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EC approves Vertex's KALYDECO for treatment of cystic fibrosis

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated announced today that the European Commission has approved KALYDECOTM (ivacaftor) for people with cystic fibrosis (CF) ages 6 and older who have at least one copy of the G551D mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene.

28 Jul 2012

Minnesota expanding health coverage to 16,000 kids

Minnesota, after getting federal approval of a 2009 law, will expand health care coverage to more than 16,000 lower-income kids without a waiting period or premiums.

27 Jul 2012

PedBrain Tumor network publishes evaluation of first 125 genome analyses of medulloblastomas

Brain tumors are the primary cause of cancer mortality in children. Even if a cure is possible, young patients often suffer from the stressful treatment which can be harmful to the developing brain. The most common childhood brain tumors are medulloblastoma and pylocytic astrocytoma.

27 Jul 2012

Chevron announces PMTCT partnership to combat mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Africa

Chevron announced today at the 2012 International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) a partnership initiative with Pact, the Business Leadership Council (BLC), mothers2mothers and the Global Fund to aggressively combat crisis-level mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Nigeria, Angola and South Africa.

27 Jul 2012

Researchers develop piglet model to study infant brain development

Events that take place early in life almost certainly have consequences for later cognitive development. Establishing the connections is difficult, however, because human infants cannot be used as laboratory subjects. Rodney Johnson and his collaborators have developed an alternative model for studying infant brain development. "Assistant professor Ryan Dilger and I became interested in establishing the neonatal piglet as a model of human brain and cognitive development 3 or 4 years ago," he said.

26 Jul 2012

Myotonia less important to patients with myotonic dystrophy than other symptoms

Complex, multi-system diseases like myotonic dystrophy - the most common adult form of muscular dystrophy - require physicians and patients to identify which symptoms impact quality of life and, consequently, what treatments should take priority. However, a new study out this month in the journal Neurology reveals that there is often a disconnect between the two groups over which symptoms are more important, a phenomenon that not only impacts care but also the direction of research into new therapies.

26 Jul 2012

GAO: Proposed IRS rule could leave some children ineligible for health insurance subsidies

The report concludes that some children would fall through the cracks because of the definition of affordable health insurance that the IRS used in a rule implementing the health care law.

26 Jul 2012

Viewpoints: 'No Cash, No Insurance, No Live'; Medicaid expansion is a good option; Eradicating polio

With all the talk about health care recently, I'm surprised that no one has challenged the crazy idea that hospitals should treat people who can't pay. This is a free market nation, dammit! The home of "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Dice" in store windows should have "No Cash, No Insurance, No Live" on our hospital doors.

26 Jul 2012

Child who received first stem cell trachea transplant functioning well two years on

The first child stem cell-supported trachea transplant is functioning well two years on, according to an Article published Online First in The Lancet today. The follow-up of the procedure, carried out in 2010 at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), shows that the new organ has strengthened and does not appear to have induced any signs of rejection. The 13-year-old boy who received the transplant continues to breathe normally, has grown 11 cm in height and has returned to school. He does not require any anti-rejection therapy.

26 Jul 2012

Excess maternal iodine supplementation can lead to congenital hypothyroidism in infants

Congenital hypothyroidism is thyroid hormone deficiency at birth that, if left untreated, can lead to neurocognitive impairments in infants and children. Although the World Health Organization recommends 200-300 -g of iodine daily during pregnancy for normal fetal thyroid hormone production and neurocognitive development, the US Institute of Medicine considers 1,100 -g to be the safe upper limit for daily ingestion.

26 Jul 2012

Children missing out on in battle against TB

The number of children diagnosed with tuberculosis only represents the tip of the iceberg, according to the University of Sydney’s Associate Professor Ben Marais, a specialist in childhood tuberculosis writing in the latest issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

25 Jul 2012

Survey offers solutions to meet the needs of young people with HIV

Very few children are born with HIV in Thailand today. During the 1990s, the Thai government implemented a vast prevention programme in order to control the epidemic that was rife in the North of the country. The reduction of mother-to-child transmission was one of the major successes resulting from these measures. However, before this programme was established, numerous infants were born with the infection.

25 Jul 2012

HemoGlobe device can identify women with anemia

Could a low-cost screening device connected to a cell phone save thousands of women and children from anemia-related deaths and disabilities? That's the goal of Johns Hopkins biomedical engineering undergraduates who've developed a noninvasive way to identify women with this dangerous blood disorder in developing nations. The device, HemoGlobe, is designed to convert the existing cell phones of health workers into a "prick-free" system for detecting and reporting anemia at the community level.

25 Jul 2012

Scientists use inactive, fat rats to study juvenile obesity

Childhood obesity has nearly tripled in the past three decades, and by 2009, 17 percent of those 2-19 years of age were classified as obese. If actions against childhood obesity do not take place it is likely that today's children could be the first generation in over a century to experience a decline in life expectancy due to the epidemic of childhood obesity which leads to complications in later life.

25 Jul 2012

Pennsylvania Hospital to participate in Best Fed Beginnings

Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH) has been selected to participate in Best Fed Beginnings, a first-of-its-kind national effort to significantly improve breastfeeding rates in states where rates are currently the lowest.

25 Jul 2012

Burgess to offer legislation to fund high-risk pools, reinsurance programs

Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, plans to offer the bill before the August recess. Meanwhile, after fighting back a tea-party primary challenge, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, hopes to emerge as a dealmaker on tax and budget issues.

25 Jul 2012

Mercyhurst expert addresses FDA's recent ban on Bisphenol-A

The FDA says baby bottles and sippy cups can no longer contain Bisphenol-A (BPA), an endocrine disruptor that mimics estrogen. But what about the hundreds of other plastic items, from water bottles to dental sealants, containing BPA?

25 Jul 2012

Deep look into how brain mechanisms for memory retrieval differ between adults and children

Neuroscientists from Wayne State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are taking a deeper look into how the brain mechanisms for memory retrieval differ between adults and children.

25 Jul 2012

Health law implementation: McDonnell wants better answers to exchange questions; GAO says some kids may miss out on coverage

Also in the news, the Boston Globe examines the possible impact of the Supreme Court's health law decision on state-federal relations.

25 Jul 2012

Penn expert can offer commentary on provision of human milk during World Breastfeeding Week

During World Breastfeeding Week, designated by the World Health Organization from August 1 to 7, an expert at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing can offer expert commentary.

24 Jul 2012

Child Health News

EC approves Vertex's KALYDECO for treatment of cystic fibrosis

Minnesota expanding health coverage to 16,000 kids

PedBrain Tumor network publishes evaluation of first 125 genome analyses of medulloblastomas

Chevron announces PMTCT partnership to combat mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Africa

Researchers develop piglet model to study infant brain development

Myotonia less important to patients with myotonic dystrophy than other symptoms

GAO: Proposed IRS rule could leave some children ineligible for health insurance subsidies

Viewpoints: 'No Cash, No Insurance, No Live'; Medicaid expansion is a good option; Eradicating polio

Child who received first stem cell trachea transplant functioning well two years on

Excess maternal iodine supplementation can lead to congenital hypothyroidism in infants

Children missing out on in battle against TB

Survey offers solutions to meet the needs of young people with HIV

HemoGlobe device can identify women with anemia

Scientists use inactive, fat rats to study juvenile obesity

Pennsylvania Hospital to participate in Best Fed Beginnings

Burgess to offer legislation to fund high-risk pools, reinsurance programs

Mercyhurst expert addresses FDA's recent ban on Bisphenol-A

Deep look into how brain mechanisms for memory retrieval differ between adults and children

Health law implementation: McDonnell wants better answers to exchange questions; GAO says some kids may miss out on coverage

Penn expert can offer commentary on provision of human milk during World Breastfeeding Week

Real-time Raman monitoring for pharmaceutical hot melt extrusion

Synthetic Psychedelics: A Growing Public Health Concern

How the Vutara VXL simplifies single-molecule imaging

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