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Mental health declining in American teenagers

Adolescents in the United States are more likely to suffer from a mental health disorder than ever before, but getting these teens diagnosed and cared for is a challenge that is not being met, a new book warns.

28 Jun 2005

The potential benefit that IVF children bring to society far outweighs the cost of 'producing' them

Dr. Maria Granberg, from the Fertilitetscentrum, Göteborg, Sweden, told the conference that, although the total cost of IVF financed by health care systems in Nordic countries had increased over the last few years, it was still highly profitable to society.

27 Jun 2005

$5.1 billion could save 6 million children

Six million children could be saved if $5.1 billion in new resources for preventive and therapeutic interventions were provided each year, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions.

27 Jun 2005

Powerful steroids could be avoided in many cases of childhood eczema

An expert at the University of Sheffield will be talking about the causes for the increased incidence of eczema in children in a Channel Four documentary, Allergic to Everything on Thursday 30 June at 9pm.

27 Jun 2005

AMA tackles childhood obesity with new directives

The American Medical Association (AMA) has issued several new directives to help fight childhood obesity and promote healthier lifestyles in schools across the country.

23 Jun 2005

BMA calls for tough action to tackle childhood obesity in Scotland

School meals should adhere to strict guidelines on sugar and fat content, all unhealthy food and fizzy drinks vending machines in schools should be banned and there should be no junk food advertising or sponsorship. These are the some of the recommendations in the BMA’s report Preventing Childhood Obesity, launched yesterday [22 June 2005].

22 Jun 2005

New website and environmental history tools for pediatric health care providers

The National Environmental Education & Training Foundation (NEETF) has created a new website for pediatric health care providers. The site is an on-line resource portal with user-friendly tools, including a screening and a comprehensive environmental history form, and an environmental history taking primer.

22 Jun 2005

New Zealand Ministry of Health warns Influenza B can be serious health risk to children and young people

A currently-circulating strain of influenza has not been common in New Zealand since 1987 and means children and young people can be at particular risk of serious illness, the Ministry of Health says.

21 Jun 2005

Children better off but more needs to be done

Griffith University's Socio-Legal Research Centre has released findings of a study examining how children's contact services are being used in Australia and how they can be improved.

21 Jun 2005

Psychiatric centres needed for Iraqi children

Psychiatric illness among Iraqi children in Baghdad is such a problem that child psychiatric centres are needed, a new study has found.

21 Jun 2005

When children are not able to disclose sexual abuse, the effects are potentially devastating

Children who don't tell anyone about being sexually abused often come from families that have rigid gender roles and other similar characteristics, says a University of Toronto researcher.

20 Jun 2005

Acting violently could be protective against the effects of community violence

Researchers have known for some time that violent adolescents tend to become more depressed over time than other adolescents. And young people living in violent neighborhoods also are more subject to depression. But violent adolescent boys who also live in unsafe neighborhoods where they witness violent acts do not appear to get as depressed.

20 Jun 2005

Children who are prone to frequent ear infections may have a high number of potentially infectious bacteria

...and a relatively low number of protective bacteria in their noses, according to a study in the June issue of Archives of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

20 Jun 2005

Research suggests that children with a neuropsychiatric disease may be at risk for type 2 diabetes, and vice versa

As many as one in five children with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes may also have a neuropsychiatric disorder, according to a new study. The illnesses include depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, developmental delay, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.

20 Jun 2005

New topical pain cream, Maxilene, eases procedural pain

Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) have found that a new topical anaesthetic (liposomal lidocaine 4% cream, brand name Maxilene) effectively reduced pain for children having IVs inserted (cannulation) in the emergency department and improved procedural success rates.

20 Jun 2005

Most powerful predictor for how much children eat is how much food is put on their plate

Contrary to what many people believe, preschool children do not adjust how much they eat in response to how much they ate at their last meal or in the past 24 hours or how calorie-rich their meal is. By far, the most powerful predictor for how much children eat is how much food is put on their plate, concludes a new study by Cornell University researchers.

15 Jun 2005

Spinal arthritis often overlooked in children

When kids or teens experience aching joints and stiffness it may be more than growing pains. It may be arthritis of the spine and other joints (ankylosing spondylitis), which researchers report can often go undiagnosed for years and years, leading to serious problems in adulthood.

15 Jun 2005

School kids need 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily

"The take-home message for parents is that it is very important to ensure that their children spend at least an hour a day in some form of appropriate physical activity," says Dr. William B. Strong, a pediatric cardiologist and retired professor at the Medical College of Georgia who co-chaired the panel.

13 Jun 2005

Children who were born prematurely are more likely to have eye problems

Eye and neurological problems are common in premature infants, according to background information in the article, but little is known about the effects of prematurity on visual acuity, the sharpness or clarity of vision.

13 Jun 2005

Teen-age boys with type 1 diabetes showed evidence of greater atherosclerosis

Youths with type 1 diabetes, especially boys, already show early signs of cardiovascular disease by their teen-age years, according to researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

13 Jun 2005