News

In high-risk women, a transtheoretical model-tailored intervention significantly increases dual contraceptive use but does not affect the incidence of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, according to study findings published in the June issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Lower exposure to ultraviolet B radiation in regions that are more distant from the equator is associated with a higher incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes, supporting the concept that vitamin D may play a role in reducing risk of the disease, according to research published online June 12 in Diabetologia.

The low birthweight rate in 2005 was 8.2%, the highest percentage since 1968, according to the 2008 Kids Count report, released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The United Health Foundation has announced a $50,000 grant to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to help pediatricians improve care delivery.

Hereditary rickets due to altered vitamin D metabolism is associated with multiple sclerosis, according to study findings published in the June issue of the Archives of Neurology.

Since 1990, the number of golf cart-related injuries has steadily increased, and the high rate of injuries among children suggests that new guidelines are needed, according to a report published in the July issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Dasatinib, a BCR-ABL inhibitor considerably more potent than imatinib, has similar efficacy but less toxicity at a dose of 100 mg once a day compared with the approved 70 mg twice a day in patients with chronic-phase chronic myelogenous leukemia who have failed imatinib treatment, according to study findings published online June 9 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Among teenagers, excessive cell phone use is associated with disrupted sleep, restlessness, stress and fatigue, according to research presented this week at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, held in Baltimore.

While maternal obesity does not appear to impact infant mortality among whites, the opposite may be true among blacks, according to the June Obstretics & Gynecology.

Survey results show that a North Carolina cell phone ban for young drivers did not lower their cell phone use, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The herb Hypericum perforatum, more commonly known as St. John's wort, has no effect on the symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, according to the results of a study published in the June 11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

An outbreak of pertussis in the summer of 2004 in 11 infants born in a Texas hospital was linked to a health care worker at the hospital's newborn nursery with the illness, according to a report in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's June 6 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Factors linked to sleep loss among six-month-old infants include maternal depression, breastfeeding, and a lower socioeconomic status, according to recent findings.

Being overweight or obese increases the risk of having a pregnancy affected by neural tube defects, with the risk for severely obese women triple that of normal weight women, according to a review published in the June issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has updated its position on dental amalgam by stating that the mercury within the substance may pose risks to pregnant women, fetuses, and children.

A report by the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) of 150 top US medical schools found many have insufficiently strict conflict of interest policies, or do not have them at all.

Transplanting human fetal cells into the brains of newborn mice lacking myelin leads to widespread myelination, restoration of normal neural function and increased survival, according to research published in the June issue of Cell Stem Cell.

News reports of the death of a South Carolina boy attributed the accident to "dry drowning," a paradoxically scary term.

Despite the fact that meningitis C vaccination is part of the United Kingdom's routine infant vaccination program, one in five adolescents has insufficient protection from the disease and may need a booster shot to maintain immunity, according to a report published June 5 in BMJ Online First.

Very few physicians are training and becoming certified in pediatric neurosurgery, suggesting an upcoming crisis in the workforce of this subspecialty that may put children at risk, according to a report in the June issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics.

Mutations in the GABAA receptor β3 subunit gene (GABRB3) are implicated in childhood absence epilepsy, according to research published online May 29 in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Better quality foster care has important repercussions for the mental and physical well being of foster care alumni, according to a report published in the June issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has allocated almost $1.1 billion to be made available to public health departments, hospitals and other health care organizations in order to help them better respond to public health and medical emergencies of a terrorist or naturally occurring nature.

Although the long-term health-related quality of life is good for patients who received surgical treatment for idiopathic scoliosis or spondylolisthesis during adolescence, long-term outcomes are better among those treated for scoliosis, researchers report in the June issue of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.

The Food and Drug Administration has begun a safety review of four tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors, after receiving over reports of cancer caused in children who were taking them.

Studies seeking an optimal approach to preventing HIV transmission between HIV-infected breast-feeding mothers and their newborn babies found that stopping breast-feeding early (at 4 months) ultimately did not reduce HIV-free survival in infants; however, giving extended preventative therapy demonstrated a short-term positive impact. The studies were published online June 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Severely head-injured children who were treated with hypothermia post-injury fared worse than those who did not receive hypothermia treatment and had higher mortality rates, according to a research paper published June 5 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Despite reports of deaths associated with use of infant over-the-counter cough and cold medications that led manufacturers to withdraw such products from the market, a high proportion of infants presenting at emergency departments with bronchiolitis received a cough/cold medication during the previous week, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine in Washington, D.C.