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Celebrity volunteers who led more than one million people in March for Babies this spring are urging the public to continue to help the March of Dimes raise urgently needed funds for programs that help moms and babies.

"As a mom who had a premature child, I know firsthand the toll that premature birth can take," says Sherri Shepherd, co-host of The View and National Spokesperson and California Chapter March for Babies Chair. "Give hope to babies and families by joining me in supporting the March of Dimes." Shepherd led the walk in Los Angeles on April 25, 2009.

The March for Babies raises funds to support research to find answers to the serious problems that threaten babies and community-based programs that bring comfort and information to families whose babies were born sick or prematurely.

The March of Dimes is making a special effort now to raise another $10 million so that all of the lifesaving research grants recently approved by an expert committee can be funded. Shepherd, along with fellow celebrity volunteers, is urging the public to visit marchforbabies.org to make a donation today.

Joining Sherri Shepherd in Los Angeles were actress Camille Winbush, of the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, the newest March of Dimes Team Youth volunteer and longtime local volunteer and Latina superstar Dayanara Torres. This year, Nancy O'Dell, co-host of Access Hollywood, and a group of Hollywood Moms appeared in a public service ad to support March of Dimes March for Babies.

Kicking off the Miami walk on April 25 was singer, actress and mother Jennifer Lopez, Honorary Chairperson of March for Babies. Lopez also joined the March of Dimes and sanofi pasteur in a national public awareness campaign to help protect the health and wellness of adults and infants called "Sounds of Pertussis."

Celebrities also joined the Nashville, Tenn., March for Babies event on April 19 with Grammy Award winner Kelly Clarkson and Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman inspiring walkers and volunteers. Clarkson, March of Dimes National Team Youth Ambassador, walked with her own team as part of her ongoing support of the foundation. Kidman, a first-time volunteer, spoke from the stage to thank all walkers and families for their dedication to the mission of the March of Dimes.

In New York City, NY Giants Quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning walked on April 26 along with Division leaders. Manning is the New York City Celebrity Honorary Chair and helped generate more than $100,000 in new sponsorship for March for Babies.

Former Washington Redskins player Brian Mitchell and Olympic Gold medalist Kerri Strug walked in Washington, D.C., on April 26. Mitchell, a March of Dimes national celebrity volunteer, served as the National Capital Area's Honorary Celebrity Chair for March for Babies this year. Strug has been active with year-round March of Dimes National Team Youth volunteer initiatives, as well as March of Dimes events in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.

In Baltimore, Greg Gumbel, CBS sportscaster and Honorary March of Dimes Trustee, spent his birthday, May 3, walking alongside March of Dimes President Dr. Jennifer Howse. The Hall Family, March of Dimes 2009 National Ambassador Family, helped kick off the event, along with many dedicated volunteers.

The Boston March for Babies on May 9 got a boost from the participation of New England Patriots running back Laurence Maroney and Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis.

Join these dedicated celebrities and walkers by getting involved in the March for Babies and other upcoming March of Dimes fundraising events. For more information, visit www.MarchForBabies.org.

(6-16-09)

The first-ever national estimate among a nationally representative sample of U.S. children reveals that 3 out of every 1,000 children between the age of 6 and 17 in the United States have been diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome (TS), according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The study, "Prevalence of Diagnosed Tourette Syndrome in Children in the United States, 2007," found that a TS diagnosis is three times more common in boys than in girls, and approximately twice as common in children between 12 to 17 years as those aged 6 to 12 years. Among children with TS, 27 percent were reported as having moderate or severe TS, and 79 percent of children had also been diagnosed with at least one additional mental health or neurodevelopmental condition.

Tourette Syndrome is a neurological disorder that typically begins during early childhood, with symptoms being most severe between the ages of 10 and 12 years. TS is characterized by recurring multiple motor tics and at least one vocal tic. Tics are involuntary, repetitive, stereotyped, usually sudden and rapid movements or vocalizations that may be suppressed for short periods of time.

"TS and tic disorders have been linked to higher rates of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and impairments associated with these conditions, such as learning disabilities and problems with peer relations," says Dr. Rebecca Bitsko, Health Scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Given the high number of children diagnosed with TS who have another mental health or neurodevelopmental condition, it is necessary to further study the relation between these conditions."

Further, the data show that non-Hispanic white children are more than twice as likely as non-Hispanic black children or Hispanic children to have a parent-reported TS diagnosis.

"Having an estimate of the number of U.S. children who are diagnosed with TS is a first step toward understanding the overall impact of this condition in the population," says Dr. Bitsko. "Further research must examine differences in access to health care for children with TS in different population groups, the impact of TS on the quality of life, long term outcomes for children with TS, and strategies for reducing the impact of conditions associated with TS."

For more information about Tourette Syndrome and other birth defects, call toll free 1-800 CDC-INFO.

(6-16-09)

Zero to six, in nine months! On June 11, 2007, Jenny and Bryan Masche became first-time parents – of sextuplets! And their once quiet lives have never been the same. WE tv's new original series, Raising Sextuplets, follows the marathon-running parents as they learn the hard way that no training can prepare you for parenthood with multiples.

WE tv captures all the fun and chaos of life with six kids in Raising Sextuplets, premiering Thursday, June 11, at 10 p.m./9 CST – the same day as the Masche toddlers' second birthday. The premiere will be preceded by a special encore airing of the fascinating WE tv original documentary, OMG! Sextuplets!, at 9 p.m./8 CST, which features the Masche family beginnings, chronicling Jenny's pregnancy and delivery.

Highlights from the series include the following:

Back to Work: Family finances finally force Jenny to head back to work in the ER as a Physician's Assistant after 18 months off. Now, with two working parents, the juggling act kicks into high gear!

Sympathy Weight: After putting on sympathy weight during Jenny's pregnancy, Bryan decides to join a weight loss program. Though Jenny lost all of the 80 pounds she gained during her pregnancy, Bryan's 30-plus pounds are another story.

Crowded House: Three bedrooms for eight people are making for much too cozy living quarters. When Grandpa Bill offers the services of his construction company for a remodel, life becomes even more chaotic.

Halloween: The holiday becomes a serious event and challenge for Bryan and Jenny with six babies!

Plastic Surgery: Jenny opts to undergo plastic surgery to repair her body from damage experienced during pregnancy, but not before opinionated family members weigh in with their thoughts.

Family Vacation: On a family trip to California, differences in parenting approaches cause tension between Jenny and Bryan as the babies get older and harder to wrangle.

Toddler Terror: It's the approach of the terrible twos – six times over! Bryan and Jenny turn to the experts as their sextuplets begin to near the toddler stage.

For more information, visit Wetv.com.

(6-16-09)

Matthew Ranfone was only 2 years old when he slipped out of his Orlando home, into an enclosed patio area and through a pool fence into the backyard pool. His parents found him minutes later floating face down. Matthew Ranfone died 13 days later from the injuries sustained in the near drowning.

The Ranfone's story is not unique. It is estimated that in the last decade more than 100 children nationwide have drowned, nearly drowned or been injured after exiting the home through a pet door. Yet few parents know about this hidden hazard. Today Mathew's mother, Carol Ranfone, is launching a Web site, www.PetAccessDangers.org, to raise awareness of this danger and advocate for change in the industry.

"Our family has chosen to respond to Matthew's death by informing the public and working to ensure that pet doors are made safer," Carol Ranfone says. "Matthew didn't have a chance to grow up, but we hope that our advocacy will keep other children out of harm's way."

Pet-door-related drowning incidents have been identified through news stories, public health specialists, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and coroners/medical examiners. "But the total number to date underestimates the true scope of the problem because most accidental drownings are classified only by cause of death or injury and do not identify how the child accessed the water," says Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies, whose firm has been researching the issue nationally. "Child injury researchers are well aware of the link between pet access doors and child injury and death, but many parents and caregivers do not appreciate the risk associated with use of a pet door, and how young children can drown, become lost, wander into streets, or otherwise become seriously injured or killed after exiting a home through a pet door."

The size of the opening appears deceptively small. Parents may believe that their child is safely contained inside the home. But an average "medium" pet door with a typical opening of 8 by 11 inches is recommended by manufacturers for use with pets up to 40 pounds. A 95th percentile, 3-year-old male child weighs only 38 pounds and can easily pass through this opening. Reasonable and economically feasible alternatives to the simple flap-style pet door closure exist, yet companies are still marketing and selling these doors with no locking mechanism and without warnings.

"Manufacturers, while quick to blame parents for a lack of supervision, are aware of the risk that pet doors pose to small children," says product safety attorney Henry Didier, who represents the Ranfone family. "These manufacturers are in a position to reduce or eliminate the risk before the consumer even purchases the product, and to date, they have not."

Through www.PetAccessDangers.org, Carol Ranfone hopes to spare other families from the pain her family has endured, and encourage the pet door industry to improve their designs. The Web site also urges public agencies, hospitals and medical examiners' offices to incorporate a coding system to provide more accurate data as to how a child may have reached the water or other hazard. This information is critical to understanding the true scope of the safety issues surrounding pet door products and the risk they pose to the public.

(6-02-09)

Umbilical cord blood transplants are significantly increasing among patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases, according to the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), which has now facilitated more than 3,000 such procedures, double the number just two years ago. But more support is needed – including increased funding and participation in public banking – to help all patients in need of a transplant.

The use of donated cord blood in transplant therapy – little known even a decade ago – offers an additional option for patients without a matched donor in their family. Physicians recognize that cord blood is a source of the rich, blood-forming cells needed by their transplant patients. In 2008, the NMDP facilitated nearly 900 umbilical cord blood transplants to provide patients a second chance at life.

Cord blood is collected from the umbilical cord and placenta immediately after a baby is born. After the cord blood is collected, it is stored at a public cord blood bank and the cord blood unit is listed on the NMDP's Be The Match Registry. Patients and their doctors depend on the Be The Match Registry to find an unrelated cord blood unit or adult marrow donor. Because tissue types are inherited, patients are most likely to match the tissue types of someone who shares their racial or ethnic heritage.

"As a treatment option, cord blood holds great promise for patients, particularly those from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds," says Dr. Jeffrey W. Chell, NMDP chief executive officer. "Today, more patients can find a suitable match outside of their families because cord blood tissue-type matching does not need to be as biologically close as bone marrow for a successful transplant. And because publicly donated cord blood is stored and readily available, it is particularly useful for those patients who need a transplant performed quickly."

Recognizing the value of publically donated cord blood, Congress passed the Stem Cell Research and Therapeutics Act of 2005. This act created the National Cord Blood Inventory (NCBI) and provides federal funds to increase the inventory of publicly donated cord blood units. Earlier this month, President Obama requested $12 million to support the NCBI in 2010.

For more information, visit www.BeTheMatch.org/cord or call 1 (800) MARROW-2. Learn more about cord blood donation by reading the following:

Cord Blood: The Gift of Life

Cord Blood Donation: Could Cord Blood Be Baby's First Gift?

Cord Blood Storage: Preserving a Lifeline for the Future

(5-26-09)

With Memorial Day around the corner, trauma season is upon us. Over the next four months, 17 children a day are expected to die from a traumatic injury that could have been prevented. A new Safe Kids USA study, sponsored by Johnson and Johnson, for the first time links research on a child's cognitive, behavioral and physical development at different stages of their life and the risk of unintentional injury because of these developmental limitations. The report, Raising Safe Kids: One Stage at a Time, also provides age-appropriate safety tips for parents and caregivers so they know exactly when and why to take certain safety precautions – at all ages of a child's development.

Here are some highlights from the research and examples of safety tips to assist in decreasing the number of preventable traumatic injuries to children this summer:

Infancy (0 to 12 months old):
Report finding: Infants, children ages 0 to 12 months, are a vulnerable group for unintentional injury, as they are just beginning their development and are completely reliant on adults for their care and safety. It is the parent's or caregiver's responsibility to create a safe environment for infants.

Tip: Never leave a child alone in a car. When left in a vehicle, even on a cool but sunny day, a young child's core body temperature may increase three to five times faster than an adult's. This can cause permanent injury or even death.

Early Childhood (children 1 to 4 years old):
Report finding: Due to their underdeveloped muscles and bones and limited sensory abilities, they're more prone to falls. Since social skills are not yet developed, children this age imitate others and surpass their physical abilities for climbing or using playground equipment, increasing the likelihood of an injury.

Tip: Provide safe places to play. Only allow your child to play on playgrounds with 12 inches of safe surfaces such as shredded rubber, hardwood fiber/mulch or fine sand below the equipment to reduce the risk of serious injuries in case of a fall.

Middle Childhood (5 to 9 years old):
Report finding: Since this age group is more likely to play in groups, they are more vulnerable to peer pressure for participating in risky playground behaviors such as misuse of playground equipment and jumping from swings or parallel bars.

Tip: Make sure children use age-appropriate playground equipment for 5- to 12-year-olds. Children enjoy playing in groups and are more vulnerable to peer pressure for misusing playground equipment. Tell them what equipment is appropriate for their age levels.

Early Adolescence (10 to 14 years old):
Report finding: Visual perception is less defined even for early adolescents and they still lack the ability to discern an object from within a noisy background – an important skill to have to identify oncoming cars.

Tip: Make sure your child wears a helmet and protective gear every time he/she uses a bike, scooter, skateboard and inline skates. Nearly 630 children are injured daily from a bicycle-related incident, yet 15 to 20 percent of children don't wear helmets when on a bike. A helmet can prevent more than 80 percent of serious traumatic brain injuries if that child falls or is hit by a car.

(5-26-09)

Over the past 40 years, childhood immunization has eliminated or reduced many vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio, diphtheria, measles, mumps and rubella, says the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

In the study, "Parental Refusal of Pertussis Vaccination Is Associated with an Increased Risk of Pertussis Infection in Children," researchers identified 156 confirmed cases of pertussis (whooping cough), and 595 control subjects. Children of parents who refused pertussis immunization were at 23 times the risk for infection compared to vaccinated children. Herd immunity does not appear to completely protect unvaccinated children from pertussis, which highlights the need to develop an effective way to explain the risks and benefits of this and all immunizations to parents. Future research needs to focus on the community impact of vaccine refusal and the risks to other vulnerable groups including young children and older adults.

Read more about pertussis in the following articles:

Whooping Cough: Protecting Our Children from Pertussis

Keri Russell: Working to Silence the Sound of Pertussis

Jennifer Lopez: The Mom from the Block

(5-26-09)

With Memorial Day weekend approaching and pools across the country opening, a new report released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) provides updated figures on child drowning deaths and injuries in pools and spas. CPSC's latest data reveals that nearly 300 children younger than 5 drown in pools and spas each year, and about 3,000 suffer pool or spa-related injuries requiring attention at hospital emergency rooms.

About two-thirds of the pool and spa-related deaths and injuries involve children ages 1 to 2, with about 80 percent of the drowning fatalities occurring in residential settings, such as the victim's home, a family or friend's house or at a neighbor's residence.

New data from CPSC also shows that from 1999 through 2008, there were 83 reports of pool and spa entrapments, including 11 deaths and 69 injuries. Since 1999, 14 percent of the reported suction/entrapment incidents at pools or spas were fatal.

At a press conference on Capitol Hill, CPSC Acting Chairman Nancy Nord joined Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Safe Kids USA, and Scott Taylor (the father of Abigail Taylor, who suffered fatal injuries from an evisceration incident in a wading pool), to encourage parents, caregivers and pool owners to make safety a top priority as the summer swim season officially opens.

"Preventing child drownings is a key part of CPSC's mission. I call upon all parents, caregivers and pool and spa operators to ensure that fencing and other layers of protection are in place; that there is constant supervision of children in and around the water; and that new, safer drain covers that prevent entrapment incidents are installed," says Acting Chairman Nord.

"I want to thank the Congress for providing CPSC with funds this year to implement the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act. This is an important child safety law and CPSC will use the new funds to increase compliance with the law, educate on pool and spa safety measures, implement the state grant program, partner with state and local government on enforcement, and make pools and spas even safer," adds Nord.

The Pool and Spa Safety Act (P&SSAct) went into effect on December 19, 2008, and requires all public pools and spas to have anti-entrapment drain covers, and in certain circumstances, an additional anti-entrapment system. CPSC has prioritized public wading pools, kiddie pools and in-ground spas as the key areas of focus for enforcement and has called upon state departments of health to assist the agency in enforcing the law.

CPSC is also announcing the launch of a new Web site – www.PoolSafety.gov – which serves as a valuable source for information about the P&SSAct and drowning prevention. The new site provides information for the general public, the swimming pool and spa community, state and local officials and the media.

Drowning occurs more commonly when children get access to the pool during a short lapse in adult supervision. To reduce the risk of drowning, pool owners should adopt several layers of protection, including physical barriers, such as a fence completely surrounding the pool with self-closing, self-latching gates to prevent unsupervised access by young children. If the house forms a side of the barrier, use alarms on doors leading to the pool area and/or a power safety cover over the pool. In addition, reports of children exiting the house via a pet door have been on the rise.

(5-26-09)

Children hospitalized with concussions should wait until they are seen by a clinician in a follow-up exam before returning to regular sports or playtime activities, according to researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Rather than only consulting a doctor when there are obvious trouble signs after the initial treatment, the Children's Hospital researchers recommend that a qualified health care provider perform a formal assessment after hospital discharge but before the child resumes exertional activities. The study team used a computer-based testing program created to assess athletes with concussions and determine when it was safe to return to play. The authors found that nearly all the children admitted to the hospital with a concussion had some abnormal brain function during initial testing.

"Head injuries that occur during regular activities, such as riding a bike or in a car crash, are more common than sports injuries and yet the same issues arise, the children want to go back to sports, or to school or outside to play," says Dr. Michael L. Nance, lead author of the study and director of the Trauma Program at Children's Hospital. "The old recommendation would be to go see your pediatrician if you are having trouble, but sometimes families don't recognize there is trouble until six months later. We think they should be seen again by a qualified [health care] provider before returning to play."

The study appeared in the May issue of the journal Annals of Surgery.

For more information, visit www.chop.edu. To learn more about concussions, read Concussions in Babies and Toddlers: Tips to Protect Little Ones from Head Injury.

(5-19-09)

Adecco Group, one of the nation's largest staffing companies, surveyed working mothers about the impact the recession is having on their work/life balance and the results are startling. According to Adecco's latest Workplace Insight Survey, 80 percent of women are working because they have to, not because they want to. Additionally, almost half (48 percent) of working moms are more stressed due to the current economic climate, and the majority (65 percent) are cutting their family budget.

Some further evidence that the economy is taking a toll on working mothers is that almost half (48 percent) of working moms wish they could spend more time with their kids, with nearly one in five (16 percent) reporting that their work hours have increased in this economy. Also, nearly one in five (19 percent) working moms are overcompensating by purchasing material goods for their children.

Other stats include the following:

Re-entering the work force: 13 percent of working moms went back to working full-time in this economy.

Feeling overwhelmed: Nearly one-third (30 percent) or working moms feel overwhelmed with responsibilities at home.

Being a role model: Working mothers are nearly 20 percent more likely to think their kids find them to be a role model than non-working moms.

Children of working moms are better behaved and better in school: 74 percent of working moms think their children do well in school while 60 percent of nonworking moms feel this way, and 72 percent of working moms think their children are well behaved compared to 65 percent of non-working moms.

Adecco has these tips for working mothers on better balancing their home and work lives:

1. Focus on how parenting makes you a better professional. Being a parent exposes and depends on a slew of soft skills including effective interpersonal communication, negotiation, compassion and understanding. These same skills are crucially important to being both a successful leader and team player at the office, enabling parents to hone in and sharpen these skills to best navigate both of their domains.

2. Talk to your employer about telecommuting. Telecommuting will allow you to stay home with your child when he/she is sick and keeps you from missing ballet recitals, sports events and school plays. You need to assure your boss you will remain highly productive and focused while in a more flexible work arrangement.

3. Get dads in on the balancing act. It's a changing world and gender roles in the home are starting to blur. Increasingly, men are staying home with sick children, working four-day weeks and asking their employers for extended paternity leave. Include dad. The kids will like spending extra time with their father and it helps you balance your life too.

4. Be realistic about your goals. Do not expect to be able to spend the same amount of time with your child as someone who is a stay-at-home parent. Instead, concentrate on making the most out of the time you have. And let your children know too. Young children need to know what to expect each day and they look forward to when you will be home.

5. Focus on productivity over face time. It's more important that workers properly prioritize, manage their time and deliver than simply put in "face-time" until all hours at the office. You don't need to be in the office all the time to make a powerful contribution. Be sure to set defined works goals and results beforehand with your supervisors.

(5-12-09)