Pediatrics News and Research

Latest Pediatrics News and Research

FDA recommends approval of the investigational anti-HIV drug tipranavir

Boehringer Ingelheim today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee recommended the approval of the investigational anti-HIV drug tipranavir (11-3). Tipranavir is a non-peptidic protease inhibitor that requires boosting with low-dose ritonavir and must be used in combination with other antiretroviral agents.

20 May 2005

Researchers find first gene for inherited testicular cancer in mice

In this week's journal Nature, researchers report finding the first gene responsible for inherited susceptibility of testicular cancer in mice. The Ter mutation occurs in a gene called dead end, which is involved in normal testicular development and which may play a role in inherited forms of a testicular cancer occurring in infants.

20 May 2005

Extolling the safety of childhood vaccinations may only serve to strengthen the positions of those philosophically opposed to them

"Changing attitudes about pediatric vaccination can be challenging," says Dr. Kumanan Wilson, professor of medicine and health policy, management and evaluation at U of T, internal medicine physician at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network, and lead author of the research.

20 May 2005

Infants with Krabbe disease saved by cord blood stem cells

Children with a fatal genetic disorder called Krabbe Disease can be saved and their brain development preserved if they receive stem cells from umbilical cord blood before symptoms of the disease develop, according to a study published in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

20 May 2005

Tobacco brands still appearing in PG-13 rated movies

Seven years after tobacco companies signed the Master Settlement Agreement prohibiting them from paying for tobacco brand appearances in movies, the number of tobacco brand appearances in PG-13 rated movies has not experienced a statistically significant decrease, according to a study by Dartmouth Medical School researchers.

18 May 2005

Nutrition gene key in regulating immune system

A gene that signals a yeast cell to make bread rise and mice to eat a better diet also helps selectively silence the immune system, researchers have found.

18 May 2005

Mathematical way to identify babies at risk for epilepsy

Confusion and speech problems are frequent signs of seizures, but babies offer few such clues as to what ails them.

17 May 2005

Routinely reformatting computed tomography (CT) scans to view organs from several different directions may help radiologists improve diagnosis

"You can see things in one view that you might miss in another," said Craig Barnes, M.D., section head of pediatric radiology at Wake Forest Baptist's Brenner Children's Hospital. "It costs no more as relates to scan time or radiation exposure, and we believe it provides added value in diagnosis."

17 May 2005

Deletion on chromosome 11q may guide decision to use chemotherapy for neuroblastoma

When genes are deleted on a particular section of chromosome 11, the result is an aggressive form of the childhood cancer neuroblastoma. A new study suggests that detecting this genetic deletion during the initial evaluation of children with neuroblastoma may indicate to physicians that they should recommend a more aggressive regimen of chemotherapy to fight the cancer.

16 May 2005

Survival rates higher for children receiving living donor liver transplant

Children who undergo liver transplantation have better survival rates with living donor liver transplant graft than with deceased donor organ transplant, although factors other than the type of graft also are important, according to a study in the May issue of Archives of Surgery.

16 May 2005

New study demonstrates high rates of tumor death in patients receiving regimen

A new pilot study suggests that treating soft-tissue sarcoma with a new regimen of intense chemotherapy and a short course of radiation before surgery may be beneficial. About 41 percent of study participants were found to have complete tumor death at the time of surgery.

16 May 2005

Emerging evidence supports early detection, monitoring, and in some cases treatment for children suffering from high blood pressure

One year after recommending that children should be checked for high blood pressure starting at age 3, medical experts reviewed additional supporting evidence for the pediatric blood pressure guidelines at the American Society of Hypertension's Twentieth Annual Meeting (ASH 2005).

16 May 2005

Hour of day and time of year has significant impact on blood pressure levels

The odds of measuring an elevated blood pressure can vary by as much as 40 percent depending on the time of day and time of year, according to researchers from the Center for Health Research and Rural Advocacy at Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania. They recommend that clinicians anticipate changes in blood pressure due to these temporal factors when diagnosing and considering treatment options for their patients.

16 May 2005

Black children are more than twice as likely to die from a traumatic injury as are white children

“Trauma has a far greater impact on minority children than it does on white children,” said Jonathan Groner, the study's lead author and a clinical associate professor of surgery at Ohio State University . “As a group, black children tend to have more serious injuries.”

15 May 2005

75,000 children end up in hospital emergency rooms due to trampoline injuries

Linakis states quite categorically that the home environment and even the school environment are not the place for trampolines. He says though it will not be a popular idea, trampolines are only appropriate in very select, heavily supervised environments, such as a gymnastics school.

15 May 2005

Hospitalizations at children's hospitals account for only one-third of pediatric patients

A study comparing U.S. pediatric hospitalizations showed that only one-third of a total 1.7 million hospitalizations in the year 2000 were to children's hospitals with specialized pediatric expertise. The results were presented today by University of Vermont Professor of Pediatrics Richard Wasserman, M.D., at the 2005 Pediatric Academic Societies' Annual Meeting.

15 May 2005

Role of soft drinks in childhood obesity

Obesity is one of the biggest threats to child health. Genetics, decreases in physical activity, increases in television watching, and consumption of fast food are factors that have led to an increase of childhood obesity in the United States. Excessive consumption of sugar sweetened drinks may also be a key factor.

11 May 2005

Earlier treatment of perinatal HIV associated with decreased HIV progression

In a study in the May 11 JAMA, earlier treatment of children with HIV infection with ART is associated with less HIV progression and improved survival rates.

10 May 2005

Asymptomatic HIV-infected newborns may benefit from early drug treatment

Identifying and treating HIV-infected newborns is a race against the clock, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

10 May 2005

Some children in the United States are still at risk for lead poisoning

Despite efforts to remove lead from many products, such as gasoline and paint, some children in the United States are still at risk for lead poisoning. A new study shows that children at the greatest risk for lead poisoning, and also those identified with elevated blood lead levels through screening, were the least likely to get follow-up testing needed for prevention.

10 May 2005