An Outstanding Article Lineup for April!

Editor’s Note

Michael J. Muszynski, MD, FAAP, FPIDS
Editor, The Florida Pediatrician

PUBLISHED Spring 2026 | Volume 46, Issue 2

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In this issue of The Florida Pediatrician, we present three outstanding review articles and an intriguing case report. While pediatricians are well informed about the rise in obesity prevalence in the patient populations they serve, a problem affecting millions worldwide, leading to an increasing incidence of serious health challenges, such as diabetes, hypertension, and psychosocial issues, student author Kalie Nass and her mentor, Dr. Patricia Emmanuel, provide an outstanding review of GLP-1 agonists in pediatrics with an emphasis on their use in overweight and obese children. They take us through an academic history lesson of pharmacological development and the current recommendations for the application of GLP-1 medications in pediatrics. Their review is rooted in current evidence and is mindful of what is well-known and what has yet to be defined.

Pediatricians are also acutely aware of the rise of dental caries in children, set to drastically worsen in municipalities with the inadvisable removal of fluoride from drinking water due to fears of harm to cognitive functioning. As an aside, a very recent longitudinal study of 10,317 subjects followed since 1957 (!) in Wisconsin who either had or did not consume fluorinated water growing up (and getting old like me!) was published in PNAS (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2026;123), and it conclusively showed no neurologic risks at fluorination levels used water supplies in the USA. Primum, non nocere; et ne sinas noceri. Student author Kashish Sachdeva and mentor, Dr. Frank Catalanotto, from the University of Florida College of Dentistry, comprehensively present the harmful social and psychological consequences of tooth decay beyond immediate medical considerations. We learn that the latter constitutes just the tip of the comorbid pediatric dentistry iceberg.

In a solicited opinion review, Dr. Mobeen Rathore outlines the rare biallelic genetic defects of Mendelian susceptibility to mycobacterial diseases (MSMD), a condition of which pediatricians may be unaware. He expertly reviews the fascinating and often missed clinical presentations and provides us with the recommended management.

Lastly, a case report of three female patients with autism spectrum disorder-related aggression who were treated with oral contraceptives is provided by Dr. David Matsibekker and colleagues of the Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida, Gainesville, and by Dr. Sanjeev Tuli of the Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston. All of the characteristics of high-impact case reports are embodied in this manuscript. Publishing case reports can be challenging. Many well-known journals no longer accept them, and the ones that do have set high bars in their peer-review criteria, as does The Florida Pediatrician. Dr. Matsibekker and co-authors have passed with excellence the perennial “So what?” question applied to case reports as a first test of case report impact. While case report results should never be generalized to populations, high-quality reports lead to important research questions, and this paper does exactly that. Students and residents trying to publish a case report should use this article as an example of what passes muster for significance. When I was Associate Dean for Clinical Research at Florida State University, I wrote a primer for medical students titled “The Case with Case Reports” that detailed important principles and considerations of such manuscript undertakings. If any of you are interested in the primer, contact me at michaeljmd156@gmail.com, and I will be happy to share it with you.