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Opinion pieces address Save the Children breastfeeding report

Save the Children on Monday released a report examining "the four major barriers that prevent mothers from breastfeeding" -- community and cultural pressures, the shortage of health workers, a lack of maternity legislation, and inappropriate promotion of breast-milk substitutes."

21 Feb 2013

Gesture helps children with early brain injury learn linguistic connections

Children with brain lesions suffered before or around the time of birth are able to use gestures - an important aspect of the language learning process- to convey simple sentences, a Georgia State University researcher has found.

21 Feb 2013

Researchers determine normative data for hopping or running

Motor development in children under five years of age can now be tested reliably: Together with colleagues from Lausanne, researchers from the University Children's Hospital Zurich and the University of Zurich have determined normative data for different exercises such as hopping or running. This enables parents and experts to gage the motor skills of young children for the first time objectively and thus identify abnormalities at an early stage.

21 Feb 2013

Osteopontin plays a role in X-linked hypophosphatemia

Diagnosed in toddlers, X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH) is the most common form of heritable rickets, in which soft bones bend and deform, and tooth abscesses develop because infections penetrate soft teeth that are not properly calcified. Researchers at McGill University and the Federal University of Sao Paulo have identified that osteopontin, a major bone and tooth substrate protein, plays a role in XLH. Their discovery may pave the way to effectively treating this rare disease.

21 Feb 2013

Signaling pathway might determine genetic susceptibility for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

Fetal alcohol syndrome is the leading preventable cause of developmental disorders in developed countries. And fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), a range of alcohol-related birth defects that includes fetal alcohol syndrome, is thought to affect as many as 1 in 100 children born in the United States.

21 Feb 2013

NIAID-funded Phase I trial to evaluate two related candidate vaccines against shigellosis

Researchers have launched an early-stage human clinical trial of two related candidate vaccines to prevent infection with Shigella, bacteria that are a significant cause of diarrheal illness, particularly among children.

21 Feb 2013

Being overweight or obese reduces health-related quality of life in boys

Being overweight or obese significantly reduces health-related quality of life in boys, but not girls, when compared to normal weight peers, finds a new study in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

20 Feb 2013

Introducing gluten-containing foods to breast-feeding infants may prevent celiac disease

Celiac disease is much more common in Sweden than in the rest of Europe and the U.S., but may be prevented with gradually introducing gluten-containing foods to breast-feeding infants, according to a comprehensive study led by researchers at Umeå University.

20 Feb 2013

Childhood cancer on the rise across the developing world

Across the developing world, childhood cancer is on the rise, and mortality is high. Once thought of as a rich world disease, cancer is a growing health threat across low-income and middle-income countries (LMCs). A major new Lancet Oncology Series by some of the world’s most eminent cancer experts outlines the biggest challenges to treating childhood cancer in developing nations and proposes strategies to improve care for children and young people.

20 Feb 2013

Child cancer survival rate progress threatened by lack of new drug development

Remarkable improvements in survival from childhood cancer have taken place in high- income countries over the past 50 years, but further progress is being threatened by increasingly strict research regulations and insufficient development of new drugs, according to a major new Lancet Oncology Series on improving cancer care for children and young people.

20 Feb 2013

Working toward polio eradication in 2018

"Since the eradication of smallpox in the late 1970s, no other diseases have followed suit; the goal that has come closest so far is eradication of polio," a Lancet Infectious Diseases editorial states, noting that in 2012 only about 250 people were infected with polio worldwide.

20 Feb 2013

KSU faculty members help children with auditory processing disorder receive better treatment

Several Kansas State University faculty members are helping children with auditory processing disorder receive better treatment.

20 Feb 2013

Ark., N.Y. head in opposite directions on abortion regulation

Arkansas and New York are states headed in opposite directions on new abortion regulation: Arkansas's Senate passes a bill banning the procedure after 20 weeks while New York's governor works on legislation guaranteeing access to late-term abortions.

20 Feb 2013

Bipartisan measure introduced to undo health law's insurance tax

In other Capitol Hill news, some GOP lawmakers are upset with a physician group that encourages pediatricians to ask about gun ownership during kids' check-ups.

20 Feb 2013

Study evaluates effectiveness of H1N1 vaccine in pregnant women against adverse infant outcomes

Pregnant women who received the H1N1 influenza vaccine during the 2009 pandemic were less likely to have premature babies, and their babies weighed more on average.

20 Feb 2013

UCLA plays a vital role in ongoing research into Rasmussen encephalitis

How do you find a cure for a devastating pediatric brain disease so rare that it can take decades to build a meaningful research base? In 2010, the parents of a patient created the Rasmussen Encephalitis (RE) Children's Project to help solve this problem. In a short amount of time, the foundation has raised funds to establish a consortium of top researchers, build a collection of samples of the disease from around the world and support projects to study the disease tissue and search for genetic links. The goal is to find a cure.

20 Feb 2013

EMA designates Osiris as Orphan Drug title holder for Prochymal

Osiris Therapeutics, Inc., the leading stem cell company developing and marketing products to treat medical conditions in inflammatory, cardiovascular, orthopedic and wound healing markets, announced today that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has designated Osiris as the Orphan Drug title holder for Prochymal (remestemcel-L).

19 Feb 2013