Living Near Highway = Increased Autism Risk?

An article in Time Magazine reports on a study indicating that the closer a child lives near a major highway, the higher their chance of being diagnosed with Autism. What are the confounding variables in this study? What other factors are discussed as contributing to Autism? How might this research impact Autism treatment for the future?

Early Alzheimer's Detection

NY Times article entitled "Early Alzheimer's Detection: Should Patients Be Told?" As diagnostic tests for Alzheimer's identify the disease earlier and earlier, this article discusses a moral dilemma of telling patients about a diagnosis that has no cure. Should patients be told only that they have increased risk factors? What could the medical field do to prepare these patients for their diagnosis and future?

Paying for Eating Disorders Treatment

NY Times article entitled "Treating Eating Disorders and Paying For it." This article discusses the managed care system and how difficult it is to receive reimbursement for the treatment of eating disorders due to the length and complexity of treatment. Yet children at younger and younger ages are developing eating disorders (see this article via CNN.com about a 10 year-old boy who developed anorexia). How could this issue be resolved? What efforts at prevention might be useful in reducing the rates of eating disorders? What treatments do seem efficacious at managing eating disordered behaviors?