Pediatrics News and Research

Latest Pediatrics News and Research

Child-care settings can play important role in encouraging healthy eating habits

Eating and physical activity habits for a lifetime can develop at an early age. As the use of preschool child care increases and the prevalence of childhood obesity is at an all-time high, the opportunity to positively impact eating and exercise habits within this setting presents itself.

26 Aug 2011

Fludrocortisone may help reduce unexplained chronic nausea in children

Heart rate and blood pressure regulation may hold the key to treating unexplained chronic nausea in children. In a new study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, a drug commonly used to treat a condition known as orthostatic intolerance (OI), which causes dizziness and occasional fainting when patients stand for long periods, was shown to reduce debilitating chronic nausea in patients.

26 Aug 2011

Heart Rate Observation System effectively reduces NICU infant mortality

In a long-running randomized study of over 3,000 preterm infants, those whose care included the Heart Rate Observation System, or HeRO monitor, experienced greater than 20 percent reduced mortality, effectively saving one infant's life for every 48 who were monitored.

26 Aug 2011

Shire receives FDA marketing approval for FIRAZYR to treat acute attacks of HAE

Shire plc, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted marketing approval for FIRAZYR for treatment of acute attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE) in adults 18 years of age and older.

26 Aug 2011

KFC withdraws toys from kid’s food

Australian fast-food chain KFC has promised to remove the toys from its children's meals. This has been cheered by anti-obesity lobby groups.

25 Aug 2011

Mylan subsidiary to exclusively offer EpiPen 2-Pak and EpiPen Jr 2-Pak Auto-Injector

Dey Pharma, L.P., a subsidiary of Mylan Inc., today announced that Dey will exclusively offer the EpiPen 2-Pak and EpiPen Jr 2-Pak (epinephrine) Auto-Injector 0.3/0.15 mg, to encourage physicians and patients to follow recommendations by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

24 Aug 2011

Study finds children's hospitals underequipped to handle H1N1 pandemics

A new study of children's hospitals nationwide has found them underequipped to handle a major surge of patients in the event of a pandemic, and urges health care institutions and government agencies to immediately review emergency preparedness plans as flu season approaches.

24 Aug 2011

Only 20.6% of Medicaid-covered Ohio youths complete full six month antidepressant treatment

About half of Medicaid-covered children and adolescents in Ohio who are in treatment for depression complete their first three months of prescribed antidepressants, and only one-fifth complete the recommended minimum six-month course of drugs to treat depression, new research suggests.

24 Aug 2011

First North American clinical trial to test adult MSC transplantation as a new MS therapy

A team of researchers at three landmark Cleveland institutions have come together to launch a new clinical trial of an experimental treatment for multiple sclerosis.

24 Aug 2011

Pulse oximetry to detect birth defects: Doctors propose nationwide screening

According to a recommendation by a federal advisory panel, before newborns leave the hospital, they should receive a simple, pain-free test to check for signs of congenital heart disease, one of the most common types of birth defects.

23 Aug 2011

Fewer children falling from windows thanks to safety measures

According to a new study in the journal Pediatrics, pediatric injury rates in the United States where children fall off from windows has steadily decreased during a 19-year period, but these declines could be more substantial if comprehensive prevention programs similar to those launched in New York City and Boston were adopted nationwide.

23 Aug 2011

Climate shifts may threaten to increase spread of malaria, health experts say

"Shifts in the world's climate and responses to those shifts – including construction of more irrigation systems – threaten to increase the spread of malaria, health experts say," AlertNet reports.

23 Aug 2011

Window fall-related injuries more prevalent among U.S. children

Windows are a part of everyday life for children in the United States. While many parents know that windows can be a hazard for their child, they may not be aware just how often things can take a turn for the worse.

23 Aug 2011

Gore receives positive reports related to GORE HELEX Septal Occluder

W. L. Gore & Associates today reported that it has received zero accounts of erosion of the aortic root or the free wall of the atrium associated with the worldwide use of the GORE® HELEX® Septal Occluder.

23 Aug 2011

Children with asthma more likely to have been exposed to tobacco smoking before birth

Children with severe asthma are 3.6 times more likely to have been exposed to tobacco smoking before birth - even without later exposure - than children with a mild form of the disease, according to a multicenter study led by researchers at University of California, San Francisco.

23 Aug 2011

Feds challenge Ohio hospital merger

Obama administration officials have been roaming the country, talking up their vision of a future in which doctors and hospitals team up to provide better care at lower cost. But a starkly different picture is unfolding this summer in a courtroom here, where lawyers from the Federal Trade Commission have been challenging a hospital merger in Toledo, Ohio.

22 Aug 2011

Children at risk of injury under overstuffed backpacks

Millions of children returning to school this fall will struggle under the weight of an overstuffed backpack, putting themselves at risk of injury, according to Dr. Joshua Hyman, director of orthopedic surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital.

22 Aug 2011

“Maggie Goes on a Diet” raises storm of protests among experts

A picture book for children in which a pudgy 14-year-old girl gets thin enough eventually to become her school's soccer star has come under attack. The book – “Maggie Goes on a Diet” won't be released until October, but Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com are among booksellers taking advance orders for the 44-page hardcover.

22 Aug 2011

Pulse oximetry can identify newborns with congenital heart disease

About 1 in every 120 babies are born with congenital heart disease (CHD), of which about 25 percent is critical, requiring special care early in life. CHD is responsible for more deaths in the first year of life than any other birth defect, but often outcomes can be improved with early detection.

22 Aug 2011

NHLBI selects U-M Congenital Heart Center for clinical research

The University of Michigan Congenital Heart Center has been selected as a new Pediatric Heart Network core site for clinical research. Created and funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, the Pediatric Heart Network is a cooperative network of pediatric cardiovascular clinical research centers that conducts studies in children with congenital or acquired heart disease.

20 Aug 2011