An electrical imbalance caused by a malfunctioning gene triggers long QT syndrome, a potentially fatal heart rhythm disorder. A mutation in the gene Caveolin-3 can disrupt the heart’s electrical-muscular impulses and increase the risk of sudden cardiac death.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could become a valuable tool for predicting the risk of muscle injury during and following radiation therapy, according to investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Biologists have invented a chemical-free, hairdryer-like device — the LouseBuster — and conducted a study showing it eradicates head lice infestations on children by exterminating the eggs, or “nits,” and killing enough lice to prevent them from reproducing.
The eye can provide a very reliable way of diagnosing cerebral malaria, researchers in Malawi have shown. By looking at the changes to the retina, doctors are able to determine whether an unconscious child is suffering from this severe form of malaria or another, unrelated illness, leading to the most appropriate treatment.
Sunscreens that contain benzophenone-3 provide effective protection against both UVA and UVB radiation, but these preparations should not be used for young children. The substance can be found in the urine of adults several days after coming home from a holiday in the sun. A doctoral thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy has recently presented these results.
The growing number of children relying on portable home ventilators to breathe create their own ventilator-dependent lifestyles. But low esteem and social exclusion remain major problems. Professor Jane Noyes’ six-year study included interviews with over 100 children and parents. A third of the home ventilated children had received spinal or head injuries. The other two-thirds had congenital conditions.
Madonna’s actions are convincing the public that it is easier to adopt children from abroad, a charity has warned.
Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. (RPI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (RLL), announced today that RLL has received tentative approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to manufacture and market Cetirizine Hydrochloride Syrup, 5 mg/5 mL. Total annual market sales for Cetirizine Hydrochloride Syrup were $146.3 million (IMS ? MAT: June 2006).
Going into another flu season, a new study reports that hospitalizing children for influenza may cost up to three or four times the previously accepted estimates. Pediatric researchers from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia say their finding strengthens the economic justification for broadly vaccinating children against flu. The cost of influenza-related hospitalizations in children was about $13,000 each — compared to prior estimates of $3,000 to $4,000.
Abdominal obesity increased more than 65 percent among boys and almost 70 percent among girls between 1988 and 2004. The finding of growing girth is significant because abdominal obesity has emerged as a better predictor of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk than the more commonly used Body Mass Index, a weight-to-height ratio that can sometimes be misleading.