Children’s Health

Mind-body practices such as yoga and meditation are increasingly popular tools for promoting health and combating diseases, including type 2 diabetes. Approximately 66% of Americans with type 2 diabetes use mind-body practices and many do so because they believe it helps control their blood sugar. Until now, however, whether mind-practices can reduce blood glucose levels

A group of Stanford Medicine scientists have been awarded approximately $10 million from the National Institutes of Health’s Autism Centers of Excellence program. The funding, announced by the NIH Sept. 6, will support research on the relationship between sleep dysregulation and autism symptoms. This is the first time Stanford University has been designated an Autism

The prevalence of nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, NAFLD, is rising in American children, with kids of Latino ancestry being hit disproportionately hard by the disease. This chronic condition can progress to more severe forms of liver disease, but experts are not yet able to determine which children are at greatest risk of progression. There are

FINDINGS Women with COVID in pregnancy who are subsequently vaccinated after recovery, but prior to delivery, are more likely to pass antibodies on to the child than similarly infected but unvaccinated mothers are. Researchers who studied a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated mothers found that 78% of their infants tested at birth had antibodies. Of

High-dose folic acid is protective against congenital malformations if the mother is at particular risk of having a child with congenital malformations. Treatment with antiseizure medication in pregnancy is associated with risk of congenital malformations in the children and women with epilepsy are therefore often recommended a supplementary high dose of folic acid (4-5 mg

The first large, real-world study of the effectiveness of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy found these vaccines, especially two initial doses followed by a booster, are effective in protecting against serious disease in expectant mothers whether the shots are administered before or during pregnancy. Pregnant women were excluded from COVID-19 mRNA vaccine clinical trials, so

In a recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, researchers in the United States used mice models to understand how sleep fragmentation affects immunological responses and the epigenetic modifications of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). They also conducted a sleep restriction trial in humans to determine HPSC programming and hematopoiesis. Study: Sleep

An aggressive type of pediatric brain tumor, medulloblastoma, exists in a pre-malignant form at birth after initially developing during the first or second trimester of pregnancy, according to a new international study. As medulloblastomas typically present during childhood, around seven years of age, the team’s discovery is the first indication there could be a window

Millions of schoolchildren in the U.S. and Canada are exposed to potentially harmful levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) everyday through their uniforms, according to a peer-reviewed study published today in Environmental Science & Technology. The researchers detected PFAS in all the “stain-resistant” school uniforms they tested from nine popular brands. Most products had

Everybody eats; however, the way in which people eat differs on their culture, geography, level of knowledge, and economic status. Moreover, diet is linked to many diseases, with poor diet quality responsible for over 25% of preventable global deaths. A new Nature Food study describes diet quality on a global basis in a stratified manner.

Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS) is a rare disorder that causes neurocognitive and developmental deficits. However, musical and auditory abilities are preserved or even enhanced in WBS patients. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have identified the mechanism responsible for this ability in models of the disease. The findings were published today in Cell. Understanding what

Children who were infected with COVID-19 show a substantially higher risk of developing type 1 diabetes (T1D), according to a new study that analyzed electronic health records of more than 1 million patients ages 18 and younger. In a study published today in the journal JAMA Network Open, researchers at the Case Western Reserve Univesity

The day after his 8-month-old baby died, Kingsley Raspe opened the mail and found he had been sent to collections for her care. That notice involved a paltry sum, $26.50 — absurd really, given he’d previously been told he owed $2.5 million for treatment of his newborn’s congenital heart defect and other disorders. Raspe and

UC Riverside engineers are developing low-cost, robotic “clothing” to help children with cerebral palsy gain control over their arm movements. Cerebral palsy is the most common cause of serious physical disability in childhood, and the devices envisioned for this project are meant to offer long-term daily assistance for those living with it. However, traditional robots

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is a type of cancer affecting the mucus-secreting glands of the lower esophagus -; the tube connecting the throat to the stomach. It is the most common form of esophageal cancer and often preceded by Barrett’s metaplasia (BE), a deleterious change in cells lining the esophagus. Though the cause of EAC remains

As concerns regarding the effects of exposure to potentially toxic substances on fetal and infant health rise, researchers report the finding of several endocrine-disruptor chemicals in Danish infants in a recent Environment International journal study. More specifically, this study found that breastfeeding is associated with a higher concentration of some of these chemicals or their metabolites in

Due to the exponential increase in the manufacturing, use, and disposal of plastics, the pollution of these products continues to overwhelm ecosystems throughout the world. Following their release into the environment, these places eventually degrade into microplastics (MPs) that can cause significant harm to organisms. A new Science of the Total Environment journal paper reports

The majority of adolescents and teens are self-conscious about their appearance, a new national poll suggests. Nearly two-thirds of parents say their child is insecure about some aspect of their appearance and one in five say their teens avoid scenarios like being in photos because they’re too self-conscious, according to the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital

In a recent study posted to the Research Square* preprint server, researchers from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Pfizer Inc, and the University of Iowa assessed the seasonal trends observed in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. In the winter, several respiratory viruses cause waves of disease that follow specific seasonal

Formulas for toddlers are a burgeoning business in the United States: Sales of the drinks more than doubled in recent years as companies convinced parents that their little ones needed the liquid boost. But many experts warn that these products, designed for children ages 1 to 3, fill no nutritional needs beyond what is available