Children's health
26 Mar 2013
Chicken pox vaccine saving children’s lives
The widespread introduction of a chicken pox vaccine in Australia in 2006 has prevented thousands of children from being hospitalised with severe chicken pox and saved lives, according to new research. In a national study of chicken pox admissions at four participating Australian children’s hospitals, researchers found the number of…
Children's health
25 Mar 2013
Can prolonged breastfeeding increase risk of child obesity?
In research that included nearly 14,000 healthy infants in Belarus, an intervention that succeeded in improving the duration and exclusivity of breastfeeding during infancy did not result in a lower risk of overweight or obesity among the children at age 11.5 years, according to a study appearing in the March…
Children's health
25 Mar 2013
Salt levels on shaky ground
In an era where manufacturers are meant to be reducing salt levels in processed food, a CHOICE review of kids’ food has found unacceptably high-levels of salt in a raft of products, including breakfast cereals and lunch box snacks. In some instances, a food product marketed at children was found…
Children's health
22 Mar 2013
Early computer use improves preschoolers’ letter knowledge
Learning your A, B, C’s could be as easy as using a computer regularly while you’re young, a new study has found. Researchers from the ARC Centre for Cognition and its Disorders at Macquarie University and Murdoch Childrens Research Institute studied over 1500 four year olds and found regular computer…
Children's health
14 Mar 2013
Research Explores Factors That Impact Adolescent Mental Health
Research indicates that half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14, well before adulthood. Three new studies investigate the cognitive, genetic and environmental factors that may contribute to mental health disorders in adolescence. The studies are published in Psychological Science and Clinical Psychological Science, journals of…
Children's health
06 Mar 2013
Perfectionistic parenting impacts childhood anxieties
In a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, researchers investigated the impact of perfectionistic rearing behaviors by parents on children. Results showed that while all children showed an increase in their self-oriented perfectionism under perfectionist rearing conditions, it was children in the non-perfectionistic rearing condition that improved…
Children's health
02 Mar 2013
Food and beverages not likely to make breast-fed babies fussy
Many new moms fear that eating the wrong foods while breast-feeding will make their baby fussy. However, no sound scientific evidence exists to support claims that certain foods or beverages lead to fussiness in infants, according to Gina Neill, a Loyola University Health System registered dietitian. “One of the many…
Children's health
01 Mar 2013
Probiotic-derived treatment new hope for preemies
“Good” bacteria that live in our intestines have been linked with a variety of health benefits, from fighting disease to preventing obesity. In a new study, Kriston Ganguli of Massachusetts General Hospital for Children and Harvard Medical School and her colleagues have discovered another advantage to these friendly microscopic tenants:…
Cancer
01 Mar 2013
Reducing tumour growth and spread of advanced neuroblastoma
In a world-first discovery, researchers at Children’s Cancer Institute Australia (CCIA) have found a potential new way to reduce neuroblastoma tumour growth and metastasis. The findings, which have been published in Oncogene, may lead to the development of more targeted treatments for neuroblastoma and potentially save the lives of more…
