Researchers Combine Therapies to Find a Better Way to Treat Brain Injury in Infants

Complications that can arise around the time of birth may reduce oxygen and blood flow to a baby’s brain, causing hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a leading cause of death or neurological impairment among infants. In the past eight years, cooling therapy (hypothermia) has become the standard form of care for HIE, as it’s been found to […]

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Researchers Discover New Therapy for a Common Childhood Cancer that has Fewer Side Effects

At the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, Children’s Oncology Group (COG) researchers presented promising findings from an international study that has identified a new therapy for treating rhabdomyosarcoma, a common childhood cancer. The therapy has fewer harsh side effects, meaning it lessens the chance of infections, need for blood transfusions and infertility […]

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Changing Childhoods: Cystic fibrosis research makes a difference for Molly

Meet Molly On Feb. 17, 2008, Erin and Bill Hamilton welcomed their daughter Molly into the world. She appeared to be a perfectly healthy, 9-pound baby girl, but a newborn screening test revealed Molly had cystic fibrosis. “We were devastated,” Erin said. “We didn’t know anything about cystic fibrosis and had no idea how this […]

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Researchers aim to understand and prevent sudden unexpected death in epilepsy

While many people with epilepsy live a full life, some die abruptly without warning or other clear medical cause due to a devastating phenomenon called sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). SUDEP is the most common cause of death in those with severe forms of epilepsy where seizures cannot be controlled with treatment, but what […]

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A family comes full circle when a genetic mutation passes from grandmother to daughter to granddaughter

Meet Olivia Rickert and Michile Smith: Two generations apart, but linked forever by their special hands. When Olivia Rickert was still in utero, an ultrasound at 20 weeks revealed that she had inherited a genetic mutation passed down from her mother and maternal grandmother. In Olivia’s case, the mutation was expressed as a cleft (split) […]

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Hormone may be vital in improving brain development in premature babies

Update: In January 2020, the New England Journal of Medicine published results from the completed PENUT (Preterm Epo Neuroprotection) Trial. The study found that erythropoietin (Epo) treatment administered to extremely preterm infants did not result in a lower risk of neurodevelopmental disabilities when tested at 2 years of age. Babies receiving Epo as part of […]

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