Children's Health News and Research

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New mobile phone app developed to determine risk of preterm birth

An improved mobile phone app will help identify women who need special treatments at the right time and reduce emotional and financial burden on families and the NHS.

2 Mar 2020

Scientists reveal ability to reverse Huntington's disease-causing DNA repeat mutations in the lab

Neurodegenerative diseases, like Huntington's disease and myotonic dystrophy, are often referred to as DNA repeat diseases, named because of long repeated sequences in the DNA of patients. Increasing repeat expansion length in the affected tissues contribute to earlier age of disease onset and worsen the progression and severity of the disease over time.

27 Feb 2020

Your school assignment for the day: Spelling and specs

Daisy Leon struggles to sit still and read the letters on the eye chart. Her responses tumble out in a quiet, confused garble.

27 Feb 2020

Hormone blocker shocker: Drug costs 8 times more when used for kids

Dr. Sudeep Taksali, an orthopedic surgeon, became worried that his 8-year-old daughter had already grown taller than his 12-year-old son. And sometimes she had an attitude more befitting a teenager. Something seemed wrong.

24 Feb 2020

Macrolide, penicillin antibiotics in pregnancy could affect children’s health

A new study published in the journal BMJ in February 2020 reports that macrolide or penicillin antibiotic consumption in pregnancy could be linked to several adverse health outcomes in children. These include major malformations, cerebral palsy, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism spectrum disorder.

20 Feb 2020

Parents from lower-income families less likely to describe home tap water as safe

Parents from lower-income families are less likely to describe their home tap water as safe, say their water has been tested or feel confident in the quality of drinking fountain water at their child's school compared with higher-income peers, a new national poll suggests.

17 Feb 2020

Nature play improves children's creativity, thinking and social skills

A world first review of the importance of nature play could transform children's play spaces, supporting investment in city and urban parks, while also delivering important opportunities for children's physical, social and emotional development.

14 Feb 2020

EPA fails to follow landmark law to protect kids from toxic pesticides

The landmark Food Quality Protection Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency to protect children's health by applying an extra margin of safety to legal limits for pesticides in food.

12 Feb 2020

Common human gene variant linked to THC reward in adolescent females

A common variation in a human gene that affects the brain's reward processing circuit increases vulnerability to the rewarding effects of the main psychoactive ingredient of cannabis in adolescent females, but not males, according to preclinical research by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

12 Feb 2020

Serving sustainable food to patients at Seattle Children’s

What do you think of when someone says, “hospital food” — green Jell-O anyone?

6 Feb 2020

High-intensity interval training improves children's health

Many children don't get enough exercise and as a result often have health problems such as being overweight and having high blood pressure.

5 Feb 2020

High stillbirth rates worldwide linked to gender inequality

In the first comprehensive study mapping global patterns of stillbirth rates, University of Saskatchewan researchers have found that pregnant women who are poor and have lower access to education and employment are more likely to experience a child's death at delivery.

4 Feb 2020

5 things to know about Trump’s Medicaid block grant plan

The Trump administration unveiled a plan Thursday that would dramatically revamp Medicaid by allowing states to opt out of part of the current federal funding program and instead seek a fixed payment each year in exchange for gaining unprecedented flexibility over the program.

31 Jan 2020

Study shows link between poverty and suicide in children, teens

Suicide in children under age 20 has been increasing in the U.S., with rates almost doubling over the last decade.

29 Jan 2020

Climate change inflicts catastrophic effects on children’s health

The grim effects that climate change will have on pediatric health outcomes was the focus of a "Viewpoint" article published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation by Susan E. Pacheco, MD, an expert at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

27 Jan 2020

Call for FDA to withdraw preterm birth drug divides doctors and insurers

Doctors fear that the only drug approved to prevent preterm birth, the nation’s leading cause of infant mortality and disability, will no longer be available to expectant mothers.

27 Jan 2020

A single number aids biomedical data scientists in finding deadly cancer cells

Biomedical data scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have shown that the number of genes a cell uses to make RNA is a reliable indicator of how developed the cell is, a finding that could make it easier to target cancer-causing genes.

24 Jan 2020