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Violent imagery can have a substantial short-term effect on young children, increasing aggressive behaviour

Violent imagery in the media can have a substantial short-term effect on young children’s arousal, thoughts and emotions, increasing the likelihood of aggressive or fearful behaviour, concludes a review published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

20 Feb 2005

Hyperactive children three times more likely to be removed from their families

Severely hyperactive children are three times more likely to be removed from their families, because their parents can no longer cope, than children with other mental health or behavioural problems, reveals research in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

20 Feb 2005

Wake-up call over teenage stress

More girls than boys experienced mental pressure, and the latest Young Life and Times survey report also reveals that exams are a greater cause of teenage stress than bullying.

17 Feb 2005

Ground-breaking trial to test best program for obese children

More than 100 overweight young children from the New South Wales, Illawarra region are being sought to participate in one of the first randomised controlled trials of its kind in Australia that will help determine how best to tackle their obesity problem.

17 Feb 2005

Vaccination Week, largest immunization drive in the Americas

Health workers in every country in the Western Hemisphere are preparing strategies, purchasing vaccines, and coordinating logistics for the largest immunization drive in the Americas, targeting millions of children for Vaccination Week in the Americas, starting April 23.

13 Feb 2005

Study sheds light on growing pains and growth spurts

The existence of growth spurts and growing pains in children may be perpetually evident to parents, but their cause has lacked scientific explanation. A new study by Emory University anthropologist Michelle Lampl, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison now sheds some light on this childhood phenomena.

13 Feb 2005

Diary kept by a mother of twins has revealed indicators of autistic behaviour in children

“It appears that children with autism develop normally for six months, and then begin developing atypically,” says Rutherford. “As typical children begin to accelerate in social development, the child with autism makes only minor gains.”

13 Feb 2005

Dialogue instead of lecture best when advising teens about alcohol

Parents can more effectively advise teens about alcohol and drug use if, first, they try dialogue instead of lecture and, second, they set an everyday example, rather than give the one-time drug sermon, according to a Penn State researcher.

13 Feb 2005

Safer approach to treating children with cystic fibrosis

Treating chest infections in young cystic fibrosis patients with an antibiotic once instead of three times daily is as effective and less toxic, conclude the results of a randomised trial published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

10 Feb 2005

Children younger than 1 year can learn words

Although most parents, educators, and researchers believe that children can't learn specific words until well into their second year, children younger than 1 year can, in fact, learn certain words for things that are not a regular part of their daily lives

10 Feb 2005

Risks of obesity in children with kidney transplants

Obese children who get kidney transplants tend to be younger, shorter and on dialysis longer than their leaner peers, according to a study in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics.

7 Feb 2005

Mother’s depression linked with an increased risk of antisocial behavior in children

Significantly higher levels of antisocial behavior were found in seven-year-old children whose mothers were depressed during the child’s first five years of life, according to an article in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

7 Feb 2005

Parents comfortable with vaccination for STIs for their children

Parents are generally accepting of the hypothetical scenario of vaccinating their adolescent children against infection, whether the infection is sexually transmitted or not, according to a study in the February issue of The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

7 Feb 2005

Parents happy to be informed about their child requesting prescribed contraceptives

Most parents surveyed felt laws requiring parental notification of minors requesting prescribed contraceptives were a good idea, while almost half viewed a minor’s right to obtain contraceptives without parental consent as a good idea, according to an article in the February issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

7 Feb 2005

Babies who weighed more at birth had higher rates of digestive and lymphatic cancers in adulthood

Medical experts have proposed associations between birth size and rates of adult cancer. To examine this hypothesis, researcher Valerie A. McCormack and colleagues at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Universities of Uppsala and Stockholm investigated overall and site-specific cancer incidence in relation to birth characteristics in a Swedish population-based cohort.

7 Feb 2005

Passive smoking increases likelihood of lung cancer in children later in life

Children who are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (passive smoking) are at a higher risk of developing lung cancer as adults, says a paper in this week's BMJ.

30 Jan 2005

Major health problems in babies of diabetic mothers on the rise

During the past decade, babies born to women with type 2 diabetes have shown an increasing number of serious health problems -- including stillbirth and birth defects, such as brain, spine and heart congenital malformations that can lead to infant deaths, according to a study published in the February issue of Diabetes Care.

27 Jan 2005

Increase in small babies is major reason behind the increase in U.S. infant mortality

An increase in the birth of very small infants is the major reason behind the increase in U.S. infant mortality in 2002, according to a report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The increase in infant mortality, from 6.8 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2001 to 7.0 in 2002, was the first increase in the infant mortality rate since 1958 and was reported last year by CDC.

26 Jan 2005

Calcium boost to youths' bones could reduce osteoporosis risk

New research on calcium and bone development suggests that efforts to prevent osteoporosis, generally considered a geriatric disease among women, could actually start before puberty.

26 Jan 2005

By age six, children of overweight mothers are fifteen times more likely to be obese

By age six, children of overweight mothers are fifteen times more likely to be obese than children of lean mothers. The research, at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania, showed the strength of genetic influences, and suggests that efforts to prevent obesity should focus on such children at risk, preferably by four years of age.

25 Jan 2005