News

Today's teens stay plugged in 24/7 A UAB study found adolescents ages 14-15 are engaged in media more than 23 total hours daily.

“It’s just crazy,” says Aaron Davis, doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychology who led the study.

A recent survey found that on average teens spent more than six hours texting, three hours watching television, one and a half hours on Facebook, one hour on Twitter, one and a half hours on other Internet sites and one hour playing video games — daily. Multitasking, like talking on the phone, compounded the time.

The real surprise? Most parents underestimated their teen's media use by more than six hours.

UAB Professor Louise Chow elected to National Academy of Sciences

Landefeld chosen to lead UAB's Department of Medicine

HUC green roof features fresh herbs

Linda Lucas named UAB provost

2 UAB students receive 2012 Goldwater honors

Dentistry to direct national research network with largest grant in UAB history

Breakthroughs

New schizophrenia clinic treats teens fast after first diagnosis Early diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia at its onset may have a profound effect on limiting its severity and progression. UAB’s First Episode Schizophrenia Clinic is the only such clinic in Alabama and one of the few in the country.

“There is growing evidence that schizophrenia can be managed better, and that complications associated with schizophrenia can be lessened if aggressive, comprehensive treatment is begun shortly after the first diagnosis is made,” says clinical director Adrienne Lahti, M.D., professor in the UAB Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology.

Steroids increase chance of infection in kids with arthritis Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis have higher rates of bacterial infection requiring hospitalization, and use of high-dose steroids significantly increases that risk, according to UAB research.
 
In findings published in Arthritis & Rheumatism, researchers show that steroid use led to increased risk, while other commonly used medications — methotrexate and tumor necrosis factor inhibitors — did not increase infection risk in children with JIA.

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