Eventually, say Pettersen and Gillespie, all pediatricians will be integrating ACEs into their practice, because it's crucial to making sure that kids have a healthy childhood -- which helps them avoid chronic disease and mental illness when they're adults.

Ace fighter pilots were portrayed in the popular press as the 20th century equivalent of medieval knights. Their exploits may also be the origins of the concept of the "super hero". That term, which first became prominent in 1917, would go on to spawn a broad category of popular literature.

Earning the nickname 'Smokin' Aces' from his days shooting hoops at EBC Rucker Park, Kortovich has ingrained himself into the basketball community after losing his father to cancer at an early age.

Nearly two-thirds of California adults have experienced at least one type of major childhood trauma, such as physical, verbal or sexual abuse, or living with a family member who abuses alcohol or is depressed, according to a report released yesterday.