Pediatrics News and Research

Latest Pediatrics News and Research

Researchers generate synthetic SARS-like bat coronavirus

SARS - severe acute respiratory syndrome - alarmed the world five years ago as the first global pandemic of the 21st century.

25 Nov 2008

Scientists reconstruct bat variant of SARS coronavirus

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have synthetically reconstructed the bat variant of the SARS coronavirus (CoV) that caused the SARS epidemic of 2003.

25 Nov 2008

Selzentry (maraviroc) becomes fully approved HIV antiretrovial

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Selzentry (maraviroc) full (traditional) approval for use in treatment-experienced adults with CCR5-tropic HIV-1 in combination with other antiretrovirals.

25 Nov 2008

AstraZeneca settles U.S. Pulmicort Respules patent infringement litigation against Ivax Pharmaceuticals

AstraZeneca has announced it has entered into a settlement agreement in its Pulmicort Respules patent infringement litigation against Ivax Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceuticals USA.

25 Nov 2008

Understanding how oxidative stress impairs endothelial progenitor cell function may lead to antioxidant therapy to prevent cardiovascular disease

Although its been over a decade since endothelial progenitor cells or EPCs, cells that circulate in the blood repairing and replacing the cells that line blood vessels, were identified, the field is still evolving. EPCs are now being studied as biomarkers to assess the risk of future cardiovascular disease and as potential agents for vascular regeneration.

25 Nov 2008

Live oral Shigella vaccine licensed to PATH

The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) has licensed a pediatric vaccine against Shigella bacteria to PATH, an international nonprofit group, to support clinical trials, with the goal of developing a vaccine suitable for children in resource-poor countries.

24 Nov 2008

New hope for lung disease pulmonary alveolar proteinosis

A tale of two sisters has helped researchers solve a medical mystery and discover a familial genetic mutation that causes an inherited form of the lung disease Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis (PAP).

24 Nov 2008

Exercise helps manage anger in overweight children

Regular exercise seems to reduce anger expression in overweight but otherwise healthy children, researchers said.

24 Nov 2008

Children with sickle cell disease have inadequate healthcare

A new study finds that youth populations with sickle cell disease (SCD) are receiving inadequate healthcare, and thus may fail to benefit from scientific advances.

24 Nov 2008

Children with constipation a significant health issue

According to new research conducted at Nationwide Children's Hospital, the burden of illness in children suffering from constipation, and the costs associated with this condition, are roughly of the same magnitude as those for asthma and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

24 Nov 2008

Nplate receives positive opinion for marketing authorisation in Europe

Amgen has announced that the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has issued a positive opinion recommending marketing authorisation for Nplate (romiplostim) in the European Union (EU).

21 Nov 2008

Neurological health risk in children with blunt head injuries: fashion hair beads

An intriguing article published in the December 2008 online issue of Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics may come as quite a surprise to parents, especially those with little girls.

21 Nov 2008

World's first pediatric robotic bladder reconstruction performed

A 10-year-old Chicago girl born with an abnormally small bladder that made her incontinent has become the first patient to benefit from a new robotic-assisted bladder-reconstruction method developed by surgeons at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

20 Nov 2008

Helping diabetics through the holiday season

November ushers in American Diabetes Month - not only a time to be thankful for bustling basic and clinical research underway on the disease, but also the unofficial start of the holiday season.

20 Nov 2008

Results out from first phase III randomized clinical trial to study the best time to begin ART in infants

Testing very young babies for HIV and giving antiretroviral therapy (ART) immediately to those found infected with the virus dramatically prevents illness and death, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

19 Nov 2008

Gentium S.p.A. updates on phase 3 trial of Defibrotide for severe veno-occlusive disease

Gentium S.p.A. announced today interim results from an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) review of the Company's Phase 3 treatment trial of Defibrotide for Severe Veno-Occlusive Disease (VOD).

19 Nov 2008

Common ADHD drugs do not cause genetic damage in children

In contrast to recent findings, two of the most common medications used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) do not appear to cause genetic damage in children who take them as prescribed, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Duke University Medical Center.

19 Nov 2008