News

A smoking education program that trained influential adolescents to encourage their peers not to smoke resulted in a 22 percent lower likelihood of smoking among 12- and 13-year olds, researchers report in the May 10 issue of The Lancet.

The survival of infants born prematurely at 24 and 25 weeks' gestation has improved over the last 12 years, according to an article published May 9 in BMJ Online First.

The parents of infants with abusive head trauma tend to be younger, less educated and unmarried, and mothers tend to have smoked during pregnancy, sought prenatal care later and had low birth weight infants, researchers report in the May issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics.

High levels of moderate to severe periodontal disease among Pakistani women is associated with increased risks of stillbirth, neonatal and perinatal death, according to the results of a study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

In the treatment of sickle cell disease, hydroxyurea represents a major advance, according to a National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference Statement published online May 6 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Prolonged breast-feeding appears to improve children's cognitive development, as measured by IQ scores and teacher ratings at the age of 6, researchers report in the May issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Allowing patients to pay the additional costs of treatments not funded by the U.K.'s National Health Service is unfair and would undermine the foundation of the entire health system, argues the author of a Head to Head article published online May 6 in BMJ.

A sample of patients surgically treated for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis reported a statistically significant increase in pain between two and five years after the procedure, according to research published in the May 1 issue of Spine.

Basic health care needs are not met for more than 200 million children worldwide under the age of 5, according to Save the Children's Ninth Annual State of the World's Mothers report, issued May 6.

A genomewide association study links a genetic variation at chromosome band 6p22 with a susceptibility to neuroblastoma, the most common solid cancer of early childhood, according to research published online May 7 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The use of metformin in women with gestational diabetes was associated with similar rates of perinatal complications as the use of insulin, according to a report published in the May 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Botulinum neurotoxin is effective in treating spasticity in adults and children, cervical dystonia, and autonomic disorders such as axillary hyperhydrosis and detrusor overactivity, according to a series of evidence-based reviews published in Neurology in May.

Maternal serum inhibin-A levels during the second trimester of pregnancy may help predict which deliveries will be complicated by meconium passage, according to research presented this week at the 56th Annual Clinical Meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in New Orleans.

Advances in the field of reproductive technology offer couples wishing to conceive unprecedented choices, such as the ability to avoid inherited disease in their offspring, but also create new ethical dilemmas, according to a speech delivered during the opening session of the 56th Annual Clinical Meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists held this week in New Orleans.

Infants with a lower birth weight have an increased risk of elevated systolic blood pressure in late adolescence and early adulthood, according to research from China presented this week at the Pediatric Academic Societies and Asian Society for Pediatric Research Joint Meeting in Honolulu.

Patients with bipolar disorder and high BMI may respond more poorly to medication and have a more severe course of illness than those with lower BMI.

In infants who receive flu vaccinations, immunogenicity is higher in those who receive live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) than in those who receive trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine. Also, viral shedding is more common among younger children who receive LAIV than in older children, according to two studies presented this week at the Pediatric Academic Societies and Asian Society for Pediatric Research Joint Meeting in Honolulu.

The use of adjuvant corticosteroid therapy in children with bacterial meningitis wasn't associated with survival or length of hospital stay, according to research published in the May 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Popular obstetrics and gynecology textbooks lack the most current information on breast-feeding, and often omit key content such as normal breast-feeding patterns and strategies to improve breast-feeding rates, according to research findings presented at the 56th Annual Clinical Meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists held this week in New Orleans.

Compared to the licensed quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine Menactra, the novel MenACWY-CRM vaccine has similar tolerability and reactogenicity, but its immunogenicity is higher at one month post-vaccination, according to research presented this week at the Pediatric Academic Societies and Asian Society for Pediatric Research Joint Meeting in Honolulu.

Rising medical malpractice premiums may be related to increasing rates of Caesarean delivery and declining rates of operative vaginal delivery at a Connecticut hospital between 1991 and 2005, according to research findings presented at the 56th Annual Clinical Meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists held this week in New Orleans.

Adolescents who were adopted as infants have twice the risk of behavioral disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, than their non-adopted peers, according to an article published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine in May.

In premature infants, high-dose dietary docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation during the neonatal period improves Bayley Mental Index scores at age 18 months in girls and in those with a very low birth weight, according to research presented this week at the Pediatric Academic Societies and Asian Society for Pediatric Research Joint Meeting in Honolulu.

A study showed that children who only receive one of the two recommended shots of a live attenuated flu vaccine still receive significant protection.

Shaken baby syndrome, or SBS, may be on the way out – in name only. The American Academy of Pediatrics is about to recommend a new, more descriptive name, abusive head trauma, or AHT, said Vincent Palusci, MD, of the New York University School of Medicine.

Antihypertensives, as well as of course all other drugs, should be used cautiously in pediatric populations and in pregnant women. But ACE inhibitors are a special concern in pregnant women, explained William Cooper, MD, MPH, of Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital of Nashville, Tenn.

Mothers may be less likely to have daughters under the age of 13 vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV) than they would older daughters, despite current recommendations, according to research presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies' meeting held in Honolulu this week.

Infants with permanent neonatal diabetes mellitus, a rare disorder presenting within six months of birth, have a genetic defect leading to misfolded proinsulins and cell death, according to a report in the May issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.