Children News and Research

RSS

Gene used in brain development can cause childhood brain cancers

A gene that's normally silenced after contributing to brain development was found to be expressed in cells from medulloblastoma, the most common form of pediatric brain malignancy in children, scientists report in an article published in the February 1 issue of the journal Cancer Research.

3 Feb 2005

Potential treatments for neurofibromatosis

Scientists at the Indiana University School of Medicine are closing in on potential treatments for neurofibromatosis, a genetic disease that afflicts 100,000 Americans with nerve tissue tumors, some of which become cancerous.

3 Feb 2005

Women who feel more loved are less at risk for major depression than men

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have found that women who feel more loved and supported by their friends, relatives and children are less at risk for major depression than men, suggesting important gender differences in the pathways leading to depression.

3 Feb 2005

Highest average rate of US road deaths on Independence Day

More than 100 people die on US roads every day, but there is definitely a seasonal trend, with the highest average death toll on July 4, Independence Day, reveals research in Injury Prevention.

3 Feb 2005

What causes puberty to begin?

Puberty, that awkward phase when boys and girls are primed for their sexual reproductive years as men and women, appears to be triggered by the brain's own version of "It takes two to tango," whereby a signal literally gets turned on by a molecule that is produced by a gene aptly named KiSS-1.

31 Jan 2005

New insights into how a language is born

How is a language born? What are its essential elements? Linguists are gaining new insights into these age-old conundrums from a language created in a small village in Israel's Negev Desert.

31 Jan 2005

More Britons are living alone than ever before

More Britons are living alone than ever before, with more men than women living on their own between the ages of 25 and 44. And once someone has gone solo, they are more likely to remain living alone shows new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

30 Jan 2005

Passive smoking increases likelihood of lung cancer in children later in life

Children who are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (passive smoking) are at a higher risk of developing lung cancer as adults, says a paper in this week's BMJ.

30 Jan 2005

One of the most exciting developments in clinical research in decades

One of the most exciting developments in clinical research in decades is taking place at the University of Leeds, led by our professor of cancer medicine Peter Selby in collaboration with the Medical Research Council.

27 Jan 2005

Clinical trials to test the safety of a first-of-its-kind human hookworm vaccine

Clinical trials to test the safety of a first-of-its-kind human hookworm vaccine will begin in the Washington, DC area in a couple of months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration conferred investigational new drug status on the vaccine.

27 Jan 2005

Major health problems in babies of diabetic mothers on the rise

During the past decade, babies born to women with type 2 diabetes have shown an increasing number of serious health problems -- including stillbirth and birth defects, such as brain, spine and heart congenital malformations that can lead to infant deaths, according to a study published in the February issue of Diabetes Care.

27 Jan 2005

Basis for deciding cost effectiveness of TB vaccination programmes questioned

Current risk assessment methods, which are used to inform the timing and extent of tuberculosis (TB) vaccination programmes, may overestimate the real risk of contracting the disease up to threefold, reveals research in Thorax.

26 Jan 2005

Health initiatives have led to Arab and Israeli cooperation in the Middle East

The cross-border project led to Palestinian and Israeli basic science research programmes between Bethlehem University and Tel Aviv University in the genetics of hearing loss, and generated joint-publications. From this followed a project to screen and habilitate 17 000 Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian newborns for hearing loss.

26 Jan 2005

Painful surgical adhesions may be preventable by taking the COX-2 inhibitor Celebrex

Adhesions – bands of scar tissue that bind together two internal body surfaces – develop in 55 percent to more than 90 percent of patients undergoing surgery, depending on the type of operation. They are part of normal healing, but when surfaces fuse together that shouldn't, serious pain and complications can result.

26 Jan 2005

British call for more sperm

The UK needs more sperm and egg donors to meet an increasing demand, the Government has announced.

26 Jan 2005

Biochip for detection of inflammatory bowel disease

At the III International Symposium on Advanced Therapy for Chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease, held in Madrid, the biotechnological company, Progenika, presented a DNA-chip the purpose of which is the optimisation of the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease and Ulcerous Colitis).

26 Jan 2005

WHO announces $2 billion gap in financing for AIDS treatment

Today, at the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report showing a "rapid expansion" in the number of people living in poor countries gaining access to life-saving AIDS treatment.

26 Jan 2005

Tentative approval of co-packaged lamivudine/zidovudine fixed dose combination tablets and nevirapine tablets

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the tentative approval of a co-packaged antiretroviral drug regimen manufactured by Aspen Pharmacare of South Africa for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults.

26 Jan 2005

New report on the health effects of perchlorate, found in many public drinking-water supplies

A new report by the National Academies' National Research Council on the health effects of perchlorate, a chemical that in high doses can decrease thyroid function in humans and that is present in many public drinking-water supplies

26 Jan 2005

Increasing trend in society to be more open about the use of sperm donors

Two studies to be published tomorrow (Thursday 27 January) in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal, Human Reproduction provide a generally optimistic picture about attitudes towards the increasing trend in society to be more open about the use of sperm donors.

26 Jan 2005