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Tips to help keep teeth and gums healthy

Good nutrition and healthy eating habits are essential to maintaining optimal oral and overall health. With Halloween just around the corner, the Pennsylvania Dental Association (PDA) encourages parents to be mindful of the amount of candy their children are consuming, and to use this holiday as an opportunity to remind them about the importance of taking care of their teeth and gums.

15 Oct 2010

Births in Italy and Germany from eggs tested by CGH

Two women taking part in the world's first controlled study of a comprehensive genetic screening test before IVF have given birth to healthy babies. The babies, twin girls born in Germany in June and a singleton boy born in Italy in September, are the first deliveries in a pilot study of comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) by microarray, a new method of screening oocytes for IVF for a full range of chromosomal disorders.

15 Oct 2010

Heavy drinking during pregnancy associated with serious developmental defects in fetus

Scientific data continue to indicate that higher intake of alcohol during pregnancy adversely affects the fetus, and could lead to very severe developmental or other problems in the child. However, most recent publications show little or no effects of occasional or light drinking by the mother during pregnancy.

15 Oct 2010

Questcor's H.P. Acthar Gel sNDA for infantile spasms receives FDA approval

Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Questcor's supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for H.P. Acthar® Gel (repository corticotropin injection) in the treatment of infantile spasms (IS), an ultra-rare orphan disorder affecting approximately 2,000 American children annually. IS is a devastating and potentially life-threatening form of epilepsy seen in infancy and early childhood.

15 Oct 2010

Scientists to monitor effectiveness of Streptococcus vaccine

Respiratory infections and diarrhoeal diseases kill approximately four million children each year, with most deaths occurring in developing countries. New vaccines for Streptococcus pneumoniae, a bacterium that causes pneumonia, and rotavirus, the most common cause of severe diarrhoea, have proved successful in preventing the development of the diseases in clinical trials, but have yet to be used routinely in many parts of Africa.

15 Oct 2010

Questcor, CNF partner to fund infantile spasms research

Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that it is partnering with the Child Neurology Foundation (CNF) to fund a $30,000 grant to support research into infantile spasms (IS). Catherine Chu-Shore, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital was selected by CNF as the recipient of this first-ever "Logan Infantile Spasms Research Award."

15 Oct 2010

Childhood obesity impacts musculoskeletal system

An epidemic of childhood obesity can have a devastating impact on a child's musculoskeletal system, the U.S. Bone and Joint Decade says. Extra weight stresses growing bones, causing pain and interfering with normal growth and development.

15 Oct 2010

HHS limits, but can't eliminate, child-only policy double-standards

The New York Times: "The Obama administration, aiming to encourage health insurance companies to offer child-only policies, said Wednesday that they could charge higher premiums for coverage of children with serious medical problems, if state law allowed it. ... Earlier this year, major insurers, faced with an unprofitable business, stopped issuing new child-only policies.

15 Oct 2010

Experts use multi-disciplinary approach to provide innovative care for children

Liver tumors affect more than 300 children in the United States each year and management of these children requires coordinated comprehensive care from experts in many disciplines. To answer this problem, Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine announced today the formation of a new Liver Tumor Center that brings together renowned specialists in all aspects of liver cancer who will utilize a multi-disciplinary approach to provide the most comprehensive and innovative care for children afflicted with these diseases.

15 Oct 2010

Study: Characteristics of children with OCD could help predict personalized medicine approach

New research from the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center may help clinicians better predict how a child with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) will respond to some of the most commonly used treatment approaches. The findings, published in the October issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, could help guide important clinical decisions about the best intervention for children with this often debilitating anxiety disorder.

15 Oct 2010

Administering ondansetron drug to children is economically advantageous

Two years ago, a study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers found that an anti-vomiting drug called ondansetron helps reduce vomiting, the need for intravenous fluids and hospital admissions in children with acute gastroenteritis.Now a new economic analysis led by Canadian researchers, in collaboration with Michael J. Steiner, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at UNC, concludes that routinely giving ondansetron to children with gastroenteritis-induced vomiting would prevent thousands of hospitalizations and save millions of dollars each year.

15 Oct 2010

Study finds vaccination rates in decline for children covered by private health plans

A new report shows that vaccination rates among two-year-olds covered by private insurance plans dipped by almost four percentage points last year." At the same time, vaccination rates for children covered by Medicaid were edging up by less than 1%.

15 Oct 2010

Study reveals copy number variants exclusive to obese children

A new study by pediatric researchers has added to the evidence that genes have a strong influence on childhood obesity.

15 Oct 2010

IRIN examines forthcoming U.N. child malnutrition program; IPS reports on FAO Latin American report

IRIN looks at a planned U.N. initiative to combat early childhood malnutrition and the questions surrounding it.

15 Oct 2010

Waist circumference predicts long-term cardio-metabolic health risks in children: Research

A new long-term study published by researchers at the University of Georgia, the Menzies Research Institute in Hobart, Australia and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia suggests that waist circumference, rather than the commonly used body mass index measure, is the best clinical measure to predict a child's risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes later in life.

15 Oct 2010

Study finds multiple genetic variations can contribute to common childhood obesity

A new study uncovers multiple genetic variations associated with common childhood obesity. The research, published by Cell Press on October 14th in the American Journal of Human Genetics, is likely to guide future studies aimed at characterizing the affected genes and unraveling the complex biology that underlies childhood obesity.

15 Oct 2010

HHS: No double standard for kids' insurance policies

Kaiser Health News writer Mary Agnes Carey reports on the Obama administration's announcement Wednesday that health insurers must have the same rules for selling to healthy children as those with medical problems.

14 Oct 2010

Fear + worry = Fewer kids getting vaccinated

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz reports on a new study by the National Committee on Quality Assurance. He writes, "After years of steady progress, the percentage of 2 year olds in private health plans being immunized dropped last year, according to a report released today by an industry watchdog group" (Galewitz, 10/13).

14 Oct 2010

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles receives $1M NCI grant for eye port clinical trial to treat retinoblastoma in children

The Vision Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has been awarded a $1 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to conduct a clinical trial on a new drug delivery system to treat young children diagnosed with retinoblastoma. The device is designed to deliver chemotherapy through a tiny silicone cup sealed to the outer surface (sclera) of the eye, which can more directly target cancer cells and greatly reduce the side effects caused by current chemotherapy treatments.

14 Oct 2010

Researchers report prevalence data on mental disorders among U.S. adolescents

Mental disorders in children are often difficult to identify due to the myriad of changes that occur during the normal course of maturation. For the first time, researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health have reported on the prevalence data on a broad range of mental disorders in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents, which show that approximately one in five children in the U.S. meet the criteria for a mental disorder severe enough to disrupt their daily lives.

14 Oct 2010