Childhood in Biological News

Research shows rates of severe childhood obesity have tripled

WINSTON-SALEM Rates of severe childhood obesity have tripled in the last 25 years, putting many children at risk for diabetes and heart disease, according to a report in Academic Pediatrics by an obesity expert at Brenner Children's Hospital, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Cente...

Researchers team up to provide new hope for childhood hunger

ST. LOUIS, MO, July 28, 2009 A St. Louis-based team of plant and physician-scientists with a vision of eradicating malnutrition throughout the developing world today announced the formation of the Global Harvest Alliance (GHA), a humanitarian effort involving St. Louis Children's Hospital, The Don...

Rutgers research tackles childhood epilepsy

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. Rutgers researchers have discovered a potential new way to treat childhood epilepsy using a widely available therapeutic drug. Rutgers neuroscientist Gabriella D'Arcangelo and her colleagues have published their research findings in the journal Disease Models and Mechanism...

Researchers discover gene mutations that cause childhood brain cancer

March 8, 2009 TORONTO Researchers funded by the Canadian Cancer Society have discovered eight similar genes that, when mutated, appear to be responsible for medulloblastoma the most common of childhood brain cancers. The findings are published today in the online edition of the journal Nature G...

Study to evaluate success of parental involvement in early childhood education

New classrooms will open this fall in the Houston area with an added element: the parents will be students as well. The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a $2.6 million, four-year grant to The University of Texas Health Science Center's Children's Learning Institute (CLI) to combine two...

Early childhood diet may influence future health

If you have trouble keeping weight off and you're wondering why the surprising answer may well be the cheeseburgers you ate when you were a toddler. Surprising new research by University of Calgary, Faculty of Kinesiology researcher Dr. Raylene Reimer, published in an international journal, i...

Children's National convenes first childhood obesity symposium

WASHINGTON, DCOn Tuesday, November 25, 2008, the Obesity Institute at Children's National Medical Center gathered experts from many disciplines to share ideas, failures and successes, and the future promise of prevention and intervention strategies to fight childhood obesity, both in the Distric...

Study sheds light on genetic differences that cause a childhood eye disease

Medical researchers at the University of Alberta have unlocked part of the mystery underlying a childhood eye disease. New research shows how children with some types of glaucoma end up with missing or extra pieces of DNA. The missing or extra bits of DNA are called copy number variations (CNV...

Researchers identify Achilles heel of common childhood tumor

BOSTON, Mass. (Oct. 19, 2008) Researchers have discovered a mechanism for the rapid growth seen in infantile hemangioma, the most common childhood tumor. The tumors, which are made up of proliferating blood vessels, affect up to 10 percent of children of European descent, with girls more fre...

More findings on gene involved in childhood asthma

Asthma researchers have found that a gene variant known to raise the risk of childhood asthma in European children plays a similar role in white American children, but not in African American children. The most common chronic illness among children in the developed world, asthma is a complex d...

2 years old -- a childhood obesity tipping point?

Over the last decade, childhood obesity has grown into an epidemic, reflected in soaring rates of type 2 diabetes and recommendations that pediatricians check toddlers for elevated cholesterol. What hasn't been as clear is how early to intervene. A study presented at a pediatric research pro...

Study supports reason for concern in childhood and adolescent obesity

COLUMBUS, Ohio Study findings presented at the May 2008 Pediatric Academic Societies and Asian Society for Pediatric Research Joint Meeting indicate that childhood and adolescent obesity negatively impacts vascular endothelial function, which relates to cardiac health. Obesity has been increas...

What are the causes and consequences of childhood obesity?

The January 2008 special issue of The Annals, published by SAGE, explores the problem of obesity in the young, providing kids, their parents and caregivers a road map for a healthier lifestyle both for them and for future generations. From agreeing on the terminology to use, to possible public pol...

Study examines genetic defects linked to body abnormalities in patients with childhood cancer

Children with cancer have a higher prevalence of body abnormalities, such as asymmetric lower limbs and curvature of the spine, suggesting that the genetic defect responsible for the abnormality may play a role in the development of cancer, according to a study in the January 2 issue of JAMA. ...

Research unveils new hope for deadly childhood disease

Investigators at the University of Rochester Medical Center have uncovered a promising drug therapy that offers a ray of hope for children with Batten disease a rare neurodegenerative disease that strikes seemingly healthy kids, progressively robs them of their abilities to see, reason and move, ...

Handbook helps parents deal with childhood infections

A new book designed for parents helps them better understand the diseases their children could face and the weapons to fight them, while offering practical advice for preventing infections in their kids without going overboard. Germ Proof Your Kids: The Complete Guide to Protecting (without Ov...

Maternal, paternal genes' tug-of-war may last well into childhood

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 28, 2009 -- An analysis of rare genetic disorders in which children lack some genes from one parent suggests that maternal and paternal genes engage in a subtle tug-of-war well into childhood, and possibly as late as the onset of puberty. This striking new variety of intr...

'Lucky 13' as new gene discovery offers further hope for childhood blindness

An international research team has discovered a gene that, when mutated, causes one of the most common forms of inherited blindness in babies. Scientists at the University of Leeds, working in collaboration with experts from other centres around the world, identified the gene, which is essential t...

First clinical trial of gene therapy for childhood blindness

The first clinical trial to test a revolutionary treatment for blindness in children has been announced by researchers at UCL (University College London). The trial, funded by the Department of Health, is the first of its kind and could have a significant impact on future treatments for eye disease...

New study challenges 'critical period' in childhood vision development

Understanding how the human brain learns to perceive objects is one of the ultimate challenges in neuroscience. In 2003, Pawan Sinha, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, launched an initiative with the hopes of shedding some light on the acquisition of visual skills. The goal...

20-year study shows significant rise in childhood obesity, especially among girls

Four-year-old girls are six times more likely to have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of more than 30 than they were 20 years ago and ten-year-olds are five times more likely, according to research published in the April issue of Acta Paediactrica. Swedish researchers who studied BMI figures for more tha...

Mother knows best: Plant knowledge key to childhood health in remote Amazon

In a remote area of the Amazon, globalization is threatening the time-honored transmission of plant knowledge from generation to generation, with adverse effects on childhood health and nutrition. In a novel study published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, re...

Large-scale genomics project will hunt genes behind common childhood diseases

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is launching an ambitious program to identify the genes responsible for common childhood diseases. Making use of advanced automated technology from the biotechnology company Illumina, Inc., the Hospital's new Center for Applied Genomics will house one of the ...

Survivors of childhood polio do well decades later as they age

Mayo Clinic researchers have found that years after experiencing childhood polio, most survivors do not experience declines greater than expected in their elderly counterparts, but rather experience only modest increased weakness which may be commensurate with normal aging. "Other researchers ha...

UCLA researchers identify key enzyme linked to childhood blindness

In findings that could lead to curing some forms of congenital blindness through gene therapy, researchers at UCLA have discovered that RPE65, a gene missing in infants born with the blinding disease Leber congenital amaurosis, is also a key enzyme in the visual cycle. The identity of this enzyme h...

Stem Cells Found In Cerebellum; Possible Cell of Origin for Childhood Brain Tumors

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have discovered the presence of stem cells in the cerebellum, a brain region where a deadly type of brain tumor originates. Their findings suggest that such tumors, called medulloblastomas, could arise from stem cells gone awry. The cerebellum is the ...

Emergence of cancer as major cause of childhood death in developing countries is not being adequately addressed

The emergence of cancer as a major cause of death among children in developing regions of the world is not being adequately addressed by national or international health organizations and charities, according to investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This growing rate of pediatric ...

Newly discovered virus linked to childhood lung disorders and Kawasaki disease

Late update tonight; my girlfriend is sick and I took care of her. First headline : a newly discovered virus causing respiratory infection. Let's hope its just a coincidence :) A newly discovered virus may be responsible for many respiratory tract illnesses in infants and children, and may be ass...

Pitt researchers find promising candidate protein for cancer prevention vaccines

...bodies, against the protein, even though they'd never had cancer." According to the researchers, the immune response most likely developed during a childhood viral infection, when inflammatory responses are strong. Cells infected with chicken pox virus, for example, look very much like tumor cells because t...

Got zinc? New zinc research suggests novel therapeutic targets

...) responsible for destroying viruses and bacteria. "It has been shown that zinc supplementation significantly reduces the duration and severity of childhood diarrhea, lower respiratory infections, and incidence of malaria in zinc-deficient children," said report co-author, Robert Cousins, Ph.D., who also i...

Comprehensive look at rare leukemia finds relatively few genetic changes launch disease

...e most comprehensive analysis yet of the genome of childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML) found only a few mist...explained. AML accounts for about 20 percent of childhood leukemia. This year it will be diagnosed in about ...underscore the need to survey the entire genome of childhood AML and take a more detailed look at particular AM...

Chemicals in common consumer products may play a role in pre-term births

...igher phthalate metabolite levels in the women who delivered prematurely. Premature birth is a significant risk factor for many health problems in childhood that can persist into adulthood, Meeker says. In the United States, premature births have increased by more than 30 percent since 1981 and by 18 perce...

ADA releases updated position paper on vegetarian diets

...n diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life-cycle including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence and for athletes." ADA's position and accompanying paper were written by Winston Craig, PhD, MPH, RD, professor and chair of the de...

Gene expression findings a step toward better classification and treatment of juvenile arthritis

...aid. "We look forward to the day when we can use a combination of genetic and gene expression tests in the clinic to help us better diagnose and treat childhood arthritis." ...

Debate on admin. of magnesium sulfate to pregnant women to prevent cerebral palsy in pre-term infants

... New York, New York, June 29, 2009 Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most prevalent chronic childhood motor disability with an estimated lifetime cost of nearly $1 million per individual. There is evidence that magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) can reduce the ...

Genetic finding could lead to targeted therapy for neuroblastoma

...t although neuroblastoma accounts for 7 percent of childhood cancers, it is responsible for 15 percent of death...form of cancer in babies and the third most common childhood cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. ... Although neuroblastoma is one of the more common childhood cancers, it is relatively rare overall when compar...

A urine test for appendicitis?

... Appendicitis is the most common childhood surgical emergency, but the diagnosis can be challenging, especially in children, often leading to either unnecessary surgery in children without appe...

Growth in German children

...aller than in the 1970s, whereas length at birth only slightly increased between 1984 and 1997, by 0.2 cm. This implies that the rate of growth during childhood has increased. This trend is less marked after puberty. There has also been little change in physical maturation. Thus, the age at menarche in young w...

IUPUI study finds living near fast food outlet not a weighty problem for kids

...lleyball courts -- lowers children's body mass indexes (adjusted for normal childhood growth). The researchers estimated that locating one of these facilities ne... variables that we hope will help physicians and public policy makers fight childhood obesity more effectively," said the study's first author Robert Sandy, Ph.D...

Pre-pregnancy depressed mood may heighten risk for premature birth

...lect that data. She hopes to replicate and expand her findings by analyzing data from another study to look at depressive mood prior to pregnancy and childhood poverty to see if those two factors in part explain the black and white difference in preterm delivery. That study also will look at the role antidepr...