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Hypocalcaemic seizure surveillance highlights UK public health policy failings

The occurrence of 91 confirmed or probable hypocalcaemic seizures in children with vitamin D deficiency over a 2-year period in the UK highlights a failure to promote appropriate supplementation.

30 Oct 2014

Rare neuroendocrine tumours may be misdiagnosed as Cushing’s disease

Ectopic tumours secreting corticotropin-releasing hormone and adrenocorticotropic hormone are very rare in children and can result in a misdiagnosis of Cushing’s disease, say researchers.

30 Oct 2014

Epileptic mothers in the dark about pregnancy risk?

A new study has highlighted the need for more research into the safety of using anti-epileptic drugs during pregnancy.

30 Oct 2014

WUSM researchers sequence genome of enterovirus D68 samples from patients

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have sequenced the genome of enterovirus D68 sampled from patients treated at St. Louis Children's Hospital. Nationwide, the virus has spread rapidly in recent months and caused severe respiratory illness in young children, with some patients requiring hospitalization.

30 Oct 2014

'Mentor Mothers' program improves perinatal health outcomes in South Africa

The incidence of HIV infection in South Africa tops that of any nation in the world, with some 6 million of the country's nearly 50 million residents infected. Sadly, young women — and particularly young pregnant women — suffer some of the highest rates of HIV infection. More than one-fourth of pregnant South African women are infected with the virus; in some communities, the infection rates are even higher.

30 Oct 2014

Prof. Mary-Claire King receives 2014 Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science

At a ceremony held in New York City on September 19, 2014, leading geneticist and humanitarian Prof. Mary-Claire King, the American Cancer Society Professor of Genome Sciences and Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle and 2008 Honorary Doctor of Philosophy of Tel Aviv University, was awarded the 2014 Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science.

30 Oct 2014

Efforts to roll back school nutritional standards could jeopardize gains made against childhood obesity

Efforts to roll back current nutritional standards for the National School Lunch Program could jeopardize gains made in the fight against childhood obesity, write the authors of an article that will appear in the November 13 New England Journal of Medicine and has been released online.

30 Oct 2014

Prenatal exposure to phthalate DiNP associated with shorter AGD in Swedish boys: Study

The first study to examine prenatal exposure to the phthalate DiNP finds it is associated with a shorter anogenital distance (AGD) in Swedish boys at the age of 21 months. These findings raise concern since animal research has linked DiNP exposure to a shorter AGD, and studies on humans have related shorter AGD to male genital birth defects as well as impaired reproductive function in adult males, and the levels of DiNP metabolites in humans are increasing globally.

30 Oct 2014

High-fat, low-carb diets may help control epilepsy

Diets high in fat and low in carbohydrates, such as the ketogenic or modified Atkins diet, may reduce seizures in adults with tough-to-treat epilepsy, according to a review of the research published in the October 29, 2014, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

30 Oct 2014

Biology influences political ideology, find Virginia Tech scientists

Maggot infestations, rotting carcasses, unidentifiable gunk in the kitchen sink – how much your brain responds to disgusting images could predict whether you are liberal or conservative.

30 Oct 2014

New standard of care for pediatric AML patients who receive umbilical cord transplants

A new standard of care for children facing acute myeloid leukemia (AML) may be clear, following a multi-year study published in the latest edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

30 Oct 2014

WRF, University of Washington partner to develop iPhone app to find severity of jaundice in newborns

Washington Research Foundation is helping University of Washington clinicians and researchers —one a MacArthur Fellow — to develop BiliCam, an iPhone app that can help determine the severity of jaundice in a newborn without having to draw blood.

29 Oct 2014

Genetic differences contribute to risk for autism

Small differences in as many as a thousand genes contribute to risk for autism, according to a study led by Mount Sinai researchers and the Autism Sequencing Consortium, and published today in the journal Nature.

29 Oct 2014

Researchers use DNA sequencing to uncover genes that heighten autism risk

In the largest study of its kind to date, researchers have used DNA sequencing to uncover dozens of genes that heighten the risk for autism. Joseph Buxbaum, Ph.D., Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, Mark Daly, Ph.D., Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and their colleagues examined more than 14,000 DNA samples from affected children, parents and unrelated people.

29 Oct 2014

Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon explains how scoliosis affects Baby Boomers

For many adults, the word scoliosis conjures up childhood memories of lining up in gym class for an examination by the school nurse. But scoliosis isn't just a pediatric condition. Curvature of the spine can develop in adults too, and the osteoporosis that can accompany menopause is a risk factor.

29 Oct 2014

Women delay seeking medical care for heart symptoms, put health at risk

When heart symptoms strike, men and women go through similar stages of pain but women are more likely to delay seeking care and can put their health at risk, according to a study presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress.

29 Oct 2014

Study: Obese youths with ALL have worse outcomes than lean counterparts

Obese youths with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are known to have worse outcomes than their lean counterparts. To find out why, investigators at Children's Hospital Los Angeles studied patients who were obese at the time of their diagnosis with ALL to determine if body mass index (BMI) impacted response to initial chemotherapy. This response to initial chemotherapy (or induction therapy) is measured by the absence of leukemia cells in the bone marrow.

28 Oct 2014

CHOP, Temple University to jointly investigate new methods for eradicating HIV

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Temple University have received a joint $4.3 million, four-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to investigate new methods to eradicate HIV that lurks in brain cells despite conventional antiviral treatments.

28 Oct 2014

ETEC vaccine candidate provides significant protection against bacterial diarrhea

New results from a safety and immunogenicity study, which included a challenge phase to test efficacy, indicate that a live attenuated enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) vaccine candidate, given in combination with a novel adjuvant, provided significant protection against disease.

28 Oct 2014

Patients who receive chest radiation for Wilms tumor face breast cancer risk later in life

A new study has found that patients who received chest radiation for Wilms tumor, a rare childhood cancer, face an increased risk of developing breast cancer later in life due to their radiation exposure.

28 Oct 2014