Monthly Archives :

February 2020

Brain Characteristics Associated with Epilepsy and Internalizing Disorders
Brain Characteristics Associated with Epilepsy and Internalizing Disorders 1024 575 Mary Bates, PhD

Diffuse alterations in brain structure and function are seen in youth with epilepsy and symptoms of anxiety or depression. Internalizing disorders, such as depression and anxiety, are common in patients with epilepsy. Specific brain characteristics – structural changes in the hippocampus and amygdala as well as some differences in structure and function of more frontal…

Understanding Drug Interactions in Diffuse Midline Gliomas
Understanding Drug Interactions in Diffuse Midline Gliomas 1024 683 Lauren Dembeck

In a recent publication in Science Translational Medicine, researchers studied combinations of approved and investigational drugs to identify promising pairs, such as panobinostat and marizomib, for the treatment of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) and other diffuse midline gliomas (DMG). In recent years, studies have shown that diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) subtypes are driven…

Oral Food Challenges: The Most Important Test in Diagnosing Food Allergy
Oral Food Challenges: The Most Important Test in Diagnosing Food Allergy 1024 683 David Stukus, MD

I routinely hear the same question from pediatricians, parents, friends, and acquaintances: Why are we seeing so many more kids develop food allergies now compared with 10 or 20 years ago? Unfortunately, there is no single answer as to why the prevalence of food allergies has doubled among children over the past two decades. Food…

Timing Steroids to Maximize Lung Benefit and Avoid Brain Harm in Premature Infants
Timing Steroids to Maximize Lung Benefit and Avoid Brain Harm in Premature Infants 1024 575 Mary Bates, PhD
Nurse caring for infant in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

Treating infants early may decrease risk of lung disease with no added risk of neurodevelopmental impairment. Steroids are used to treat extremely premature babies with respiratory failure, yet they can be associated with delays in brain development. A recent study looked at the age of first steroid administration and the risks of lung disease and neurodevelopmental impairment…

How to Increase Continuous Glucose Monitoring Utilization in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes
How to Increase Continuous Glucose Monitoring Utilization in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes 1024 683 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

An innovative quality improvement project grew the use of CGM nearly six-fold in 2 years. A 2017 round-table meeting of the Type 1 Diabetes Exchange revealed that some diabetes clinics had a very small number of patients using continuous glucose monitors (CGM) — devices that allow patients to avoid repeated finger sticks to check glucose…

Botox Appears Safe for Treatment of Defecation Disorders
Botox Appears Safe for Treatment of Defecation Disorders 150 150 Kevin Mayhood

Anal botulinum toxin injections (Botox) have increasingly been used in children with functional anorectal and colonic disorders during the past 15 years. A study at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, combined with a review of published literature, shows this off-label use of Botox is safe and complications are rare. Complications occurred in less than 0.7% of 1332…

From Natural Killer Cells to Virus-Specific T Cells: What’s Next in Cellular Therapy
From Natural Killer Cells to Virus-Specific T Cells: What’s Next in Cellular Therapy 969 533 Abbie Miller
Illustration of NK Cells, T Cells, other immune cells floating across white background

Harnessing the power of the immune system to overcome cancer, improve outcomes of bone marrow transplants and fight viral infections in immunocompromised pediatric patients is at the heart of cell therapy research.   Natural Killers in Action Natural killer (NK) cells are a component of the innate immune system that mediates the death of cancer…