http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress provides the latest news from Children's Hospital Boston A new study shows that when a liver from a deceased adult or adolescent donor is split into two separate portions for transplantation—with the smaller portion going to a young child and the larger to an adult—the smaller portion used for the child will last just as long as if the child had received a whole organ from a donor close to his size. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-liver-transplants-young-children-proven.html Surgery Mon, 10 Jun 2013 11:34:35 EST news290082406 After receiving an organ transplant, patients must follow a regimented medication routine to maintain the health of their graft (transplanted organ). Failure to do so, known as non-adherence (NA), can result in life-threatening illness. NA has long been a concern among adolescent patients, but a new study from Boston Children's Hospital demonstrates the problem may be more serious than previously understood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-national-non-adherence-teenage-heart-transplant.html Health Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:20:01 EST news289502253 (Medical Xpress)—It takes more than platelets, thrombin and fibrin to build a deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Increasingly, researchers are recognizing that neutrophils—cells better known for their role in immune defense—play an active role in DVT formation by releasing platelet-catching nets made of chromatin, a tightly-wound mix of DNA and associated proteins. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-dna-unraveling-enzyme-neutrophils-essential-deep.html Medical research Fri, 31 May 2013 07:50:06 EST news289203922 Existing research shows that bicyclists who wear helmets have an 88 percent lower risk of brain injury, but researchers at Boston Children's Hospital found that simply having bicycle helmet laws in place showed a 20 percent decrease in deaths and injuries for children younger than 16 who were in bicycle-motor vehicle collisions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-bicycle-related-fatalities-significantly-states-helmet.html Pediatrics Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:01 EST news288468930 By studying the roles two proteins, thrombospondin-1 and prosaposin, play in discouraging cancer metastasis, a trans-Atlantic research team has identified a five-amino acid fragment of prosaposin that significantly reduces metastatic spread in mouse models of prostate, breast and lung cancer. The findings suggest that a prosaposin-based drug could potentially block metastasis in a variety of cancers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-cancer-environment-halt.html Cancer Tue, 21 May 2013 17:20:05 EST news288375375 A quality improvement platform developed at Boston Children's Hospital could help health care provider groups continuously improve their medical practice, curbing costs and improving patient outcomes. Successful outcomes associated with the platform, called Standardized Clinical Assessment and Management Plans (SCAMPs) and supported by a consortium of Massachusetts payers, are featured in the May issue of Health Affairs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-medical-innovationquality-platform-featured-health.html Health Mon, 06 May 2013 16:00:05 EST news287059528 The higher the percentage of people in a city, town or neighborhood with Facebook interests suggesting a healthy, active lifestyle, the lower that area's obesity rate. At the same time, areas with a large percentage of Facebook users with television-related interests tend to have higher rates of obesity. Such are the conclusions of a study by Boston Children's Hospital researchers comparing geotagged Facebook user data with data from national and New York City-focused health surveys. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-facebook-track-obesity.html Overweight and Obesity Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:00:10 EST news286037672 Using a new research method that tracks moment-by-moment use of electronic media by young people, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have shown that paying attention to TV is strongly associated with higher Body Mass Index (BMI). The study, published in the May 2013 issue of Pediatrics (available online April 8), found no association between BMI and attention to video games or computers, despite the duration of use. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-attention-tv-key-link-screen.html Overweight and Obesity Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:49:53 EST news284802587 The underdeveloped immune systems of newborns don't respond to most vaccines, leaving them at high risk for infections like rotavirus, pertussis (whooping cough) and pneumococcus. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have identified a potent compound that activates immune responses in newborns' white blood cells substantially better than anything previously tested, and that could potentially make vaccines effective right at birth. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-vaccine-newborns-compound-babies-vulnerable.html Immunology Mon, 04 Mar 2013 17:00:06 EST news281616288 The first large, population-based study to follow children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) into adulthood shows that ADHD often doesn't "go away," and that children with ADHD are more likely to have other psychiatric disorders as adults. Although numbers were small, they also appear more likely to commit suicide and are often incarcerated as adults. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-adhd-toll-adulthood.html Attention deficit disorders Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:20:01 EST news281551369 A look at how the brain processes information finds a distinct pattern in children with autism spectrum disorders. Using EEGs to track the brain's electrical cross-talk, researchers from Boston Children's Hospital have found a structural difference in brain connections. Compared with neurotypical children, those with autism have multiple redundant connections between neighboring brain areas at the expense of long-distance links. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-network-analysis-brain-features-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:50:03 EST news281183838 Hypoglycemia may be a much larger problem among patients with diabetes than is currently realized, according to a study of members of a diabetes-focused social network conducted by researchers in Boston Children's Hospital's Informatics Program (CHIP). The study shows how engaging patients in research through social networking may help augment traditional surveillance methods for public health research, while simultaneously offering opportunities to promote healthy behaviors among participants. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-social-networking-approach-health-hypoglycemia.html Diabetes Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:00:08 EST news279805431 While autism clearly runs in some families, few inherited genetic causes have been found. A major reason is that these causes are so varied that it's hard to find enough people with a given mutation to establish a clear pattern. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have pinpointed several inherited mutations—among the first to be identified—through an unusual approach: using whole-exome sequencing to study large Middle Eastern families with autism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-whole-exome-sequencing-inherited-mutations-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 23 Jan 2013 12:00:01 EST news278160862 Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have found, for the first time that young humans (infants, children and adolescents) are capable of generating new heart muscle cells. These findings refute the long-held belief that the human heart grows after birth exclusively by enlargement of existing cells, and raise the possibility that scientists could stimulate production of new cells to repair injured hearts. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-human-hearts-cells-birth.html Medical research Thu, 10 Jan 2013 11:00:32 EST news277038017 A set of proteins detected in urine by researchers at Boston Children's Hospital may prove to be the first biomarkers for Kawasaki disease, an uncommon but increasingly prevalent disease which causes inflammation of blood vessels that can lead to enlarged coronary arteries and even heart attacks in some children. If validated in more patients with Kawasaki disease, the markers could make the disease easier to diagnose and give doctors an opportunity to start treatment earlier. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-urine-kawasaki-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:38:49 EST news275222316