News

The decision to administer intensive care to an extremely premature infant is often based on gestational age alone, but factors such as birth weight, sex and exposure to antenatal corticosteroids also impact prognosis and should be taken into consideration, researchers report in the April 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Children who express their cultural identity through what they wear may be improving their mental health, according to a study in the May Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

While attendance in organized girls' sports is at an all-time high, fewer girls are participating in physical activity outside of sports.

As many as one-fifth of new mothers experience postpartum depression, according to a study published in the April 11 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The emerging resistance of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to multiple antimicrobial agents is a major public health challenge, and heightened surveillance of antimicrobial resistance patterns and improved screening practices are necessary for adequate prevention and control of gonorrhea, according to an article published in the April 15 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Bristol Myers Squibb's Abatacept. The treatment is indicated for patients 6 and older with moderate-to-severe polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

In women who contract primary cytomegalovirus infection during pregnancy, ultrasound predicts whether their infants will have symptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus in only one-third of cases, according to research published in the April issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Autism may be associated with significant defects in oxidative phosphorylation function, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Chicago.

Photoscreening infants and toddlers for amblyopia results in better visual outcomes after treatment compared with later screening of preschoolers, reports an article published in the Archives of Ophthalmology in April.

Despite some positive signs, progress towards meeting Millennium Development Goals for reducing maternal and child mortality in the world's poorest countries is inadequate, according to the Countdown report and other articles in a special edition of The Lancet published April 12.

The attorney generals of Connecticut and Massachusetts filed a joint amicus brief in the US District Court in support of New Jersey's challenge to new restrictions for the State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP).

Women who smoke in the month before they become pregnant or at any time up to the end of the first trimester are more likely than their non-smoking counterparts to give birth to a baby with congenital heart defects, according to the results of a study funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the April issue of Pediatrics.

The mainstream news media reporting of academic publications suggesting a link between the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and autism did not result in a significant drop in uptake of the vaccination. Rather, this temporary drop occurred before the media coverage began, according to a report published in the April 1 issue of Pediatrics.

Giving patients clearly written educational materials that convey key messages without resorting to jargon is an important part of engaging patient compliance with treatment and can contribute to health literacy, according to an article published in the April issue of Chest.

Abbott's lower-strength pediatric tablet formulation of the HIV protease inhibitor Kaletra has received marketing approval by the European Commission.

Despite high national coverage rates with two doses of mumps vaccine, the largest outbreak of mumps in two decades occurred in 2006, suggesting that changes to the mumps vaccine or vaccine policy may be needed to avert future outbreaks, researchers report in the April 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers have identified a gene conferring susceptibility to asthma in populations of European descent, according to research published online April 9 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Gene mutations may underlie half of all cases of sporadic childhood-onset idiopathic cardiac hypertrophy, and two-thirds of cases in which there is a positive family history, according to study findings published online April 9 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Contemporary Kids 2008 Media Kit

The BMJ has begun accepting votes on which areas of health care allow doctors to make the biggest difference to patient care, with a shortlist of six areas each being championed by eminent doctors and researchers. The winning topic will gain special coverage in the BMJ and the BMJ Group's 24 other specialist journals and online education products.

Short or disrupted sleep during infancy and childhood may be associated with a range of problems including mood and behavioral disorders in young adulthood, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, as well as maladaptive parental behaviors, according to three studies published in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Early-onset paternal, but not maternal, obesity is associated with a higher risk of having high levels of alanine aminotransferase, a marker of liver injury associated with obesity, researchers report in the April issue of Gastroenterology.

Exercising mothers not only reward their own health without harming their fetus, but also impart health benefits to the developing baby, according to researchers presenting at the 121st Annual Meeting of the American Physiological Society.

Depressed adults with a history of maltreatment in childhood tend to have higher levels of C-reactive protein than their counterparts without a history of abuse, putting them at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, according to a report published in the April issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Since 1976, the overall prevalence of iron deficiency in U.S. toddlers has not declined and continues to be elevated in certain high-risk groups including Hispanic and overweight toddlers, according to an article published in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Infants who sleep less than 12 hours per day may have an increased risk of becoming overweight when they reach preschool age, according to research published in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

The risk of heart disease in teens with metabolic syndrome may be elevated if they have a history of inactivity during childhood.

From October 2005 through September 2006, approximately 905,000 U.S. children, nearly 20 percent of whom were younger than 1 year of age, were victims of maltreatment, according to a report published in the April 4 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.