Monthly Archives :

October 2025

Rethinking Routine Kidney Ultrasounds in Children With Mild Anorectal Malformations
Rethinking Routine Kidney Ultrasounds in Children With Mild Anorectal Malformations 1024 683 Lauren Dembeck
Molly Fuchs, MD

  Annual scans rarely identify new kidney concerns in symptom-free children. Children born with anorectal malformations (ARMs), a group of congenital conditions affecting the anus and rectum, are routinely screened for kidney abnormalities because of the association between ARM and urinary tract anomalies. The likelihood of urologic complications  increases with the complexity of the malformation.…

Featured Researcher: Diana Zepeda-Orozco, MD
Featured Researcher: Diana Zepeda-Orozco, MD 150 150 Gina Vitale, PTA

Diana Zepeda-Orozco, MD, is a principal investigator in the Kidney and Urinary Tract Research Center within the Abigail Wexner Research Institute, an attending physician and the associate division chief of research for the Division of Pediatric Nephrology and Hypertension, and an associate professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Zepeda-Orozco…

Challenges in Medication Titration in Children with Heart Failure
Challenges in Medication Titration in Children with Heart Failure 1024 537 Pam Georgiana

Beyond the guidelines: implementing consensus-based care for complex patients. Pediatric heart failure is a complex clinical diagnosis, with a growing body of evidence to suggest there are critical differences between pediatric and adult heart failure. In a recent review published in JHLT Open, Jessie Yester, MD, PhD and Deipanjan Nandi, MD highlight the unique challenges…

Defining Urinary Tract Infection: Why Standardization Matters for Research and Care
Defining Urinary Tract Infection: Why Standardization Matters for Research and Care 1024 683 Pam Georgiana

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common bacterial infections worldwide, affecting an estimated 150 million people annually and costing more than $5 billion in the United States alone. However, despite their prevalence, there is still no universally accepted definition of what constitutes a UTI. This lack of clarity complicates both research and…

What Clinicians Need to Know About RSV Prevention
What Clinicians Need to Know About RSV Prevention 1024 609 Jason Newland, MD, MEd

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infects the nose, throat and lungs, causing mild cold-like symptoms (upper respiratory infection) for most children and adults. However, in high-risk populations, including infants, children with chronic conditions, and older adults, it can be quite severe — ultimately leading to hospitalization or death. For infants, RSV is the primary cause of…

Nationwide Children’s Team Builds Award-Winning AI Tool to Drive Mental Health Research
Nationwide Children’s Team Builds Award-Winning AI Tool to Drive Mental Health Research 1024 502 Abbie Miller

DREAM project wins the 2025 Gartner Eye on Innovation Mid-Size Enterprise Award in the Americas region. In recognition of its innovative application of technology to address critical health care challenges, the Office of Data Sciences was selected as the winner for the prestigious 2025 Gartner Eye on Innovation Awards, Mid-Size Enterprise, Americas.  This international honor…

Food-Based Tube Feeding: Balancing Parental Demand With Pediatric Nutrition Science
Food-Based Tube Feeding: Balancing Parental Demand With Pediatric Nutrition Science 1024 575 Pam Georgiana
Color image of enteral complete liquid nutritional products of several brands

New research from Nationwide Children’s reveals significant differences in nutrient adequacy across commercial food-based formulas. In the last two decades, enteral nutrition has undergone a significant transformation. Fifteen to 20 years ago, pediatric patients requiring gastrostomy tube feeding had only one option: synthetic, cow milk-based formulas designed to meet caloric and macronutrient needs but containing…

Guiding the Treatment of Ballistic Fractures: A New Report Offers Education and Support for Orthopedic Surgeons
Guiding the Treatment of Ballistic Fractures: A New Report Offers Education and Support for Orthopedic Surgeons 1024 620 Alaina Doklovic

Despite firearm injury incidence and severity in children, no guidelines for orthopedic surgeons existed – until now. Firearm-related injury is the leading cause of death in the United States among children and adolescents aged 1 to 19. Despite this alarming statistic, there were no current or up-to-date general guidelines for orthopedic surgeons on the management…

Parents’ Perceptions Highlight Gaps in Supporting Children with Epilepsy in School
Parents’ Perceptions Highlight Gaps in Supporting Children with Epilepsy in School 1024 579 JoAnna Pendergrass, DVM

Discussions with parents of children with epilepsy revealed concerning gaps in school-based seizure education and care, underscoring the need for better lines of communication between medical teams, school personnel, and the children’s families.   A qualitative study led by Mary Kay Irwin, EdD, and Anup Patel, MD, FAAN, FAES, FCNS, at Nationwide Children’s Hospital reported…

Closing the Treatment Gap: Opioid Use Disorder Medications in Adolescents and Young Adults
Closing the Treatment Gap: Opioid Use Disorder Medications in Adolescents and Young Adults 1024 683 Pam Georgiana
silhouette girl portrait

Findings from the PROUD trial highlight the need for youth-centered prescription strategies in primary care. Adolescents and young adults are far less likely than older adults to receive evidence-based medications for opioid use disorder (OUD), even though buprenorphine and extended-release naltrexone are recommended treatments. Despite their effectiveness, these therapies remain consistently underutilized in youth. To…

Advances in the Care of Patients With Chest Wall Deformities
Advances in the Care of Patients With Chest Wall Deformities 1024 683 Sara Mansfield, MD

Every year Nationwide Children’s Hospital sees several hundred children and adolescents with chest wall deformities. Common Chest Wall Conditions Two of the most common chest wall diagnoses are pectus excavatum (sunken chest) and pectus carinatum (pigeon chest).  These conditions can cause a variety of symptoms, and for many children the physical appearance can be a…

LaCrosse Virus: What You Need to Know
LaCrosse Virus: What You Need to Know 1024 586 Christopher Ouellette, MD

La Crosse virus (LACV) is a mosquito-borne illness primarily found in the upper Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and southeastern United States. This virus is spread mostly through the bite of the eastern treehole mosquito, Aedes triseriatus, and over the past 20+ years, more cases have been seen in Ohio compared to other regions of the United States.…

Virtual Reality Training Model Aims to Transform Workplace Safety in Health Care
Virtual Reality Training Model Aims to Transform Workplace Safety in Health Care 1024 683 Madison Storm

A virtual reality (VR) training module developed at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, called DEFUSE, which stands for De-escalate Effectively, Foster Understanding, Safeguard Environments, is setting a new standard for workplace violence prevention in health care settings. Funded by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, the project equips health care professionals with critical skills in situational awareness,…

Post-Ictal Rhythmic Thalamic Activity in the Central Media Nucleus May Play a Role in Seizure Termination in Drug-Resistant Epilepsy
Post-Ictal Rhythmic Thalamic Activity in the Central Media Nucleus May Play a Role in Seizure Termination in Drug-Resistant Epilepsy 1024 677 Jessica Nye, PhD

Investigators from Nationwide Children’s Hospital are the first to describe post-ictal rhythmic thalamic activity (PIRTA) in the central media nucleus (CMN) during focal onset seizure. “When this paper was published, it was a period where understanding the role of the center of the thalamus and seizures was a novel thing,” says senior author Ammar Shaikhouni,…