News

Using physicians' offices as the venue to promote judicious use of antibiotics is an effective way to get the information into the right hands, but a multi-pronged approach may be more effective at getting doctors to take a more judicious approach to over-prescribing, according to an article published in the May/June issue of the Annals of Family Medicine.

Deletion of a small chromosomal region in mice equivalent to the 22q11.2 deletion in humans, which is associated with behavioral and cognitive defects and an increased risk of schizophrenia, is associated with defects in the processing of microRNAs and cognitive and behavioral deficits, according to research published online May 11 in Nature Genetics.

Enhancing cyclic guanosine monophosphate signaling via genetic avenues as well as with sildenafil protected cardiac contractile function in a mouse model of dystrophin-deficient cardiomyopathy, according to an article published in the May 13 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Although girls experience sexual harassment more frequently than boys, boys are still negatively affected by the indirect consequences of this harassment, according to a recent study.

Children and juveniles with multiple sclerosis (MS) may have an increased risk of cognitive impairment and low IQ scores, and low IQ scores may be especially associated with a younger age at onset, according to the results of a study published in the May 13 issue of Neurology.

Children who experienced stable family situations after divorce fared better as young adults than did those with unstable post-divorce families, according to a study in the May Journal of Marriage and Family.

In a rat model of intrauterine growth retardation, which has been linked to diabetes in adulthood, a gene important for pancreatic β-cell function and development undergoes epigenetic changes that result in its silencing after diabetes onset, according to research published online May 8 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Children who lose a parent due to suicide or other unexpected sudden death are at an increased risk for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to an article published in the May issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

The risk of neurologic deficit during surgery to correct pediatric kyphosis in the spinal cord region can be minimized by using multimodality monitoring and motor tract assessment during the procedure, according to research published in the May 1 issue of Spine.

Patients aged 12 to 25 who receive non-operative treatment for a primary anterior shoulder dislocation have about a 50 percent chance of their shoulder becoming stable over time or not having a recurrent dislocation, according to a report published in the May issue of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.

Adults with greater knee height and arm span, which reflect nutrition and health status in the first two years of life, have a lower risk of developing dementia, according to study findings published in the May 6 issue of Neurology.

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 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.

Maternal glucose levels that are elevated, but not high enough to warrant a diabetes diagnosis, are associated with increased birth weight and a marker of fetal hyperinsulemia, researchers report in the May 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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.