Suffer the Child or The Changing Brain

Suffer the Child: How the Health Care System Is Failing Our Future

Author: Lidia Wasowicz Pringl

Antidepressants causing adolescents to commit suicide? Vaccines triggering autism in healthy babies? Stimulants creating a nation of cookie-cutter children? Old cures leading to epidemics of chronic disease? Suffer the Child digs beneath the headlines to expose a health care system burdened with uncertainties and sagging with shortfalls that are shortchanging our children's health.

Based on a 15-part UPI series and written by an award-winning investigative reporter who interviewed more than 200 physicians, policymakers, parents, children's advocates, educators, drug developers, public health, and medical specialists, "Suffer the Child" looks at all the challenges affecting our childrenâЂ™s health, from a failing health care system to an epidemic of new problems like autism and obesity. More importantly, it examines ways we can overcome them, as most of the experts agree that a massive multi-faceted campaign is called for.

More than in any previous generation, today's parents must be proactive in protecting and promoting their child's health. This book is their comprehensive reference to the issues we face in caring for our childrenâЂ™s health and the system we once trusted to protect and cure them.

Topics include: emergency care standards, ADHD, alternative remedies, antidepressants, boys, causes of mental problems, causes of physical problems, diagnosis of mental problems, drug monitoring, drug safety and effectiveness, drug side effects, ethical questions, girls, infectious disease, medical errors, mental health screening and statistics, mixing medicines, off-label drug use, OTC drugs, pharmaceutical company conduct,policies and protocols, prevention of mental ailments, prevention of physical ailments, psychotropic drugs, research, safety issues in hospitals, stimulants, treatment of mental ailments, treatment of physical ailments, vaccines.

Table of Contents:

Introduction The Picture of Imperfect Health     ix
Examining the Range of the Symptoms
Child Health USA: The Good, the Bad, and the Undetermined     3
Tallying Up the Chronic Illness Tab     13
Young Minds Under Attack     19
Attention on Deficits     31
A Real Downer     71
Extracting the Roots of the Sickness
Getting to the Cause of Illness     115
Eye on Autism: A Backward Glance     123
Eye on Autism: Facing Facts     169
Eye on Autism: Looking Forward     197
Evaluating the Remedies for the Suffering
What's in a Label?     221
Words from the Wise     283
Epilogue Three Cs for Success     299
Appendices
Milestones to Remember     311
Triumphs and Challenges     313
Childhood Ills by the Numbers     317
Childhood Deaths by the Numbers     321
Diagnostic Criteria for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder     323
International Consensus Statement on ADHD     327
Diagnostic Criteria for Major Depressive Episode     337
Diagnostic Criteria for Pervasive Developmental Disorders     339
Vaccine-Specific Information     343
Questions and Response     349
Notes     355
Index     424
About the Author     434

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The Changing Brain: Alzheimer's Disease and Advances in Neuroscience

Author: IRA B Black

In The Changing Brain, Ira Black tells the fascinating story of modern neuroscience. A rich, multifaceted tale spanning a century and taking place on multiple continents, it moves from Fascist Italy, with the discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF) by a young scientist working secretly in a makeshift laboratory in her bedroom, to current experiments in which transplanted, laboratory-grown cells lead to recovery and function in damaged brain regions. In the mid 1990s, a revolutionary new conception of the brain emerged--instead of the traditional view that the brain's role in perception, memory, learning, and emotions was based on a static, non-renewable network of brain cells and connections, research revealed that the human brain is an ever-changing, fantastically complex system that is continually being shaped and reshaped by a subtle interplay of genetic clues and life experiences.

To bridge the gap between abstract concepts and real-world experience, Dr. Black draws upon his expertise as a clinical neurologist to provide a dramatic account--the fictionalized story of a successful investment banker named Enoch Wallace and his battle with Alzheimer's disease--that vividly illuminates the narrative. From his first fleeting memory lapses to his final descent into dementia, each step in Wallace's decline becomes a window into another aspect of brain function and the latest groundbreaking research in neuroscience.


"An intriguing scientific thriller that, like all good thrillers, weaves multiple plots....The parallel telling of clinical and scientific tales at its best breathes life, personality and clinical relevance into the neuroscience."--NatureNeuroscience

"Black probes the horror of brain disease, scrutinizing the cellular dynamics that trigger it and surveying the therapies used to combat it. But the scientific analysis of synaptic failure does not obscure the human pathos: a poignant account of one man's descent into the Alzheimer's abyss serves as the narrative thread for the whole book and lends emotional resonance to Black's biochemistry."--Booklist

"Dr. Black is the ideal guide to lead us through the bewildering story behind the recent revolution in neuroscience. We are at the dawn of a new age of the brain and the central nervous system that is nothing short of miraculous. Dr. Black is an inspired physician, an inspired writer, and his book is an inspiration to us all." --Christopher Reeve