2245 Signs of the times

The growing fields of pediatric obesity and pediatric otolaryngology. I collect first issues of journals. I'm really sorry that this one is the new sign for our times. It is not in my collection, and I don't think I'll write Taylor and Francis to ask for it.

The International Journal of Pediatric Obesity is a new, peer-reviewed, quarterly journal devoted to research into obesity during childhood and adolescence. The topic is currently at the centre of intense interest in the scientific community, and is of increasing concern to health policy-makers and the public at large.

The aim of the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity is to rapidly establish itself as the leading journal for high quality papers concerned with:

• Epidemiology and population-based studies of overweight in childhood
  
• Clinical management of overweight and obese children and adolescents
  
• The recognition and treatment of co-morbidities linked to pediatric obesity
  
• Measurement and diagnostic issues in assessing child adiposity.
  
• And so forth here.

The International Journal of Pediatric Obesity will be available in both print and online versions and the first issue will be published in March 2006.

The journal is owned by the International Association for the Study of Obesity, a not-for-profit charitable body linking over 50 regional and national associations with over 10,000 professional members in scientific, medical and research organisations."

And USA Today has a very disturbing article about parents in their 40s so addicted to their music downloads at dangerous decibels that they are risking not only their own hearing but that of their children. The story features Pete and Judy Nelson and their 13 year old twins--the poster family for deafness or at least impaired hearing. As I've mentioned several times at this blog, my blind grandmother told me her hearing loss (which she experienced in her late 80s) was a worse disability than the loss of her eyesight which happened in her teen years.

Listening to MP3s at 120 decibles is way over the damage caused by a chain saw or a pneumatic drill. I considered this child abuse. The parents are totally irresponsible, not only with their own hearing, but their children's.