A new study from the Violence Prevention Initiative at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia suggests that educators, particularly in urban schools, should teach elementary school-aged girls problem-solving skills and provide them leadership opportunities as a way to reduce their relational aggression.
As new scientific discoveries deepen our understanding of how cancer develops in children, doctors and other healthcare providers face challenges in better using that knowledge to guide treatment and counsel families and patients. A CHOP oncologist offers expert commentary on a major study of cancer predisposition genes.
Researchers say that children in low-income families experience greater access to preventive medical and dental care under Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program than children covered by private insurance. However, for all types of insurance, access to pediatric specialty care is a challenge.
For refugee children newly arrived in the U.S., hepatitis B, tuberculosis, parasitic worms, high blood lead levels and anemia are among the top public health concerns covered by screening programs. A large epidemiological study provides health profiles of refugee children from 6 countries in Asia and Africa.
Children under age two may be at heightened risk for abuse and neglect during the six months immediately following a parent’s return from deployment in the U.S. Army, and the risk may rise among Army families with soldiers who are deployed more than once.
Researchers have taken a significant step toward gene therapy for a fatal neurodegenerative disease in children. By delivering a working version of a gene to produce an enzyme lacking in Batten disease, the scientists delayed symptoms and extended lifespan in dogs with a comparable disease.
Pediatric oncology researchers have pinpointed a crucial change in a single DNA base that both predisposes children to an aggressive form of the childhood cancer neuroblastoma and makes the disease progress once tumors form. The gene change results in a "super-enhancer" that drives the cancer.
Pediatric researchers have developed the first set of growth charts for U.S. children with Down syndrome since 1988. These new charts provide an important tool for pediatricians to evaluate growth milestones for children and adolescents with this condition.
Hematology researchers have safely and effectively treated children and young adults for autoimmune blood disorders in a multicenter clinical trial. Patients had a durable, complete response in one of those conditions, called ALPS.
Researchers have discovered details of the abnormal molecular signals and biological events that drive a high-risk form of the childhood cancer neuroblastoma. The findings may lead to more effective targeted treatments.
Scientists have more precisely calculated heritability--the influence of underlying genes--in 9 autoimmune diseases that begin in childhood. The research may strengthen risk assessment for associated autoimmune disorders.
A study of influenza infection in animals broadens understanding of the immune response to flu virus, showing that the process is more dynamic than usually described. The findings may offer key insights for developing better vaccines.
Mitochondria are not only the power plants of our cells; these tiny structures also play a central role in our physiology. By enabling flexible responses to new environments, mitochondria have helped humans adapt and evolve.
Addressing the relatively small number of new cancer drugs for children, a selective group of leading research centers is joining a new federally funded research consortium aimed at bringing scientific rigor and a concentrated effort to identifying new drug candidates for pediatric clinical trials.
Researchers analyzing the complicated genetic influences in inflammatory bowel disease have discovered new gene variants associated with an often-severe type of the disease that affects children under age five. The genes play key roles in immune function.
Scientists who analyzed the genes involved in 10 autoimmune diseases that begin in childhood have found 22 genome-wide signals shared by two or more diseases. These shared gene sites may reveal potential targets for treatment with existing drugs.
PEDSnet, a national clinical research network co-led by a pediatric researcher at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, was approved for an $8.6 million funding award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
Surgeons at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) joined with colleagues from Penn Medicine recently to complete the world’s first bilateral hand transplant on a child. Earlier this month, the surgical team successfully transplanted donor hands and forearms onto eight-year-old Zion Harvey who, several years earlier, had undergone amputation of his hands and feet and a kidney transplant following a serious infection.
Using existing drugs, such as lithium, to restore basic biological processes in human cells and animal models, researchers may have broken a long-standing logjam in devising effective treatments for human mitochondrial diseases.
Researchers studying the pediatric cancer neuroblastoma have detailed how cancer-driving mutations evolve during chemotherapy, and they hope to exploit this knowledge to design better treatments for children.
Pediatric researchers have discovered gene locations affecting bone strength in wrist bones, the most common site for fractures in children. Children with these genetic variants could especially benefit from activities and diets promoting bone strength.
Rorke-Adams, 86, was the only female president in the 188-year history of Philadelphia General Hospital. She went on to become acting chair of Pathology at CHOP, president of the American Association of Neuropathology, a Penn professor, and an international expert on pediatric brain tumors and shaken baby syndrome. And she was the guardian of a sample of Albert Einstein's brain until donating the slide to the Mutter Museum in 2008.
Steven D. Douglas, M.D., received the Paradigm Builder Lectureship Award of the International Society for NeuroVirology on June 4. The Award recognizes Douglas’s 40 years of work in the biology of immune cells and HIV infection.
Short boys are three times more likely than short girls to receive recombinant human growth hormone treatment for idiopathic short stature (ISS), even though in a general pediatric population, equal proportions of both genders had ISS.
Researchers say that the ability to "diagnose" the skills teen drivers lack may provide opportunities for better driving practice in a safe environment, so that teens are better prepared to navigate hazardous situations when they take to the road alone.
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia announces that Patrick K. FitzGerald has been appointed to the newly created position of VIce President for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.
Cerebral palsy is the most common cause of childhood disability in the world, but is understudied, especially in developing countries. An ongoing international partnership in Botswana has done the first rigorous study of CP outcomes in Africa.
Michael A. Levine, MD, FACE, chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, received the Master of the American College of Endocrinology Award on Saturday, May 16.
A patient safety team who analyzed alarm fatigue in pediatric hospital units has been recognized for the best research paper of 2014 in a journal dedicated to biomedical technology.
Children who undergo heart surgery are better off receiving fresh whole blood transfusions from a single donor, rather than receiving component blood from multiple donors. Limiting donor exposures reduces the patients' risk of complications.
In the largest genome-wide analysis of common variable immunodeficiency disorder (CVID), scientists identified a gene that may be a "missing link" between overactive and underactive immune activity.
By using existing human drugs to improve metabolism and lifespan in microscopic worms, researchers have set the stage for clinica trials of possible innovative therapies for mitochondrial diseases. These diseases currently have few treatments.
In the largest study to date documenting the significant risks to children’s health associated with prescription antipsychotics, results suggest that initiating antipsychotics may elevate a child’s risk not only for significant weight gain, but also for Type II diabetes by nearly 50 percent.
Delving into the world of the extremely small, researchers are exploring how biodegradable nanoparticles can precisely deliver anticancer drugs to attack neuroblastoma, an often-deadly children's cancer.
Last Monday, more than 200 young adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), their parents and autism support professionals gathered for a free, half-day presentation and Q&A panel hosted by The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Center for Autism Research (CAR) to support families considering life after high school, and the possibilities for higher education.
Using gene therapy to produce a mutant human protein with unusually high blood-clotting power, scientists successfully treated dogs with the bleeding disorder hemophlia, without triggering an unwanted immune response.
Body mass index during infancy may help predict if a child will be obese by age 4. A study in a cohort with a majority of African-American children suggests that better understanding of infant growth patterns may lead to more effective early obesity prevention.
Analyzing a puzzling multisystem disorder in three children, genetic experts have identified a new syndrome, dubbed CHOPS syndrome, shedding light on key biological processes during human development.
Genomics researchers analyzing common variable immunodeficiency disease (CVID) in children have discovered links to a gene crucial to the body’s defense against infections. The finding may represent an inviting target for drug treatment.
Children born with a DNA abnormality on chromosome 16 already linked to neurodevelopmental problems show measurable delays in processing sound and language, says a study team of radiologists and psychologists.
From many clinical researchers presenting findings at Cardiology 2015, conference organizers chose 8 finalists for the Outstanding Investigator Award. Their research in pediatric cardiology is summarized below.
An international group of more than 800 medical experts at the nation’s largest pediatric cardiology conference are discussing challenges in treating congenital heart disease in fetuses, neonates, children and young adults.
A new analysis released at a DC briefing today shows that, five years after its technical end, the recession of the mid-2000s continues to impact America’s children in four key areas: health, hunger, housing, and abuse and neglect, updating research conducted in 2010. It finds lingering effects in every aspect, but it underscores the effectiveness of federal investments in mitigating harm to children.
The Philadelphia Pediatric Medical Device Consortium announces its first three awards to companies developing new medical devices for children. The FDA-funded consortium, based at CHOP, provides know-how and seed funding.
At the invitation of the White House, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia sent two special guests to Pres. Obama's announcement today of the Precision Medicine Initiative: the Hospital CEO and 9-year-old patient Emily Whitehead.
Pediatric nurses play a key role in preventing post-traumatic stress in injured children and their families by practicing "trauma-informed care". A new study surveyed pediatric trauma nurses, revealing that they are knowledgeable about practicing trauma-informed care, but need for additional training to help families cope after a child’s injury.
By adjusting the levels of a key signaling protein, researchers improved motor function and brain abnormalities in experimental animals with a form of Huntington’s disease, a severe neurodegenerative disorder.
This study is first ever comprehensive analysis to investigate the Affordable Care Act’s ( Essential Health Benefit (EHB) as it relates to children. The study found that the EHB has resulted in a state-by-state patchwork of coverage for children and adolescents that has significant exclusions, particularly for children with developmental disabilities and other special health care needs.
What is the impact on expectant mothers and hospitals when there are large-scale closures of maternity units? A new study provides views from hospital staff members in Philadelphia, where 13 out of 19 obstetric units closed in a 15-year period.
An innovative therapy against a highly aggressive leukemia continues to show highly promising results in children treated in a pilot study. Of 39 children receiving bioengineered T cells, 92 percent had no evidence of cancer a month after treatment.
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