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Monthly Archives :

February 2024

Introducing Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Behavioral Health Learning Library
 Introducing Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Behavioral Health Learning Library 1024 683 Pam Georgiana
By: Pam Georgiana

Access the free educational resource for health care providers interested in evidence-based courses. Jennifer B. Reese, PsyD, is a clinical child psychologist at Nationwide Children’s and manages behavioral health and training at Big Lots Behavioral Health Services. She is concerned about the national shortage of experienced behavioral health support for children. “Because there is a…

Gene Therapy for the Masses?
 Gene Therapy for the Masses? 1024 683 Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES
By: Katie Brind'Amour, PhD, MS, CHES

Long-lived financial and logistical hurdles make bringing new gene therapy products to market a major challenge. To help bring more of these medical miracles to fruition, experts across industry, regulatory review, science and medicine have begun to problem solve together.  With the approval of the gene therapy Kymriah® (tisagenlecleucel) in 2017, the Food and Drug…

Neurorehabilitation for Children With Batten Disease
 Neurorehabilitation for Children With Batten Disease 1024 683 Lauren Dembeck
By: Lauren Dembeck

Therapy should be tailored to each child’s needs. Batten disease comprises a rare group of related genetic disorders characterized by progressive neurodegeneration. The disease primarily presents in childhood as seizures, vision loss, and developmental regression. Neurorehabilitation services, including physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT), and speech-language pathology therapy (SLP), can delay loss of function and…

Hear Me Read: Novel Technology Approach to Reading Skills for Children with Impaired Hearing
 Hear Me Read: Novel Technology Approach to Reading Skills for Children with Impaired Hearing 1024 683 Madison Storm
By: Madison Storm

For children who are deaf or have impaired hearing, access to sound through tools like hearing aids, cochlear implants and/or intensive speech therapy is critical for developing speech and literacy. “The challenges faced are not the same as those an adult faces,” says Prashant Malhotra, MD, surgeon in the Department of Pediatric Otolaryngology and Hearing…

Meet Daphne©, a ChatBot for Pediatric Health Care
 Meet Daphne©, a ChatBot for Pediatric Health Care 150 150 Madison Storm
By: Madison Storm

Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI)have exploded across the worlds of marketing and commerce in recent years. At Nationwide Children’s, clinicians and researchers are focusing on how AI and related technologies can be used to reduce clinician workloads and improve patient outcomes. Emre Sezgin, PhD, principal investigator in the Center for Biobehavioral Health at Nationwide…

Innovations in Pediatric Cancer and Transplants: Q&A With Sara K. Rasmussen, MD, PhD
 Innovations in Pediatric Cancer and Transplants: Q&A With Sara K. Rasmussen, MD, PhD 150 150 Pam Georgiana
By: Pam Georgiana

Sara K. Rasmussen, MD, PhD, is a transplant and pediatric surgeon in the Department of Abdominal Transplant and Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery and an associate principal investigator in the Center for Clinical and Translational Research in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She earned both her medical and doctoral degrees from West Virginia University…

RSV in Infants and High-Risk Children: A Commentary on the Roll-out of a New Preventive Medication
 RSV in Infants and High-Risk Children: A Commentary on the Roll-out of a New Preventive Medication 1024 575 Pam Georgiana
By: Pam Georgiana

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes more than 2 million outpatient visits, as many as 80,000 hospitalizations, and 100 to 300 deaths in children under 5 years old annually. Infants under 6 months of age are at the most significant risk of hospitalization. Although the highest…

National Health Crisis: Treating Tobacco Dependence in Adolescents
 National Health Crisis: Treating Tobacco Dependence in Adolescents 1024 575 Pam Georgiana
By: Pam Georgiana
Teen girl with backpack

Partners For Kids® offers a free tool to support primary care providers use nicotine replacement therapy to increase smoking cessation success. In 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that more than 6.6% of middle school students and about 12.6% of high school students regularly use a tobacco product. Almost 2% of…

Featured Researcher – Rolf Stottmann, PhD
 Featured Researcher – Rolf Stottmann, PhD 150 150 Alaina Doklovic
By: Alaina Doklovic

Rolf Stottmann, PhD, is a principal investigator in the Institute for Genomic Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and professor at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. He joined Nationwide Children’s in 2021. Dr. Stottmann has an unwavering interest in the genetics of structural birth defects. He is especially focused on structural brain malformations and…

Acute Kidney Injury After Comprehensive Stage Two Palliation in Infants With Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
 Acute Kidney Injury After Comprehensive Stage Two Palliation in Infants With Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome 150 150 JoAnna Pendergrass, DVM
By: JoAnna Pendergrass, DVM

Infants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome who undergo the Hybrid pathway palliation commonly develop acute kidney injury after the comprehensive stage 2 procedure and may require advanced medical therapy.   In a recent Cardiology in the Young publication, Andrew Yates, MD, associate medical director for the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and…

Innovations in Pediatric Nephrology and Urology: Spotlight on Congenital Urinary Tract Obstruction
 Innovations in Pediatric Nephrology and Urology: Spotlight on Congenital Urinary Tract Obstruction 150 150 Erin Gregory
By: Erin Gregory

Congenital urinary tract obstruction poses significant challenges for pediatric patients, compelling innovative approaches in urology. Nationwide Children’s Hospital pioneers research in this field, focusing on understanding the complexities of urinary tract conditions. Two labs within the Kidney and Urinary Tract Center at Nationwide Children’s are spearheading efforts to unravel the intricacies of urinary tract obstruction,…

Legislation Associated With Reduction in Amount of Opioids Prescribed at Discharge
 Legislation Associated With Reduction in Amount of Opioids Prescribed at Discharge 1024 681 Laura Dattner
By: Laura Dattner

Study shows a decrease after the 2017 Ohio Prescription Opioid Cap Law went into effect. The Ohio Opioid Cap Law, enacted on August 31, 2017, limited the total dose and duration of opioids that could be prescribed for minors. The anticipated benefit of cap laws in preventing opioid overdose, death and addiction was counterbalanced by fears…

Novel Treatment Ameliorates Proteinuria and Dyslipidemia in a Model of Noninflammatory Glomerular Disease
 Novel Treatment Ameliorates Proteinuria and Dyslipidemia in a Model of Noninflammatory Glomerular Disease 150 150 Lauren Dembeck
By: Lauren Dembeck

Idiopathic nephrotic syndrome — characterized by proteinuria, hypoalbuminemia, dyslipidemia, and edema — is one of the most common pediatric glomerular diseases. Glucocorticoids are first-line treatment, followed by calcineurin inhibitors for steroid-resistant disease; however, currently available calcineurin inhibitors can have numerous side effects, including dyslipidemia, and require frequent monitoring of drug levels in the blood. Since…

The Endocrinologists’ Role in Caring for TPIAT Patients
 The Endocrinologists’ Role in Caring for TPIAT Patients 1024 500 Lauren Dembeck
By: Lauren Dembeck
illustrated cross section of islets from pancreas

Children with recurrent acute or chronic pancreatitis often suffer debilitating pain and may endure an impaired quality of life. They may be frequently admitted to the hospital, disrupting their daily routines and activities. Patients may undergo medical and endoscopic interventions for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes and may be offered surgical interventions. Total pancreatectomy with…

Increasing the Donor Pool for Young Children Waiting for Heart Transplants
 Increasing the Donor Pool for Young Children Waiting for Heart Transplants 150 150 Pam Georgiana
By: Pam Georgiana

The one-year survival rate following a pediatric heart transplant is over 90%, However, waitlist mortality in the United States for children remains high at 17%. Young and highly sensitized children typically experience longer waitlist times for a heart transplant, which increases their waitlist mortality. In response, doctors utilize various strategies to potentially increase the number…

Implanted Hemodynamic Monitoring in Patients With Fontan Circulation
 Implanted Hemodynamic Monitoring in Patients With Fontan Circulation 150 150 Mary Bates, PhD
By: Mary Bates, PhD

Pulmonary artery pressures obtained with the CardioMEMSTM system may be clinically useful. In a new study, researchers from The Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital report on the use of invasive implanted hemodynamic monitoring (IHM) in patients with Fontan circulation. The findings suggest that IHM pressures in these patients are more closely associated with…

Changing the Landscape of Blood Disorder Treatments: A Long Time Coming
 Changing the Landscape of Blood Disorder Treatments: A Long Time Coming 1024 574 Alaina Doklovic
By: Alaina Doklovic

New therapies, from virus-mediated gene therapy to CRISPR-based treatments, are poised to change the clinical landscape of blood disorder treatments and outcomes.   For more than two decades experts have been searching for curative therapies for blood disorders. They have invested time, money and expertise to bring these therapies to fruition, something that the Division…