Assessment of breastfeeding and infant growth.

The purpose of this article is to provide information for health care professionals to guide the assessment of feeding and growth in breastfed infants. Tools to assist in the assessment of breastfeeding are discussed, as well as infant weight, infant test-weighing, elimination, and growth patterns. We present in detail the research surrounding the development of infant growth charts and the potential for inaccurate assessment.

Issues in the design and implementation of psychoneuroimmunology research.

Research that uses a psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) framework seeks to determine whether valid associations exist among stress, immune function, and health. These associations are difficult to conclusively determine due to the fact that PNI research is fraught with methodological difficulties. These difficulties arise from the multifaceted and complex nature of the neuro-endocrine-immune network that is the phenomenon of interest in PNI.