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Gains in child health, education threatened by increase in malnutrition, Save the Children report says

"More children survived past their fifth birthday and attended school at the end of the 2000s than a decade before, but a rise in acute malnutrition could undermine these unprecedented gains," according to a report released Thursday by Save the Children, AlertNet reports.

20 Jul 2012

New hope for children with egg allergy

Doctors currently have only one recommendation for people allergic to eggs: avoid eggs completely. But researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine recently found promise in doing just the opposite. Eating small amounts of egg every day for many months lowered the threshold for allergic reactions in 75 percent of egg-allergic children; 28 percent were able to incorporate egg into their regular diets after two years on the treatment.

19 Jul 2012

Better methods needed to diagnose and treat HIV, TB in children

Jennifer Furin, an infectious diseases physician and medical anthropologist who specializes in the management of tuberculosis (TB) and HIV in resource-poor settings, writes in a post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog that "when it comes to the great advancements made in global HIV and TB care, children are being left behind."

19 Jul 2012

Egg allergies in children can be treated with oral immunotherapy

Giving children with egg allergies increasingly higher doses of the very food they are allergic to can eliminate or ease reactions in most of them, according to results from a federally funded study conducted at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and four other U.S. institutions.

19 Jul 2012

Two polio campaign workers shot, wounded in Pakistan; WHO says no sign attack was deliberate

"Gunmen in Pakistan shot and wounded a staff member of the World Health Organization (WHO) and an expatriate consultant working for the United Nations health agency on Tuesday, the WHO said," Reuters reports.

19 Jul 2012

ADHD drugs do not appear to have long-term effects on the brain

Drugs used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) do not appear to have long-term effects on the brain, according to new animal research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

19 Jul 2012

Medicaid expansion unsettles governors' meeting

Governors express sharp disagreements about whether to expand Medicaid, as mandated by the health law. Meanwhile, a pediatric expert warns congressional staff that state efforts to roll back Medicaid eligibility could cut coverage to millions of poor children.

18 Jul 2012

CSIRO to produce antibodies for development of new vaccines against rotavirus

CSIRO has been contracted by PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health) to produce antibodies on a large scale that will aid the development of new, safe, affordable and effective vaccines against rotavirus, a major cause of severe and fatal diarrhoea in young children worldwide.

18 Jul 2012

Three outstanding young scientists named July 2012 Damon Runyon-Sohn Fellows

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation and the Sohn Conference Foundation have named three outstanding young scientists as the first-ever Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Research Fellows, committing more than half a million dollars to help address a critical shortage of funding for pediatric cancer research.

18 Jul 2012

Marijuana use prior to pregnancy can increase risk of preterm birth

A large international study led by University of Adelaide researchers has found that women who use marijuana can more than double the risk of giving birth to a baby prematurely.

18 Jul 2012

Kawasaki Disease may increase risk of atherosclerosis in children

Cedars-Sinai researchers have linked Kawasaki Disease, a serious childhood illness that causes inflammation of blood vessels throughout the body, with early-onset and accelerated atherosclerosis, a leading cause of heart disease in adults.

18 Jul 2012

Heart defects at birth linked to workplace exposure to solvents

Workplace exposure to organic solvents is linked to several types of heart defects at birth, indicates research published online in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

18 Jul 2012

Risk of birth defects linked to certain jobs dads do

Several types of job carried out by future fathers may be linked to an increased risk of birth defects in their babies, suggests research published online in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

18 Jul 2012

Venom protein could treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy

While Spider-Man is capturing the imagination of theatergoers, real-life spider men in Upstate New York are working intently to save a young boy's life. It all began in 2009, when Jeff Harvey, a stockbroker from the Buffalo suburbs, discovered that his grandson, JB, had Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The disease is fatal. It strikes only boys, causing their muscles to waste away.

17 Jul 2012

Commitments announced at London summit show power of family planning evidence

"High levels of unmet need for contraception around the world have a very negative impact on women's and children's health and survival as well as on the prosperity of communities and nations," Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) writes in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog.

17 Jul 2012

Gates Foundation's efforts to improve access to contraceptives will improve health, lives of women, children

"Supporters of women's health ought to cheer the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's plan" to provide $1 billion over eight years to increasing women's access to contraceptives and family planning services because the "effort underscores the critical role of family planning in the international battle to reduce poverty and improve maternal health," a Seattle Times editorial states.

17 Jul 2012

Study looks at effectiveness of parity laws in reducing families' financial burdens

While the causes of autism continue to be debated and bandied about, real families who have children with autism spectrum disorders are left to struggle with expensive health care needs. These costs can be devastating - but they can also be markedly different if the family lives in Massachusetts or Maine.

17 Jul 2012

Pakistan polio immunization campaign might not reach 240,000 children because of militant leaders' bans on vaccine

A national polio vaccination campaign set to begin this week in Pakistan might not reach 240,000 children in the northwest because of a Taliban ban on the inoculations, Agence France-Presse reports. Local militant leaders "have banned polio vaccinations in the northwestern tribal region of Waziristan to protest against U.S. drone attacks" and "have condemned the immunization campaign, which is slated to begin on Monday, as a cover for espionage," the news agency writes.

17 Jul 2012

IBMP delivers 11,000 ounces of donor breast milk to South African infants

The US-based International Breast Milk Project (IBMP), Prolacta Bioscience and Quick International Courier in a joint humanitarian effort delivered 11,000 ounces (2,375 bottles) of donor breast milk to South Africa, this week.

17 Jul 2012

Introducing missing gene could help extend lives of patients with SMA

A team of University of Missouri researchers has found that introducing a missing gene into the central nervous system could help extend the lives of patients with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) - the leading genetic cause of infantile death in the world.

17 Jul 2012