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Investigators at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center are hoping to better identify adolescents at risk for suicide and improve how these at-risk children receive follow up mental health treatment. Thanks to a $1.2 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the two hospitals will conduct a three-year study to test a new intervention targeting adolescents during emergency department visits.

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Researchers at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, in partnership with The Ohio State University have developed a prototype for child-resistant spray bottles for household cleaning products. If produced, the prototype would provide an alternative to current, more harmful child-resistant spray bottles while still meeting U.S. Consumer Product Safety commission standards for child resistance.

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According to a recent study* by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a concussion sends students to the emergency room every five minutes in this country. As the new school year begins, and middle school and high school sports practices and competition kick into full action, Nationwide Children’s Hospital Sports Medicine introduces an extensive concussion awareness program – called the “Concussion ToolKit” – in which they educate parents, coaches, teachers and school administrators, along with the student-athletes themselves, about the signs, symptoms, treatment and management of concussions.

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Keith Yeates, PhD, director of the Center for Biobehavioral Health in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, has been designated lead neuropsychologist for a five-year, multisite study of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among United States children, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The grant is for approximately $2.75 million.

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After seven years as board chair of Nationwide Children’s Hospital Inc. and Nationwide Children’s Hospital – leading a period of unprecedented growth and success– Abigail Wexner stepped down as chair effective August 24. Wexner completed her second official term in July, 2011, but agreed to remain as chair through the new hospital opening in June, 2012. She will remain a board member of the hospital and board chair of the Center for Family Safety and Healing. Alex Fischer, President and CEO of the Columbus Partnership, assumed the chairmanship during the August 24 board meeting.

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More than two dozen pediatric specialists from Nationwide Children’s Hospital contributed to the recently released “Manual of Pediatric Neurology,” published by World Scientific Publishing Co. The physicians, who represent an array of pediatric disciplines, collaborated to address frequently encountered conditions for pediatric patients in all clinical settings.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has renewed the designation of the Center for Injury Research and Policy (CIRP) of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital as one of the agency’s Injury Control Research Centers (ICRCs). This renewal follows a highly competitive review process of applications by research centers from across the country. It reaffirms CIRP’s role as a national leader in the areas of pediatric injury research, education and training, and community outreach.

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Nationwide Children’s Hospital recently earned the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Silver Medal of Honor for its leadership in organ donation. Nationwide Children’s is one of 300 hospitals across the country awarded this distinction and will be formally recognized during the Fourth Annual National Learning Congress October 4-5, 2012 in Dallas, Texas.

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Many children with severe allergies carry injectable epinephrine (EpiPens) – syringes filled with epinephrine to delay an allergic reaction – but the EpiPens sometimes require the help of an adult to dispense. School nurses are often the only school officials authorized to handle medications, leaving the educators who are with the children most of the day untrained. According to doctors at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, this lack of training is exactly what becomes most dangerous for children with severe allergies.

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A new study conducted by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University compared medically attended noncccupational and occupational injuries among U.S. workers with and without disabilities.

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Helper cells traditionally thought to only assist killer white blood cells may be the frontline warriors when battling hepatitis A infection. These are the findings from a Nationwide Children’s Hospital study appearing in a recent issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

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With the 2012 summer Olympic games about to take place in London, children everywhere are looking forward to watching their sports idols and role models take center stage. While the Olympics may inspire some to try a new sport, such as track, parents should be aware that this participation does not come without risk of injury.

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Gail E. Besner, MD, has been appointed chief of Pediatric Surgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She is program director of the Residency in Pediatric Surgery, principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s and co-director of the Burn Program.

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Jiayuh Lin, PhD, and colleagues at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have developed a drug to target the most common cancerous bone tumor in children, osteosarcoma, using a version of the FDA-approved drug, Celebrex. The team will soon begin testing the drug using human and canine tumor cell lines thanks to a two-year, $200,000 grant from Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer.

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Nationwide Children’s Hospital CEO Steve Allen, MD, will serve as co-chair of the first Transforming Duchenne Care workshop to be held June 27 and 28, 2012, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The national symposium, held by Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, will gather leadership from top medical institutions, neuromuscular experts and patient representatives with the ultimate goal of establishing a network of centers of excellence for the care and treatment of children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

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Becker's Hospital Review recently released its list of 100 Physician Leaders of Hospitals and Health Systems which features some of the top physician leaders in health care including Steve Allen, MD, chief executive officer of Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

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Christopher Breuer, MD, Toshiharu Shinoka, MD, PhD, and their tissue engineering team will be joining the faculty of Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University College of Medicine this fall. Breuer and Shinoka, currently at Yale University, were the first in the world to tissue engineer blood vessels and implant them in human infants for repair of congenital heart defects. They currently have US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to conduct the first U.S human trial to investigate the safety and effectiveness of this method. They and their team will conduct this work at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

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Randal Olshefski, MD, recently was appointed chief of the Section of Hematology/Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where he previously served as interim chief prior to January 2012. In this role, he will report to Timothy Cripe, MD, PhD, who joined Nationwide Children’s from Cincinnati Children’s earlier this year as chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology/BMT at Nationwide Children’s.

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In a dedication ceremony held this morning, Nationwide Children’s, alongside community leaders and partners, celebrated the completion of its seven-year campus expansion, the largest pediatric expansion project in United States history. Once renovations have been made to the existing hospital, Nationwide Children’s will house 460 patient beds on its main campus in addition to the 92 off-site newborn special and intensive care beds the hospital leases from local maternity wards.

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May is asthma awareness month, and with summer right around the corner, a study shows that doctors may be closer to understanding why patients with mild asthma have such difficulty breathing during hot, humid weather. The study, appearing in the June print issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, found that patients who inhaled an asthma drug before breathing in hot, humid air were able to prevent airway constriction that volunteers without asthma did not experience in the same environment.

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Nationwide Children’s Hospital has made U.S. News & World Report’s Honor Roll list of the 2012-13 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings. Ranking eighth on this prestigious list, Nationwide Children’s is one of only 12 children’s hospitals nationwide to earn this “best of the best” national distinction. High rankings in a minimum of three specialties qualified Nationwide Children’s for the 2012-13 Best Children’s Hospital Honor Roll. This is the seventh straight year that Nationwide Children’s has been recognized on this well-known national list.

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In today’s technology-driven world, batteries, especially button batteries, are everywhere. They power countless gadgets and electronic items that we use every day. While they may seem harmless, button batteries can be dangerous if swallowed by children. A new study conducted by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that the annual number of battery-related emergency department visits among children younger than 18 years of age more than doubled over the 20-year study period, jumping from 2,591 emergency department visits in 1990 to 5,525 emergency department visits in 2009. The number of button batteries swallowed by children also doubled during this period.

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A new study by researchers in the Center for Biobehavioral Health and the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital examined pediatric injuries associated with baby bottles, pacifiers and sippy cups. Researchers found that from 1991 to 2010, an estimated 45,398 children younger than three years of age were treated in U.S. emergency departments for injuries related to the use of these products. This equates to an average of 2,270 injuries per year, or one child treated in a hospital emergency department every four hours for these injuries.

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Timothy Cripe, MD, PhD, chief of Hematology/Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplantation at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, was recently appointed a member of the Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapy Advisory Committee which reports to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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The common antibiotic, amoxicillin-clavulanate, may improve small bowel function in children experiencing motility disturbances, according to a study appearing in the June print edition of the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition from Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

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Nationwide Children’s Hospital has opened its first suburban ambulatory surgery center. Located in Westerville, Ohio, the center is an extension of the current surgical services on the main campus, one that gives families an option for convenient access to a full spectrum of pediatric outpatient surgical services.

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Venkata R. Jayanthi, MD, has been appointed chief of the Section of Pediatric Urology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

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Investigators in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have developed a mouse model in which a mother’s urinary tract infection negatively affects the offspring, an occurrence anecdotally observed in humans. Using this first-of-its-kind model, they have identified proteins in the blood that may indicate whether such an infection might stunt fetal growth. Study findings have been published in the March 21, 2012, edition of PLoS ONE.

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Investigators at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, working with the DNA Sequencing Core Facility at the University of Utah, have developed an approach to newborn screening (NBS) for the life-threatening genetic disorder, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and potentially other muscular dystrophies. As a model for NBS, the approach published online in January in the Annals of Neurology provides evidence that this approach could be implemented if approved by regulatory bodies at a state level or alternatively through the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children.

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Many children with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis who received treatment through ImproveCareNow, a national quality improvement and research network, ceased to have symptoms and no longer needed to take steroids for disease management. These are the findings from a study appearing in Pediatrics that examined the ImproveCareNow network’s quality improvement efforts and their impact on outcomes. In this study, the proportion of children with Crohn’s disease who were in remission increased from 55 percent to 68 percent, with a similar improvement in ulcerative colitis patients.

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Carl Backes, Jr., MD, a neonatologist and current cardiology fellow at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, has been awarded $35,000 from the March of Dimes Ohio Chapter for his project to expand an outpatient methadone education program.

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A new study by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that from 1999 through 2008, more than 93,000 children younger than 5 years of age were treated in U.S. emergency departments for stair-related injuries. On average, this equates to a child younger than 5 years of age being rushed to an emergency department for a stair-related injury every six minutes in the U.S.

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Many premature infants throughout the United States continue to receive inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) during their NICU stay, despite the lack of evidence to support its use. Whether or not a preemie will receive iNO treatment, when and for how long, varies greatly throughout the country, as its use in premature infants appears to be unstandardized. These are the findings of a Nationwide Children’s Hospital study appearing in the journal Pediatrics.

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The Ryan and Jenny Dempster Family Foundation recently awarded 15 charitable organizations grants through its second annual grant cycle. Nationwide Children’s Hospital was one of the 15 organizations awarded funds.

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Children who experience mild traumatic brain injury may be more likely to show increases in symptoms over time that could impact quality of life, more so than children who experience an orthopedic injury. Injury severity could play a role.

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Children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may have difficulty functioning in school, particularly because their tendency to internalize problems can impact attendance. These are the findings from a Nationwide Children’s Hospital study appearing in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics.

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Linda H. Cripe, MD, a distinguished pediatric cardiologist, has joined the Heart Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Dr. Cripe will also be a member of the faculty at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

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Doctors at Nationwide Children’s Hospital who perform weight loss surgery (bariatric surgery) on adolescents took a look at their patient population in a retrospective study published in the January 2012 print edition of Pediatric Blood & Cancer. They found that their patients had experienced a significant loss of excess body weight and showed improvement in many obesity-related diseases within the first one to two years following surgery.

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Oncologist and cancer researcher Timothy P. Cripe, MD, PhD, has been appointed Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Dr. Cripe will also be a member of the faculty at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

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A national study of Medicaid data shows most young people who present to emergency departments with deliberate self-harm are discharged to the community, without receiving an emergency mental health assessment. Even more, a roughly comparable proportion of these patients receive no outpatient mental health care in the following month. These are the findings from a study conducted by researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital that appears in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

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Jonathan Thackeray, MD, has been named medical director of The Center for Family Safety and Healing and chief of the Division of Child and Family Advocacy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

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Today, the Nationwide Insurance Columbus Marathon and Nationwide Insurance are making Nationwide Children’s Hospital the title beneficiary of the annual running and walking event, renaming it the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon & ½ Marathon.

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It takes life-saving research and access to clinical trials to help children with cancer. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a volunteer-driven charity dedicated to raising money for childhood cancer research, awarded an infrastructure grant of $47,000 to the Biopathology Center (BPC), housed in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The Foundation’s infrastructure grants provide institutions with resources to enable them to conduct more research and enroll more kids in ongoing clinical trials – their best hope for a cure.

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While infants under 12 months old may only have a few teeth, experts say they should been seen by a dentist within the first year of life. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry’s revised guidelines on infant oral health recommend infants 6 to 12 months old should to be seen by a dentist. More than 40 percent of children have tooth decay by the time they reach kindergarten. In order to help prevent tooth decay, dental experts at Nationwide Children’s Hospital are reminding parents to schedule dental appointments for their toddlers.

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Nationwide Children’s Hospital welcomes three new neonatologists to the Section of Neonatology: Thomas Bartman, MD, PhD, Susan Lynch, MD, and Nehal Parikh, DO, MS.

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Don Hayes, MD, MS, MEd, recently joined Nationwide Children’s Hospital as medical director of the Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant programs. He comes to Nationwide Children’s from the University of Kentucky Medical Center where he served as the medical director of various programs including Advance Lung Disease and Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant programs as well as the Pediatric Sleep Disorders and Asthma programs.

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The holidays are an exciting and busy time of year as parents race to finish the shopping, decorating and baking. As the number of days left in the calendar year winds down, be sure to allow plenty of time in that hectic schedule for playing with your child and sharing holiday traditions as a family. Nationwide Children’s Hospital reminds parents to keep alert to various holiday dangers.

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With the increasing production of electronic products in the consumer market, more button batteries are found in the home setting. From remote controls and watches to musical greeting cards and toys, these small, shiny objects are the perfect size for a curious child to swallow or even push into their nasal cavity or ear canal. It is important for parents to be aware of the dangers that button batteries pose to young children and the damage that these batteries can cause.

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Bacteria responsible for middle ear infections, pink eye and sinusitis protect themselves from further immune attack by transporting molecules meant to destroy them away from their inner membrane target, according to a study from Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The study, published in the November issue of PLoS Pathogens, is the first to describe a transporter system that bacteria use to ensure their survival.

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The majority of children experience personal changes and changes in relationships one year after their sibling has died from cancer; however, positive and negative changes are not universal. These are the findings from the first study – published online November 3, 2011 in Cancer Nursing – to examine changes in siblings after the death of a brother or sister to cancer from three different perspectives: mothers, fathers and siblings.