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Organic diets lower children's exposure to pesticides

Organic diets lower children's dietary exposure to two common pesticides used in U.S. agricultural production, according to a study by Emory University researcher Chensheng "Alex" Lu, PhD. The substitution of organic food items for children's normal diets substantially decreased the pesticide concentration to non-detectable levels.

19 Feb 2006

Children given lower doses of adult drugs at risk of harmful side effects

A new study has provided the strongest and most comprehensive evidence yet of the difference between how adults and infants and children process drugs.

19 Feb 2006

Puberty means girls more at risk of insomnia than boys

According to a new U.S. study of 1014 adolescents who were 13 to 16 years of age, almost 11 percent had suffered from insomnia at some stage.

19 Feb 2006

Boys are almost twice as likely as girls to burn themselves

Boys are almost twice as likely as girls to burn themselves and children under three face particular risks, according to research published in the February issue of Journal of Clinical Nursing.

17 Feb 2006

Impact of parental behavior on children's future behavior

How parents handle everyday marital conflicts has a significant effect on how secure their children feel, which, in turn, significantly affects their future emotional adjustment.

16 Feb 2006

Reading problems and behavior problems in boys are intertwined

It's been known for more than a decade that children with reading problems, particularly boys, also tend to have behavior problems, and vice versa. The reason behind the connection, however, remained unclear.

16 Feb 2006

Child's popularity may predict good reading skills

How are you first grader's social skills? If his calendar is jammed with play dates and the phone rings off the hook, say a silent thanks -your child's popularity may predict good reading skills by the third grade. That's the finding from a study published in the January/February 2006 issue of the journal Child Development.

16 Feb 2006

Marital conflict and its effects on children

Fighting with your spouse in front of your kids, or even ignoring each other, leads to negative thoughts and distress in your kids about your marriage and family today and even one year later.

16 Feb 2006

Parental conflict may negatively affect children by disrupting their sleep

For years, researchers have known that children who grow up in homes with high levels of conflict tend to have behavior and learning problems. But they didn't know why.

16 Feb 2006

Diagnosing whooping cough in young children

Whooping cough (pertussis) is most easily diagnosed in young children because they develop a characteristic cough - paroxysms of coughing followed by a long inspiration that makes a whooping sound.

16 Feb 2006

More pediatricians should counsel children and their parents about preventing skin cancer

More pediatricians should counsel children and their parents about preventing skin cancer, according to dermatology researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. A review of research literature confirmed that prevention should begin in childhood, yet found that the topic is discussed at less than 1 percent of well-child visits.

16 Feb 2006

Not every stutterer is a problem case: over-reacting can make stuttering worse

If a child often stops in the middle of a sentence and repeats individual sounds or syllables, this does not inevitably mean that the child is a stutterer.

16 Feb 2006

Music therapy helps sick babies

A project led by a researcher from the University of Western Sydney has found that music therapy can help sick babies in intensive care maintain normal behavioural development, making them less irritable, upset and less likely to cry.

14 Feb 2006

Fighting in front of the kids causes them distress about marriage and family life

Researchers in the U.S. say that couples who fight in front of their children or even those who ignore each other, encourage negative thoughts and distress about marriage and family life which is sometimes evident up to a year later.

13 Feb 2006

Herbs popular in treating kids at WIC clinics

Nearly half of the low income, nutritionally-vulnerable Latino children surveyed by Penn State researchers in WIC clinics were treated with herbs by their caregivers for common ills such as diaper rash, colic, teething symptoms, stomachaches, coughs and colds.

12 Feb 2006

Asthmatic children in multi-family housing hit by pollutant byproduct of gas stoves

Children with asthma living in multi-family housing who are exposed to certain levels of indoor nitrogen dioxide, a poisonous pollutant byproduct of gas stoves and unvented heaters, are more likely to experience wheeze, persistent cough, shortness of breath and chest tightness.

12 Feb 2006

National childhood flu-vaccine programs should include evaluation component

If the United States were to launch an annual influenza-vaccination program among the nation's school children, resources also should go to evaluate the program's success in reducing community-wide flu transmission, according to a "Policy Forum" editorial in Science authored by researchers based at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

12 Feb 2006

Physician counseling and computer assessment may improve teen health behaviors

A program that combines advice from a primary care physician with computer assessment, mailings and phone calls may help teens improve some aspects of their diets and physical activity levels, according to a study in the February issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

9 Feb 2006

Bipolar disorder in children

Children with bipolar disorder experience more enduring and rapidly changing symptoms of the disease than adults, according to a study that, for the first time, maps the clinical progression of each of the three sub-types of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents.

9 Feb 2006

Low birth weight infants overcome difficulties by adulthood

As young adults, the majority of extremely low birth-weight infants are attaining similar levels of education, employment and independence as normal birth-weight infants, according to a study by researchers at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in the February 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

9 Feb 2006