When the weather is cold and the nights are long, new parents can be tempted to put extra blankets in a crib or bring their infant into bed with them. But both practices can lead to death for children under a year old, who do not have the ability to protect their airway and prevent their own suffocation.
The Medicaid expansions for low-income parents that took place between 1996 and 2011 led to a 2.3 percent decrease in the uninsured rate among women who already had a child and became pregnant again, and a 7.9 percent decrease in the number of mothers who didn’t have insurance while they were pregnant.
Feeding eggs to infants could provide them with key nutrients for better brains. A study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis finds infants who were in introduced to eggs beginning at 6 months showed significantly higher blood concentrations of choline, other biomarkers in choline pathways, and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
Advances in engineering T cells to treat cancer are paving the way for new immunotherapies targeted at autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes. Now, researchers are also investigating therapies that reprogram T cells to “turn down” an immune response, which may hold promise for curing type 1 diabetes, as well as a number of diseases where overactive T cells attack a person’s healthy cells and organs.
Researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have discovered how high glucose levels - whether caused by diabetes or other factors - keep heart cells from maturing normally. Their findings help explain why babies born to women with diabetes are more likely to develop congenital heart disease.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have found a genetic signature for delay discounting — the tendency to undervalue future rewards — that overlaps with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), smoking and weight.
The search for the best preschool or childcare option is often a challenging experience – and many parents aren’t sure if the one they pick is safe and healthy for their child.
Nearly 15 percent of Kentucky children are currently diagnosed with ADHD, the highest rate in the nation. While medicine alone doesn't necessarily lead to improved academic performance in the long run, a new intervention developed by UK professors is aiming to do just that.
Some of the first living things to greet a newborn baby do a lot more than coo or cuddle. In fact, they may actually help the little one’s digestive system prepare for a lifetime of fighting off dangerous germs. But these living things aren’t parents, grandparents or siblings – they’re helpful bacteria.
Congenital heart valve defects are the most common type of birth defect, the majority of which have no clear genetic cause, suggesting that epigenetic factors play an important role. Now, researchers have found that the shear force of blood flow against the cells lining the early heart valve sends signals for heart “cushion” cells to become fully formed valves.
International research involving the University of Adelaide has uncovered a developmental abnormality in babies – especially in premature babies and in boys – that for the first time has been directly linked to cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
A team led by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy has published the first population-based study that comprehensively examines pediatric patients’ risk of developing type 2 diabetes after beginning treatment with an antidepressant.
The temptation to respond to social media notifications and text messages is keeping more and more teens awake at night. Teens who spend more than two hours a day on their smartphones get fewer than seven hours of sleep each night, according to a new study.
Results of a University of Nebraska Medical Center study published in the Oct. 10 issue of PLOS ONE, found if the standard supplementation of 400 IUs of vitamin D is increased to 800 IUs daily there are reductions in the number of premature and preterm babies with extremely low bone density.
Researchers have known for decades that fevers in the first trimester of pregnancy increase risk for some heart defects and facial deformities such as cleft lip or palate. Exactly how this happens is unclear.
Duke researchers now have evidence indicating that the fever itself, not its root source, is what interferes with the development of the heart and jaw during the first three to eight weeks of pregnancy.
One-year-old Elias will never remember all the doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals who took care of him for the first five months of his life, but his parents, Gabriela and Rogelio Ramirez, will never forget them.
A new study estimates employer-sponsored health plans spent at least $6 billion extra on infants born prematurely in 2013 and a substantial portion of that sum was spent on infants with major birth defects.
CT scans of her head at a local hospital were clear. After persistent pain in her abdomen in the hours that followed, doctors performed another CT, this time of her stomach. The images revealed her pancreas had split in half. Macie was a ticking time bomb.
An electronic alert system helps clinicians quickly do a bedside assessment to identify children with severe sepsis in an emergency department. Researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia report on their efforts to rapidly recognize this life-threatening condition.
Whether you’re a parent filling your child’s lunchbox, or a university student on a budget, UNLV instructor and registered dietitian nutritionist Samantha Coogan has tips for keeping that midday meal nutritious, delicious, and affordable.
A study lead by Northern Arizona University bioengineer Zach Lerner found that wearing a robotic exoskeleton—a leg brace powered by small motors—could alleviate crouch gait in children with cerebral palsy.
This is a case report about a 10-month-old infant who inadvertently ingested ketamine. The authors offer details of the pastient's clinical course as well as unexpected imaging findings.
Join our virtual press briefing on August 10 at 11 am ET to hear from these organizations about new research, stories of successful programs in communities, and experts who can speak to the need to ensure all children have access to nutritious food and safe places to be physically active.
Using the gene editing technology CRISPR, scientists have shed light on a rare, sometimes fatal syndrome that causes children to gradually lose the ability to manufacture vital blood cells. The research, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, suggests new lines of investigation into how to treat this condition — dyskeratosis congenita — which is characterized by shortened telomeres. Short telomeres lead to progressive DNA damage that accumulates over time.
A Florida State University researcher is working with art therapists to find better ways to treat children who have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Researchers were able to develop a set of guidelines for delivering art therapy to children who have ASD.
An Iowa State University researcher examines the challenges parents face as advocates for a child with a chronic illness. Katherine Rafferty says if the lines of communication between parents and doctors breakdown, the child’s quality of care is likely to suffer.
New Northwestern University research underscores how environmental conditions early in development can cause inflammation in adulthood -- an important risk factor for a wide range of diseases of aging, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, autoimmune diseases and dementia.
Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality.Now, NIBIB-funded researchers have developed a system to capture and identify a scarce blood peptide called P1 that can predict increased risk of preterm birth, offering the opportunity to delay birth or increase fetus viability to save lives and reduce lifelong disabilities.
The good news about flat head syndrome is that it doesn’t have consequences beyond cosmetics, and it can often be improved – if it doesn’t resolve on its own.
Researchers in the Department of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified the most effective treatment approach for children diagnosed with iron-deficiency anemia (IDA).
Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, and it only takes one blistering sunburn during childhood or adolescence to nearly double a person’s chance of developing melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, later in life. This is why it’s imperative, say dermatologists from the American Academy of Dermatology, that parents do everything they can to protect their infants from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays and teach their children healthy sun care habits – starting at an early age.
In two previous studies, University of North Carolina researchers and colleagues linked infant brain anatomy differences to autism diagnoses at age two. Now they show differences in functional connections between brain regions at 6 months to predict autism at age two.
Baby teeth from children with autism contain more toxic lead and less of the essential nutrients zinc and manganese, compared to teeth from children without autism, according to a study funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health. The researchers studied twins to control genetic influences and focus on possible environmental contributors to the disease. The findings, published June 1 in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that differences in early-life exposure to metals, or more importantly how a child’s body processes them, may affect the risk of autism.
Pediatric severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in the Washington, DC metropolitan area is most common among inner city African-American children from low income families, according to a new study presented at the 2017 American Thoracic Society International Conference. The researchers also found that these children were most likely to have a delayed diagnosis.
Little consensus exists when it comes to the certification of “emotional support animals” (ESAs). These animals usually have little or no specific training, which poses a challenge for mental health professionals who are asked to certify them. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have conducted a survey to examine what techniques and instruments mental health professionals are using to aid in their determinations of whether certification of an ESA is appropriate.
Hundreds of thousands of children with chronic illnesses who used to die are now surviving their disease and treatment—which is amazing. But their brains are being damaged in the process of keeping them alive. This first ever research quantifies the IQ impact of six main illnesses and looks and the common threads that connect them. It also takes next steps on how psychologists can team up with surgeons/oncologists, etc. to help treat kids and their parents, so they can thrive in school and life.
Georgetown University Medical Center autism specialists working with Latino families in Washington, DC, have developed an effective screening program that identifies Latino infants who may be at risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), allowing the opportunity for early intervention.
UT Southwestern Medical Center pediatric researchers have harnessed an analytical tool used to predict the weather to evaluate the effectiveness of therapies to reduce brain injury in newborns who suffer oxygen deprivation during birth.
The biomechanics of head injury in youths (5 to 18 years of age) have been poorly understood. A new study reported in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics set out to determine what biomechanical characteristics predispose youths with concussions to experience transient or persistent postconcussion symptoms.
In a new study, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, University of Cyprus and Stanford University map the complex biological cascade caused by MIA: the expression of multiple genes involved in autism are turned up or down by MIA, affecting key aspects of prenatal brain development that may increase risk for atypical development later in life.
A study comparing children 7 to 11 years old with moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnea to children the same age who slept normally found significant reductions of gray matter – brain cells crucial to most cognitive tasks – in several regions of the brains of children with sleep apnea. The finding points to connections between this common sleep disturbance and the loss of neurons or delayed neuronal growth in the developing brain.
Results of a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers using national data add to evidence that living in inner cities can worsen asthma in poor children. They also document persistent racial/ethnic disparities in asthma.
Parents of young children use nursery products daily but these products are associated with injury more often than you might think. A new study from the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that about every 8 minutes in the U.S., a child three years of age or younger is treated in a hospital emergency-department for a nursery product-related injury – which is approximately 66,000 children each year.
A longitudinal study of children with Fragile X Syndrome, the leading genetic cause of autism, and their mothers found that sustained maternal responsivity had a significant positive impact on the children's development, even mitigating declines often reported in middle childhood.
In a mouse study, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have identified a protein that inhibits the enzyme that breaks down bilirubin in newborns. Methods that block this inhibitor, and thus restore the enzyme’s activity, could provide a new therapeutic approach for preventing or treating severe newborn jaundice. The study is published February 6, 2017 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.