Do 4.2 Million Children Really Need Ritalin?

8232In 2011, Dr. Sanford Newmark posed an important question: Do 2.5 million children really need Ritalin?

Nearly 3 years later, the number of children taking Ritalin has risen to 4.2 million.

Dr. Newmark, head of the Pediatric Integrative Neurodevelopmental Program at UCSF, specializes in the integrative and holistic treatment of children with autism and ADHD. While drugs such as Ritalin definitely serve a vital role in helping some children, he suggests that misdiagnoses, not allowing for normal variations in a child’s learning styles and abilities, and a growing “pill culture” may be causing doctors to over prescribe.

Instead, Dr. Newmark prefers an integrative approach that looks at the whole child in terms of friends, family, community, and school. In many cases, changes in diet, environment, and parental skills can have a significant positive impact on a child’s behavior – without the use of drugs.

“When we do make a diagnosis, it makes sense to explore non-pharmaceutical options before moving to psychostimulants. We have to be careful not to over diagnose ADHD and allow for many normal variations of learning styles and abilities.”

Watch Dr. Newmark in this UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine presentation:

Do 4.2 Million Children Really Need Ritalin? An Integrative Approach to ADHD, 2014 Update

On Our Mind – Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's Disease - On Our Mind An estimated 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease and that number will continue to rise. The impact will be felt not just in the homes of the diagnosed but by their caregivers, their loved ones, their communities, and beyond.

The Brain Channel’s flagship series On Our Mind is endeavoring in the next few months to take a closer look at Alzheimer’s disease. Join Dr. William Mobley as he meets with those on the front lines of this disease to discuss current and potential therapies, testing, clinical trials, neuropathology, public policy and so much more.

Online now:

1761Agenda: Alzheimer’s Disease Cure and Care
There are more than 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease. San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob joins William Mobley, MD, PhD to discuss how we can better manage this disease from a public policy standpoint.


1761Stem Cells and Alzheimer’s Disease
Can stem cells be a weapon in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease? Larry Goldstein, PhD director the the UC San Diego Stem Cell Program, joins William Mobley, MD, PhD to discuss how stem cells work and what possibilities they may unlock.


1761The Anatomy of Memory
How do we create and store memories? Larry Squire PhD joins William Mobley MD, PhD to dissect these processes and how we might use this knowledge to aid in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.


1761The Role of Synapses in Memory
Roberto Malinow, MD, PhD joins William Mobley MD, PhD to discuss his recent study where memories were not only erased but restored in rats. Learn how findings of this study could lead to breakthroughs in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.


Stay tuned to the Brain Channel for new installments in this informative series.

"Samson and Delilah" Documentary Wins Award for UCSD-TV

24281UCSD-TV has been honored with a coveted Platinum Aurora Award for the production of “San Diego Opera Spotlight: Samson and Delilah.” The program was honored in the “Documentary-Cultural” category.

Produced and edited by John Menier and photographed by Menier and Marci Bretts, the 30-minute program provides an insider’s look at the Opera’s 2013 performance of “Samson and Delilah.”

The behind-the-scenes production spotlights the opera’s elaborate sets, bravura arias, large choral numbers, and staging of the stirring “Bacchanale” dance.

“We couldn’t be more proud of this award-winning show,” said Lynn Burnstan, managing director of UCSD-TV. “Granted unusual access, John and Marci captured the opera’s artistic brilliance and organized chaos, as seen from a perspective that’s not readily available or fully appreciated, even to those who follow opera closely.”

The Aurora Awards is an international film and video competition that salutes excellence in commercials, cable programming and documentaries, as well as industrial, instructional, and corporate videos.

Best of Show is the highest honor awarded in each category. Entries come from throughout the U.S. and some 30 countries.

This award comes on the heels of the announcement that this same team was cited for their role in creating the regional Emmy Award-winning video that documented the Malashock Dance company’s 25th anniversary concert.

Watch Samson and Delilah and Malashock Dance – 25th Season Celebration on UCSD-TV.

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Contributed by John B.B. Freeman

What's the Verdict on Vaping?

27760The use of e-cigarettes is on the rise with annual sales now totaling over two billion dollars. What do we really know about how these devices affect our health? Many people tout them as smoking cessation success stories, but are they just as harmful as traditional cigarettes?

Dr. Laura Crotty Alexander joins our host Dr. David Grant to discuss new research illuminating the potential health risks of vaping.

Watch E-Cigarettes, Vaping, and MRSA – Health Matters online now.

Explore more programs in the Health Matters series.

Arrr – Here be pirates!

8232“To err is human, to arr is pirate.”

This quote (a personal favorite) cleverly illustrates one of many myths Hollywood has popularized about pirates: that all pirates talked like… well, like pirates. You know, “shiver me timbers,” “blow me down” and the like.

Other popular myths include:

– All pirates were missing body parts.
– All pirate ships flew the Skull and Crossbones.
– Pirates buried their stolen treasure.
– Pirates were fond of rum and parrots.
– Sailors became pirates to pursue a life of crime.

And perhaps most enduringly: All pirates were “anarchistic maniacs,” a la Blackbeard.

Here be Pirates chronicles the efforts of UC San Diego history professor Mark Hanna to correct these and other misconceptions about buccaneers. In his Harvard doctoral thesis, several popular courses and ongoing research, Hanna paints a detailed and nuanced picture of pirates and privateers, perhaps less colorful than the Tinseltown version but no less fascinating.

One especially intriguing aspect of Hanna’s work focuses on the profound contributions of those wide-ranging mariners to the development of the natural sciences from the late 16th century through the early 18th century. Occasional pirates such as William Dampier made extensive studies of Pacific Rim flora and fauna, and influenced later scientists such as Alexander von Humboldt and Charles Darwin. To spotlight the efforts of these “citizen scientists,” Hanna worked closely with the Special Collections & Archives at the UC San Diego Library to create Unlikely Naturalists, a local component of the traveling exhibition Real Pirates!, currently on display at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Unlikely Naturalists features original journals and logbooks held in the Library’s world-renowned Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages, which comprises more than 2,000 works spanning nearly 300 years of maritime exploration and discovery.

In addition to first-hand study of materials from the Hill Collection and a tour of the Museum exhibition, Hanna’s students sailed on the Californian, a 1984 replica of an 1847 cutter operated by the Maritime Museum of San Diego. During a four-hour trip students were introduced to sail operations and shipboard life, including the vital importance of teamwork and following the captain’s orders with dispatch.

As Hanna notes in Here Be Pirates, we can’t literally travel back in time, but these resources and activities – first-hand study of primary sources, the Museum exhibition, and sailing on a tall ship – each contribute to fostering empathy, which is vital to the study of the early modern period.

“Always be yourself. Unless you can be a pirate. Then always be a pirate.”

Watch Here be Pirates and browse other programs from the Library Channel.

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Contributed by Arts and Humanities Producer, John Menier