Children News and Research

RSS

Interracial Asian-White couples have distinct risks for gestational diabetes, Caesareans, study finds

Couples in which one of the partners is Asian and the other is white have distinct pregnancy-related outcomes when compared with white couples, according to a study published in the October issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Reuters Health reports.

5 Oct 2008

New Allegheny County, Pa., effort taps religious leaders to educate blacks on SIDS risks

The Allegheny County, Pa., Health Department and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh on Wednesday launched a collaborative effort that aims to educate blacks about safe sleep practices for infants and reduce infant deaths among blacks, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

5 Oct 2008

Medicines for Malaria venture launches five-year plan for new drugs

Medicines for Malaria Venture has outlined a $600 million, five-year plan to develop new malaria drugs, SciDev.net reports. The plan was launched in conjunction with the release last week of the Global Malaria Action Plan, which aims to eradicate malaria worldwide.

5 Oct 2008

Health plans' quality of care improved in some areas in 2007, NCQA report says

Health plans' quality of care improved in 2007 -- the ninth consecutive year of continued improvements -- according to a study released Thursday by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

5 Oct 2008

HIV-positive women in Nepal call for greater assistance from government

Nepal's HIV/AIDS policies and programs have failed to address the problems of women living with HIV/AIDS in the country, HIV-positive women with Shakti Milan Samaj -- a social organization working on behalf of women living with HIV/AIDS -- said during a press conference on Wednesday, the Rising Nepal reports.

5 Oct 2008

Obsessive compulsive disorder evident as early as age four

Researchers in the U.S. say children as young as four can develop full-blown obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

1 Oct 2008

Parents warned that second-hand smoke may trigger nicotine dependence symptoms in children

Canadian researchers are warning parents who smoke around their children that second-hand smoke may trigger nicotine dependence symptoms in their offspring.

30 Sep 2008

Chocolate giant Cadbury latest victim in Chinese poisoned milk scandal

The British chocolate giant Cadbury has become the latest victim in China's poisoned milk scandal - the company has reported finding melamine in its Chinese-made chocolates.

30 Sep 2008

Drinking alcohol before age 15 a risky habit

Researchers at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) have found that drinking alcohol before 15 years of age is risky and increases a child's risk of becoming a heavy drinker later on.

30 Sep 2008

Kids' hectic activity programs stress out parents

In an age when many parents are struggling to find a balance between their offspring's out of school activities and their own needs and pleasures, new research has found that as far as middle-class children are concerned, these organized activities are linked to positive outcomes in school, emotional development, family life and behaviour.

30 Sep 2008

Second-hand smoke may trigger nicotine dependence symptoms in kids

Parents who smoke cigarettes around their kids in cars and homes beware - second-hand smoke may trigger symptoms of nicotine dependence in children. The findings are published in the September edition of the journal Addictive Behaviors in a joint study from nine Canadian institutions.

29 Sep 2008

Fish oil brain study slammed as 'laughable'

The study carried out by a local council in Britain which found that children who took omega-3 fish oil supplements during the school year performed better in exams, has been slammed as unethical and "laughably incompetent".

29 Sep 2008

$3 billion announced for global malaria action plan to eradicate malaria by 2015

Government leaders, philanthropists, international organizations, not-for-profit groups and corporations on Thursday announced a combined $3 billion in contributions to implement the Global Malaria Action Plan -- aimed at eradicating malaria worldwide by 2015 -- during the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on the U.N. Millennium Development Goals in New York, the Wall Street Journal reports.

29 Sep 2008

Breast feeding lowers breast cancer risk

Experts say women who breastfeed for a year over the course of their lifetime are less likely to develop breast cancer.

29 Sep 2008

Infants who focus on mouths rather eyes could be autistic

Researchers in the United States say young children who focus on mouths rather than on eyes could be autistic and they believe the extent of such behaviour indicates the severity of the Autism Spectrum Disorder.

28 Sep 2008

New way to control protein activity could lead to cancer therapies

Investigators at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found a way to quickly and reversibly fine-tune the activity of individual proteins in cells and living mammals, providing a powerful new laboratory tool for identifying - more precisely than ever before - the functions of different proteins.

28 Sep 2008

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide $168.7 million for malaria vaccine research

Bill Gates announced today that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide $168.7 million to PATH for its Malaria Vaccine Initiative to develop vaccines for malaria -- a disease that kills thousands of African children every day.

25 Sep 2008

Social class dictates cancer risk

Cervical and lung cancer are more common in poor people while rates of breast cancer and melanoma are higher in the wealthy. A detailed analysis of the incidence of these four different kinds of cancer, carried out on more than 300,000 English cancer patients and published today in the open access journal BMC Cancer, describes the effects of socioeconomic group, region and age.

25 Sep 2008

New pig model of cystic fibrosis provides better understanding of human disease

For the first time, researchers have developed a genetically altered animal model for cystic fibrosis (CF) that closely matches the characteristics of the disease in humans. By studying the complex and multi-organ disease process in the pig model, researchers can now better understand how the complications of CF develop, an advancement that may lead to new avenues for research in prevention and treatment.

25 Sep 2008