The New RSV Drug Keeps Babies Out of the Hospital
Doctors and parents celebrated the major advances that came in 2023 to treat respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which sends up to 80,000 children under age five to the hospital each year in the U.S. This year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved two critical ways to reduce the risk of RSV in young kids: a vaccine for pregnant mothers that can protect newborns, and a drug treatment for babies under one year.
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In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers report encouraging real-world data that show how effective the drug treatment, nirsevi...
Source: TIME: Health - December 27, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
Moms on why they want son to know his sperm donor: " Part of our family "
"Our donor is incredible—he is kind, thoughtful, and has the best heart," moms Paige Kennedy-Winston and Danielle Winston told Newsweek. The pair, from Arlington, Virginia, welcomed baby Lucas four months ago, and used a sperm donor, Flavio. Over the past two decades, an increasing number of…#paigekennedywinston #daniellewinston #arlington #virginia #lucas #danielle #tiktok #rome #seedscout #denmark (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - December 24, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Calls to test babies for gene fault that makes cholesterol rocket from birth - which affects 270,000 Britons including 60,000 children
Toddlers with a common genetic fault can have 'hidden' cholesterol levels twice an adult, putting them at risk of heart attacks and strokes. Rianna Wingett, died of a heart attack age 11. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - December 23, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Genetics group slams company for using its data to screen embryos ’ genomes
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Screening embryos for IQ and other complex traits is premature, study concludes
BY
Jocelyn Kaiser
On 5 December, a U.S. company called Orchid Health announced that it would begin to offer fertility clinics and their hopeful customers the unprecedented option to sequence the whole genomes of embryos conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF). “Find the embryo at lowest risk for a disease that runs in your family,” touts the company’s website. The cost: $2500 per embryo.
Altho...
Source: ScienceNOW - December 15, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
Science ’s 2023 Breakthrough of the Year: Weight loss drugs with a real shot at fighting obesity
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2023 Breakthrough of the Year
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Obesity plays out as a private struggle and a public health crisis. In the United States, about 70% of adults are affected by excess weight, and in Europe that number is more than half. The stigma against fat can be crushing; its risks, life-threatening. Defined as a body mass index of at least 30, obesity is thought to power type 2 diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, fatty liver disease, and certain cancers.
Yet drug treatments...
Source: ScienceNOW - December 14, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
Why It ’ s OK to Say No to That Party You ’ re Dreading
Don’t stress about turning down that holiday party invitation. A new study suggests your host won’t care as much as you think.
The research, published Dec. 11 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, finds that people tend to overestimate the negative ramifications of declining social plans, assuming that saying no will upset the person who invited them and damage the relationship. But in a series of experiments, the researchers found that hosts just weren’t that bothered when people declined invites—certainly less than their invitees expected.
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Source: TIME: Health - December 11, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jamie Ducharme Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
Revealed: the oldest black hole ever observed, dating to dawn of universe
Exclusive: astronomers surprised at size of 13bn-year-old object, which raises new questions about where black holes came fromAstronomers have detected the oldest black hole ever observed, dating back more than 13bn years to the dawn of the universe.The observations, by the James Webb space telescope (JWST), reveal it to be at the heart of a galaxy 440m years after the big bang. At around a million times the mass of the sun, it is surprisingly big for a baby black hole, raising the question of how it grew so big so quickly.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - December 10, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Hannah Devlin Science correspondent Tags: Black holes Science Space Astronomy UK news World news Source Type: news
Getting Sick All the Time? Don ’ t (Necessarily) Blame COVID-19
Respiratory disease season is in full swing, with influenza, RSV, and COVID-19 case counts rising in various parts of the U.S. Hospitals in some states are also reporting upticks in pediatric pneumonia diagnoses, which experts say seems to be unrelated to the recent spike of pneumonias reported in China.
On the heels of last year’s severe flu and RSV reason, all this contagion has some people wondering if SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may be to blame. Some studies suggest the virus leaves its mark on the immune system even after an acute illness passes, raising an important question: does having COVI...
Source: TIME: Health - December 7, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jamie Ducharme Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
What Are Some Risks For Offspring of Assisted Reproductive Technologies?
Discussion
“ART [assisted reproductive technologies] includes all fertility treatments in which either eggs or embryos are handled. The main type of ART is in vitro fertilization (IVF). IVF involves extracting a woman’s eggs, fertilizing the eggs in the laboratory, and then transferring the resulting embryos into the woman’s uterus through the cervix.” In Europe 2-6% of all births are due to some type of ART and ART occurs in 2% of US births. In 2021 in the US, there were 91,906 live births and 97,128 live born infants due to ART. ART is an enabling medical treatment for subfertile or infertile pati...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - December 4, 2023 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Pediatric Education Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
The Cries of Gaza Reach Afghanistan
Afghan man walks past building destroyed during the civil war. The war which lasted nearly five years and killed 46,000 civilians was fueled by weapons and money from the United States and the Soviet Union. Photo courtesy of TKG’s photo archive in Kabul: www.tkg.afBy Melek ZahineKABUL, Afghanistan, Nov 22 2023 (IPS) On the morning of 11 November, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the Director of Gaza’s largest medical center, Al Shifa Hospital, sent out an emotional S.O.S. to the world through a television news interview and through the remaining charge on his mobile phone. His plea for an immediate ceasefire on behalf of a ho...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - November 22, 2023 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Melek Zahine Tags: Armed Conflicts Asia-Pacific Crime & Justice Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies Middle East & North Africa Migration & Refugees TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau Source Type: news
WHO staff member killed in Gaza
Cairo/Geneva/Jerusalem, 21 November 2023 – With heavy hearts, WHO announces the death of one of our staff in Gaza, in the occupied Palestinian territory. Dima Abdullatif Mohammed Alhaj, 29 years old, had been with WHO since December 2019. She worked as a patient administrator at the Limb Reconstruction Centre, a critical part of the WHO Trauma and Emergency Team.
Dima died today when her parents’ house in southern Gaza—where she had evacuated to from Gaza City—was bombed. She was tragically killed alongside her husband, their six-month old baby boy, and her two brothers. Reportedly, over 50 family...
Source: WHO EMRO News - November 21, 2023 Category: Middle East Health Source Type: news
Couple reveal their newborn baby's 'snoring' was actually a sign of a rare heart defect
Charlotte Lake, 23, and fiancé Nathanael Guide, from Scotland, welcomed baby Ava-Rose in June. Her 'snoring' soon started to worry the couple. They later discovered it was a rare heart defect. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - November 17, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Child Safety Seats for At-Risk Children
Discussion
Safety is important for all infants and children. It is estimated that car restraints decrease injuries in those < 1 year by ~ 70%. About 10% of infants in the US are born prematurely and most are late preterm infants (34 week to 36 6/7 week gestational age). These infants do not have term infant physiology and are at risk for immature patterns in feeding, glycemic control, breathing, temperature, and overall development. They are at risk for cardiopulmonary events which commonly are apnea and/or bradycardia.
Babies who are at risk for cardiopulmonary events are recommended to have a car seat tolerance scre...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - November 13, 2023 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Pediatric Education Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
