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Study: Distinct naming convention for babies in NICU can reduce wrong-patient errors by almost 40%

Traditionally, babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are temporarily identified by gender and last name, such as Babyboy Jackson or Babygirl Smith, but this naming configuration can result in wrong-patient errors for the fragile newborns.

14 Jul 2015

Newborn's first stool can signal future cognitive problems

A newborn's first stool can signal the child may struggle with persistent cognitive problems, according to Case Western Reserve University Project Newborn researchers.

14 Jul 2015

High-frequency tympanometry testing can help identify middle-ear problems in newborn babies

Screening newborn babies who are in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) using a testing process called high-frequency tympanometry can help identify middle-ear problems earlier, according to newly published research from a local team of researchers.

10 Jul 2015

New portable system can produce life-saving NO from air by means of electrical spark

Treatment with inhaled nitric oxide (NO) has proven to be life saving in newborns, children and adults with several dangerous conditions, but the availability of the treatment has been limited by the size, weight and complexity of equipment needed to administer the gas and the therapy's high price.

7 Jul 2015

DTC genetic testing has negative consequences in children

A woman coping with the burden of familial breast cancer can't help but wonder if her young daughter will suffer the same fate. Has she inherited the same disease-causing mutation? Is it best to be prepared for the future, or to wait? During the last decade, genetic tests have been through a sea change, both in their availability and the technologies behind them. Today there are at least 34 companies that offer direct to consumer (DTC) DNA testing, some of which return health results. And now it is possible to sequence someone's entire genetic code for the price of a laptop.

3 Jul 2015

Computer model could help develop better strategies for treating early-childhood visual disorders

When newborn babies open their eyes for the first time, they already possess nerve cells specialized in particular stimuli in the visual cortex of their brains - but these nerve cells are not systematically linked with each other.

2 Jul 2015

R. Rodney Howell receives ASHG’s annual Advocacy Award

The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) has named R. Rodney Howell, MD, Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Chairman Emeritus of Pediatrics, and Member of the Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, as the first recipient of its new, annual Advocacy Award.

1 Jul 2015

Researchers reconstruct infants' visual perception of the world

A newborn infant can see its parents' expressions at a distance of 30 cm. For the first time researchers have managed to reconstruct infants visual perception of the world.

29 Jun 2015

Study shows cystic fibrosis is more deadly for Hispanic than non-Hispanic patients

Cystic fibrosis is more deadly for Hispanic than non-Hispanic patients, a disparity that is not explained by differences in their access to health care, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine.

25 Jun 2015

Scientific collaboration pinpoints genetic cause of rare form of blindness in newborn babies

A scientific collaboration, involving the Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine at Saint Mary's Hospital, UK, and the Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine in Naples, Italy, has pinpointed the genetic cause of a rare form of blindness, which can present itself as a key-hole shaped defect in the eye in newborn babies.

24 Jun 2015

Vitamin K-deficient bleeding increasingly common in newborns

Vitamin K, which has been administered to newborns as an injection since it was first recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1961, is vital for blood to clot normally. Despite it being given as standard medical practice since then, vitamin K-deficient bleeding (VKDB) is being seen more often in newborns than it has in decades.

23 Jun 2015

Stress during pregnancy affects babies' brain development

Stress during the first trimester of pregnancy alters the population of microbes living in a mother's vagina. Those changes are passed on to newborns during birth and are associated with differences in their gut microbiome as well as their brain development, according to a new study by University of Pennsylvania researchers.

23 Jun 2015

International researchers identify previously unknown genetic immunodeficiency

An analysis of five families has revealed a previously unknown genetic immunodeficiency, says an international team led by researchers from Boston Children's Hospital. The condition, linked to mutations in a gene called DOCK2, deactivates many features of the immune system and leaves affected children open to a unique pattern of aggressive, potentially fatal infections early in life.

19 Jun 2015

Study identifies new biomarkers for prenatal risk assessment

NX Prenatal Inc., a privately held women's healthcare molecular diagnostic company, announced today that the American Journal of Perinatology has published the results of a blinded, retrospective study of 48 asymptomatic, healthy pregnant women that demonstrates the feasibility of assessing biomarkers associated with blood based microvesicles/exosomes for spontaneous preterm birth (SPTB) risk.

18 Jun 2015

Study shows development assistance for health increased substantially since 1990

Funding for health in developing countries has increased substantially since 1990, with a focus on HIV/AIDS, maternal health, and newborn and child health, and limited funding for noncommunicable diseases, according to a study in the June 16 issue of JAMA.

17 Jun 2015

Grand Challenges Canada commends government's leadership on maternal, newborn and child health

Grand Challenges Canada today commended the Government of Canada's sustained leadership on maternal, newborn and child health, reaffirmed by The Honourable Minister Paradis, Minister of International Development and Minister for La Francophonie.

15 Jun 2015

Protective antibody response could be effective in preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission

How most babies are protected from acquiring HIV from their infected mothers has been a matter of scientific controversy.

9 Jun 2015

Women & Infants Hospital awarded $5 million NIH grant to support COBRE for Perinatal Biology

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island has recently received a nearly $5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to support an Institutional Development Award Center of Biomedical Research Excellence for Perinatal Biology.

4 Jun 2015

Use of antidepressants in late pregnancy may be associated with increased risk of PPHN

An analysis of approximately 3.8 million pregnancies finds that use of antidepressants late in pregnancy may be associated with an increased risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN), according to a study in the June 2 issue of JAMA. However, the absolute risk was small and the risk increase appears more modest than suggested in previous studies.

3 Jun 2015

MGH researchers develop bioartificial replacement limbs suitable for transplantation

A team of Massachusetts General Hospital investigators has made the first steps towards development of bioartificial replacement limbs suitable for transplantation. In their report, which has been published online in the journal Biomaterials, the researchers describe using an experimental approach previously used to build bioartificial organs to engineer rat forelimbs with functioning vascular and muscle tissue.