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It seems like there’s only one story in the news this week, and I’m sick of it dominating everything. That’s right, actress Susan Bennett has been revealed as the voice behind Siri. Bennett got her start in the business as the avatar of the very first automated teller machine, a gig that gave her ample opportunity to get used to users screaming at her in frustration. Then she graduated to Delta Airlines’ phone tree. Is it any wonder she sounds so...touchy?
Got game
When I was a kid, Olympic star Bruce Jenner’s picture was on the box of Wheaties, and I ate them, hoping to be just like Bruce. Eventually, it worked: I got divorced. But what about today’s kids, hoping to grow up like LeBron James, Peyton Manning, and Serena Williams? According to a new study in Pediatrics, the more they consume the products endorsed by these sports stars, the more they’ll resemble athletes -- specifically, sumo wrestlers.
The study, originated at Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, asked a question so simple no has ever thought of it before: How do you measure an athlete’s impact on the American diet? The authors created an index that multiplied the top 100 athletes’ food endorsement contracts by the nutritional index of the products they were selling to generate a sort of a hall of fame of the NFL (National Fatness Leaders).
In their version of an All-Star Game, Kraft’s 2009 Double Stuf Oreos campaign won the title by simultaneously drafting Shaquille O’Neal, Serena and Venus Williams, Peyton and Eli Manning, and, for good measure, Apolo Ohno. The authors suggest a parallel with cigarette advertisements that featured athletes until public disapproval led to a voluntary ban on these ads in 1964. They suggest that shame over junk food endorsements might lead either the food industry or the athletes themselves to reconsider their contracts. I share the authors’ aspirations, but my guess is that this one is going to be a long game. A lot will have to change before these sports stars Just Don’t Do It.
Over easy
Do you get as furious as I do when someone says (usually while holding a cigarette), “Well, anything can kill you”? Yeah, okay, you win. Carrots can get lodged in windpipes. Too much air can be bad if it’s, say, a tornado. But that doesn’t change the fact that some things are a lot safer than others. We can now add to that list flu vaccines, even for patients with serious egg allergies.
Over the last few years, our colleagues at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI: The Academy With More A’s Than Yours) have been edging gradually closer to declaring that it’s okay for patients with egg allergies to receive flu vaccine. First it was, “Just don’t give it.” Then it was, “Okay, but only in an ICU setting and through a central line.” Then it was, “Give 10% of the dose first, and have epinephrine at the bedside.” Now, finally, they’re like, “Yeah, just give it. After all, it's much safer than carrots.”
Of the 4,000 egg-allergic recipients of the vaccine studied in a variety of trials, not a one had a serious complication from the immunization, including those with severe egg-protein allergies. So let it rain flu shots, people! Because if there’s one thing more dangerous than air, it’s influenza. That and junk food, but only LeBron James can block junk food.
Baby got back
In this day of electronic everything, I have to wonder how it is my kids’ backpacks are just as heavy as mine was when I was their age? I know what I had in mine: 10-pound history texts, three-ring binders that could hold the entire text of the World Book Encyclopedia, the entire text of the World Book Encyclopedia (1982 Edition). But with my kids getting their homework and even some of their textbooks online, how is it they are still lugging backpacks that would overwhelm a Sherpa? And won’t it cause them lifelong back pain?
Apparently not. Portuguese researchers publishing in the International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics have shifted the blame for students’ back pain from the long-maligned backpack to where it really belongs: the desk. Back pain, neck pain, and headache correlated strongly with the distance from students’ elbows to their desktops and not with the weight of their book bags. The effect was worse for girls than for boys. Researchers did not report the findings I would have been most interested in: What is the effect on back pain of leaning forward to use a geometry compass to carve “AC/DC” into the upper left-hand corner of the desktop? Of course I could always ask Siri...yeah, never mind.
David L. Hill, M.D., FAAP is the author of Dad to Dad: Parenting Like a Pro (AAP Publishing, 2012). He is also vice president of Cape Fear Pediatrics in Wilmington, N.C., and adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves as Program Director for the AAP Council on Communications and Media and as 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.
It seems like there’s only one story in the news this week, and I’m sick of it dominating everything. That’s right, actress Susan Bennett has been revealed as the voice behind Siri. Bennett got her start in the business as the avatar of the very first automated teller machine, a gig that gave her ample opportunity to get used to users screaming at her in frustration. Then she graduated to Delta Airlines’ phone tree. Is it any wonder she sounds so...touchy?
Got game
When I was a kid, Olympic star Bruce Jenner’s picture was on the box of Wheaties, and I ate them, hoping to be just like Bruce. Eventually, it worked: I got divorced. But what about today’s kids, hoping to grow up like LeBron James, Peyton Manning, and Serena Williams? According to a new study in Pediatrics, the more they consume the products endorsed by these sports stars, the more they’ll resemble athletes -- specifically, sumo wrestlers.
The study, originated at Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, asked a question so simple no has ever thought of it before: How do you measure an athlete’s impact on the American diet? The authors created an index that multiplied the top 100 athletes’ food endorsement contracts by the nutritional index of the products they were selling to generate a sort of a hall of fame of the NFL (National Fatness Leaders).
In their version of an All-Star Game, Kraft’s 2009 Double Stuf Oreos campaign won the title by simultaneously drafting Shaquille O’Neal, Serena and Venus Williams, Peyton and Eli Manning, and, for good measure, Apolo Ohno. The authors suggest a parallel with cigarette advertisements that featured athletes until public disapproval led to a voluntary ban on these ads in 1964. They suggest that shame over junk food endorsements might lead either the food industry or the athletes themselves to reconsider their contracts. I share the authors’ aspirations, but my guess is that this one is going to be a long game. A lot will have to change before these sports stars Just Don’t Do It.
Over easy
Do you get as furious as I do when someone says (usually while holding a cigarette), “Well, anything can kill you”? Yeah, okay, you win. Carrots can get lodged in windpipes. Too much air can be bad if it’s, say, a tornado. But that doesn’t change the fact that some things are a lot safer than others. We can now add to that list flu vaccines, even for patients with serious egg allergies.
Over the last few years, our colleagues at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI: The Academy With More A’s Than Yours) have been edging gradually closer to declaring that it’s okay for patients with egg allergies to receive flu vaccine. First it was, “Just don’t give it.” Then it was, “Okay, but only in an ICU setting and through a central line.” Then it was, “Give 10% of the dose first, and have epinephrine at the bedside.” Now, finally, they’re like, “Yeah, just give it. After all, it's much safer than carrots.”
Of the 4,000 egg-allergic recipients of the vaccine studied in a variety of trials, not a one had a serious complication from the immunization, including those with severe egg-protein allergies. So let it rain flu shots, people! Because if there’s one thing more dangerous than air, it’s influenza. That and junk food, but only LeBron James can block junk food.
Baby got back
In this day of electronic everything, I have to wonder how it is my kids’ backpacks are just as heavy as mine was when I was their age? I know what I had in mine: 10-pound history texts, three-ring binders that could hold the entire text of the World Book Encyclopedia, the entire text of the World Book Encyclopedia (1982 Edition). But with my kids getting their homework and even some of their textbooks online, how is it they are still lugging backpacks that would overwhelm a Sherpa? And won’t it cause them lifelong back pain?
Apparently not. Portuguese researchers publishing in the International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics have shifted the blame for students’ back pain from the long-maligned backpack to where it really belongs: the desk. Back pain, neck pain, and headache correlated strongly with the distance from students’ elbows to their desktops and not with the weight of their book bags. The effect was worse for girls than for boys. Researchers did not report the findings I would have been most interested in: What is the effect on back pain of leaning forward to use a geometry compass to carve “AC/DC” into the upper left-hand corner of the desktop? Of course I could always ask Siri...yeah, never mind.
David L. Hill, M.D., FAAP is the author of Dad to Dad: Parenting Like a Pro (AAP Publishing, 2012). He is also vice president of Cape Fear Pediatrics in Wilmington, N.C., and adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves as Program Director for the AAP Council on Communications and Media and as 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.
It seems like there’s only one story in the news this week, and I’m sick of it dominating everything. That’s right, actress Susan Bennett has been revealed as the voice behind Siri. Bennett got her start in the business as the avatar of the very first automated teller machine, a gig that gave her ample opportunity to get used to users screaming at her in frustration. Then she graduated to Delta Airlines’ phone tree. Is it any wonder she sounds so...touchy?
Got game
When I was a kid, Olympic star Bruce Jenner’s picture was on the box of Wheaties, and I ate them, hoping to be just like Bruce. Eventually, it worked: I got divorced. But what about today’s kids, hoping to grow up like LeBron James, Peyton Manning, and Serena Williams? According to a new study in Pediatrics, the more they consume the products endorsed by these sports stars, the more they’ll resemble athletes -- specifically, sumo wrestlers.
The study, originated at Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, asked a question so simple no has ever thought of it before: How do you measure an athlete’s impact on the American diet? The authors created an index that multiplied the top 100 athletes’ food endorsement contracts by the nutritional index of the products they were selling to generate a sort of a hall of fame of the NFL (National Fatness Leaders).
In their version of an All-Star Game, Kraft’s 2009 Double Stuf Oreos campaign won the title by simultaneously drafting Shaquille O’Neal, Serena and Venus Williams, Peyton and Eli Manning, and, for good measure, Apolo Ohno. The authors suggest a parallel with cigarette advertisements that featured athletes until public disapproval led to a voluntary ban on these ads in 1964. They suggest that shame over junk food endorsements might lead either the food industry or the athletes themselves to reconsider their contracts. I share the authors’ aspirations, but my guess is that this one is going to be a long game. A lot will have to change before these sports stars Just Don’t Do It.
Over easy
Do you get as furious as I do when someone says (usually while holding a cigarette), “Well, anything can kill you”? Yeah, okay, you win. Carrots can get lodged in windpipes. Too much air can be bad if it’s, say, a tornado. But that doesn’t change the fact that some things are a lot safer than others. We can now add to that list flu vaccines, even for patients with serious egg allergies.
Over the last few years, our colleagues at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI: The Academy With More A’s Than Yours) have been edging gradually closer to declaring that it’s okay for patients with egg allergies to receive flu vaccine. First it was, “Just don’t give it.” Then it was, “Okay, but only in an ICU setting and through a central line.” Then it was, “Give 10% of the dose first, and have epinephrine at the bedside.” Now, finally, they’re like, “Yeah, just give it. After all, it's much safer than carrots.”
Of the 4,000 egg-allergic recipients of the vaccine studied in a variety of trials, not a one had a serious complication from the immunization, including those with severe egg-protein allergies. So let it rain flu shots, people! Because if there’s one thing more dangerous than air, it’s influenza. That and junk food, but only LeBron James can block junk food.
Baby got back
In this day of electronic everything, I have to wonder how it is my kids’ backpacks are just as heavy as mine was when I was their age? I know what I had in mine: 10-pound history texts, three-ring binders that could hold the entire text of the World Book Encyclopedia, the entire text of the World Book Encyclopedia (1982 Edition). But with my kids getting their homework and even some of their textbooks online, how is it they are still lugging backpacks that would overwhelm a Sherpa? And won’t it cause them lifelong back pain?
Apparently not. Portuguese researchers publishing in the International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics have shifted the blame for students’ back pain from the long-maligned backpack to where it really belongs: the desk. Back pain, neck pain, and headache correlated strongly with the distance from students’ elbows to their desktops and not with the weight of their book bags. The effect was worse for girls than for boys. Researchers did not report the findings I would have been most interested in: What is the effect on back pain of leaning forward to use a geometry compass to carve “AC/DC” into the upper left-hand corner of the desktop? Of course I could always ask Siri...yeah, never mind.
David L. Hill, M.D., FAAP is the author of Dad to Dad: Parenting Like a Pro (AAP Publishing, 2012). He is also vice president of Cape Fear Pediatrics in Wilmington, N.C., and adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves as Program Director for the AAP Council on Communications and Media and as 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.