions or from throwing away the instruction manual. A word to Wonder Woman: Superman was born in 1932, just saying.
David L. Hill, M.D, FAAP, is vice president of Cape Fear Pediatrics in Wilmington, NC and is an adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is Program Director for the AAP Council on Communications and Media and an executive committee member of the North Carolina Pediatric Society. He has recorded commentaries for NPR's All Things Considered and provided content for various print, television and Internet outlets. Dr. Hill is the author of Dad to Dad: Parenting Like A Pro (AAP Publishing 2012).