Health Highlights: Feb. 19, 2014

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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Doctors Seek Help in Dealing With ADHD in Children

Many pediatricians and family doctors in the United States lack expertise in diagnosing and treating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children, and are seeking help from child mental health experts.

One of those specialists is Dr. Peter Jensen, a well-known child psychiatrist who offers ADHD education seminars to health professionals through his nonprofit Resource of Advancing Children’s Health Institute, The New York Times reported.

The intensive three-day sessions are held about 10 times a year across the U.S. and about 2,000 health professionals have attended them.

There are only 8,300 child psychiatrists in the U.S. and this low number means that many children with ADHD have to be seen by pediatricians and family doctors, most of whom received little or no training about the disorder in medical school, The Times reported.

Even if medical schools devoted more time to ADHD and other child mental health issues, the benefits wouldn’t be seen for 20 or 30 years, Jensen noted.

“We have the problem now, and it needs to be addressed now,” the former associate director of child and adolescent research at the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health told The Times.

His seminars emphasize role-playing and lively debate.

“Most continuing medical education is somebody standing up at a podium transmitting facts,” Jensen told The Times. “But with ADHD that’s like showing a slide show of how to swim the butterfly, and expecting people to go home and swim the butterfly. It takes real hands-on training.”

One in seven children in the U.S. is diagnosed with ADHD by the time they turn 18, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. ADHD is the second most common (asthma is first) long-term medical condition in children.

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Hot Pockets Pastries Recalled

About 238,000 cases of Hot Pockets pastries are being recalled because the products may contain recalled meat, Nestle USA says.

The voluntary recall by Nestle includes three different sizes of Philly Steak and Cheese Hot Pockets and Hot Pockets Croissant Crust Philly Steak and Cheese products in the two-pack box, NBC News reported.

The products may contain beef produced in 2013 and recalled last week by Rancho Feeding Corp. The meat produced at its Petaluma, Calif. plant was recalled because it came from “diseased and unsound animals” that were processed without full inspection, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Nestle discovered that a company in its supply chain bought meat from Rancho, NBC News reported.

“From this review, we have confirmed that a small quantity of meat from Rancho was used at Nestle’s Chatsworth, California production operation, a facility devoted entirely to Hot Pockets brand sandwiches,” the company said in news release.

The recalled Hot Pockets products were distributed across the country. Consumers can return the products or phone Nestle at 1-800-392-4057.

No illnesses have been reported in connection with the recalled meat from Rancho Feeding Corp, according to the USDA. The plant closed voluntarily last week and officials are investigating its processes and products, NBC News reported.

The recalled meat was distributed to at least 974 vendors in California, as well as to some in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington, according to USDA officials.

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Musician David Crosby Recovering From Heart Procedure

Musician David Crosby is recovering after undergoing surgery Friday to open a blocked heart artery.

A statement said that Crosby, 72, did not have a heart attack but would have been at high risk for one if he hadn’t heeded his doctor’s advice to have the procedure, in which the blockage was removed and two stents were put in place to keep the artery open, CBS News reported.

“I am very glad that I listened to my doctors and my family. It seems I am once again a very lucky man,” Crosby said in the statement.

He is expected to make a full recovery. He had to postpone some upcoming shows but plans to begin touring with Crosby, Stills & Nash next month. Crosby, who has type 2 diabetes, had a liver transplant in 1994, CBS News reported.

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