Children’s Health

The human brain is organized into circuits that develop from childhood through adulthood to support executive function- critical behaviors like self-control, decision making, and complex thought. These circuits are anchored by white matter pathways which coordinate the brain activity necessary for cognition. However, little research exists to explain how white matter matures to support activity

One in every 15,000 children is affected by Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), a complex, genetic endocrine condition caused by a disorder of chromosome 15. It’s non-inheritable, meaning the condition isn’t passed down from a family member. Among the regular side effects like growth hormone deficiency, hypothyroidism, delayed puberty, behavioral problems and learning difficulties, but hyperphagia is

Pregnant women living with HIV don’t always receive antiretroviral medications recommended for use in pregnancy, according to a recent study published in Jama Network Open this week. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago’s researchers collaborated in the multi-site Surveillance Monitoring for ART Toxicities (SMARTT) study of the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study (PHACS)

Leftover prescription opioids pose big risks to kids, yet most parents keep their own and their child’s unused painkillers even after they’re no longer medically necessary for pain. But a new University of Michigan study suggests that convenient disposal paired with tailored risk education can improve those numbers. Terri Voepel-Lewis, U-M associate professor of nursing,

A mother’s obesity in pregnancy can affect her child’s development years down the road, according to researchers who found impaired motor skills in preschoolers and lower IQ in middle childhood for boys whose mothers were severely overweight while expecting them. A team of nutrition and environmental health researchers at The University of Texas at Austin

A multidisciplinary team of University of Utah Health scientists has received a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Institutes of variations in pollutant-sensing genes in the lungs could influence air pollution’s effects on children who have asthma. Health to investigate how variations in pollutant-sensing genes in the lungs could influence air pollution’s effects on

Pregnant women exposed to persistent organic pollutants, or POPs, had slightly smaller fetuses than women who haven’t been exposed to these chemicals, according to an analysis of ultrasound scans by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. The researchers also found that the women in their study had lower levels of POPs

[embedded content] Health products powered by artificial intelligence, or AI, are streaming into our lives, from virtual doctor apps to wearable sensors and drugstore chatbots. IBM boasted that its AI could “outthink cancer.” Others say computer systems that read X-rays will make radiologists obsolete. “There’s nothing that I’ve seen in my 30-plus years studying medicine

Teenage boys who witness their peers abusing women and girls are much more likely to bully and fight with others, as well as behave abusively toward their dates, compared to teenage boys who don’t witness such behaviors, according to an analysis led by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC Children’s Hospital of

Because early detection of autism is linked to significantly improved outcomes, the discovery of early predictors could make all the difference in a child’s development. Dr. Ray Bahado-Singh, a geneticist and Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology for Beaumont Health and the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine and his research team, identified key biomarkers

Most children in North America consume cows-milk every day. With the rising rates of obesity in the US, doctors recommend that children who are 2 years old and below should consume reduced-fat cows-milk to reduce weight gain and its associated complications. Now, researchers have found that children who drink whole milk have a 40-percent reduced

For sick or prematurely born babies spending their first days of life in a hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the soothing voice and gentle touch of a loving parent can have a tremendous impact toward a positive outcome — that is, unless mom or dad’s visit leaves the infant with something extra: a dangerous

Nearly 15 million babies are born prematurely, or before 37 weeks of pregnancy, around the world each year. When born too early, a baby’s immature respiratory center in the brain often fails to signal it to breathe, resulting in low oxygen levels, or hypoxia, in the brain. Research published in the Journal of Neuroscience shows

The opioid crisis in the US is an urgent public health emergency that requires instant action to protect vulnerable individuals. While the startling death toll associated with this epidemic has received much attention, the health outcomes associated with prenatal opioid exposure during pregnancy are less well defined. David Smart | Shutterstock As the population continues

A study published on August 27 in Frontiers in Pharmacology found that general probiotic use in the U.S. could save the health care payer and the economy around $1.4 billion in medical bills and lost productivity due to acute respiratory tract infections (RTIs). RTIs include influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) with symptoms ranging from mild cold to

Pesticide exposure has been linked to many conditions, especially after long-term exposure. These chemicals can cause short-term adverse effects and in some cases, chronic adverse health effects that can emerge months or even years after exposure. In pregnant women, pesticide exposure is associated with birth defects, learning problems of the child later in life, miscarriage

Autism rates among racial minorities in the United States have increased by double digits in recent years, with black rates now exceeding those of whites in most states and Hispanic rates growing faster than any other group, according to new University of Colorado Boulder research. The study, published this month in the Journal of Autism

A powerful superbug, a hypervirulent form of the bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae, is a very difficult to curb infection. It causes a variety of infections including rare but life-threatening liver, respiratory tract, bloodstream and other infections. Bacteria colonies culture on MacConkey agar media (Klebsiella pneumoniae) contains small light grains. Image Credit: Sirirat / Shutterstock Antibiotic resistance

Organophosphates are among the most commonly used classes of pesticides in the United States, despite mounting evidence linking prenatal exposure to the chemicals to poorer cognition and behavior problems in children. A new study led by University of California, Berkeley, researchers is one of the first to use advanced brain imaging to reveal how exposure

Infants and young children with epilepsy due to a confirmed genetic abnormality had a better response to treatment with ketogenic diet compared to patients with other types of epilepsy, according to a review of 10-year experience at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Results were published in Scientific Reports. Overall, we observed