Pediatrics News and Research

Latest Pediatrics News and Research

Mindfulness meditation may enhance mental abilities

The positive effects of mindfulness meditation on pain and working memory may result from an improved ability to regulate a crucial brain wave called the alpha rhythm.

22 Apr 2011

Physiotherapy Associates inaugurates new clinic in Grand Haven, MI

Physiotherapy Associates, the nation's foremost provider of outpatient rehabilitation services, recently opened a new physical therapy clinic in Grand Haven, MI.

22 Apr 2011

Organophosphates exposure during pregnancy may impair child cognitive development

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that exposure during pregnancy to a family of pesticides called organophosphates may impair child cognitive development. The findings are published online in Environmental Health Perspectives.

22 Apr 2011

CTIS Pregnancy Health Information Line aims to educate women about meningitis

The California Teratogen Information Service Pregnancy Health Information Line, a state-wide non-profit organization based at the University of California, San Diego with affiliates across North America, will join in the effort to raise awareness of meningitis prevention by helping to launch a new study that will assess safety of the meningitis vaccine in pregnancy.

22 Apr 2011

Severely obese adolescents no more likely to be depressed

According to a new study, severely obese adolescents are no more likely to be depressed than normal weight peers. The study, which has been released online in the Journal of Adolescent Health, did find that white adolescents may be somewhat more vulnerable to psychological effects of obesity.

22 Apr 2011

Thought leaders gather to examine challenges facing patients with primary immunodeficiencies

Thought leaders from the medical, scientific and patient advocacy communities gathered in New York and London for CSL Behring's Key Issues Dialogue–Immunoglobulin to examine challenges facing patients with primary immunodeficiencies.

21 Apr 2011

First UCLA patient with hand transplant doing well at six-and-a-half weeks

Six-and-a-half weeks after receiving the first hand transplant in the western United States, Emily Fennell is becoming so accustomed to her new right hand that she barely remembers when she didn't have one.

21 Apr 2011

Merck and Sanofi Pasteur commence Phase III trial of pediatric hexavalent combination vaccine

Merck and Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, announced today the initiation of a Phase III clinical program to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of an investigational pediatric hexavalent combination vaccine.

21 Apr 2011

Toddlers having insecure emotional relationship with mothers at increased risk for obesity

Toddlers who do not have a secure emotional relationship with their parents, and particularly their mothers, could be at increased risk for obesity by age 4 ½, according to new research.

21 Apr 2011

PCRF awards $1.15 million grant to Children's Hospital Los Angeles

The Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation (PCRF) has awarded a five-year, $1.15 million grant to support the Clinical Trials Program in the Children's Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

20 Apr 2011

Parents open to genetic tests for children

Genetic testing techniques have not been perfected yet but parents are willing to take the risk to know if their children are at risk for diseases in adulthood. Some parents would like the ability to predict the future, in terms of their child's risk for certain chronic health conditions. This comes in a new study published online in the journal Pediatrics. Experts, however, say the tests are of little value at this time.

19 Apr 2011

Overweight and obese parents more likely to view school-time activity as inadequate

Childhood obesity affects 1 of every 6 kids in the United States, in part due to a lack of physical activity. Schools can play a key part in offering elementary-age kids lots of chances to be active—on the playground during recess and when they're in gym.

19 Apr 2011

Exacerbate-reverse' approach can identify potential therapy for fatal childhood disease

Many genes that cause human diseases have parallel genes in other organisms, including yeast. Now Columbia University researchers have used an innovative yeast-based screening method to identify a possible treatment for the fatal childhood disease Niemann-Pick C.

19 Apr 2011

IU, Ohio and Kentucky partner to advance childhood disease research

Children's doctors in Indiana soon will partner with colleagues in Ohio and Kentucky through a new program focused on working across state lines to advance research on childhood disease.

19 Apr 2011

Scientists identify networks of genes critical in embryonic-heart development

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have identified networks of genes that play an important role in embryonic-heart development, advancing knowledge of how healthy hearts develop-and offering clues about how to combat a common birth defect known as congenital heart disease.

18 Apr 2011

Parents may chose predictive genetic tests for their children

Parents offered genetic testing to predict their risks of common, adult-onset health conditions say they would also test their children. That is the finding of a new study published in the May issue of Pediatrics.

18 Apr 2011

Negative social environment linked to high suicide attempt rates in LGB youth

In the wake of several highly publicized suicides by gay teenagers, a new study finds that a negative social environment surrounding gay youth is associated with high rates of suicide attempts by lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth.

18 Apr 2011

Non-Hispanic black infants born with heart defects more likely to die within five years

Non-Hispanic black infants born with heart defects are more likely to die within the first five years of life than their non-Hispanic white and Hispanic peers. For certain types of congenital heart abnormalities, Hispanic children as well as non-Hispanic black children fare worse than non-Hispanic white children.

18 Apr 2011

One in ten Aussie kids unable to perceive the tastes of food

The prevalence of taste disorders in Australian children could be three times above the level defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a major public health crisis, new research has found.

17 Apr 2011

Mandatory single embryo transfers for IVF may decrease risk and cost

The number of couples struggling with infertility is on the rise, and these couples often use assisted reproductive technologies, like in vitro fertilization (IVF), to get pregnant. Although IVF can be successful, it can also increase the risk of multiple pregnancies, which are often caused by transferring more than one embryo. Twins and triplets are likely to be born prematurely, and, as a result, many have medical complications.

15 Apr 2011