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Devex interviews global health experts during U.N. week

During last week's events in New York, including the U.N. General Assembly, the Clinton Global Initiative, and the Social Good Summit, Devex interviewed several newsmakers on the sidelines of the meetings. WHO Assistant Director-General on Family, Women and Children's Health Flavia Bustreo in an interview with Devex said three challenges to continuing to lower maternal, child, and infant death rates include improving accountability, channeling resources to areas with the least improvement, and keeping a focus on women and children.

3 Oct 2012

‘Hygiene hypothesis’ updated to ‘Old Friends’ hypothesis

A new scientific report out today from the International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene (IFH) dismantles the myth that the epidemic rise in allergies in recent years has happened because we’re living in sterile homes and overdoing hygiene.

3 Oct 2012

Mexiletine use improves stiffness in patients with nondystrophic myotonias

Preliminary research finds that for patients with nondystrophic myotonias (NDMs), rare diseases that affect the skeletal muscle and cause functionally limiting stiffness and pain, use of the anti-arrhythmic medication mexiletine resulted in improvement in patient-reported stiffness, according to a preliminary study in the October 3 issue of JAMA.

3 Oct 2012

NPR's 'Morning Edition' reports on increasing number of polio cases in Nigeria

NPR's "Morning Edition" host Steve Inskeep on Monday interviewed reporter Jason Beaubien, who is traveling in northern Nigeria, about the country's increase in polio cases this year. Beaubien discussed myths and fears surrounding polio vaccination in Nigeria, including beliefs that the immunization will sterilize children, but also said one of the most encouraging things ... is that the religious leaders in northern Nigeria are now really united.

3 Oct 2012

New testing method for gestational diabetes

The increasingly common condition of gestational diabetes can have serious consequences for both the mother and child if left untreated. Prompt diagnosis and therapy can protect against these consequences. A new testing method developed at the MedUni Vienna now makes diagnosis easier and also cheaper.

3 Oct 2012

Chloroquine begins to work against malaria

Malaria-drug monitoring over the past 30 years has shown that malaria parasites develop resistance to medicine, and the first signs of resistance to the newest drugs have just been observed. At the same time, resistance monitoring at the University of Copenhagen shows that the previously efficacious drug chloroquine is once again beginning to work against malaria. In time that will ensure cheaper treatment for the world's poor.

3 Oct 2012

Study examines newly proposed DSM-5 criteria for autism spectrum disorder

Parents should not worry that proposed changes to the medical criteria redefining a diagnosis of autism will leave their children excluded and deemed ineligible for psychiatric and medical care, says a team of researchers led by psychologists at Weill Cornell Medical College.

3 Oct 2012

Noven initiates d-Amphetamine Transdermal System Phase 2 study in ADHD

Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co., Inc., today announced commencement of a Phase 2 study of a d-Amphetamine Transdermal System (d-ATS) for the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents. Currently, there is no approved amphetamine-based transdermal treatment option available for ADHD.

3 Oct 2012

Trauma surgeons identify reasons why young pedestrians are struck by motor vehicles

Trauma surgeons have identified two preventable reasons why young pedestrians are struck by motor vehicles—poor guardian supervision and distraction because of mobile device use.

3 Oct 2012

Fluoxetine increases offensive aggression and alters brain development in adolescent hamsters

Fluoxetine was the first drug approved by the FDA for major depressive disorder (MDD) in children and adolescents, and to this date, it remains one of only two selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) registered for treatment of MDD in children and adolescents, despite reports that indicate this class of drugs is associated with side effects, such as agitation, hostility and aggression.

3 Oct 2012

Global Research Nurses to launch this week in Malawi

Today sees the launch of Global Research Nurses, a new interactive network which allows nurses around the world to become a leading voice in global health research.

3 Oct 2012

Comorbid ADHD, PTSD increases psychiatric disorder risk

Research findings show that comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder in children and young individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder increases the likelihood for psychiatric disorders and psychosocial dysfunction.

2 Oct 2012

Respiratory infections provide urban asthma clue

Urban infants have a different pattern of viral respiratory illness from suburban infants, which could help explain why they are more likely to develop asthma, say US researchers.

2 Oct 2012

Steroid use during tonsillectomy does not raise excessive bleeding risk

Children who are given dexamethasone during tonsillectomy are not more likely to experience excessive bleeding after surgery than those who do not receive the steroid perioperatively, study findings suggest.

2 Oct 2012

Genetics, trauma independently influence subthreshold psychosis

Study findings published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica confirm that both genetics and environmental factors such as trauma independently influence the development and persistence of subthreshold psychotic symptoms.

2 Oct 2012

Partnerships key to ending preventable child deaths

"I'm encouraged by the focus on children's health alongside other pressing global issues" at the U.N. General Assembly meeting last week, Dagfinn Hoybraten, vice president of the Norwegian Parliament and chair of the GAVI Alliance Board, writes in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog, adding, "These discussions come in the wake of UNICEF's latest report on declines in child mortality around the world."

2 Oct 2012

VOA News reports on Syria's health crisis in midst of civil war

"The United Nations estimates the civil war raging in Syria has left more than 2.5 million people in dire need of food, water, drugs and medical supplies," VOA News reports.

2 Oct 2012

CIB2 gene responsible for progression and severity of Usher syndrome

Usher syndrome is a hereditary disease in which affected individuals lose both hearing and vision. The impact of Usher syndrome can be devastating. In the United States, approximately six in every 100,000 babies born have Usher syndrome.

2 Oct 2012

Examining the intersection between nutrition and agriculture

In the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Leslie Elder, a senior nutrition specialist at the World Bank, and Yurie Tanimichi Hoberg, a senior economist at the World Bank, write about the intersection of policies and programs in nutrition and agriculture, saying they "are not always closely coordinated."

2 Oct 2012

Babies' non-verbal communication skills can help predict autism symptoms in children

Approximately 19 percent of children with a sibling diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) will develop Autism due to shared genetic and environmental vulnerabilities, according to previous studies.

2 Oct 2012