CBS11TV News. DALLAS – Without the Father’s Day gift she gave her 74-year-old dad, Plano resident Tracy Berez may not have been gripping his hand in the hospital Sunday. Diabetes crippled her father’s health, and without the kidney she donated, doctors worried that Jerry Berez’ days were numbered.

“It’s amazing to me that it was in me a few days ago and now it’s in him – and it’s working,” Tracy Berez said.

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(CBS News video). Skin cancer is the most common of all cancers, striking more than two million Americans each year, and on the rise. But it is also easiest to cure, if diagnosed and treated early. CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton shared how you how to be your own skin detective.

Ashton explained, “There are the main types of skin cancer: the most common forms: basal cell, squamous cell carcinomas and the less common, but more serious kind, melanoma. Because each has many different appearances, it is important to recognize the early warning signs of melanomas.”

Use the “ABCDE” system to find skin cancer warning signs:
• A stands for asymmetry. If you draw an imaginary line through the center of a mole, the two halves will look different in shape, color or both.
• B is for border. Look for edges that are uneven, scalloped or blurry.
• C is for color. A normal mole is one color throughout. Melanomas may contain different colors or different shades of a color.
• D stands for diameter. Most melanomas are 1/4 inch (roughly the size of a pencil eraser) or larger.
• E is for evolving. If any spot changes, it should not be ignored. Have a doctor take a look.

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By J.J. Smith. Starting today Texas drivers can be ticketed or arrested if children younger than eight and shorter than 4 feet 9 inches tall aren’t strapped into booster seats or riding in car seats.

Since motor vehicle injuries are the leading cause of death of children in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the State enacted the new law during the last legislative session to prevent child injuries and deaths across Texas.

Belt-positioning booster seats reduce the risk of injury for children ages 4 to 7 by 59 percent compared with youngsters restrained by only seat belts, according to CDC research.

A booster seat lifts a smaller child’s body to a position similar to an adult, which allows the seat belt to align properly. This directs crash impact on the skeleton instead of the abdomen or spine can prevent internal injuries and paralysis, said Dr. David Wesson, a pediatric surgeon who directs the trauma program at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.

“There was a big gap in the previous law because there were a lot of kids who were too tall to require the booster seat. Many kids weren’t in any kind of seat belt,” said Dr. Wesson.“This law is designed to fill that gap and make sure kids are in a restraint that’s appropriate for their size.”

While the new law took effect in September, a nine-month grace period was established to give families time to become educated about and obtain required booster or safety seats, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).

But beginning today, citations may now be given with fines starting at $25 for first-time offenders and increasing to $250 for subsequent infractions. Fees collected from violations will be used to provide booster seats to low-income families.

Texas was previously only one of six states without a booster seat law. The State only required safety seats for children younger than 5 and less than 3 feet tall.

The bill was filed during the last legislative session by State Sen. Judith Zaffirini of Laredo upon the urging of parents whose children had been killed or injured in car accidents.

“Parents of children whose necks were snapped, whose ribs were crushed and whose organs were damaged cried out to us,” she said. “We weren’t trying to punish anybody. We were trying to educate parents.”

State Rep. Ellen Cohen, a Houston legislator whose district includes the Texas Medical Center, co-authored the companion bill in the Texas House.

“In car crashes where children are restrained by only an adult seat, they are more likely to suffer severe head, spinal cord and internal injuries,” she said. “It’s just that one moment that can change a person’s entire life.”

“When you’re about 4 foot 9, you’re about the right size to sit all the way back in the seat and bend your knees at the edge,” said Barbara Crotty, childbirth and parenting education coordinator at The Woman’s Hospital of Texas. She’s also certified as a child passenger safety technician.

“When you’re eight, you have developed enough pelvis structure so that you are able to better withstand the stress from the lap belt.”

Crotty, also a registered nurse, concedes that some kids who graduated from safety seats under the old rules will “feel silly going back.” She suggests parents buy backless booster seat.

“It’s going to be easier as time goes on as they find out other kids are doing the same thing,” she said. “The great thing for the child is that they can get a better view because they’re up higher.”

According to DPS spokesperson Beth Warren, vehicle manufacturers design their products for adults – not kids – and they support keeping kids in the appropriate safety or booster seat until the child can properly wear the adult safety belt – typically when they reach 4’9” tall.

She advised once a child has reached eight years old, to know when they can wear an adult seat belt properly without a booster seat, use this simple test:

“Have your child sit on the vehicle seat, sitting all the way back, with their back straight against the back of the seat, and buckle the lap/shoulder belt over them. Then ask yourself:

1. Do their legs bend naturally at the knees over the edge of the seat?
2. Does the lap portion of the belt fit low over the hips and top of their thighs?
3. Does the shoulder portion of the belt fit across the center of their chest?

If the answer to any of these three questions is no, the child may be better protected in a booster seat.”

“A child in a poorly-fitting adult seat belt usually slumps down, allowing the seat belt to ride up into their abdomen or neck, which can cause severe injuries to the child’s neck and internal organs during a car crash,” she said.

“Although there is no law that prevents youngsters from sitting in the front seat of a vehicle, the safest place for a child in a car is in a rear seat, properly buckled into a child safety seat or a booster seat,” she continued.

“Air bags don’t replace child safety seats and may increase the risk of serious injury to children. Children younger than 13 should never ride in the front seats of vehicles with active passenger air bags. If you do have to transport a child in the front seat in an emergency – make sure the front seat is moved all the way back on the track, placing as much room as possible between the deployment zone of the air bag and the vehicle seat…but NEVER place a rear-facing safety seat on a front seat.”

“A final, but very important note: please read and follow the instructions in both the safety/booster seat owner’s manual and the vehicle owner’s manual.”

“Not all safety or booster seats fit the same in all vehicles, so you may have to try several before finding a good fit for your child and vehicle.”

For further information, contact the DPS or simply ask a law enforcement officer.

By Brittnee Lee. After well-known Rockwall Regal Realtors co-owner Lance Holland (pictured above) was diagnosed last November with Stage II pancreatic cancer, his son, Justin Holland, felt the determination to raise a large amount of money for the recent Rockwall County Relay for Life event, held overnight April 30-May 1 at Cain Middle School.

Over $10,000 later, Holland’s Regal Realty team of 15 people became one of the event’s highest fund raisers. That was because Regal realtor Cissi Scott and Tammy Osborn, the daughter-in-law of realtor Dell Osborn, had been diagnosed with breast cancer, as well. A second Regal Realty team of 15 volunteers, headed by Justin Holland’s aunt also raised funds successfully.

Altogether, 769 people – whose lives have been touched by cancer – made up the 63 participating teams at the Relay, where over $127,000 was raised through a variety of efforts.

Taking current economy issues into consideration, one may not expect one team of just 15 members to have the ability to raise such a large amount as Regal Realty did.  Holland, however, did not let this thought discourage him.

“I was persistent with my prospects,” he said.  “There are a lot of things in life that I don’t like to ask for, but this was different.”

“The event this year meant more to me, personally, than any other cancer research event has in the past that I’ve participated in.”

Holland used popular social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, to raise cancer awareness and ask for donations toward the American Cancer Society event.  However, he said he found that personal phone calls and e-mails to individuals were most effective.

“It’s amazing,” Holland said. “When you start telling people what you’re doing, everyone has a personal story.”

As a team, Regal Realty worked to raise funds prior to the Relay by holding a charity garage sale, charity car wash, and a benefit dinner at Chiloso Mexican Bistro, which offered to donate a portion of proceeds from food sales.

“This was a great testimony to a community that came together for a common cause,” Holland passionately stated.

“Unlike many other community events of this size, there was a special presence of love, joy, and appreciation for family and friends who have battled this horrible series of diseases. While we usually fellowship together for other reasons, this one was most special. You could feel the impact it had engrained in people’s lives through their different accounts and testimonies; their personal stories.”

“This event was a way for Rockwall County to stand up and support those who’ve fought, won, or lost this battle, and to let the world know that we won’t sit back and watch it ravage our families and communities.

“This was our way of doing something; something bigger than ourselves.”

“There were children and adults of all age groups in one place for a common cause. Because ‘cancer never sleeps,’ neither did we. We had a member of our two teams walking at all times from 7 pm until 5 am, when a lightning show forced us to suspend the event until next year.”

Another leading fund-raising team was “Walkers of the Light,” led by Carolyn Keane. The team consisted of several members of The First United Methodist Church of Heath, including Mike Rask, the third highest fund-raising individual for the entire event.

According to FUMC Heath member Judy Holder, Walkers of the Light held a bake sale and petting zoo at their church to raise money for their team, along with setting up coin jars for church members to drop money in each Sunday.

Bella’s House on The Square in downtown Rockwall also helped Walkers of the Light by donating 10% of their profits one evening before the relay.

Much like Holland’s Regal Realty team, however, Holder said that most of their money was raised by going to friends and neighbors, and sending personal e-mails.

“It really isn’t difficult to raise money for cancer because everyone has been affected by cancer,” Holder explained.

During the event, a special ceremony took place for the family of Cynthia Case, the team leader of the “Presbyterian Pathfinders,” which turned out to be the leading fundraising team. Case unfortunately passed away just two weeks before the event from an aortic aneurism. Friends, family, and Rockwall-area citizens gathered enough donations to make her the highest fund raiser of the night.

Relay for Life began in 1985, when Dr. Gordy Klatt walked and ran around a track in Tacoma, Washington for 24 hours to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Today, more than 3.5 million people in 5,000 communities across the United States, along with communities in 20 other countries, gather each year to raise millions of dollars for cancer research.

For more information on how you can help or participate in a Relay for Life event, visit www.relayforlife.org.

The Dallas Morning News. ROYSE CITY – At the edge of the baseball field, green as spring could make it, a slight young man in black shorts and T-shirt whipped a baseball around with members of the Royse City Bulldogs.

“Hey Jake, throw me a ball,” a player shouted from near home plate, and Jake Owen snapped off a quick, flat throw, horsehide smacking glove leather with a satisfying whack.

But behind the fence, Kari Owen winced with the throw – her gaze locked on her son.

She wondered aloud how Jake’s movements tugged on the sutures that held together the incision slicing from his chest to his belly button. She remembered the night at the hospital just a couple of weeks earlier as doctors worked on Jake’s ruptured spleen, and their second, terrifying diagnosis. The last thing she wanted was for her 15-year-old to suffer any more pain.

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By J.J. Smith. Children who are spanked frequently at age three are more likely to be aggressive when they’re five, even when you account for possible confounding factors and the child’s level of aggression at age three, according to a new study by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“Mothers’ Spanking of 3-Year-Old Children and Subsequent Risk of Children’s Aggressive Behavior,” in the May issue of Pediatrics found that mothers with more parenting risk factors were more likely to spank frequently.

The mothers who spanked were more likely to report aggressive behavior when the child was five, including:

• Arguing or screaming a lot
• Bullying
• Being mean to other children
• Getting into fights
• Teasing or threatening others

The study conducted by Catherine Taylor, an assistant professor of community health sciences at Tulane University in New Orleans, asked nearly 2,500 mothers how often they had spanked their 3-year-old children in the past month, as well as questions about their child’s level of aggression.

Demographic factors were also tabulated – such as child gender, and eight maternal parenting risk factors, including parenting stress, depression, alcohol use, and the presence of other types of aggression within the family.

Almost half (45.6 percent) of the mothers reported no spanking in the previous month, while 27.9 percent reported spanking one or two times, and 26.5 percent reported spanking more than twice.

This isn’t the first study to say that spanking young children is counterproductive, but earlier studies were less reliable because they didn’t account for other factors such as stress and depression in mothers, and child abuse, which also might make children more aggressive.

“This study is not saying that children don’t need discipline,” Taylor said in a US News & World Report interview.

“Kids need discipline. But we really encourage parents to focus on positive, non-physical types of discipline such as time out, instead of spanking.”

Taylor says it’s clear that spanking is a risk factor for increased aggressive behavior in children. “If you’re trying to improve behavior, this is counterproductive.”

Despite recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics against spanking, most parents (90 percent) in the U.S. approve of and have used corporal punishment as a form of child discipline. Researchers state that this study suggests that even minor forms of corporal punishment increase the risk for child aggressive behavior.

The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly opposes striking a child for any reason.

“If a spanking is spontaneous, parents should later explain calmly why they did it, the specific behavior that provoked it, and how angry they felt,” reads an Academy statement on their website,  HealthyChildren.org.

“They also might apologize to their child for their loss of control. This usually helps the youngster to understand and accept the spanking, and it models for the child how to remediate a wrong.”

The Academy also counsels parents, “Children after getting a beating from their parents do what they are told to do, but only for a limited time. Psychologically, it has ill effects and the child usually becomes violent and unfriendly.”

By ABC News. Minors could be barred from indoor tanning and a registry could be required to monitor the use of tanning beds by salons if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration heeds advice from a panel it convened to review the classification of tanning beds.

Ultraviolet, or UV, lamps for tanning currently are considered class I medical devices by the FDA, which means they are subject to relatively few regulations.

The FDA could boost tanning beds either to a class II or class III medical device — a change that would mean stricter regulation. Among the new rules could be a prohibition of devices containing mirrors that amplify the power of UV exposure.

A few members of the FDA panel dissented on the under-18 ban. They agreed with the sentiment of a ban, but thought it would be unrealistic to implement a ban and would be better to require strong warnings and parental notification.

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By WebMD Health News. On the heels of a warning that baby slings can kill infants, Infantino LLC has recalled 1 million of the products in the U.S. and 15,000 in Canada.

At least three children died in these slings in 2009: a 7-week-old in Philadelphia, a 6-day old infant in Salem, Ore., and a 3-month-old in Cincinnati.

Infantino is recalling two popular brands of the slings: the “Wendy Bellissimo” sold exclusively at Babies ‘R’ Us; and the “SlingRider” sold at Walmart, Burlington Coat Factory, Target, BJ’s Wholesale, and other stores since January 2003.

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The CW 33 News (video). ROCKWALL, TEXAS – Even year old Audry Craig was diagnosed with asthma when just a year old and since then she’s been on a laundry list of drugs. Her dad Craig rattled off a few of the pricy drugs.

“She has Advair, she has Flovent, she has Proventil”

Scott has a good job and insurance but even with insurance Audry’s care costs hundreds of dollars a month. Before reform, if Craig changed jobs or changed insurance Audry could have been denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Craig said that would cost more than $1,200.00 a month.

“It can get really expensive really quick even with our co-pay it’s real expensive and not having insurance it would devastating, I do feel for the folks who don’t have insurance,” Said Craig.

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Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. That annoying itching and sneezing that signals the arrival of spring allergies is back – and it’s only going to get worse.

Fort Worth and Dallas were the two worst cities in the country for allergies Tuesday, with pollen counts nearly off the charts, according to data at www.pollen.com.

All the recent rain has brought nothing but bad news for anyone who is sensitive to pollen from trees, grasses and mold.

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