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PRI examines India's efforts to combat malnutrition using local product

PRI's "The World" reports on malnutrition in India, where "eight million children ... suffer from severe acute malnutrition, according to the Indian government." However, the news service writes that "when it comes to treating those children, India lacks what many consider one of the best tools available: so-called ready-to-use therapeutic foods," such as "the most well-known therapeutic food, Plumpy'Nut, ... a patented concoction of peanut butter and micro-nutrients that allows severely malnourished children to be treated at home instead of at a hospital."

26 Sep 2012

Sufficient resources needed to maintain progress against AIDS, TB, malaria

"This week, heads of state, celebrities and CEOs will attend U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's 'Every Woman, Every Child' dinner in New York," an event that "will highlight the amazing contribution of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to the health of women and children in developing countries," Lucy Chesire, executive director and secretary to the board of TB ACTION Group, writes in the Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog.

26 Sep 2012

Progress on women's, children's health provides optimism for further success

Noting successes achieved under the Every Woman Every Child campaign and the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe writes in the Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog that leaders "have stepped up and stood strong for critical issues on the women's and children's health agenda to advance the health Millennium Development Goals and ensure the sustainability of results beyond 2015."

26 Sep 2012

New technological tools automatically measure relevant behaviors of children with autism

Researchers in Georgia Tech's Center for Behavior Imaging have developed two new technological tools that automatically measure relevant behaviors of children, and promise to have significant impact on the understanding of behavioral disorders such as autism.

26 Sep 2012

Differences in viral illness patterns play a role in asthma development in urban, suburban children

Children living in low-income urban areas appear especially prone to developing asthma, possibly related to infections they acquire early in life. In a new study in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, available online, researchers from the University of Wisconsin in Madison investigated viral respiratory illnesses and their possible role in the development of asthma in urban versus suburban babies.

26 Sep 2012

Preliminary results of MSF malaria prevention program suggest malaria drugs prevent disease in healthy children

A large-scale malaria prevention program through which medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) gave intermittent doses of anti-malaria drugs to 175,000 children in Mali and Chad suggests that "widely distributing anti-malaria drugs to healthy children in African countries can significantly reduce the number of new cases of the disease," VOA News reports.

26 Sep 2012

Study finds risk factors for weight problems among children in the US and England

With ties to diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol, childhood obesity in wealthy countries is certainly of growing concern to researchers. A new study explores the ties between childhood weight problems, socioeconomic status, and nationality and finds that race, ethnicity, and immigrant status are risk factors for weight problems among children in the US and England.

26 Sep 2012

Microcirculation secrets could shed new light on risks of heart disease and diabetes

Researchers at the University of Southampton together with colleagues at King's College London have embarked on a unique study that will shed new light on the risk of heart disease and diabetes in later life.

25 Sep 2012

UH Rainbow pediatric sports medicine specialist strongly cautions against home trampolines: AAP

Susannah Briskin, MD, a pediatric sports medicine specialist with University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, is the co-author of an updated report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) strongly cautioning against home trampolines. The report provides updated data on the number of and types of injuries caused by trampolines.

25 Sep 2012

IVAC at Johns Hopkins announces grant recipients of World Pneumonia Day Advocacy Program

The International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) announced today recipients of the 2012 Small Grants for World Pneumonia Day Advocacy Program.

25 Sep 2012

Comprehensive prenatal care can decrease rates of low birth weights

Comprehensive prenatal care can decrease the rate of low birth weights, according to a study led by Dr. Yasmin Neggers, a University of Alabama researcher and professor of human nutrition and hospitality management.

25 Sep 2012

Gates Foundation blog examines recent global initiatives with focus on women's, children's health

In this post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Gary Darmstadt, head of the family health division of the foundation, family planning expert Monica Kerrigan, and Wendy Prosser, a research analyst with the foundation's family health division, examine global initiatives "launched in recent months and years" that bring "needed attention to women's and children's health," including "the Muskoka Initiative, Every Woman Every Child, the Child Survival Promise to Keep, and the Millennium Development Goals."

25 Sep 2012

Scaling up access to maternal, child health care would prevent most deaths during pregnancy, childbirth

"Every day, 800 women lose their lives giving birth -- 287,000 each year -- and the vast majority of these deaths occurs in developing countries. ... These deaths are unacceptable, particularly because they are preventable," the heads of the Health 4+ (UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, U.N. Women, the WHO, and the World Bank, known as H4+) write in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog.

25 Sep 2012

Insufficient evidence to support medical intervention use in young adults with autism

Vanderbilt University researchers are reporting today that there is insufficient evidence to support the use of medical interventions in adolescents and young adults with autism.

25 Sep 2012

Joint report calls for action on child nutrition in countries with highest numbers of malnourished children

"Countries with the highest numbers of malnourished children urgently need to step up the way they respond to the problem in order to prevent millions of unnecessary deaths, according to a joint report," titled the "Nutrition Barometer" and released on Friday by Save the Children and World Vision, AlertNet reports.

25 Sep 2012

Lonafarnib proves effective for children with progeria

Results of the first-ever clinical drug trial for children with Progeria, a rare, fatal "rapid-aging" disease, demonstrate the efficacy of a farnesyltransferase inhibitor (FTI), a drug originally developed to treat cancer. The clinical trial results, completed only six years after scientists identified the cause of Progeria, included significant improvements in weight gain, bone structure and, most importantly, the cardiovascular system, according to The Progeria Research Foundation (PRF) and Boston Children's Hospital.

25 Sep 2012

Study tracks and compares brain growth in chimpanzee and human fetuses

Humans' superior brain size in comparison to their chimpanzee cousins traces all the way back to the womb. That's according to a study reported in the September 25 issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, that is the first to track and compare brain growth in chimpanzee and human fetuses.

25 Sep 2012

Mailed sun protection kits lead to higher frequency of sun protective behaviors

A blistering sunburn during childhood or adolescence more than doubles the adult risk of skin cancer. The accumulation of long-term sun exposure may be equally dangerous.

24 Sep 2012

Some children are less responsive to internal cues of hunger and fullness

When compared to their normal-weight siblings, overweight and obese children ate 34 percent more calories from snack foods even after eating a meal, reports a University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing researcher in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. That can be enough calories, if sustained over time, to continue excess weight gain.

24 Sep 2012

Pacifiers may have a deleterious effect on development of emotional intelligence

Scientific literature tends to refute the concerns of generations of parents who worry they may be harming their infants by giving them pacifiers (also called dummies, binkies or soothers). Recent consensus has agreed though generally bad for growing straight teeth, their soothing effects are not psychologically damaging, and could even be beneficial.

24 Sep 2012

Child Health News

PRI examines India's efforts to combat malnutrition using local product

Sufficient resources needed to maintain progress against AIDS, TB, malaria

Progress on women's, children's health provides optimism for further success

New technological tools automatically measure relevant behaviors of children with autism

Differences in viral illness patterns play a role in asthma development in urban, suburban children

Preliminary results of MSF malaria prevention program suggest malaria drugs prevent disease in healthy children

Study finds risk factors for weight problems among children in the US and England

Microcirculation secrets could shed new light on risks of heart disease and diabetes

UH Rainbow pediatric sports medicine specialist strongly cautions against home trampolines: AAP

IVAC at Johns Hopkins announces grant recipients of World Pneumonia Day Advocacy Program

Comprehensive prenatal care can decrease rates of low birth weights

Gates Foundation blog examines recent global initiatives with focus on women's, children's health

Scaling up access to maternal, child health care would prevent most deaths during pregnancy, childbirth

Insufficient evidence to support medical intervention use in young adults with autism

Joint report calls for action on child nutrition in countries with highest numbers of malnourished children

Lonafarnib proves effective for children with progeria

Study tracks and compares brain growth in chimpanzee and human fetuses

Mailed sun protection kits lead to higher frequency of sun protective behaviors

Some children are less responsive to internal cues of hunger and fullness

Pacifiers may have a deleterious effect on development of emotional intelligence

Evolving spectrophotometry for modern biopharma workflows

Scaling B-cell cloning workflows for antibody development

Fluidics in Modern Healthcare & Medical Device Innovation

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