Best Practices for Research Recruitment and Retention
Best Practices for Research Recruitment and Retention 1024 575 Tiasha Letostak, PhD

You can’t obtain study data without participants. From initial design and promotion to communication tactics and patient satisfaction, here are some strategies to ensure success. Advancing pediatric research depends on successful recruitment and retention of study participants. Unfortunately, 9 out of 10 trials end…

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Childhood Kidney Stones: Their Surprising Connection to Future Disease
Childhood Kidney Stones: Their Surprising Connection to Future Disease 150 150 Jeb Phillips

Once thought to be an adult condition, urinary stone disease is increasingly found in children – and may be related to the development of cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and low bone density. By one well-regarded estimate, the risk of developing urinary stone disease…

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Harnessing the Immune System: Has the Cure for Cancer Been Within Us All Along?
Harnessing the Immune System: Has the Cure for Cancer Been Within Us All Along? 1024 575 Abbie Miller

By learning to manipulate the immune system to target cancer cells, clinician-scientists are ushering in a new era in cancer treatments. The advances in cancer immunotherapy have been headline-making, and some clinical studies have produced stories of near-miraculous recoveries. From the immunotherapy drug credited…

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Changing the Game: Virtual Reality Distracts From Pain, Transforming the Patient Experience
Changing the Game: Virtual Reality Distracts From Pain, Transforming the Patient Experience 844 487 Gina Bericchia

A first-of-its-kind virtual reality experience from the hemophilia team and design experts at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University distracts patients with an immersive environment of penguins, pirates and hermit crabs during infusions and other procedures. A pilot study is testing the…

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Minimally-Invasive Technology Proving Itself in Epilepsy Procedures
Minimally-Invasive Technology Proving Itself in Epilepsy Procedures 150 150 Kevin Mayhood

MRI-guided stereotactic laser ablation may become the option of choice for appropriate patients. MRI-guided stereotactic laser ablation is proving comparable to open surgery in several procedures aimed at controlling epilepsy, researchers report. Importantly, patients’ recovery is considerably easier and shorter than recuperation from traditional…

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Use Caution When Prescribing a Gluten-Free Diet
Use Caution When Prescribing a Gluten-Free Diet 150 150 Kevin Mayhood

A gluten-free diet makes diagnosing underlying conditions difficult and can leave potential, long-term consequences unaddressed. The growing popularity of a gluten-free diet among adults appears to be spilling over to children, with help from the pediatrician’s office. “An increasing number of primary care physicians,…

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Oligodendrocytes Induce Motor Neuron Death in ALS
Oligodendrocytes Induce Motor Neuron Death in ALS 150 150 Jeb Phillips

A first-of-its-kind oligodendrocyte in vitro model shows that human cells normally supportive of motor neuron function play an active role in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis pathogenesis – and this discovery may point the way toward therapeutic timing and targets. A number of studies over the…

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Personal, Familial and Social Factors Surrounding Child Suicide
Personal, Familial and Social Factors Surrounding Child Suicide 150 150 Brianne Moore

As suicide rates among children climb, researchers publish the first study exclusively focused on the precipitating circumstances of children and young adolescents who die by suicide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide was the 10th leading cause of death for…

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A Painful Reality: Care Providers Tend to Underestimate Pain During Pediatric Burn Dressing Changes
A Painful Reality: Care Providers Tend to Underestimate Pain During Pediatric Burn Dressing Changes 150 150 Krista Wheeler

Researchers call for an updated pain scale. Dressing changes have been identified as one of the major contributors to perceived pain during burn care, and so it is important that pain be assessed accurately. But a new study from the Center for Pediatric Trauma Research in…

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What Pediatricians Need to Know About the New Meningococcal B Vaccine
What Pediatricians Need to Know About the New Meningococcal B Vaccine 150 150 Michael T. Brady, MD

Michael T. Brady, MD, infectious diseases specialist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and primary author of the recent American Academy of Pediatrics position paper on the meningococcal B vaccine, shares what you need to know about this controversial vaccine. Meningococcal serotype B (MenB) causes the…

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Nine Factors for Predicting the Duration of Post-Concussion Symptoms
Nine Factors for Predicting the Duration of Post-Concussion Symptoms 150 150 Jeb Phillips

Concussion recovery is poorly understood, but new research suggests that some factors are predictive of recovery time. Several factors, including continued physical activity following a concussion, worsening symptoms from the time of injury to the time a patient seeks care, and a previous history…

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Finding a Better Way to Diagnose and Treat Iron Deficiency in Young Women
Finding a Better Way to Diagnose and Treat Iron Deficiency in Young Women 150 150 Brianne Moore

Iron deficiency without anemia often goes undiagnosed in young women, and when caught, the standard treatment is often associated with poor compliance due to side effects. Dr. Sarah O’Brien’s research is focused on finding a solution. Even in developed countries, iron deficiency continues to…

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Specialized Test Detects Bacterial Infections in Youngest Infants with Fever
Specialized Test Detects Bacterial Infections in Youngest Infants with Fever 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD

The diagnostic test has potential to prevent painful testing, unnecessary antibiotics and hospitalizations for many of the more than 500,000 febrile infants who arrive at hospitals each year. Physicians from Children’s Hospital of Michigan, UC Davis Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, in collaboration…

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Using Whole Exome Sequencing to Find Genetic Cause of Congenital Heart Disease in At-Risk Patients
Using Whole Exome Sequencing to Find Genetic Cause of Congenital Heart Disease in At-Risk Patients 150 150 Brianne Moore

Whole exome sequencing has the ability to identify disease-causing mutations, contributing to the development of personalized medicine and bridging a crucial gap between scientific knowledge and clinical application. Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common type of birth defect, affecting approximately 40,000 births…

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Study Finds Genetic Loci Associated With Anxiety and Aggression in Dogs: What Does It Mean for Kids?
Study Finds Genetic Loci Associated With Anxiety and Aggression in Dogs: What Does It Mean for Kids? 150 150 Carlos E. Alvarez, PhD

Principal investigator Carlos Alvarez, PhD, reports the genome wide mapping of nine fear and aggression traits in dogs and discusses the implications of the findings. Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental illness in the United States. They are associated with increased…

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Chromatin’s Role in Cancer Development
Chromatin’s Role in Cancer Development 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD

A new study investigates the role of chromatin containing the histone H3 variant in the centromere region of chromosomes in the development of cancer. Although there are many types of cancer, all cancers have one thing in common: they develop when normal processes in…

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Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital Describe New Type of Cancer Therapy
Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital Describe New Type of Cancer Therapy 150 150 Abbie Miller

The new chemotherapy is effective against both pediatric and adult cancers, and it allows other chemotherapies to more readily reach their targets. A study conducted at Nationwide Children’s Hospital has found that a new chemotherapy is effective against both pediatric and adult cancers, and…

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Considering Peptide Tuning of Natural Killer (NK) Cells
Considering Peptide Tuning of Natural Killer (NK) Cells 150 150 Abbie Miller

Researchers combine modeling and functional studies of interactions between MHC-I and NK cells to learn how they operate on a molecular level. Natural killer (NK) cells are cytotoxic lymphocytes — important immune cells of the innate immune system. NK cells are increasingly understood to…

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An Effective Strategy for Disrupting Bacterial Biofilms
An Effective Strategy for Disrupting Bacterial Biofilms 150 150 Tiasha Letostak, PhD

Using monoclonal antibodies to bind to proteins essential to biofilm structure and stability is highly effective against many types of bacteria that cause a variety of human disease. Biofilms are communities of bacteria that adhere to a surface and are nearly impossible to eradicate…

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When Should Kids With Severe Functional Constipation Have Surgery?
When Should Kids With Severe Functional Constipation Have Surgery? 150 150 Jeb Phillips

A protocol developed by pediatric surgeons and gastroenterologists allows patients to receive specific surgical interventions that will be most beneficial – and allows many patients originally referred for surgery to avoid it altogether. Children with severe functional constipation are most often referred for surgery…

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