Global Update

Indian Pediatrics 2002; 39:511

News in Brief

The trouble with television: When are the seeds of adult aggression laid? Does Television have a role? How much TV can children safely watch without getting abnormally influenced? A new study published in Science has followed up 707 families since 1975 and tried to analyze the link between hours of TV viewing and acts of aggression after accounting for many other possible variables. The authors conclude that children watching more than 1 hour of TV per day are more likely to be aggressive adults. The effect is clear even in children older than 14 years. Currently American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 1-2 hours of TV per day (Science 2002;295: 2468 - 2471, nature news service April 2002, http://www. nature .com).

Bubble baby: Britain’s first successful attempt at gene therapy has been announced. The child who had severe combined immunodeficiency is now 18 months and living a normal life. A mouse retro virus was used by scientists from Institute of Child Health and doctors from Great Ormond Street, London, to introduce the normal gene into stem cells of his bone marrow in vitro. The marrow was then transfused back into him. This child who had been suffering from severe repeated infections and needed a sterile environment to survive is now living at home in a normal environment (eBMJ 13 April 2002).

Lonely lifestyles: Hikikomori is a new psychiatric illness recently described in Japanese youth. It is defined as acute social isolation for more than 6 months. It shot into media attention when several acts of violence and murder were perpetrated by youngsters who had been living an extremely isolated lifestyle with only the internet or video games for company. The fault is apparently in Japans affluent lifestyle. It contrasts with an earlier illness called karoshi described from Japan. This meant death from overwork. Hikikomori occurs because parents are able to afford to support their children even when they reach their twenties and thirties and donot work. Has the electronic age spawned more woes than wonders? ( The Lancet interactive 30 March 2002).