At least one in three children in this country has difficulty learning to read. Research shows that children’s aggressive behavior and reading difficulties during early elementary school years are risk factors for adolescent problem behaviors such as delinquency, academic failure, and substance use. Oregon Research Institute scientists recently received high marks for their work to reverse this trend.
For the first time, researchers have inhibited the development of epilepsy after a brain insult in animals. By using gene therapy to modify signaling pathways in the brain, neurology researchers found that they could significantly reduce the development of epileptic seizures in rats.
Parents and pre-school children have a more positive interaction when sharing a reading experience with a traditional book as opposed to an electronic book or e-book, according researchers at Temple University’s Infant Laboratory and Erikson Institute in Chicago. This shared positive experience from traditional books characteristically promotes early literacy skills.
New research by a team at the University of Warwick says that massage may help infants aged under six months sleep better, cry less and be less stressed.
According to the study, “Reducing Children’s Television-Viewing Time: A Qualitative Study of Parents and Their Children,” school-age children are spending more time watching TV than the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendation of no more than two hours of screen time per day.
Head lice are a major irritant to children and their parents around the world. The number of head lice cases is increasing because lice are developing a resistance to current treatments such as chemical shampoos, specialized louse combs and various home remedies.
Previous reports have greatly underestimated the number of children injured on school buses. The study, “School Bus-Related Injuries Among Children and Teenagers in the United States, 2001-2003,” is the first to analyze non-fatal school bus injuries using a national sample. It found more than 51,000 children – or 17,000 annually – through age 19 were treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments during the 3-year period.
Evidence suggests that the stress of heating and cooling costs may adversely impact the health and nutritional status of children and other vulnerable individuals.
Parental rules and monitoring of children’s movie viewing may have a protective influence on children’s risk for smoking and drinking, over and above parental monitoring of nonmedia-related behaviors.
The cost of influenza-related hospitalizations in children may be considerably higher than previously estimated. An analysis of electronic billing data in the study, “Direct Medical Cost of Influenza-Related Hospitalizations in Children,” found that the mean total cost of hospitalizing a child for influenza-related illness is approximately $13,000 (approx. $7,000 for ward patients and $40,000 for ICU patients).