Fatty liver is the most common liver abnormality in children age 2 to 19 years. The presence of macrovesicular hepatic steatosis in approximately 1 of every 10 children has important ramifications for the long-term health of children and young adults. The influence of the risk factors identified should be taken into consideration in the development of protocols designed to screen at-risk children and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that the profile of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) changed after the Back-to-Sleep (BTS) campaign initiation, document prevalence and patterns of multiple risks, and determine the age profile of risk factors. METHODS: The San Diego SIDS/Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood Research Project recorded risk factors for 568 SIDS deaths from 1991 to 2008 based upon standardized death scene investigations and autopsies. Risks were divided into intrinsic (eg, male gender) and extrinsic (eg, prone sleep). RESULTS: Between 1991–1993 and 1996–2008, the percentage of SIDS infants found prone decreased from 84.0% to 48.5% (P < .001), bed-sharing increased from 19.2% to 37.9% (P < .001), especially among infants <2 months (29.0% vs 63.8%), prematurity rate increased from 20.0% to 29.0% (P = .05), whereas symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection decreased from 46.6% to 24.8% (P < .001). Ninety-nine percent of SIDS infants had at least 1 risk factor, 57% had at least 2 extrinsic and 1 intrinsic risk factor, and only 5% had no extrinsic risk. The average number of risks per SIDS infant did not change after initiation of the BTS campaign. CONCLUSIONS: SIDS infants in the BTS era show more variation in risk factors. There was a consistently high prevalence of both intrinsic and especially extrinsic risks both before and during the Back-to-Sleep era. Risk reduction campaigns emphasizing the importance of avoiding multiple and simultaneous SIDS risks are essential to prevent SIDS, including among infants who may already be vulnerable.

With the pachymetric mapping protocol of Visante AS-OCT, these results suggest that central and peripheral corneal thickness measurements in healthy subjects and in eyes with keratoconus are repeatable and reproducible.

External causes of death are important in the pediatric population worldwide. We performed an analysis of all injury-fatalities in children between ages zero and 17 years, between January 2000 and December 2006, in San Diego County, California, United States of America. Information was obtained from the County of San Diego Medical Examiner’s database. External causes were selected and grouped by intent and mechanism. Demographics, location of death and relation between the injury mechanism and time of death were described. There were 884 medico-legal examinations, of which 480 deaths were due to external causes. There majority were males (328, 68.3%) and whites (190, 39.6%). The most prevalent mechanism of injury leading to death was road traffic accidents (40.2%), followed by asphyxia (22.7%) and penetrating trauma (17.7%). Unintentional injuries occurred in 65.8% and intentional injuries, including homicide and suicide, occurred in 24.2 and 9.4%, respectively. Death occurred at the scene in 196 cases (40.9%). Most deaths occurred in highways (35.3%) and at home (28%). One hundred forty-six patients (30.4%) died in the first 24 h. Seven percent died 1 week after the initial injury. Among the cases that died at the scene, 48.3% were motor vehicle accidents, 20.9% were victims of firearms, 6.5% died from poisoning, 5% from hanging, and 4% from drowning. External causes remain an important cause of death in children in San Diego County. Specific strategies to decrease road-traffic accidents and homicides must be developed and implemented to reduce the burden of injury-related deaths in children.