Children’s Health

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 12 2020 Mothers with SARS-CoV-2 infection rarely transmit the virus to their newborns when basic infection-control practices are followed, according to a new study by researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. The findings–the most detailed data available on the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 13 2020 A new study looking at data from tens of thousands of children with asthma finds that several widely available interventions are associated with both reduced medical costs and a reduced likelihood that the children will need to visit an emergency room or stay in the hospital. This work

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 13 2020 UCLA researchers say a blood test commonly used to detect fetal genetic abnormalities may help predict complications associated with pregnancy before symptoms develop. Their preliminary study, appearing in Epigenetics, links certain cell-free DNA signatures to adverse outcomes in pregnancy, including ischemic placental disease and gestational diabetes. The findings

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 13 2020 American women living in states with less restrictive reproductive rights policies are less likely to give birth to low-birth weight babies, according to a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier. The findings show that women, particularly US-born Black women, giving birth in

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 12 2020 Traditionally, geneticists divide disorders into “simple,” where a single gene mutation causes disease, or complex, where mutations in many genes contribute modest amounts. A new study suggests that the truth is somewhere in between. For many years, scientists studying patient genomes have gained glimpses of genetic “burden” or

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 13 2020 The authors, two surgeon-researchers from Murayama Medical Center in Tokyo, tested a device that, when attached to everyday eyeglasses, can display fluoroscopic images used for surgical guidance directly to the surgeon. Without such a device, the surgeon must receive this guidance by repeatedly looking across the operating room

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is still actively spreading in many countries, including the United States. There is still no approved treatment or vaccine against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19. However, effective infection control measures such as social distancing, proper wearing of masks, and regular handwashing can help contain

Many people who contract the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), develop only mild and moderate symptoms. A small fraction of those infected develop severe symptoms, which usually occur in people who are at higher risk due to comorbidities. Now, a new study by researchers at

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 9 2020 Neuroscientists have found new evidence that learning to play an instrument may be good for the brain. Musically trained children perform better at attention and memory recall and have greater activation in brain regions related to attention control and auditory encoding, executive functions known to be associated with

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 9 2020 Floating in fluid deep in the brain are small, little understood fronds of tissue. Two new studies reveal that these miniature organs are a hotbed of immune system activity. This activity may protect the developing brain from infections and other insults — but may also contribute to neurodevelopmental

Oct 9 2020 A natural treatment for an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection that causes blindness in infants can be effectively administered through a simple eye drop without causing irritation, Kingston University researchers have found. A research team from Kingston University has been exploring the potential of antimicrobial agent monocaprin as an alternative to antibiotic treatments for

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 9 2020 Rotavirus (RV) is an extremely contagious viral infection and the most common cause of diarrhea in infants and children worldwide. The World Health Organization reports that more than 215,000 children under the age of 5 die of a vaccine-preventable rotavirus infection each year. An RV vaccine, introduced in

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 9 2020 Researchers with the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center (UHCMC) have secured $4 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Cancer Institute (NCI) to establish an HIV-associated Malignancy Research Center (HAMRC) focused on lung cancer in East Africa.

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 9 2020 In Salt Lake City schools, absences rise when the air quality worsens, and it’s not just in times of high pollution or “red” air quality days–even days following lower levels of pollutions saw increased absences. Research is still ongoing, and the evidence isn’t yet conclusive enough to draw

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 9 2020 In a nationwide study, UCLA researchers have found that health inequities can be measured in children as young as 5 years old. The research, published in Health Affairs, contributes to a growing body of literature finding that children of color who are also poor face greater health inequities

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 9 2020 CooperVision is reporting the latest findings from its landmark MiSight® 1 day clinical study, providing new insights about myopia management and the proven efficacy of the specially designed contact lens. Among many powerful outcomes are that nearly one in four children’s eyes originally fit with MiSight® 1 day

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 9 2020 People who survive serious COVID-19 infections have long-lasting immune responses against the virus, according to a new study led by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The study, published in Science Immunology, offers hope that people infected with the virus will develop lasting protection against reinfection. The study

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 7 2020 Almost 2 million babies are stillborn every year – or 1 every 16 seconds – according to the first ever joint stillbirth estimates released by UNICEF, WHO, the World Bank Group and the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The vast majority

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in October 2020 shows that recognizing the differences in the population composition, connectedness and distribution, as well as inter-individual differences in immunity, susceptibility and infectivity, are crucial to estimating the herd immunity attained as a result of natural severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) more

By Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 7 2020 Thought LeadersDr. Gina PoeProfessorUniversity of California, Los Angeles In this interview, Dr. Gina Poe from UCLA speaks to News-Medical about why we sleep, and the importance of REM sleep for brain development. Sleep is critical to our everyday health. What provoked your research into sleep? We carried out this