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Strong link between birth weight and glucose metabolism in old age

Small babies had significantly higher blood glucose and insulin levels and a higher risk of diabetes at the age of 75 and older. The risk of diabetes in old age was five-fold among those born small but who were obese in midlife compared to those with higher birth weight and low body mass index in adulthood.

21 May 2012

BMA Scotland calls for more action to get children moving

Commenting ahead of the debate in the Scottish Parliament, on physical activity and its contribution to tackling obesity , Dr Sue Robertson, a member of the BMA's Scottish Council, said:

21 May 2012

Vaccination studies from Mercer University to be unveiled at AAPS’ NBC

Vaccination studies from Mercer University (Ga.) headline the groundbreaking research being unveiled at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists' (AAPS) National Biotechnology Conference.

21 May 2012

Folic acid fortification may reduce incidence of Wilms' tumor, PNET in children

Folic acid fortification of foods may reduce the incidence of the most common type of kidney cancer and a type of brain tumors in children, finds a new study by Kimberly J. Johnson, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, and Amy Linabery, PhD, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota.

21 May 2012

Hypertonic saline does not reduce rate of pulmonary exacerbations in young children with CF

Margaret Rosenfeld, M.D., M.P.H., of Seattle Children's Hospital, and colleagues conducted a study to examine if hypertonic saline would reduce the rate of pulmonary exacerbations in children younger than 6 years of age with cystic fibrosis.

21 May 2012

Prenatal exposure to air pollution can be serious for children with asthma

The link between prenatal exposure to air pollution and childhood lung growth and respiratory ailments has been established by several studies in recent years, and now a new study suggests that these prenatal exposures can be especially serious for children with asthma.

21 May 2012

Treatment of OSA in children can reverse neuronal brain injury

Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children normalizes disturbances in the neuronal network responsible for attention and executive function, according to a new study.

21 May 2012

Exposure to parental smoking increases risk of respiratory symptoms in children

For more than three decades, researchers have warned of the potential health risks associated with exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), especially among children whose parents smoke. Now a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Arizona reports that those health risks persist well beyond childhood, independent of whether or not those individuals end up becoming smokers later in life.

21 May 2012

Specific risk factors linked with exacerbation-prone phenotype of severe asthma

A number of specific risk factors are associated with an exacerbation-prone phenotype of severe asthma, according to a new study from researchers in Sweden.

21 May 2012

Oxytocin increases brain activations in children and adolescents with ASD

Preliminary results from an ongoing, large-scale study by Yale School of Medicine researchers shows that oxytocin - a naturally occurring substance produced in the brain and throughout the body- increased brain function in regions that are known to process social information in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

21 May 2012

Prenatal Diagnosis publishes Sequenom CMM’s MaterniT21 PLUS LDT clinical study

Sequenom, Inc., a life sciences company providing innovative genetic analysis solutions, today announced that a new publication from the large Women & Infants multi-center clinical study on the Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine's (Sequenom CMM) MaterniT21 PLUS laboratory-developed test (LDT) has been published online in the peer-reviewed journal, Prenatal Diagnosis.

19 May 2012

Bullying becomes hot topic in the U.S.

Bullying has become a hot topic in the U.S., hitting a cultural nerve as evidenced by the buzz surrounding the recent release of a documentary called "Bully" as well as a book entitled The Bully Society: School Shootings and the Crisis of Bullying in America's Schools.

19 May 2012

New system detects residues of livestock drugs in baby food preparations

The quantities are very small, but in milk powder and in meat-based baby food, residues of drugs given to livestock were found. Researchers from the University of Almeria have developed a system to analyse these substances quickly and precisely.

19 May 2012

Pregnant women should be encouraged to minimise weight gain through diet

Pregnant women, including those who are obese or overweight, should be encouraged to minimise weight gain through diet, according to major new research from Queen Mary, University of London.

19 May 2012

Childhood cancer research computing cluster to support precision medicine clinical trial

The childhood cancer research computing cluster created and donated by Dell for the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) is ready to support the world's first precision medicine clinical trial for pediatric cancer.

19 May 2012

BIT Companies support Rays of Hope organization to help South African children

BIT Companies, developer/manufacturer of in-vitro diagnostic, clinical and hematology instrumentation, has announced its role as a supporter of Rays of Hope, a non-profit organization in South Africa which offers sustainable aid to underprivileged children in a small village on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa.

19 May 2012

The Millennium Village Project: a correction

Paul Pronyk, lead author of the Millennium Village paper, releases the following statement about the paper, Pronyk PM, Muniz M, Nemser B, et al, for the Millennium Villages Study Group. The effect of an integrated multisector model for achieving the Millennium Development Goals and improving child survival in rural sub-Saharan Africa: a non-randomised controlled assessment. Lancet 2012; published online May 8. DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60207-4.

18 May 2012

Health Canada approves Osiris’ Prochymal to treat acute GvHD in children

Osiris Therapeutics Inc. announced today it has received market authorization from Health Canada to market its stem cell therapy Prochymal (remestemcel-L), for the treatment of acute graft-vs-host disease (GvHD) in children.

18 May 2012

Study demonstrates impact of epilepsy on child and parent sleep patterns

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston have determined that pediatric epilepsy significantly impacts sleep patterns for the child and parents. According to the study available in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), sharing a room or co-sleeping with their child with epilepsy decreases the sleep quality and prevents restful sleep for parents.

18 May 2012

Simple pull-to-sit task could predict risk of ASD in infants

A new prospective study of six-month-old infants at high genetic risk for autism identified weak head and neck control as a red flag for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and language and/or social developmental delays.

18 May 2012