Our unborn children at risk?

Our unborn children at risk?

T he study by Ang et al. (1) in this issue of PNAS strikes a precautionary note, in that it presents experimental evidence that prolonged continuous ultrasound (US) exposure may cause mild disruption in neuronal migration to the cerebral cortex in fetal mice. The authors (1) suggest that such neuronal heterotopia may result in anomalies in brain circuitry and synaptic activity. Does this study ...

Natural law, our constitutions, and the unborn.

The problem of unenumerated constitutional rights in the United States and Canada is examined in order to seek a true and objective basis upon which judicial opinions may elaborate such privileges and immunities. The authentic root principles of fundamental law in both countries are traced to natural law as explained by Aquinas, Blackstone, Jefferson and other such legal philosophers. From this...

Generic isotretinoin: a new risk for unborn children.

Looking at the unborn: historical aspects of obstetric ultrasound

Thanks to its widespread use in prenatal care, ultrasound is perhaps the most familiar of medicine's diagnostic imaging technologies. Foetal ultrasound scans have found their way into many a family photograph album. The technology has its origins in sonar and radar developed just before and during the Second World War. In the late 1940s and 1950s, various investigators, many inspired by wartime...

Arrived: the crisis of unaccompanied children at our southern border.

For me as a pediatrician, the rapid influx of unaccompanied minors at our southern border simultaneously raises eyebrows and clinical concerns. While our elected leaders continue to battle about immigration issues and refugee status, I have had many conversations with fellow pediatricians around the country who are asking the same 2 questions: “What is this situation at the border about?” and “...