In Brief

By David Bjerklie

SUGAR ALERT Type 2 diabetes was almost unheard of in children only a decade ago. But now, with a quarter of U.S. kids overweight, a panel named by the American Diabetes Association warns of "an emerging epidemic." The panel says that overweight children with high cholesterol, high blood pressure or a family history of diabetes should lose weight, exercise and get screened for diabetes by age 10.

SLOW START The risk factors that foretell academic trouble for many students begin to take their toll as early as kindergarten, reports a Department of Education study. Children from low-income households headed by parents with little education had poorer number and letter skills, more problem behaviors and more illness. The study suggests intervention in preschool, along with Head Start programs and quality child care.

Percent of children starting school who:

Know basic shapes can count to 10 94% Know that printed words read left to right 82% Can recognize letters 66% Can do sums up to 10 4%

Source: Department of Education

DOCTOR DEATH In Oregon, the only state that permits physician-assisted suicide, that option was chosen by 27 terminally ill patients last year, up from 16 in 1998. A new study finds that most of these suicides involved insured, well-educated and elderly cancer patients rather than the poor and depressed, as the law's critics feared. A survey of doctors, however, found that most patients who ask about suicide change their minds after getting enhanced pain treatment.

--By David Bjerklie