August 13, 2008, 0:43 AM CT

Poor coordination in childhood is linked to obesity

Poor physical control and coordination in childhood are associated with an increased risk of obesity in later life, suggests a study published on BMJ.com today.

The research contributes to a growing body of evidence on the link between poorer cognitive function in childhood and obesity and type 2 diabetes in adults.

The findings are based on 11 042 individuals, who are part of the ongoing National Child Development Study in Great Britain, which began in 1958.

7990 participants were assessed by teachers at age 7 years to identify poor ability in hand control, coordination, and clumsiness, and 6875 were tested for hand control and coordination at age 11 by a doctor. Tests included copying a simple design to measure accuracy, marking squares on paper within a minute, and the time in seconds it took to pick up 20 matches.

At age 33 body mass index (BMI) was measured. Obesity was defined as a BMI of 30 or over.

The analysis showed that at age 7 years poor hand control, poor coordination, and clumsiness occurred more often among individuals who would be obese adults. In addition, poorer function at age 11 was linked to obesity at age 33.

These findings held true after adjusting for factors likely to influence the results, such as childhood body mass and family social class......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

August 13, 2008, 0:35 AM CT

Childhood dairy intake may improve adolescent bone health

Cincinnati, OH, August 13, 2008Dairy is recognized as a key component of a healthy, balanced diet. However, until recently it was unclear how long-term dairy intake contributes to the a number of aspects of bone health in children, including bone density, bone mineral content, and bone area. A new study soon would be published in The Journal of Pediatrics investigates the effect of childhood dairy intake on adolescent bone health.

Dr. Lynn Moore and his colleagues from Boston University School of Medicine analyzed data from the Framingham Children's Study in an effort to understand the relationship between childhood dairy intake and adolescent bone health. The scientists gathered information from 106 children, 3 to 5 years of age at the beginning of the study, over a 12-year period. The families enrolled in the study were given food diaries to complete for the child and were asked to record everything the child ate and drank for several days each year.

The scientists used these diaries, along with information from the United States Department of Agriculture, to calculate the children's average daily intake of dairy and other foods. At the end of the 12-year period, the authors assessed the bone health of the now adolescent study participants. They observed that the adolescents who had consumed 2 or more servings of dairy per day as children had higher levels of bone mineral content and bone density. Even after adjusting for factors that affect normal bone development, including the child's growth, body size, and activity level, the authors observed that these adolescents' average bone mineral content was 175 grams higher than the adolescents who had consumed less than 2 servings of dairy per day......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

July 9, 2008, 7:32 PM CT

Vaccinated infants are well protected

In 2006, a pneumococcal vaccine (Prevenar®) was introduced in the childhood vaccination programme in Norway. Two years later, the experiences have been reported in the journal Vaccine. The results show a strong decline in serious pneumococcal infections among young children.

Pneumococcus is a bacterium that can cause serious illnesses in some young children, e.g. meningitis, blood poisoning and pneumonia. Most of those who become ill are previously healthy without any known predisposing factors. The bacterium is present in the nose of up to 80 - 90% of healthy young children.

A growing problem.

A major reason for the introduction of the pneumococcal vaccine in the childhood vaccination programme was a steady increase in the number of cases of severe pneumococcal infection among young children in Norway. The vaccine protects against seven serotypes of pneumococcus which account for 70% of the serious cases of the disease.

Good effect with no vaccine failures.

- Having summed up the experience gained from the first two years after introducing the vaccine, the results confirm that it works as well as intended," says Marianne R. Bergsaker, senior medical officer at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and co-author of the article in Vaccine......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

July 7, 2008, 9:58 PM CT

A baby's smile is a natural high

The baby's smile that gladdens a mother's heart also lights up the reward centers of her brain, said Baylor College of Medicine scientists in a report that appears in the journal Pediatrics today.

The finding could help researchers figure out the special mother-infant bond and how it sometimes go wrong, said Dr. Lane Strathearn, assistant professor of pediatrics at BCM and Texas Children's Hospital and a research associate in BCM's Human Neuroimaging Laboratory.

"The relationship between mothers and infants is critical for child development," said Strathearn. "For whatever reason, in some cases, that relationship doesn't develop normally. Neglect and abuse can result, with devastating effects on a child's development".

To study this relationship, Strathearn and colleagues asked 28 first-time mothers with infants aged 5 to 10 months to watch photos of their own babies and other infants while they were in a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner. The machine measures blood flow in the brain. In the scans, areas of increased blood flow "light up," giving scientists a clue as to where brain activity takes place.

In some of the photos, babies were smiling or happy. In others they were sad, and in some they had neutral expressions......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

July 7, 2008, 9:43 PM CT

Newborn vitamin A reduces infant mortality

A single, oral dose of vitamin A, given to infants shortly after birth in the developing world can reduce their risk of death by 15 percent, as per a research studyconducted by scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study is reported in the July 2008 edition of the journal Pediatrics

"It has long been known that vitamin A supplementation can reduce mortality in children over 6 months of age. Our study showed that vitamin A given at birth can also improve infant survival within the first 6 months of life," said Rolf D.W. Klemm, DrPH, MPH, the study's lead author and a researcher with the Bloomberg School's Center for Human Nutrition.

The study enrolled 15,937 newborns from rural communities in northwest Bangladesh, where over 90 percent of babies are born at home. Half were randomly selected to receive a 50,000 IU dose of vitamin A, while the other half received a placebo. A 200,000 IU dose of vitamin A is recommended semi-annually for older children. The vitamin A was given orally to the infants within a few days of birth, commonly by 7 hours after delivery. The mortality rate for the vitamin A group was 38.5 deaths per 1,000 births in comparison to 45.1 deaths per 1,000 births for the non-vitamin A group.

Eventhough vitamin A reduced infant deaths from all causes, lives were likely saved by reducing the severity of potentially fatal infections which are responsible for most deaths in early infancy in South Asia......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

July 7, 2008, 9:16 PM CT

Child care factors associated with weight gain in infancy

Nine-month-old infants regularly cared for by someone other than a parent appear to have higher rates of unfavorable feeding practices and to weigh more than infants cared for only by parents, as per a report in the recent issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Almost three-fourths of infants receive some form of child care by persons who are not their parents during the first year of life, as per background information in the article. Child care has been linked to positive development in cognition (thinking, learning and memory), language, social and emotional realms and academics, the authors note. However, no information previously existed regarding the relationship of child care to infants' weight or to certain feeding practices that may affect the risk of becoming overweight, including breastfeeding and introducing solid foods at an earlier age.

Juhee Kim., Sc.D., of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Karen E. Peterson, Sc.D., of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, analyzed data collected during home visits with 8,150 9-month-old infants. During the visits, which occurred in 2001 and 2002, the infants were weighed and measured and the primary caregiver provided information regarding child care......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

July 1, 2008, 9:44 PM CT

Minimum drinking age of 21 saves lives

One of the most comprehensive studies on the minimum drinking age shows that laws aimed at preventing consumption of alcohol by those under 21 have significantly reduced drinking-related fatal car crashes.

Specifically, the study reported in the July 2008 issue of the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention observed that laws making it illegal to possess or purchase alcohol by anyone under the age of 21 had led to an eleven percent drop in alcohol-related traffic deaths among youth; secondly, they observed that states with strong laws against fake IDs reported seven percent fewer alcohol-related fatalities among drivers under the age of 21.

The study was funded by the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (SAPRP) of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The study, led by James C. Fell, M.S., of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), accounted for a variety of factors, such as improved safety features in cars, better roadways and tougher adult drunk driving laws, that are supposed to have contributed to a reduction in fatalities involving underage drivers who have consumed alcohol. Fell's research controlled for more variables than any other prior study on the topic, accounting for regional and economic differences, improvements in roadways and vehicles, and changes that lowered the illegal blood alcohol content for driving to.08. Yet, as per Fell, the eleven percent drop in youth fatalities is a "conservative" figure......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

June 25, 2008, 10:04 PM CT

Pediatrics review of underage drinking

Underage drinking is a national concern that led the U.S. surgeon general to issue a "Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking" last year. Now, a new report by an Iowa State University researcher assesses the effectiveness of underage drinking prevention programs and provides a better idea of how to achieve key goals outlined by the surgeon general.

Lead author Richard Spoth, director of the Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute (PPSI) at Iowa State, along with co-authors Mark Greenberg and Robert Turrisi of Penn State, published "Preventive Interventions Addressing Underage Drinking: State of the Evidence and Steps Toward Public Health Impact" in the recent issue of Pediatrics -- the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The article can be found online here.

"The Pediatrics supplement underscores the scope of the underage drinking problem, reporting that over 4 million youths ages 12-17 drink monthly, and more than half of them have a drinking pattern that puts them at high risk for negative health and social consequences," Spoth said.

Out of the 400 interventions that the scientists identified and screened, 12 were defined as "most promising" because they met these six criteria:

"Essentially, interventions meeting criteria were those that had been tested through rigorous, well-designed studies consistent with accepted standards for intervention research, had demonstrated practically significant results, and had detailed summaries of intervention procedures," said Spoth......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

June 18, 2008, 9:08 PM CT

Caesarean sections associated with risk of asthma

Babies born by Caesarean section have a 50 % increased risk of developing asthma in comparison to babies born naturally. Emergency Caesarean sections increase the risk even further. This is shown in a new study based on data from 1.7 million births registered at the Medical Birth Registry at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

The goal of the study was to investigate the possible link between being born by Caesarean section and later development of asthma.

Summarised results from the study:.

• In comparison to children born in the natural way (i.e. spontaneously and vaginally), children born by Caesarean section had an approximately 50 % increased risk of developing asthma.
• Children born vaginally, but with assistance from vacuum or forceps, had a 20 % increased risk of asthma.
• For children born between 1988 and 1998, planned Caesarean section was linked to an approximately 40 % increased risk of asthma while emergency Caesarean section was linked to a 60 % increased risk.

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Why do Caesarean sections give an increased risk of asthma?

- We found a moderately strong association between birth by Caesarean section and asthma in childhood, says doctor and research fellow Mette Christophersen Tollånes, who works for both the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care at the University of Bergen, Norway......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

June 16, 2008, 10:14 PM CT

Blood pressure levels in childhood track into adulthood

Hypertension in childhood is linked to higher blood pressure or high blood pressure in adulthood, as per a research studyby scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Their analyses of previously published blood pressure tracking studies over the last four decades show a consistent relationship between children's blood pressure levels with their blood pressure levels as adults. The results are reported in the June 2008 issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association

"The blood pressure tracking data indicate that children with elevated blood pressure levels often grew up to become adults with elevated blood pressure," said Youfa Wang, MD, PhD, senior author of the study and associate professor with the Bloomberg School's Center for Human Nutrition. "It is important to monitor blood pressure in childrensince early detection and intervention could prevent high blood pressure and related disease risks during the later part of life. For example, studies show that even slightly elevated blood pressure as adults will increase future risks for cardiovascular disease considerably".

Wang and Xiaoli Chen, MD, PhD, former postdoctoral research fellow in the Bloomberg School's Department of International Health, attributed the findings to a systematic review and meta-analysis of 50 cohort studies tracking the systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels of children into adulthood. Scientists analyzed blood pressure levels at various ages and follow-up lengths from previously published studies that monitored children's blood pressure levels for as long as forty years across multiple countries and continents......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source