Children’s Health

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) develops as a long term complication of childhood streptococcal angina. Latent RHD can be detected with echocardiography years before it becomes symptomatic. RHD is curable when treated early with medication. RHD is responsible for over 300 000 deaths worldwide each year, accounting for just over two-thirds of all deaths from valvular

Every year around 20 Australian children die from the incurable brain tumor, Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). The average age of diagnosis for DIPG is just seven years. There are no effective treatments, and almost all children die from the disease, usually within one year of diagnosis. A paper published today 12 Feb 2021 in

Children treated for cancer with approaches such as chemotherapy can develop therapy-related myeloid neoplasms (a second type of cancer) with a dismal prognosis. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have characterized the genomic abnormalities of 84 such myeloid neoplasms, with potential implications for early interventions to stop the disease. A paper detailing the work

Cisplatin is one of the most effective chemotherapy agents, used in just under half of pediatric cancer cases. Permanent hearing loss is a common side effect of this medication, but until now, studies have been too small and too varied to accurately characterize this risk. Today in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, investigators at

Since the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), millions of people have died, with well over a hundred million infections having been reported worldwide. Some groups are especially vulnerable to the virus, developing severe and progressive disease. The World Health Organization has identified

As the number of pregnant women using opioid drugs continues to rise, questions have been raised about the long-term health effects on children exposed to these drugs in the womb. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine now have preliminary but striking evidence that suggests that such exposure can cause long-lasting impairment in

Experts have spent decades warning us about the rising rates of childhood obesity, which has become an epidemic among recent generations in many places around the world, including Spain. The transition from the traditional Mediterranean diet to the consumption of processed foods with low nutritional value is a key contributor, with child-targeted advertising also partly

Brain volume, verbal IQ, and overall IQ are lower in children with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) than in children without diabetes, according to a new longitudinal study published in Diabetes Care, a journal of the American Diabetes Association. The nearly eight-year study, led by Nelly Mauras, MD, a clinical research scientist at Nemours Children’s Health

Anti-retroviral drugs are a vital tool in the prevention and treatment of HIV. A new study of pregnant women in Tanzania shows that life-long antiviral treatment also seems to prevent viral transmission from mother to baby. The results of the study, which was conducted in part by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and published

Fusing the neck’s top two vertebrae can prevent repeat strokes in children with bow hunter syndrome, a rare condition that affects a handful of U.S. pediatric patients each year, UT Southwestern researchers suggest in a recent study. The finding, published online in Child’s Nervous System, offers a new way to treat these children and protect

In an effort to help schools reduce the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks as they resume in-person instruction, University of California San Diego and the County of San Diego are testing the Safer at School Early Alert system, an evidence-informed program to detect SARS-CoV-2 at schools and child care centers. Modeled after UC San Diego’s Return

It may be safe for COVID-infected mothers to maintain contact with their babies. Keeping them apart can cause maternal distress and have a negative effect on exclusive breastfeeding later in infancy, according to The COVID Mothers Study published in the peer-reviewed journal Breastfeeding Medicine. In this worldwide study, infants who did not directly breastfeed, experience

The descriptions on the fronts of infant and toddler food packages may not accurately reflect the actual ingredient amounts, according to new research. The team found that vegetables in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “dark green” category were very likely to appear in the product name, but their average order in the ingredient list was

Sam Edelman felt like a girl for as long as he could remember, his dad said. As Sam’s 18th birthday approached, and after years of researching hormone treatments, the high school senior scheduled an appointment with a doctor who treats transgender people. It was a big step for Sam, a musician, a runner, a snowboarder

Rates of overweight and obesity in children are rising around the world, with serious long-term consequences for health and health care costs. In prior research, video and mobile games have helped children eat healthier and exercise more. A new study examined how Indian 10- and 11-year-olds’ food choices were affected by playing a pediatric dietary

Previous studies about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), have shown that the illness is often more severe in men than women. However, there is limited data available for the pediatric population. Though children and adolescents are at a lower risk of developing severe illness, some

The 1918 influenza pandemic provides a cautionary tale for what the future may hold for COVID-19, says a Michigan State University researcher. After a decade studying a flu virus that killed approximately 15,000 Michigan residents, Siddharth Chandra, a professor in MSU’s James Madison College, saw his research come to life as he watched the spread

As families settle back into a new school year, sleep experts at the University of South Australia are reminding parents about the importance of teenagers getting enough sleep, cautioning them that insufficient sleep can negatively affect their mental health. In a new research paper, UniSA sleep experts Dr Alex Agostini and Dr Stephanie Centofanti confirm

A treatment, known as KEDRAB (Rabies Immune Globulin [Human]), currently used in the prevention of rabies has been demonstrated to be safe and effective for patients age 17 and under. Results published today in Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics report the first and only pediatric trial of any human rabies immunoglobulin (HRIG) currently available in the

Hamilton Storage is pleased to confirm that the Hamilton BiOS® automated storage system will be installed as part of a shared biorepository for storing biological material at Emory University’s new Woodruff Health Sciences Center Health Sciences Research Building (HSRB)-II. This state-of-the-art biomedical research facility construction, including installation of the BiOS, is expected to be completed