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Investigational drug Debio-025 tested for preventing muscle fiber death in muscular dystrophy

An investigational antiviral drug currently undergoing human trials in Europe for treating Hepatitis C infections may have potential to reduce muscle cell damage in Duchenne and other forms of muscular dystrophy (MD).

17 Mar 2008

Depression is not always manifested in children as dejection and anhedonia

Depending on the age of the child, the dominant features may be weeping, irritability or defiance, as explained by Prof. Claudia Mehler-Wex and Dr. Michael Kölch of Ulm University in the new edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008; 105(9): 149-55).

17 Mar 2008

Call to restrict the marketing of junk food to children

Louise Baur, Professor of the Discipline of Paediatrics & Child Health at the University of Sydney and Consultant Paediatrician at The Children's Hospital at Westmead, says that parents are struggling to be heard over the bombardment of marketing aimed at their children.

17 Mar 2008

Adolescent girls with ADHD are at increased risk for eating disorders

Girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder stand a substantially greater risk of developing eating disorders in adolescence than girls without ADHD, a new study has found.

17 Mar 2008

Town planning a factor in rising obesity rates

You may want to buy healthy food for your family, but if the good grocery stores are far away and pricey and the fast-food outlets are cheap and plentiful, it may be harder to make the healthy choice.

14 Mar 2008

Toddlers affected most by secondhand smoke exposure at home

Secondhand smoke in the home appears to induce markers for heart disease as early as the toddler years, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's 48th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.

14 Mar 2008

Study explains fundamental process of tumor growth

Nearly 80 years ago, scientist Otto Warburg observed that cancer cells perform energy metabolism in a way that is different from normal adult cells.

14 Mar 2008

Study confirms link between colds and ear infections

A new five-year study at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston confirms the suspected close link between the two most common diseases of young children: colds and ear infections.

14 Mar 2008

Giving up smoking during pregnancy boosts chances of easygoing child

Giving up smoking during pregnancy may boost the chances of giving birth to an easy going child, indicates research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

14 Mar 2008

Prescribing costs increase dramatically when people reach 65

Prescribing costs increase dramatically when people reach 65, according to a detailed analysis of more than five million patients published in the March issue of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

14 Mar 2008

Simple laboratory test predicts risk of kidney injury after surgery

A simple laboratory test may provide a new way for doctors to identify patients at risk of developing potentially severe acute kidney injury (AKI) after surgery up to three days before the problem would otherwise be detected, reports a pilot study in the May 2008 issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology .

14 Mar 2008

Memory on trial - implications for legal proceedings

The U.S. legal system has long assumed that all testimony is not equally credible, that some witnesses are more reliable than others.

14 Mar 2008

Long-term muscle improvements shown in gene therapy study in mice

Injecting a gene responsible for making a specific protein into a mouse that's used as a model for muscular dystrophy can lead to long-term improvements in the animal's muscle size and strength, a new study shows.

14 Mar 2008

Vitamin D supplements in early childhood cut adult diabetes risk

Vitamin D supplements in early childhood may ward off the development of type 1 diabetes in later life, reveals a research review published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

14 Mar 2008

Killer flu in Hong Kong not bird flu

The deaths of three children in Hong Kong from a virulent form of influenza has forced health officials to close all of the district's elementary schools.

13 Mar 2008

Quit smoking during pregnancy for a happier baby

New research from the UK has revealed that women who smoke heavily during pregnancy have the most difficult babies.

13 Mar 2008

Outrage in the UK over Down Syndrome child's cosmetic surgery

The case of a Down syndrome girl subjected by her parents to cosmetic surgery to improve her appearance, has generated great controversy in the UK.

13 Mar 2008

Vitamin D supplements in early childhood reduces the adult diabetes risk

Scientists in Britain have found that vitamin D supplements may reduce the risk of developing type 1 diabetes.

13 Mar 2008

Research could put penicillin back in battle against antibiotic resistant bugs

Research led by the University of Warwick has uncovered exactly how the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae has become resistant to the antibiotic penicillin.

13 Mar 2008

Preschoolers benefit from daycare program to prevent obesity

A preschool-based intervention program helped prevent early trends toward obesity and instilled healthy eating habits in multi-ethnic 2- to 5-year-olds, according to a report presented at the American Heart Association's Conference on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism.

13 Mar 2008