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Women who feel less attached to their fetus are going to smoke more

A small new study suggests that pregnant smokers with low scores on a scale that rates emotional attachment to their fetuses may be inclined to smoke more than pregnant smokers who feel more attached to their future babies.

6 Aug 2013

WHO aims to increase global rate of breastfeeding for six months to 50% by 2025

Only 37 countries, or 19% of those reporting, have passed laws reflecting all the recommendations of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, according to a new World Health Organization (WHO) report published during World Breastfeeding Week. The week is celebrated in more than 170 countries from 1 to 7 August.

30 Jul 2013

Disabled children in developing countries are more likely to experience harsh punishment

Children with disabilities who live in developing countries are more likely to experience harsh punishment than children without disabilities in those countries. That's the conclusion of a new study that looked at data from nationally representative samples of about 46,000 parents and other caregivers of 2- to 9-year-olds in 17 low- and middle-income countries; most prior research on children with disabilities has been done in developed countries.

30 Jul 2013

GW professor receives $747,000 grant to research causes of severe intellectual disability and autism

As part of a national focus to better understand child health and development, Chiara Manzini, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology and physiology at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, was awarded a $747,000 grant to research the causes of severe intellectual disability and autism.

25 Jul 2013

Child cancer survival: an interview with Prof Kathy Pritchard-Jones, University College London

Back in the early 1960s, just before chemotherapy really started to be used, only about 30% of children survived cancer. That was mainly because they had cancers that were amenable to surgery.

24 Jul 2013

Review shows lifetime substance abuse is common in street children from low-income countries

Millions of children worldwide live on the streets. A review and analysis of 50 studies on substance abuse by street children in 22 resource-constrained countries has found lifetime substance use to be both common and high, posing serious threats to their health as well as for their chances for reintegration into society.

15 Jul 2013

Risk-factor screening of high-risk children may delay or prevent chronic health conditions later in life

Mexican American children are experiencing substantial burdens of obesity, pre-diabetes, and other health problems which historically would have been expected to develop much later in life. The findings of a new study by Texas Biomed scientists in San Antonio argue for early screening and intervention to delay or avoid chronic health problems as these children age.

12 Jul 2013

Children born after assisted reproduction at no greater risk for cancer, study finds

Children born as a result of assisted reproduction are at no greater risk of cancer than children born spontaneously in the general population, according to results of one of the largest ever cohort studies of ART children.

10 Jul 2013

Researchers study existence of cross-protection between multiple strains of infectious disease

Using a unique data set spanning 40 years of dengue fever incidence in Thailand, an international team led by biostatistician Nicholas Reich at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has for the first time estimated from data that after an initial dengue infection, a person is protected from infection with other strains for between one and three years.

3 Jul 2013

New WHO guidelines recommend earlier treatment for people living with HIV

New HIV treatment guidelines by WHO recommend offering antiretroviral therapy earlier. Recent evidence indicates that earlier ART will help people with HIV to live longer, healthier lives, and substantially reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to others.

1 Jul 2013

Curing type 1 diabetes: an interview with Dr. Habib Zaghouani, MU School of Medicine

Type 1 diabetes is an attack by the immune system of the islet of Langerhans within the pancreas. Basically, the islet of Langerhans harbor beta cells, which produce insulin and when the islets are attacked, the beta cells destruct and there is no more insulin. When the insulin level goes low, blood glucose levels go high and that creates a problem.

28 Jun 2013

Weill Cornell researchers discover high burden of hypertension in sub-Saharan African country

Based on the experience of a large hospital in Tanzania, Weill Cornell Medical College researchers have discovered a "startlingly" high burden of hypertension in this sub-Saharan African country.

26 Jun 2013

Combination of better healthcare and community awareness improves maternal and newborn care

A five-year programme that mobilised communities to improve the quality of care for mothers and newborns reduced newborn mortality by 30 percent and saved at least 1,000 newborn lives in rural Malawi.

25 Jun 2013

Clinical study shows that clopidogrel not effective in infants with congenital heart diseases

One of the largest clinical trials done in infants with congenital (present at birth) heart diseases, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows that the increasingly common practice of using the drug clopidogrel (Plavix-) to reduce shunt-related blood flow issues is not effective in the dose studied.

21 Jun 2013

Stem cell patterns in flies offer potential applications for human biologists

A new study examining the brains of fruit flies reveals a novel stem cell mechanism that may help explain how neurons form in humans. A paper on the study by researchers at the University of Oregon appeared in the online version of the journal Nature in advance of the June 27 publication date.

20 Jun 2013

Home environment and parenting can influence child's health by shaping dietary and physical behaviors

Kids whose moms encourage them to exercise and eat well, and model those healthy behaviors themselves, are more likely to be active and healthy eaters, according to researchers at Duke Medicine.

19 Jun 2013

Lineage Therapeutics announces US launch of generic epinephrine auto-injector

Lineage Therapeutics Inc. has announced the US launch of its generic epinephrine injection, USP auto-injector, the authorized generic of Adrenaclick by Amedra Pharmaceuticals LLC, for the emergency treatment of life-threatening allergic reactions in people who are at risk for or have a history of anaphylaxis.

15 Jun 2013

Newborn babies with transient CHI at risk of developing brain damage due to low blood sugars

Researchers from The University of Manchester studying a rare and potentially lethal childhood disease - which is the clinical opposite of diabetes - have made an important discovery.

From The University of Manchester 13 Jun 2013

Communication gap between moms and providers in low-income countries puts babies at risk

Mothers in low-income countries may not understand why their babies are hospitalized after delivery, putting sick newborns at higher risk of health problems and death after being released from the hospital, a new study shows.

12 Jun 2013

Study: Low birth weight babies with smaller brain volumes tied to academic deficits

An analysis of recent data from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of 97 adolescents who were part of study begun with very low birth weight babies born in 1982-1986 in a Cleveland neonatal intensive care unit has tied smaller brain volumes to poor academic achievement.

11 Jun 2013