Cancer
08 May 2008
Researchers find gene location that gives rise to neuroblastoma, an aggressive childhood cancer
Using advanced gene-hunting technology, an international team of researchers has for the first time identified a chromosome region that is the source of genetic events that give rise to neuroblastoma, an often fatal childhood cancer. The investigators found that the presence of common DNA variations in a region of chromosome…
Children's health
04 May 2008
Prevention and control of childhood pneumonia
This month’s WHO Bulletin, led by the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (GAPP), focuses on the prevention and control of childhood pneumonia. It highlights research on the many aspects that drive this deadly disease and the progress now being made – progress that is a…
Children's health
30 Apr 2008
New treatment could reduce chronic lung disease in premature babies
A less traumatic way of delivering surfactant, a lung lubricant that premature babies need to help them breathe, could reduce the incidence of respiratory problems they’ll have later, Medical College of Georgia physicians say. The problem is that while surfactant keeps the tiny air sacs inside the lungs from sticking…
Cancer
29 Apr 2008
Researchers light up lungs to help diagnose disease
Researchers at the University of Sheffield have developed innovative technology which illuminates a person´s lungs and helps clinicians identify if they are functioning correctly. The new technology could result in earlier diagnosis of emphysema and smoking related damage, as well as other lung conditions and diseases. Lung diseases are of…
Children's health
18 Apr 2008
Risk factors found for RSV infection in immunocompromised children
St. Jude investigators and collaborators have shown how to predict if a child who is infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) while being treated for cancer or another catastrophic disease is at high risk for developing severe infection. The finding will help clinicians improve guidelines for managing these infected children.
Children's health
14 Apr 2008
Asthma deaths spike
New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that the Australian asthma death toll jumped in 2006, with an additional 84 deaths being recorded compared to 2005 data. The total number of deaths attributed to asthma in Australia in 2006 was 402. The greatest increase in deaths occurred in…
Children's health
06 Apr 2008
Smoking during pregnancy linked to low baby birthweight
Babies whose teenage mothers smoked during pregnancy are more likely to suffer from low birthweight (LBW) than babies whose mothers did not smoke, according to a study in the latest Medical Journal of Australia. Associate Professor Elizabeth Sullivan and Denise Chan from the University of New South Wales studied the…
Children's health
02 Apr 2008
Lung transplants not dangerous for children with cystic fibrosis, after all
Responding to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which concluded that lung transplants were harmful for children with cystic fibrosis, articles published in the latest issue of Pediatric Transplantation refute the conclusions and argue that the highly influential research was severely flawed. According to two rebuttals…
Children's health
28 Mar 2008
Actual use of asthma medications contradicts guidelines
A study has found only 16% of the 352,082 Australians who filled a prescription for asthma preventer medications for the first time during the period July 2004 to June 2005, went on to use them regularly. Most (61%) ‘first time’ users did not fill another prescription in the next two…
