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Cerebral Palsy linked to viral infection at birth

A new Australian study has found that exposure to certain viral infections shortly before and after birth, the perinatal period, is associated with cerebral palsy.

9 Jan 2006

Travelers in Russia warned about bird flu in Turkey

Following the confirmation by officials that two children and one adult have tested positive for the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain in Turkey's capital Ankara, Russians are being warned against traveling to Turkey.

8 Jan 2006

Kids learn about STD's when they are getting diagnosed with them

Most sexually active teenage girls know relatively little about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) until it is too late, according to a paper by Carnegie Mellon University researchers that will be published in the January edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health.

8 Jan 2006

Psychotropic drug prescriptions for teenagers has skyrocketed

Psychotropic drug prescriptions for teenagers skyrocketed 250 percent between 1994 and 2001, rising particularly sharply after 1999, when the federal government allowed direct-to-consumer advertising and looser promotion of off-label use of prescription drugs

6 Jan 2006

Maternal vitamin D levels during pregnancy influences the bone growth of children

Vitamin D supplementation of pregnant women could lead to longlasting reduction in osteoporotic fractures in their children, according to a study published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

6 Jan 2006

Data establishes safety profile of new GlaxoSmithKline rotavirus vaccine candidate

Data from one of the largest infant vaccine trials ever conducted, published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), showed GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) rotavirus vaccine candidate as effective against rotavirus disease (rotavirus gastroenteritis) in the first year of life. Rotavirus is the leading recognized cause of diarrhea-related illness and death among infants and young children.

6 Jan 2006

Girls and black infants have better chances of survival when born very premature

Black baby girls born weighing 2.2 pounds or less are more than twice as likely to survive as white baby boys born at the same weight, when many preemies are still too tiny to make it on their own, University of Florida researchers have found.

6 Jan 2006

Rotateq eliminates the most severe cases of rotavirus

In a study of more than 68,000 infants published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the investigational vaccine Rotateq demonstrated that it can safely prevent 98 percent of severe cases of viral diarrhea and vomiting that account for 2 million hospital visits and 500,000 pediatric deaths each year worldwide.

6 Jan 2006

Smoking during pregnancy increases risk of having a child with missing fingers and toes

In the largest study of its kind, plastic surgeons found smoking during pregnancy significantly elevates the risk of having a child with excess, webbed or missing fingers and toes, according to the January issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

6 Jan 2006

Caspase 8 gene halts spread of aggressive childhood cancer

A team of cancer researchers has shown that a gene commonly lost during neuroblastoma tumor formation, one of the most aggressive cancers in babies and children, is in fact a "metastasis suppressor" gene.

6 Jan 2006

Exposure to infections at birth can trigger brain damage and the development of cerebral palsy

Exposure to certain viral infections shortly before and after birth (the perinatal period) is associated with cerebral palsy, finds a study published online by the British Medical Journal.

6 Jan 2006

Risky sex, quality of children's medical care - Journal of Urban Health

The newest issue of the Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of The New York Academy of Medicine includes a host of compelling research findings regarding risky sexual behavior in the vacation hotspot of Miami, racial influences on the quality of children's medical care, and willingness of blacks to use the Internet to manage their diabetes. These studies are summarized below.

5 Jan 2006

Molecular finding will help better understand measles and mumps

A team of Northwestern University researchers has solved the structure of a molecule that controls the ability of viruses of the paramyxovirus family, including the viruses that cause measles, mumps, and many human respiratory diseases, to fuse with and infect human cells.

5 Jan 2006

Researchers move closer to understanding the basis of a severe epilepsy and mental retardation

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine took a step closer to understanding the basis of a severe epilepsy and mental retardation syndrome with work published in the January 5, 2006 issue of the journal Neuron.

5 Jan 2006

National estimates for 18 specific major birth defects between 1999 and 2001

Cleft lip is a treatable birth defect, but for the families of the estimated 6,800 U.S. infants born with one, it's a heartbreaking experience – not only because of the associated health problems, but because friends and family may ignore the condition or because of social stigma associated with facial defects.

5 Jan 2006

SUVs no safer than cars for children

Research from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia shows that children riding in SUVs have similar injury risks to children who ride in passenger cars.

5 Jan 2006

Children more likely to survive in-hospital cardiac arrests than adults

Children are more likely to survive in-hospital cardiac arrests than adults and with appropriate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the survival rates for both children and adults are higher than previously thought.

5 Jan 2006

UCLA examines disease-versus-disease interactions

The knowledge that one disease may prevent the onset of another is not new. For example, the discovery that cowpox vaccines can prevent smallpox dates back to 1798.

5 Jan 2006

Loud noise increases the risk of developing a non-cancerous tumor

New research suggests that years of repeated exposure to loud noise increases the risk of developing a non-cancerous tumor that could cause hearing loss.

5 Jan 2006

Guidelines needed to help care for children during emergencies

Evidence-based guidelines for the care of children in emergency situations should be developed and distributed to international relief organizations, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the World Health Organization (WHO).

4 Jan 2006