Many doctors are hesitant to perform tonsillectomies until they are absolutely necessary. The surgery is difficult for many to recover from and runs the rare but very serious risk of post-operative bleeding. However, a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has shown that children with obstructive sleep apnea who had their tonsils and adenoids removed had significantly improved behavior and quality of life when compared to those who were treated with supportive care rather than surgery.

The study was performed at seven different sleep centers and involved 464 children. Sleep apnea has been known to cause behavioral problems, mood swings, aggression, depression, and other health problems including eventual heart failure if left untreated. For more information about sleep apnea in children and tonsillectomies you may wish to read:

Can My Child Have Sleep Apnea?

What are the Risks of Having Your Tonsils Removed?

How Long Does it Take to Recover From a Tonsillectomy?

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Subburaj Kannan is a scientist from Texas and he is very concerned about what antibiotics flowing in from Mexico are doing to border communities in the United States. Here, in America, you must obtain a prescription to get an antibiotic, and doctor's are stingy about writing those prescriptions unless they can prove that your illness is indeed bacterial. In Mexico, however, antibiotics are available over-the-counter to anyone, and many Americans living close to Mexico take advantage of this easy access. When people get sick, they just want to get better, and so for many, walking across the border to get an antibiotic is commonplace. Unfortunately, the misuse of antibiotics in border communities is breading of antibiotic resistant super bugs.

Kannan, who is on a mission to educate border communities about the proper use of antibiotics, is quoted in a Newswise article as saying that if people in border communities continue to misuse antibiotics at the current rate, "we won't have any effective antibiotics in clinical treatment. If we don't have the proper medicine, meaning antibiotics, it can lead to wide-ranging spread of infectious diseases in general population. It can go all across the states, all across the globe, if we don't have the proper tools to combat infectious diseases, which can cause secondary illness, such as organ failure, respiratory system failure and cardiovascular arrest." That may seem dramatic to some but keep in mind that super bugs such as methicillian resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are already taking the lives of Americans on a daily basis and scientists are scrambling to come up with new antibiotics to treat such infections.

Kannan is partnering up with officials at the Fort Duncan Regional Medical Center, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to send a message to government officials. The message is that something must be done about this problem, and fast. His message to the public is to think twice before buying antibiotics in other countries.

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Allergies to pollen, pet dander, mold and dust are so common in the United States that few of us, including many doctors, fail to think of allergies as a serious illness. Truthfully, left untreated, or under treated, these types of allergies can lead to complications, including more serious illnesses. Documented complications of poorly treated allergies include: sinusitis, ear infections, nasal polyps, asthma and sleep apnea. Children with untreated allergies can even develop orthodontic problems or abnormal facial development. Furthermore, with so many allergy medications available over-the-counter, many adults are apt to self diagnose allergies when they in fact have another illness entirely or are already suffering from a complication such as chronic sinusitis. Studies continue to show that allergies should be treated early on and by a proper physician to prevent complications and to improve your quality of life. For more information read:

• Complications of Poorly Treated Allergies
• Diagnosing and Treating Seasonal Allergies
• Causes of Sinusitis: Allergies

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A recent study published this month in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism followed children and teens who developed thyroid cancer as a result of nuclear fallout from the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl. The study found that of the 229 children and adolescents who were followed in the study almost every single one responded favorably to treatment: 64 percent were in complete remission, 30 percent were near complete remission, 1 patient died of lung fibrosis, and only two patients had experienced a recurrence of their thyroid cancer. This despite the fact that 97 percent of these patient's cancer had spread beyond the thyroid and in to surrounding lymph nodes, and 43 percent had cancer that had spread to their lungs.

This study gives hope to other areas that have experienced widespread exposure to radiation, such as the 2011 nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan. Health professionals emphasize the importance of screening individuals who have been exposed to this kind of radiation early and frequently so that any cancer can be caught and treated as soon as possible.

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