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Branding still overshadows critical fine print on nonprescription medications

Medicine packages barrage consumers with information, some required to be "prominent" and "conspicuous."

1 Apr 2009

Exercise may improve kid's attention span

As school districts across the nation revamped curricula to meet requirements of the federal "No Child Left Behind" Act, opportunities for children to be physically active during the school day diminished significantly.

1 Apr 2009

Brightly coloured uniforms improve perceptions of hospital nurses among children and parents

Putting hospital nurses in brightly coloured, unconventional uniforms makes children more comfortable and parents more confident, according to a study in the April issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.

1 Apr 2009

Eye exercises help patients work out vision problems

You've probably been there. In a doctor's office, being advised to do what you dread - exercise.

1 Apr 2009

District Court decision received in Concerta patent sase

The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware has rendered a decision in the patent litigation between Alza Corporation, McNeil-PPC, Inc. and Andrx Pharmaceuticals LLC. McNeil Pediatrics, Division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which markets Concerta (methylphenidate HCI) Extended-Release Tablets CII, said the court held that the patent in suit is not valid or infringed by the filing of Andrx's Abbreviated New Drug Application.

1 Apr 2009

Researchers develop mouse models of leukemia that predict response to chemotherapy

Being able to accurately predict how a given cancer will respond to chemotherapy would spare patients with non-responsive tumors the burden of undergoing toxic and ultimately unhelpful treatment.

1 Apr 2009

Insecticide spraying targeted at mosquito larvae can help control malaria in urban areas, study says

The use of insecticide to kill mosquitoes during the larval stage of development can control malaria effectively in urban areas when combined with existing malaria interventions, such as insecticide-treated nets, according to a study published Tuesday in PLoS One, ANI/Thaindian News reports.

31 Mar 2009

St. Petersburg Times examines decline in antipsychotic drug prescriptions for Florida children

St. Petersburg Times recently examined how since the Florida Medicaid program last year began requiring physicians to receive approval before prescribing antipsychotic drugs to children younger than age six, the number of prescriptions for children in that age group has dropped by nearly 75%, according to new data from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.

31 Mar 2009

California stimulus funding not enough to stave off cuts to some health care services

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Friday signed five bills into law that allow California to receive more than $17.5 billion in federal economic stimulus aid, but the funding will not be enough for the state to avoid $3 billion in tax increases and cuts to services to balance its budget, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

31 Mar 2009

New study will look at effects of breastfeeding on children, mothers and employers

A team of researchers at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex has been awarded funding to carry out the most comprehensive study of its kind on breastfeeding.

31 Mar 2009

Requirement for pediatric cardiac devices highlighted by off-label procedures

Nearly two-thirds of children who undergo routine interventional cardiology procedures -- those involving a catheter to treat structural disorders of the heart -- may be receiving treatment with a device that's being used for an off-label application.

30 Mar 2009

Low-income families with sick children often enrolled in high-deductible health care plans

High-deductible health plans are increasingly used by healthy people who are unlikely to incur high medical expenses.

30 Mar 2009

Eye cells believed to be retinal stem cells are misidentified

Cells isolated from the eye that many scientists believed were retinal stem cells are, in fact, normal adult cells, investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have found.

30 Mar 2009

Environment plays role in hypoplastic left heart syndrome

A congenital heart disease that often leads to death in newborns is significantly more common during the summer, leading researchers to believe that the environment, and not just genes that affect the heart, may play a role in causing "mini-epidemics" of this disease.

30 Mar 2009

River blindness under control in Escuintla, Guatemala

An international team of researchers led by Rodrigo Gonzalez of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala reports that the transmission of onchocerciasis or river blindness has been broken in Escuintla, Guatemala, one of the largest endemic areas in the Western Hemisphere to date to stop the transmission of the parasitic disease.

30 Mar 2009

NPR program examines efforts to improve BCG tuberculosis vaccine

NPR's "Morning Edition" last week examined the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation's efforts to improve the existing BCG vaccine to provide increased protection against tuberculosis.

30 Mar 2009

Federal lawsuit questions Medicaid's ability to deny care deemed necessary by doctor

Health officials from Florida, Georgia and Alabama this week argued in a federal appeals court in Atlanta that state Medicaid programs can cut treatments for children that a doctor has ordered as medically necessary, Florida Health News reports.

30 Mar 2009

Rhode Island House Committee holds hearing on bill that would eliminate written consent requirement for HIV testing

The Rhode Island House Committee on Health, Education and Welfare last week held a hearing on a proposed amendment to a state requirement that physicians obtain written consent before administering an HIV test, the Providence Journal reports.

30 Mar 2009

Time of conception linked to birth defects in U.S.

A study published in the April 2009 issue of the medical journal Acta Paediatrica is the first to report that birth defect rates in the United States were highest for women conceiving in the spring and summer. The researchers also found that this period of increase risk correlated with increased levels of pesticides in surface water across the United States.

30 Mar 2009

Gene linked to lupus might explain gender difference in disease risk

In an international human genetic study, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a gene linked to the autoimmune disease lupus, and its location on the X chromosome might help explain why females are 10 times more susceptible to the disease than males.

30 Mar 2009

Children News and Research

Branding still overshadows critical fine print on nonprescription medications

Exercise may improve kid's attention span

Brightly coloured uniforms improve perceptions of hospital nurses among children and parents

Eye exercises help patients work out vision problems

District Court decision received in Concerta patent sase

Researchers develop mouse models of leukemia that predict response to chemotherapy

Insecticide spraying targeted at mosquito larvae can help control malaria in urban areas, study says

St. Petersburg Times examines decline in antipsychotic drug prescriptions for Florida children

California stimulus funding not enough to stave off cuts to some health care services

New study will look at effects of breastfeeding on children, mothers and employers

Requirement for pediatric cardiac devices highlighted by off-label procedures

Low-income families with sick children often enrolled in high-deductible health care plans

Eye cells believed to be retinal stem cells are misidentified

Environment plays role in hypoplastic left heart syndrome

River blindness under control in Escuintla, Guatemala

NPR program examines efforts to improve BCG tuberculosis vaccine

Federal lawsuit questions Medicaid's ability to deny care deemed necessary by doctor

Rhode Island House Committee holds hearing on bill that would eliminate written consent requirement for HIV testing

Time of conception linked to birth defects in U.S.

Gene linked to lupus might explain gender difference in disease risk

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