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Kool Smiles of Waterbury opened to offer quality dental care

It's all smiles in Waterbury thanks to the new Kool Smiles office, which opened at 728 Wolcott Street, Waterbury, CT in the Fair Oaks Shopping Center. Kool Smiles of Waterbury opened its doors on January 22nd, 2010 in a mission to expand access to quality dental care to families in the community of Waterbury.

2 Feb 2010

Global AIDS Alliance calls for Congress to fully fund the Global Health Initiative

President Obama's budget, transmitted to Congress this morning, includes $8.5 billion for a Global Health Initiative. Based on projections to continue supporting robust U.S. programs to fight AIDS, TB and malaria and implement GHI priorities -- $16.4 billion is required in FY2011.

2 Feb 2010

Millennials overly optimistic about their health despite unhealthy habits

According to Life University, a leading chiropractic college and vital health university, Millennials (ages 15-27), are overly optimistic about their own health, despite admitting to the same unhealthy habits that have caused chronic illness in previous generations.

2 Feb 2010

Survey finds majority of people do not understand the complexity of health care system

Public opinion is sometimes puzzling. Several polls have found strong public support for many of the proposals for health care reform contained in one or both of the bills passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives even among those who are opposed to the bills. What is actually in proposed legislation can be quite different from what people think is in it.

2 Feb 2010

Minimally invasive living donor liver retrieval for pediatric transplant

NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital is the only medical center in the United States to offer minimally invasive liver donation for pediatric transplantation. Surgeons use a laparoscopic technique to remove a section of liver from a living donor for implantation in a pediatric patient -- typically a parent donating to their child. The innovative approach promises dramatically improved recovery for the donor.

2 Feb 2010

Researchers explore how brain circuitry and learning changes over time

New research shows our brains are a lot more chaotic than previously thought, and that this might be a good thing. Neurobiologists at the University of Maryland have discovered information about how the brain processes sound that challenges previous understandings of the auditory cortex, which had suggested an organization based on precise neuronal maps.

2 Feb 2010

New approach may help in fighting Cerebral Palsy

On average, a child is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy every hour of every day in the United States. It's a disease that can affect everything from a child's vision to their ability to walk. Therapy for these kids is tough and frustrating as this is a chronic health condition.

2 Feb 2010

Study compares common treatment options for infants born with clubfoot

Clubfoot affects one in a thousand babies born in the United States, but with proper corrective treatment and follow-up, infants born with clubfoot can have feet compatible with an active, normal lifestyle. A new study in the February 2010 issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS) compared two common treatment options for clubfoot - Ponseti method and surgical treatment.

2 Feb 2010

MEND Program: Effective treatment for pediatric obesity

Ground-breaking results from a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the MEND Program (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do it!), a multi-component community-based childhood obesity intervention (www.mendcentral.org), are published today in the US journal Obesity (www.nature.com/oby/journal/v18/n1s/abs/oby2009433a.html). The results coincide with the launch of Michelle Obama's initiative to reduce childhood obesity announced in the State of the Union speech.

2 Feb 2010

Campbell government cuts EIBI program for ASD children

On Friday, B.C.'s last centre offering intensive autism treatment for children under 6 closed its doors. The provincial government had cancelled all funding, eliminated 42 jobs and cut adrift all the children currently being treated and all those on the waiting list.

2 Feb 2010

Scientists find that protease HtrA2 can "clean" cells of oncogene WT1

Dr Jorg Hartkamp and Dr Stefan Roberts have found that the protease HtrA2 can "clean" cells of the oncogene WT1, which is found at high levels in many leukaemias and solid cancers such as breast and lung cancer.

From The University of Manchester 2 Feb 2010

Self-directed learning program may benefit parents with autistic children

Through the use of instructional DVDs, parents of children with autism can learn how to teach their child to communicate and improve their behavior, according to research published in the January 2010 issue of The Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions (published by the Hammill Institute on Disabilities and SAGE).

2 Feb 2010

Gene mutation can trigger preterm births, says study

Mutation of a gene that helps protect the body from genetic instability leads to cellular and molecular changes in the pregnant uterus that trigger premature birth, according to a study appearing online Feb. 1 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

2 Feb 2010

New approach may prove useful in labor anesthesia, orthopedics and more

One of the holy grails of local anesthesia is the ability to achieve a long-lasting nerve block that eliminates pain sensation while not affecting motor function. Now, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have discovered an anesthetic approach that seems to do just that.

2 Feb 2010

Simple genetic test can help in detecting heart abnormalities

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetic disease that causes the heart muscle to become abnormally large. It often goes undetected and, as a result, HCM has the dubious distinction of being the leading cause of sudden death in children, young adults and athletes.

2 Feb 2010

U.S. government resumes medical evacuations from Haiti; new food voucher distribution targeting women begins

"The U.S. government said on Sunday it would resume military evacuation flights" within 12 hours for critically ill and injured Haitians who were harmed in the Jan. 12 earthquake, Reuters reports (Rosenberg/Brown, 1/31). Medical evacuations had been suspended for a few days, but the reason for the suspension "is unclear as various government authorities have provided different explanations," the Wall Street Journal reports.

2 Feb 2010

PET for children: CHOP-Penn researchers study reduction in radiation dosage

Studies have shown positron emission tomography's (PET) value as a minimally invasive, painless and safe diagnostic tool for many pediatric conditions. In a study published in the February issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM), researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) gathered data that may provide clinicians with new formulas-specific to pediatrics-to calculate the amount of radiotracer that should be injected based on the patient's weight.

2 Feb 2010

ADA's position paper addresses nutrition aspects of health care for people with developmental disabilities

The American Dietetic Association has published an updated position paper that addresses the nutrition aspects of health care for people with developmental disabilities and special health care needs.

2 Feb 2010

FDA and PATH collaborate to advance pneumococcal vaccine development for children

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced a collaboration with PATH to advance development of a vaccine to protect children against diseases caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus), especially pneumonia.

2 Feb 2010

Finger and thumb injuries account for majority of pediatric traumatic amputations

According to a new study conducted by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, there were more than 950 cases of traumatic amputations among children aged 17 years and younger in the United States in 2003. Of these cases, finger and thumb amputations accounted for the majority of the injuries (64 percent).

2 Feb 2010