Children’s Health

One consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic is that more families are putting off their children’s preventive care visits, causing pediatric providers to worry about missed vaccines. In a recent study published in Pediatrics, researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital evaluated changes in measles vaccination rates from before the pandemic to this summer, when return for clinical

The bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae colonizes the nasopharynx and can cause pneumonia. Then, it can spread from the lungs to the bloodstream and cause organ damage. This opportunistic pathogen commonly infects young children, those who are immunocompromised and the elderly. In 2015, S. pneumoniae infections worldwide killed an estimated 192,000 to 366,000 children under age 5.

An observational study has launched to evaluate the short- and long-term health outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children, including multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), and to characterize the immunologic pathways associated with different disease presentations and outcomes. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19. The study, called the Pediatric Research Immune Network on SARS-CoV-2

A new study identified an adenovirus gene therapy vector carrying a VEGF isoform. It can improve uterine blood flow in placental insufficiency, as reported in the peer-reviewed journal Human Gene Therapy. Reduced uterine blood flow and lack of bioavailable VEGF due to placental insufficiency is a major cause of severe fetal growth restriction (FGR). This

A new paper released by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health reports a strong association between a high number of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and contact with the U.S. justice system. Analyzing data from eleven studies, the researchers found that results were consistent across multiple types of justice system contact and across diverse geographic

Komalsingh Rambaree is the vice president of International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD) and serves as a member of the board of the International Council on Social Welfare, ICSW-Sverige. Last spring, ICSD decided to study how different countries handled the pandemic. Komalsingh Rambaree points out that we need to understand that in a catastrophe like

Researchers are investigating whether a human umbilical cord patch placed on the spina bifida defect could improve healing after minimally invasive fetoscopic surgery in a clinical trial at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). Patients are being enrolled at The Fetal Center affiliated with Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, McGovern Medical School

If clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines aren’t expanded soon to include children, it’s unlikely that even kids in their teens will be vaccinated in time for the next school year. The hurdle is that COVID vaccine makers are only in the early stages of testing their products on children. The Pfizer vaccine authorized for use

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) cases are increasing across the globe in a horrible second wave as of late 2020. Governments worldwide continue to struggle to contain the virus while protecting their economies at the same time. One controversial but effective method used widely for viral containment is strict lockdowns or stay-at-home orders.

Over two million babies, children, and adults in the United States are living with congenital heart disease–a range of birth defects affecting the heart’s structure or function. Now, researchers at Gladstone Institutes and UC San Francisco (UCSF) have made inroads into understanding how a broad network of genes and proteins go awry in a subset

When a child is born before term, the mother and baby are physically separated due to the hospital care required by the latter. Mothers of preterm infants often experience stress in the hospital, and their worry for the baby’s survival may be considerable. This heightens their risk of anxiety and depression, particularly among mothers of

By the time children are 3 years old they already have an adult-like preference for visual fractal patterns commonly seen in nature, according to University of Oregon researchers. That discovery emerged among children who’ve been raised in a world of Euclidean geometry, such as houses with rooms constructed with straight lines in a simple non-repeating

Preschool children’s eating, activity, and sleep routines were disrupted during the spring COVID-19 lockdown, which may be detrimental to child health and development a study suggests. Parents of children (aged three- to five-year-old) due to start school in September 2020 shared their children’s experiences of the spring lockdown with academics from the Universities of Bristol,

As coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to spread across the globe, scientists have raced to understand better the virus and how it affects people. Caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pathogen, the disease can cause mild to severe symptoms. Some people are at a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19, including

A team of McGill University researchers has found that young adults who perceived higher levels of social support reported fewer mental health problems. In a study published today in JAMA Network Open, the team led by Marie-Claude Geoffroy, Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at McGill, reassessed the impact of the

In a paper published today in the American Journal of Human Genetics, a group of international collaborators led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine identified new genetic associations that can predict individual susceptibility to a rare inflammatory disease called Takayasu arteritis. The study, conceived by Amr Sawalha, M.D., professor of pediatrics

A deficiency in Vitamin D on the mother’s side could explain why Autism spectrum disorder is three times more common in boys, say researchers from The University of Queensland. In their latest study, Professor Darryl Eyles and Dr Asad Ali from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute found vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy caused an increase in

Using a custom-built exposure chamber, UNC School of Medicine and EPA scientists tested consumer-grade masks and improvised face coverings to show how effective they can be at protecting individuals from airborne particles of similar size to those carrying SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It’s been shown that when two people wearing masks interact, the

A new polio vaccine that could tackle mutated strains of the disease has passed phase II clinical trials, according to two studies published in medical journal The Lancet. The vaccine, called nOPV2 and administered orally, is the first that works against poliovirus type 2, a mutated form of the virus that has been responsible for

Dartmouth Researchers Work to Reduce Child-Directed Food Marketing on Educational Websites A new article, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine by a team of researchers and advocates including Dartmouth faculty, asserts that current gaps in the regulation of commercial educational websites are exposing children to unhealthy food marketing. Our main issue is that