Children's health
03 Jul 2007
How Normal Is Smoking? Teens Don’t Know
The more a high school student overestimates the percentage of people in the general population who smoke cigarettes, the more likely he or she will be to smoke, reports a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. The study sheds new…
Children's health
26 Jun 2007
Simpler Asthma Treatment Options Found Effective
Some people with mild asthma using a twice-daily inhaled steroid to prevent asthma symptoms might be able to cut their medication use to only once a day, according to a study by the American Lung Association (ALA). “This finding could allow some patients to simplify their treatment,” says Mario Castro,…
Children's health
25 Jun 2007
Teens Need to Eat More Fruits, Veggies to Prevent Obesity
Almost no adolescents are meeting all four key obesity prevention behaviours – eating five fruits and vegetables, spending less than two hours in front of the TV or computer, at least one hour of exercise and no sugar-sweetened drinks. Although some teens are meeting each goal separately, only 9 percent…
Children's health
25 Jun 2007
40 Percent of 3-Month-Old Infants are Regularly Watching TV, DVDs or Videos
A large number of parents are ignoring warnings from the American Academy of Pediatrics and are allowing their very young children to watch television, DVDs or videos so that by 3 months of age 40 percent of infants are regular viewers. That number jumps to 90 percent of 2-year-olds, according…
Children's health
25 Jun 2007
Almost 4 Percent of Children May be Morbidly Obese
Almost 4 percent are at or above the 99th percentile for Body Mass Index, meaning that about 2.7 million U.S. children could be considered morbidly obese. That percentage goes higher for boys, blacks, poor, and adolescent poor. “These numbers are alarming, especially when you tease out specific groups, such as…
Children's health
25 Jun 2007
Abnormal Face Processing in Toddlers With Autism and Developmental Delays
Toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often have difficulty focusing on people’s faces and making eye contact, but a new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers found that these same toddlers do not have difficulty looking at photographs of faces. The researchers, led by Yale Child Study Center Assistant…
Blood
22 Jun 2007
Vascular Imaging Key to Predicting Repeat Childhood Stroke
One of the first major studies of paediatric stroke has revealed that as many as one fifth of children who have had strokes are at risk of a recurrence, and that recurrence can be predicted accurately through the use of cerebrovascular imaging techniques commonly employed to diagnose adults but inconsistently…
Children's health
19 Jun 2007
UT Southwestern Establishes First U.S. Morphea Registry and DNA Repository for Both Adults and Children
Dermatologists at UT Southwestern Medical Center are establishing a DNA repository aimed at people with morphea, a poorly understood, incurable and sometimes disfiguring disease that causes patches of skin to thicken and harden. Once established, the facility will be the only morphea DNA repository for both adults and children in…
Bone
19 Jun 2007
Dietary Calcium is Better than Supplements at Protecting Bone Health
Women who get most of their daily calcium from food have healthier bones than women whose calcium comes mainly from supplemental tablets, say researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Surprisingly, this is true even though the supplement takers have higher average calcium intake. Adequate calcium is…
