Children’s Health

More than 300,000 babies globally are born every year with sickle cell, a hereditary condition which causes red blood cells to become sickle-shaped. These unusually shaped cells do not live as long as healthy blood cells and can block blood vessels, sometimes resulting in painful swelling or even stroke. In many countries, families of children

A federally funded study led by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers discovered that communication among cells is altered in pregnant women who go on to develop postpartum depression (PPD) after giving birth. Changes in extracellular RNA communication, a recently discovered cell signaling method, have already been linked to premature births, gestational diabetes, toxic maternal high blood

In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, a team of researchers in the United States examined the incidence and associated characteristics of medically attended coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) episodes in infants below six months of age. Study: Incidence Rates of Medically Attended COVID-19 in Infants Less than 6 Months of Age. Image

A study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a center supported by the “la Caixa” Foundation, has found that exposure to phthalates in the womb is associated with reduced lung function during childhood. The findings of the study, published in Environmental Pollution, support the European Union’s current restrictions on the use of

The general panic caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic spurred the demand for a safe and effective vaccine. Just a year after the initial report of a novel coronavirus emerging in Wuhan, China, later named the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), two vaccines were rolled out, both built on a messenger

Helping children become more ‘digitally resilient’ needs to be a collective effort if they are to learn how to “thrive online”, according to new research led by the University of East Anglia. Digital resilience is the capability to learn how to recognize, manage and recover from online risks – such as bullying and inappropriate content

The Cruelest Bills: Losing a Baby in AmericaPlay Born with a congenital heart defect and other medical issues, Sterling Raspe lived just eight months. In that time, she needed dozens of medical procedures and often required round-the-clock care in the neonatal intensive care unit. At one point, her parents were told they owed $2.5 million

Acute kidney injury occurs (AKI) in one out of four babies, children and young adults during an intensive care stay for any reason, and yet the condition is poorly understood. It is associated with various treatments or diagnostic procedures that hospitalized children undergo, and it is often the result of significant infection. About 15 percent

Allergies are one of the most common conditions in children, with eye allergies, or allergic conjunctivitis, affecting up to 30 percent of children worldwide. New research from Taiwan suggests that there may be an easy way to bring that number down, encourage physical fitness. Just don’t send the kids outside on days when air quality

A new study explored whether adherence to American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for diet and physical activity had any relationship with toddlers’ ability to remember, plan, pay attention, shift between tasks and regulate their own thoughts and behavior, a suite of skills known as executive function. Reported in The Journal of Pediatrics, the study found

Mind-body practices such as yoga and meditation are increasingly popular tools for promoting health and combating diseases, including type 2 diabetes. Approximately 66% of Americans with type 2 diabetes use mind-body practices and many do so because they believe it helps control their blood sugar. Until now, however, whether mind-practices can reduce blood glucose levels

A group of Stanford Medicine scientists have been awarded approximately $10 million from the National Institutes of Health’s Autism Centers of Excellence program. The funding, announced by the NIH Sept. 6, will support research on the relationship between sleep dysregulation and autism symptoms. This is the first time Stanford University has been designated an Autism

FINDINGS Women with COVID in pregnancy who are subsequently vaccinated after recovery, but prior to delivery, are more likely to pass antibodies on to the child than similarly infected but unvaccinated mothers are. Researchers who studied a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated mothers found that 78% of their infants tested at birth had antibodies. Of

The first large, real-world study of the effectiveness of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy found these vaccines, especially two initial doses followed by a booster, are effective in protecting against serious disease in expectant mothers whether the shots are administered before or during pregnancy. Pregnant women were excluded from COVID-19 mRNA vaccine clinical trials, so

In a recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, researchers in the United States used mice models to understand how sleep fragmentation affects immunological responses and the epigenetic modifications of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). They also conducted a sleep restriction trial in humans to determine HPSC programming and hematopoiesis. Study: Sleep

The day after his 8-month-old baby died, Kingsley Raspe opened the mail and found he had been sent to collections for her care. That notice involved a paltry sum, $26.50 — absurd really, given he’d previously been told he owed $2.5 million for treatment of his newborn’s congenital heart defect and other disorders. Raspe and

Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS) is a rare disorder that causes neurocognitive and developmental deficits. However, musical and auditory abilities are preserved or even enhanced in WBS patients. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have identified the mechanism responsible for this ability in models of the disease. The findings were published today in Cell. Understanding what

Children who were infected with COVID-19 show a substantially higher risk of developing type 1 diabetes (T1D), according to a new study that analyzed electronic health records of more than 1 million patients ages 18 and younger. In a study published today in the journal JAMA Network Open, researchers at the Case Western Reserve Univesity

UC Riverside engineers are developing low-cost, robotic “clothing” to help children with cerebral palsy gain control over their arm movements. Cerebral palsy is the most common cause of serious physical disability in childhood, and the devices envisioned for this project are meant to offer long-term daily assistance for those living with it. However, traditional robots

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is a type of cancer affecting the mucus-secreting glands of the lower esophagus -; the tube connecting the throat to the stomach. It is the most common form of esophageal cancer and often preceded by Barrett’s metaplasia (BE), a deleterious change in cells lining the esophagus. Though the cause of EAC remains