From Reuters (UK):

Teenagers who have survived childhood cancer are 50 percent more likely to be depressed or anxious than their siblings and 70 percent more likely to show antisocial behaviors or attention deficits, according to a report by Emory University researchers in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Certain cancer treatments were particularly associated with these problems, including brain radiation and spinal injections of the cancer drug methotrexate. These therapies directly affect the functioning of the central nervous system and are known to be linked to neurological and psychological problems.

From Newsday, a report from the American Psychological Association’s annual meeting in San Francisco.

Alternative treatments for autism - some of them potentially deadly - are growing more pervasive and run the gamut from dietary supplements to prescribing a potentially dangerous diabetes drug, which now carries the government’s most stringent warning.

“What this all boils down to is that people are very motivated to help their children. They’re desperate and there are people out there who are preying on their desperation,” said James Mulick, a professor of pediatrics and psychology at Ohio State University.

Mulick cited diets, such as those in which the wheat protein gluten is eliminated, to the use of vitamin supplements as some of the harmless but he believes ineffective treatments sought by parents of autistic children.

… Chelation therapy, Mulick said, is a potentially dangerous process that uses a compound that is supposed to remove heavy metals from children’s tissues.

The story includes quotes from a doctor who defends the use of chelation and the diabetes drug Actos for children with autism. Last week Actos received a “black box warning” from the FDA, the agency’s strongest level of caution.

Related story from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Doctor charged with involuntary manslaughter for his use of chelation to treat a boy’s autism. Â