Creative Reality: Using a New Platform Technology to Improve Patient Experience
Creative Reality: Using a New Platform Technology to Improve Patient Experience 1024 575 Abbie Miller

Amy Dunn, MD, had a problem. Some of her patients in the hematology clinic at Nationwide Children’s Hospital receive hundreds of needle sticks each year. “Needle phobia is very real for these patients and their families,” says Dr. Dunn, director of Pediatric Hematology at Nationwide Children’s.…

read more
Emergency Departments Can Help Prevent Suicide
Emergency Departments Can Help Prevent Suicide 150 150 Brianne Moore

Secondary screenings, safety plans and phone follow-ups are key to reducing death by suicide. Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States and has increased in incidence 27 percent from 1999 to 2015. Interestingly, up to 40 percent of individuals…

read more
Mapping the Journey to Optimal Health for NICU Graduates
Mapping the Journey to Optimal Health for NICU Graduates 1024 683 Jeb Phillips

Babies born preterm need ongoing, specialized care to help them thrive after discharge from the hospital. Innovative programs are being designed to ensure that they get that care. In the early 1980s, only 10 percent of infants born before 28 weeks of gestational age…

read more
Integrating Research Into the “Journeys”
Integrating Research Into the “Journeys” 1024 683 Jeb Phillips

Along with their work to build an innovative follow-up program, Nationwide Children’s faculty and staff members are international leaders in NICU follow-up research. A number of foundation and National Institutes of Health-funded follow-up studies are housed entirely or in part at the hospital, and…

read more
Cannabidiol May Reduce Drug-Resistant Seizures by Half
Cannabidiol May Reduce Drug-Resistant Seizures by Half 150 150 Brianne Moore

Two studies demonstrate clinically significant response to oral liquid cannabidiol over placebo. Two recent studies – one published in The New England Journal of Medicine and one presented at the 2017 American Academy of Neurology annual meeting – indicate that a new plant-based, cannabis-derived treatment may…

read more
Specialists Collaborate to Improve Ovary Preservation
Specialists Collaborate to Improve Ovary Preservation 150 150 Brianne Moore

A weekend case inspires an investigation into how pediatric surgeons and gynecologists treat the same patient differently. When lesions persist on a patient’s ovary, there are two options for treatment: oophorectomy, which removes the entire ovary, and ovarian sparing surgery (OSS). Depending on referral…

read more
Mechanism for Expulsion of DNA from NTHI Described
Mechanism for Expulsion of DNA from NTHI Described 150 150 Abbie Miller

Researchers at Nationwide Children’s publish breakthrough discovery revealing how DNA and DNABII proteins are released into the biofilm matrix. Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHI) bacteria, a common culprit in otitis media, are known for their ability to create dense biofilms. As the subject of much biofilm and…

read more
Meaningful Improvement of Child Health Requires Core Quality and Outcomes Measures
Meaningful Improvement of Child Health Requires Core Quality and Outcomes Measures 150 150 Brianne Moore

The seemingly infinite indicators large pediatric systems use to measure children’s health often fall short in determining patient outcomes and quality of care. In an editorial published in JAMA Pediatrics, Kelly Kelleher, MD, director of the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and co-author…

read more
Math Model Reveals Immune System Secrets
Math Model Reveals Immune System Secrets 150 150 Brianne Moore

Natural killer (NK) cells are a key part of the innate immune system, activating to destroy virally infected cells or tumor cells detected in the body. While the mechanism of detection of infected cells by NK cells is well understood, some aspects of how…

read more
Teen girl with backpack
Managing Depression, Anxiety and Other Behavioral Health Issues in Primary Care
Managing Depression, Anxiety and Other Behavioral Health Issues in Primary Care 1024 575 Rachael Hardison

An estimated 20 percent of children struggle with mental health illness. As awareness grows, the call for primary care physicians to play a leading role in care grows louder. One in five children will struggle with a mental health illness by the age of…

read more
How to Advocate for Patients with Legislators
How to Advocate for Patients with Legislators 150 150 Steve Allen, MD

Perhaps more this year than any other in recent memory, the health care community has come together against a proposed piece of federal legislation. While opposition to the American Health Care Act/Better Care Reconciliation Act has been particularly urgent, hospitals and medical associations regularly…

read more
Different Patterns of Executive Function Deficits in Different Pediatric Brain Disorders
Different Patterns of Executive Function Deficits in Different Pediatric Brain Disorders 150 150 Mary Bates, PhD

Clinical implications include specialized testing for deficits in executive function as these may not be apparent at a routine exam. A large group of researchers, including many from Nationwide Children’s Hospital, recently looked at whether children with different brain disorders show diverse patterns of…

read more
Immune Profiling Leads to Implications for Immunotherapy for NF1-Associated Tumors
Immune Profiling Leads to Implications for Immunotherapy for NF1-Associated Tumors 150 150 Abbie Miller

Profiling reveals histologic subtype distinctions and heterogeneity of neurofibromatosis type 1-associated tumors. Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) — an autosomal dominant disorder affecting approximately one in every 3,500 people — results in dysfunctional neurofibromin, a protein expressed throughout the body and involved in the RAS…

read more
Hepatitis E Persists and Self-Limits Due to Novel Mechanism, Study Finds
Hepatitis E Persists and Self-Limits Due to Novel Mechanism, Study Finds 150 150 Brianne Moore

A team of researchers finds that Hepatitis E behaves uniquely compared other hepatitis viruses and hopes to pave the way for future investigation. Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is one of five known human hepatitis viruses and infects approximately 20 million people annually. HEV causes…

read more
Combining Immunotherapies Effective Against Mouse Model of Cancer
Combining Immunotherapies Effective Against Mouse Model of Cancer 150 150 Mary Bates, PhD

Recent study results suggest that combining virotherapy and PD-1 blockades may be more effective than either approach alone. Rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer made up of cells that normally develop into skeletal muscles, is the most common soft tissue cancer in children. If it is detected…

read more
Sweat Chloride Should Be the First-Line CF Test, but Often Isn’t
Sweat Chloride Should Be the First-Line CF Test, but Often Isn’t 150 150 Jeb Phillips

A study finds that CFTR mutation analysis is being ordered before (or without) sweat chloride in some cases, potentially leading to missed diagnoses, increased patient anxiety and unnecessary costs. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is clear in its diagnostic guidelines: sweat chloride needs to be…

read more
Close up, color image of someone extending a gloved hand with a small patch face up on their pointer finger that resembles a circular adhesive bandage that has a smaller, blue square patch on its center
Needle-free Immunization Prevents Experimental Otitis Media
Needle-free Immunization Prevents Experimental Otitis Media 1024 575 Tiasha Letostak, PhD

The first data to demonstrate the efficacy of a simple, needle-free vaccine delivery system for middle ear infections. Otitis media (OM), or middle ear infection, accounts for approximately 30 million doctor visits a year in the U.S. The pathogen nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHI) causes the majority…

read more
Inside the Good Manufacturing Production Facility
Inside the Good Manufacturing Production Facility 1024 575 Tiasha Letostak, PhD

By removing a barrier to access – production of pharmaceutical products for clinical trial – the team at the GMP facility is bringing more treatments to rare diseases. A newly designed, 7,500 square foot clean room suite with multi-use viral vector and cell therapy…

read more
Neurosurgery May Provide Lasting Relief From Spasticity
Neurosurgery May Provide Lasting Relief From Spasticity 1024 575 Abbie Miller

Selective dorsal rhizotomy can provide life-changing results, but patients work hard in physical and occupational therapy to get there. When Sushma Manjunatha watches her daughter sleep, she sees something new. Instead of being tightly curled up, with legs pulled in, her daughter’s legs are…

read more
Assessing Romantic Lives of Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer
Assessing Romantic Lives of Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer 150 150 Kevin Mayhood

In some ways, the group appears more resilient than survivors of adult-onset cancer or those with other childhood-onset diseases. Adult survivors of childhood cancer appear, on the whole, to have comparable romantic lives to others their age, new studies show. Surprisingly, the group doesn’t…

read more