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Monthly Archives :

September 2022

The Heart Center Team Employs New Device to Remove High-Risk Blood Clot
 The Heart Center Team Employs New Device to Remove High-Risk Blood Clot 1024 670 Emily Siebenmorgen
By: Emily Siebenmorgen

This first-in-pediatrics procedure was performed by Arash Salavitabar, MD, interventional cardiologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.  When a pediatric patient sought care for an accidental gunshot wound to the abdomen, a central line infection during his course at a large regional hospital led to a much more serious blood clot in his right atrium. His case…

The New Book on Youth Suicide Prevention
 The New Book on Youth Suicide Prevention 150 150 John Ackerman, PhD and Lisa Horowitz, PhD, MPH
By: John Ackerman, PhD and Lisa Horowitz, PhD, MPH

Our new open access Springer Series book helps close the gap between the latest research in youth suicide prevention and how to make an impact in our communities.  Youth suicide is a public health crisis. It is the second leading cause of death among youth aged 10-17 in the United States, according to data from…

Examining Pediatric Injury-Related Emergency Department Vistis During the COVID-19 Pandemic
 Examining Pediatric Injury-Related Emergency Department Vistis During the COVID-19 Pandemic 480 320 JoAnna Pendergrass, DVM
By: JoAnna Pendergrass, DVM

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the frequency of pediatric injury-related visits to the emergency department decreased, while injury severity increased. The COVID-19 pandemic caused disruptions not only on a global scale but also for individuals, particularly children. Pandemic-related closures of school and extracurricular activities significantly impacted the daily routines of children and…

Significant Weight Gain Observed in Low-Income Youth During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic
 Significant Weight Gain Observed in Low-Income Youth During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic 150 150 JoAnna Pendergrass, DVM
By: JoAnna Pendergrass, DVM

Low-income youth experienced significant weight gain during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the need for simultaneous childhood obesity prevention and treatment.   The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent mitigation efforts profoundly affected children. Specifically, remote learning and cancellation of extracurricular activities disrupted children’s daily routines and reduced opportunities for physical activity, increasing…

InSight: Total Pancreatectomy With Islet Autotranplantation: The Basics
 InSight: Total Pancreatectomy With Islet Autotranplantation: The Basics 1024 500 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
illustrated cross section of islets from pancreas

Download a PDF version of this image.       This feature was published in the Fall/Winter 2022 print issue. Download the full issue.  Image credit: Mandy Root-Thompson for Nationwide Children’s

American Academy of Pediatrics Updates Guidelines for the Management of Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia
 American Academy of Pediatrics Updates Guidelines for the Management of Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia 1024 737 Emily Siebenmorgen
By: Emily Siebenmorgen
person in scrubs holding a baby

Nationwide Children’s physicians collaborate on updates to testing, treatment and follow-up recommendations for preventing hazardous hyperbilirubinemia and possible brain damage. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) recommendations for managing hyperbilirubinemia in infants 35 gestational weeks and older are among its most accessed sets of clinical practice guidelines. A team led by Alex Kemper, MD, MPH,…

New Initiative Aims to Bring Personalized Diagnosis and Treatment to Children With Solid Tumors
 New Initiative Aims to Bring Personalized Diagnosis and Treatment to Children With Solid Tumors 1024 614 Lauren Dembeck
By: Lauren Dembeck
abstract art of magnifying glass over DNA strand

Collaboration among National Cancer Institute, Children’s Oncology Group and Nationwide Children’s Hospital will offer molecular characterization of childhood cancers. The National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute (NCI), Children’s Oncology Group (COG), and Nationwide Children’s Hospital are poised to change the direction of pediatric cancer diagnosis and care through a new initiative that is the…

What’s the Relevance of Emotional Intelligence in Medicine?
 What’s the Relevance of Emotional Intelligence in Medicine? 1024 386 Mike Patrick, MD and Erica Banta, MBA, LDSS
By: Mike Patrick, MD and Erica Banta, MBA, LDSS

The practice of clinical medicine requires an intelligent mindset. Strong cognitive intelligence (IQ) is required to develop and maintain a substantial knowledge base and to call upon the critical thinking skills needed to synthesize a hundred points of data into a meaningful clinical picture, correct diagnosis and appropriate management plan. But another type of intelligence…

TPIAT: A Way Forward for Chronic Pancreatitis
 TPIAT: A Way Forward for Chronic Pancreatitis 1024 500 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
illustrated cross section of islets from pancreas

Nationwide Children’s Hospital has assembled a veritable “dream team” of pancreatitis and pediatric transplant surgery experts to offer what they hope will become the world’s preeminent pediatric center for complex pancreatic care. Imagine your child suffering from a sudden, debilitating episode of abdominal pain. No obvious cause, no cure, just pain so severe it requires…

How One Family In Appalachia Changed the Medical Field’s Understanding of Pancreatitis
 How One Family In Appalachia Changed the Medical Field’s Understanding of Pancreatitis 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

More than 30 years ago, a teenager from Kentucky named Kevin Slone had his first attack of acute pancreatitis. Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic urged his father, Bobby Slone, to try to document whether other people in the family had similar stomach problems. Bobby Slone took the homework to heart, documenting incidences of similar symptoms…

Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care Increases Access and Equity
 Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care Increases Access and Equity 1024 683 Mary Bates, PhD
By: Mary Bates, PhD

With mental health concerns on the rise, more primary care providers are integrating behavioral health services in their practices.  Despite increasing demand for behavioral health care, multiple barriers still exist that limit access for pediatric patients. In recent years, primary care settings across the country have responded by integrating mental health specialists into their practices.…

Understanding Pediatric Critical COVID-19 Disease Around the World
 Understanding Pediatric Critical COVID-19 Disease Around the World 150 150 Natalie Wilson
By: Natalie Wilson

A large, multinational study found more children hospitalized with critical COVID-19 died than was indicated by previous studies.   Children under 18 represent around 22% of the population in the United States. Yet, just 15% of over 75 million U.S. COVID-19 cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and fewer than 0.2% of over…

Multimodal Molecular Profiles Offer Clinically Valuable Information to Oncologists
 Multimodal Molecular Profiles Offer Clinically Valuable Information to Oncologists 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Expanding the profiling ordered for central nervous system (CNS) tumors may meaningfully impact diagnosis and treatment. Prajwal Rajappa, MD, MS, a physician-scientist and principal investigator for the Steve and Cindy Rasmussen Institute for Genomic Medicine (IGM) at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, has long advocated for a more robust use of precision medicine approaches to improve clinicians’…

Ewing Sarcoma Transcription Factor Mediates Changes in Transcription by Reprogramming Chromatin Structure
 Ewing Sarcoma Transcription Factor Mediates Changes in Transcription by Reprogramming Chromatin Structure 1024 575 Abbie Miller
By: Abbie Miller
yellow squiggly lines representing chromatin strands in the nucleus

By binding to DNA in the nucleus, the Ewing sarcoma-specific transcription factor EWS/FLI changes chromatin organization, leading to altered gene expression and the development of Ewing sarcoma.   A new report, published in Nucleic Acids Research, focuses on how the Ewing sarcoma-specific transcription factor EWS/FLI changes spatial organization of DNA in the nucleus of Ewing…

Breast Surgery in Adolescents: When Should You Consider It?
 Breast Surgery in Adolescents: When Should You Consider It? 150 150 Ibrahim Khansa, MD
By: Ibrahim Khansa, MD

Research shows that addressing macromastia, breast asymmetry and gynecomastia in adolescence can improve physical symptoms as well as quality of life and mental wellbeing. Breast disorders such as macromastia, breast asymmetry and gynecomastia are in adolescents.2 Those conditions can negatively impair quality-of-life, and their surgical treatment has been shown to improve self-esteem, as well as…

Brain Organoids Provide Novel Mechanistic Insight into Microcephaly Associated with AUTS2 Syndrome
 Brain Organoids Provide Novel Mechanistic Insight into Microcephaly Associated with AUTS2 Syndrome 873 552 Lauren Dembeck
By: Lauren Dembeck
Microscopy image of cerebral organoid sections

Researchers have functionally validated a genotype-phenotype relationship between a variant in the AUTS2 gene and neurodevelopmental deficits in AUTS2 syndrome using patient-derived brain organoids. Genetic variants in more than 100 genes, including the gene AUTS2, have been associated with autism spectrum disorders. However, the model systems used to study the mechanisms underlying how these genetic…

Featured Researcher — Sarah O’Brien, MD
 Featured Researcher — Sarah O’Brien, MD 150 150 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

The lab of Sarah O’Brien, MD, principal investigator in the Center for Child Health Equity and Outcomes Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, operates at the intersection of hematology and women’s health. Dr. O’Brien, who also leads the Young Women’s Hematology Clinic at Nationwide Children’s, applies her interests in big data and epidemiology to increase recognition…

Predicting Response to Bronchodilators in Infants with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia
 Predicting Response to Bronchodilators in Infants with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia 1024 683 Mary Bates, PhD
By: Mary Bates, PhD

Study emphasizes importance of identifying those patients who will respond to treatment. Certain pulmonary function test parameters in newborns with bronchopulmonary dysplasia are associated with bronchodilator response, according to a new study from researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The team also found that responders had evidence of greater dysanaptic lung growth than nonresponders. Bronchodilators are…

Study Shows 1 in 4 Girls Born With Anorectal Malformations Have Co-occurring Gynecologic Anomalies
 Study Shows 1 in 4 Girls Born With Anorectal Malformations Have Co-occurring Gynecologic Anomalies 1024 575 Jessica Nye, PhD
By: Jessica Nye, PhD

Gynecological anomalies are common among girls with anorectal malformations (ARM) with or without associated vertebral, anorectal, cardiovascular, trachea-esophageal, renal and limb (VACTERL) anomalies. One in 5,000 live births have ARM and 20%-70% co-occur with other congenital anomalies, including VACTERL. For girls born with ARM, gynecologic congenital anomalies can occur, especially with more complex ARM. To…

Discovering the Genetic Causes of Congenital Heart Defects
 Discovering the Genetic Causes of Congenital Heart Defects 1024 575 Lauren Dembeck
By: Lauren Dembeck

By studying the genomes of children and members of their family, researchers have discovered novel disease genes in families impacted by cardiac defects. Congenital heart disease is a leading cause of death in children under one year of age, and evidence supports a strong genetic component underlying this group of common developmental defects. However, historically,…