Children’s Health

Schools will have greater flexibility to offer high-quality, 15-hour tutoring courses that meet the needs of their pupils, in a major expansion of the National Tutoring Programme backed by £1 billion. One course of high-quality tutoring has been proven to boost attainment by three to five months, so tutoring will be vital for young people

The four Chief Medical Officers will provide further advice on the COVID-19 vaccination of young people aged 12 to 15 with COVID-19 vaccines following the advice of the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The independent medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), has approved the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines

A new national study published in Annals of the American Thoracic Society finds that bisexual Americans had over two times the rates of asthma and other lung diseases as heterosexual adults. Overall, 29% of bisexual adults reported experiencing lung disease compared to 14% of heterosexual adults. The study analyzed data from 12,209 adults in the

Licensing productive transcription through RNA polymerase II stabilityPlay Video Credit: Northwestern University Northwestern Medicine scientists have identified a critical checkpoint in transcription elongation, the process of synthesizing RNA from a DNA template, according to findings published in Molecular Cell. According to the study, the presence of a protein called SPT5 serves as a “passport,” determining

A new USC study finds that a class of environmental pollutants known as “forever chemicals” may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes in Latino girls. The pollutants, called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are a group of man-made chemicals used across the United States in a wide range of industrial and consumer products, including

Communal leisure activities in youth can have positive and far-reaching effects on mental health, according to a new study by the University of Oulu, Finland. A research group of experts in psychiatry and health sciences investigated the association of leisure activities of young people aged 15-16 with later psychiatric morbidity. According to the study, socially

With an average accuracy of 88%, a deep learning technology offers rapid genetic screening that could accelerate the diagnosis of genetic syndromes, recommending further investigation or referral to a specialist in seconds, according to a study published in The Lancet Digital Health. Trained with data from 2,800 pediatric patients from 28 countries, the technology also

If you’re agonizing over the long hours tweens and teens spend scrolling through and posting to Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and other social media sharing and messaging platforms, new UC Berkeley research has some enlightening news to share. When it comes to screen time, the problem is not so much the number of hours they spend

From tele-monitoring patients with diabetes to using artificial intelligence to prevent sepsis, the newly launched Center for Health Innovation at UC San Diego Health will seek to develop, test and commercialize technologies that make a real, measurable difference in the lives and wellbeing of patients. Every U.S. hospital has common challenges to address in continuously

A nationwide survey of hospitals has revealed a wide variety of approaches to newborn skincare – including the timing of the first bath – that could ultimately have lasting effects on a baby’s health and wellbeing. Believed to be the first of its kind, the survey sought to document newborn skincare practices at hospitals around

A new USC study published in the journal Pediatrics finds a heightened risk of death from medical causes for infants with histories of reported maltreatment, suggesting a need for ongoing care coordination between the child protection system and pediatric health providers. “Newborns in families involved with the child protection system reflect a highly vulnerable group

In general, children are less frequently affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as compared to adults. The infection rates of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is the virus responsible for COVID-19, in children are not well known. Whether SARS-CoV-2 infection rates in children reflect community transmission, these rates differ between younger

A study examining the body mass index (BMI) of over 14,000 children from birth to age 15 shows those in the Midwest have the highest BMI levels while kids in the West have the lowest, suggesting regional influences may play a role in the development of childhood obesity. The study, published today in the journal

Researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have found that children on the autism spectrum who have impaired executive functioning skills, which help control thoughts, emotions, and actions, can face challenges at school that are different from the ones they face at home. Additionally, as children experience adolescence, problems with executive functioning can worsen, suggesting

A new study by researchers at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University finds that cancer-associated mutations originate in blood progenitor cells, leading to distinct changes in both cancer and non-cancer immune cells in Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia (WM), a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and its precursor IgM monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS). The study by Madhav.

Studies have determined that in-school transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 is rare when masking, social distancing and other safety protocols are followed. However, little has been known about COVID-19 risks at school for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. These students often are unable to mask or maintain social distancing and may have

The devastating direct public health impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been widely studied; however, the magnitude of the indirect impact on mental health has yet to be determined. In Australia, some strict measures including stay-at-home orders have been undertaken to curb the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

Telemedicine appointments combined with in-person visits significantly reduced the risk of further illness for children with medically complex cases, according to results of a new study by researchers with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). The study was published today in Pediatrics. Children with medically complex cases require intense care supervision

David Sela, a nutrition scientist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has received a five-year, $1.69 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate how nitrogen in human milk is used by beneficial microbes in the infant gut to potentially play an important role in pediatric nutrition and development. The new experiments,

Postmortem genetic testing, or genomic autopsy, of young individuals who experienced sudden death revealed many had known genetic variants that are associated with cardiomyopathy, according to a Northwestern Medicine study published in JAMA Cardiology. These findings indicate that genomic autopsy can improve care for families after a sudden death in a young patient, as it