Hugs matter. And for babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), hugs can change their lives. With the goal of delivering the highest quality care to every NICU baby, Danbury Hospital launched Healing Hugs, a new service where trained volunteer cuddlers provide comfort to babies in the Spratt Family Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. “A
Children’s Health
A trial of a new curriculum to improve soft skills in secondary school children has shown that it can boost their physical health and behavior, as well as changing their career aspirations. The Healthy Minds curriculum, includes elements on building resilience, navigating social media, looking after mental health, developing healthy relationships and understanding the responsibilities
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently issued guidelines on screen time, physical activity, and sleep for children from birth through age four. The guidelines were issued in response to a 2016 report from the WHO’s Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity, which linked rising rates of childhood obesity worldwide to a decline in physical activity, increased
Aging research indicates that better healthspan–the quality of life as we age–may be more important than lifespan. In a report published today in Nature Communications, a surprising new genetic discovery by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh suggests that there may be molecular switches that control
Some of the findings in cognitive neuroscience and psychology do not seem to replicate from one study to the next. Could this also be true for commonly used brain response studies? It turns out to depend on what is being studied, found a recent study. Researchers from four countries (Finland, Hungary, Germany, and France) measured
The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named four outstanding young scientists as recipients of the prestigious Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Fellowship Award, committing nearly $1 million to help address a critical shortage of funding for pediatric cancer research. The Fellowship Award provides funding to basic scientists and clinicians who conduct research with the potential
Video games have been blamed for emotional damage and numerous behavioural problems in children and teenagers. A new study turned it all around by using video games for an emotional intelligence training program and found that exposure to these games could help these adolescents express and manage their emotions better after the training. Young gamer
Ten years ago, in Marathon County, Wisconsin, 55 people were sickened by an uncommon fungal infection called blastomycosis. Thirty patients were hospitalized. Two people died. The fungus, Blastomyces dermatitidis, found naturally in wet soil and in decomposing wood throughout the Great Lakes region and the Mississippi Valley, can cause flu-like illness and in severe cases,
A new study by a team of CHU Sainte-Justine scientists has revealed that social media use and television viewing are linked to increases in adolescent depressive symptoms. Changes in adolescent social media use and television use predict increases in symptoms of depression. The study, published July 15 in JAMA Pediatrics, revealed that a higher than
Difficulty breathing is becoming easier for patients at Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC). Orlando Health ORMC is the first hospital in Central Florida to offer a new lung valve treatment for patients with severe emphysema, a progressive and life-threatening form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The Zephyr® Endobronchial Valve System, by Pulmonx® Corp.
A US study has suggested that babies with tongue-tie rarely need surgery to help them breastfeed. Numbers of tongue-tie surgeries have seen a ten-fold increase between 1997 and 2012, but experts believe that undergoing the surgery could be avoided with alternative methods of support. Blessings | Shutterstock Tongue-tie (ankyloglossia) is a condition in which the
Babies whose mothers underwent surgery before pregnancy have an increased risk of opioid withdrawal symptoms at birth, according to a new study done at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) and published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Use of opioids for pain control after surgery may increase the risk of opioid dependence
A team of researchers from the departments of Medicine and Education Sciences of the CEU Cardenal Herrera University in Castellón (Spain) has analyzed the relation between the addiction to videogames and school inadaptation in a group of teenagers in the province. The study has been carried out under the guidance of Medicine professor Gonzalo Haro,
Adults who were born pre-term (under 37 weeks gestation) are less likely to have a romantic relationship, a sexual partner and experience parenthood than those born full term. The meta-analysis by researchers at the University of Warwick with data from up to 4.4 million adult participants showed that those born preterm are 28% less likely
A new research network for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCNet), led by researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Children’s Hospital Colorado and Boston Children’s Hospital, will lead, promote and coordinate national research activities to improve their systems of care. Funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human
A new type of therapeutic food, specifically designed to repair the gut microbiomes of malnourished children, is superior to standard therapy in an initial clinical trial conducted in Bangladesh. An interdisciplinary team of investigators from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Dhaka, Bangladesh, have
New research raises questions as to whether too many infants are getting tongue-tie and lip tether surgery (also called frenulectomy) to help improve breastfeeding, despite limited medical evidence supporting the procedure. In a new study, published July 11in JAMA Otolaryngology-;Head & Neck Surgery, nearly 63 percent of children who were referred to a pediatric ear
A drug belonging to a new generation of acute migraine headache treatments was found to eliminate pain and reduce bothersome symptoms for people with migraine in a large-scale trial reported in the July 11 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. The drug, rimegepant, is awaiting U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval and may
Atypical eating behaviors may be a sign a child should be screened for autism, according to a new study from Penn State College of Medicine. Research by Susan Mayes, professor of psychiatry, found that atypical eating behaviors were present in 70 percent of children with autism, which is 15 times more common than in neurotypical
A chaotic household is one in which there is a lot of disorganized behaviour and noise. This makes relaxation impossible and often leads to stress and anxiety. Studies have associated chaotic households with anxiety and depressive disorders in both children and adults. A new study has found that children belonging to minority groups and living