Image: Shutterstock IN THIS ARTICLE Hearing loss, deafness, or hearing impairment is the complete or partial loss of the ability to hear sounds in one or both ears. Hearing loss in babies before developing speech and language skills is called prelingual hearing loss, which may negatively impact the development of auditory centers of the brain.
Month: April 2021
A study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP), published by Elsevier, reports that middle schoolers from a predominantly Latinx community, with elevated levels of mental health problems, showed a reduction in symptoms during the early stages of the pandemic. While the negative impact of the COVID pandemic on
If you’re pregnant, you might be a little bit too familiar with advice from passersby concerning your pregnancy and the health of your baby. These ideas may be confusing, and ultimately it’s up to you to determine what the right advice is. If you’re struggling to find good advice about staying healthy while pregnant, here
Image: Shutterstock IN THIS ARTICLE Nosebleed or epistaxis happens when the blood vessels or capillaries inside the nose rupture. In children, nosebleeds generally occur in the front area of the nose, which consists of many tiny blood vessels. Recurrent nosebleeds are common in children, however, parents might be worried as they can be dramatic and
Image: Shutterstock IN THIS ARTICLE Ventricular septal defect (VSD) is an abnormal opening in the ventricular septum, the tissue or wall that separates the heart’s lower chambers (ventricles). It is one of the most common types of congenital heart defects, accounting for about half of congenital heart disease cases in babies. The ventricular septum prevents
Apr 1 2021 Governments and health leaders across the globe are today calling for urgent action on adolescent wellbeing. In an open letter published by The BMJ, they warn that the current generation of adolescents – 1.2 billion people aged 10-19 worldwide – “are at risk of inheriting a world blighted by climate change and
Image: Shutterstock IN THIS ARTICLE Breastfeeding twins means feeding two babies optimally. However, feeding twins optimally without compromising breast milkquality and quantity is a valid concern for a mother. But this should not stop a mother from breastfeeding her twins. Experts believe that most mothers can breastfeed twins successfully with proper guidance and prompt support.
Image: iStock IN THIS ARTICLE Parachute reflex is a primitive, postural reflex where a baby standing in an upright position, when lowered face down towards a flat surface, extends the arms outwards and spreads the fingers wide (just like a parachute) to prevent a fall. For most full-term, healthy babies, this gross motor skill appears
In some cancers, including leukemia in children and adolescents, obesity can negatively affect survival outcomes. Obese young people with leukemia are 50% more likely to relapse after treatment than their lean counterparts. Now, a study led by researchers at UCLA and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has shown that a combination of modest dietary changes and
Image: Shutterstock IN THIS ARTICLE If your breast milk smells and tastes off or soapy, it could be due to high lipase activity. Lipase is an enzyme naturally found in breast milk. This enzyme has several benefits, such as hydrolyzing milk fat into easily digestible and absorbable fatty acids. Parents share that babies refuse to
A collaborative team centered in the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and including Children’s Hospital Orange County (CHOC) and Chapman University (CU) has been awarded a three-year grant totaling in excess of $2.3 million, to address the health impacts of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) using precision medicine. Announced by the California Governor’s Office of Planning
A team of researchers has sought to mitigate the mental health impacts of COVID-19 on adolescents by harnessing previous research on youth physical and mental health. Their review also drew on the psychological stressors of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami on children. The results were published in the Tohoku Journal of Experimental
A team of researchers at the University of Alberta has uncovered a long-sought link in the battle to control cholesterol and heart disease. The protein that interferes with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors that clear “bad” cholesterol from the blood was identified in findings recently published in Nature Communications by Dawei Zhang, associate professor of pediatrics
Image: Shutterstock IN THIS ARTICLE Antibiotics or antibacterials are medications that fight bacterial infections. They may act by stopping the growth (bacteriostatic) or destroying (bactericidal) the bacteria. Broad-spectrum antibiotics target many bacteria, and narrow-spectrum antibiotics are prescribed for specific bacterial infections. Single or combination antibiotic therapies are given depending on the condition. Antibiotics can be
Overweight children and adolescents receiving chemotherapy for treatment of leukemia are less successful battling the disease compared to their lean peers. Now, research conducted at the Cancer and Blood Disease Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles indicates that modest changes in diet and exercise can greatly increase survival in youth treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia
This may be surprising to some, but raising kids on the rez during a pandemic has been a blessing for my family—and many others. When COVID-19 hit, my daughter, River-Jaxsen, wasn’t enrolled in public school yet—she was three, almost four. But we enrolled her in some online classes and began to expand her virtual learning experiences
Children and young adults who receive CAR T-cell therapy for the most common childhood cancer – acute lymphoblastic leukemia – suffer remarkably fewer relapses and are far more likely to survive when the treatment is paired with a subsequent stem cell transplant, a new study finds. The research, with an average follow up of nearly
Mar 31 2021 New “sweat stickers” may streamline the early diagnosis of cystic fibrosis by enabling scientists to easily gather and analyze sweat from the skin of infants and children. The stickers matched the performance of previous, more cumbersome devices when tested with 51 subjects, suggesting the stickers could address design obstacles that have held
An investigational vaccine designed to protect against the B.1.351 SARS-CoV-2 variant has been administered as part of a new Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating the vaccine candidate’s safety and immunogenicity in adult volunteers. The vaccine, known as mRNA-1273.351, was developed by the biotechnology company ModernaTX, Inc., based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The trial is led and
An aggressive type of brain cancer, glioblastoma has no cure. Patients survive an average of 15 months after diagnosis, with fewer than 10% of patients surviving longer than five years. While researchers are investigating potential new therapies via ongoing clinical trials, a new study from Washington University in St. Louis suggests that a minor adjustment