Late-surviving megafauna in Tasmania, Australia, implicate human involvement in their extinction.

Establishing the cause of past extinctions is critical if we are to understand better what might trigger future occurrences and how to prevent them. The mechanisms of continental late Pleistocene megafaunal extinction, however, are still fiercely contested. Potential factors contributing to their demise include climatic change, human impact, or some combination.

Pain in hospitalized pediatric patients: how are we doing?

Objective: The purpose of this study was to provide a baseline description of the prevalence of pain and pain management strategies in a pediatric hospital and to compare the prevalence of pain in this hospital to that in published reports in the literature.

Methods: Two hundred thirty-seven children ranging in age from 10 days to 17 years and 223 parents participated in an 8-hour survey on 5 inpatient units. Information about pain intensity and pain affect was collected from the children older than 6 years of age and from parents of those who were younger at 4 2-hour intervals.