Babies pay attention with down payment from immature brain region

Yale :Anyone who has watched an infant’s eyes follow a dangling trinket dancing in front of them knows that babies are capable of paying attention with laser focus.

But with large areas of their young brains still underdeveloped, how do they manage to do so?

Tobacco companies hook kids on sugary drinks

 

UCSF :Tobacco conglomerates that used colors, flavors and marketing techniques to entice children as future smokers transferred these same strategies to sweetened beverages when they bought food and drinks companies starting in 1963, according to a study by researchers at UC San Francisco.
The study, which draws from a cache of previously secret documents from the tobacco industry that is part of the UCSF Industry Documents Library tracked the acquisition and subsequent marketing campaigns of sweetened drink brands by two leading tobacco companies: R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris. It found that as tobacco was facing increased scrutiny from health authorities, its executives transferred the same products and tactics to peddle soft drinks. The study was published in the March 2019 issue of BMJ.

Are Portable Music Players Associated With Hearing Loss in Children?

JAMA: The effect of portable music players on the hearing of children is unclear. A new study found that about 1 in 7 children (9 to 11 years of age) showed signs of noise-induced hearing impairment, prior to exposure to known noise hazards such as club and concert attendance. Portable music players, used by 40 percent of 2,075 children in the study from the Netherlands, were associated with high-frequency hearing loss. Repeated measurements are needed to confirm this association.

Carrying backpacks doesn’t cause back pain in children and teenagers

The Conversation: Children and adolescents who carry backpacks aren’t at higher risk of developing back pain, according to a study published today in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM). Researchers found no evidence to suggest a link between carrying a heavy backpack and back pain in these age groups. This calls into question popular opinion, as well as guidelines published by numerous organisations recommending limits on backpack weights for children. Globally, there’s been little agreement on what a limit should be. Guidelines vary, with the limit being anywhere between 5% and 20% of body weight.

Mother’s Depression Might Do the Same to Her Child’s IQ

UCSD: Roughly one in 10 women in the United States will experience depression, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The consequences, however, may extend to their children, report researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, who found that a mother's depression can negatively affect a child's cognitive development up to the age of 16. The findings are published in the April issue of Child Development.

Why Artificial Turf May Truly Be Bad For Kids

Georgia: If you want to get a soccer mom’s attention, bring up the subject of artificial turf, the preferred playing surface for children from pre-K to college – or at least preferred by school boards and parks and recreation departments. From concerns about concussions to cancer, parents have become alarmed by reports in the media of increased injuries and illnesses. And there is the further question of who is responsible for assuring the safety of these fields: the Environmental Protection Agency? The Centers for Disease Control? The Consumer Product Safety Commission?

Blood Test Shows Promise in Detecting Abusive Head Trauma in Infants

Pittsburgh: Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have developed and refined a blood test that could help clinicians identify infants who may have had bleeding of the brain as a result of abusive head trauma, sometimes referred to as shaken baby syndrome. The science behind the test is described today in JAMA Pediatrics.The serum-based test, which needs to be validated in a larger population and receive regulatory approval before being used in clinical practice, would be the first of its kind to be used to detect acute intracranial hemorrhage, or bleeding of the brain. Infants who test positive would then have further evaluation via brain imaging to determine the source of the bleeding.

Genetic study identifies 14 new developmental disorders in children

Sanger Institute: The largest-ever genetic study of children with previously undiagnosed rare developmental disorders has discovered 14 new developmental disorders. Published today (25 January 2017) in Nature, the research led by scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute also provided diagnoses of rare conditions for over a thousand children and their families. These diagnoses allow families with the same genetic conditions to connect and access support, and help inform better clinical management. The study also accelerates research into disease mechanisms and possible therapies.

America’s Youngest Children Most Likely to Live in Poor Economic Conditions

Columbia: Out of all age groups, children are still most likely to live in poverty, according to new research from the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Using the latest available data from the American Community Survey, NCCP researchers found that in 2015, while 30 percent of adults have low incomes, more than 40 percent of all children live in low-income families — including 5.2 million infants and toddlers under 3. Despite significant gains in household income and reductions in the overall poverty rate in recent years, 43 percent (30.6 million) of America’s children are living in families barely able to afford their most basic needs, according to Basic Facts about Low-Income Children, the center’s annual series of profiles on child poverty in America.

Children are disproportionately affected by online advertising

Lund: Children aged 9 are several times more sensitive to disruptive advertising than adults. This is shown by studies conducted at Lund University in Sweden, in which children’s eye movements were measured. Together with the Lund University Humanities Lab, media and communications researcher Nils Holmberg has developed a combination of methods for measuring how much children’s concentration is disrupted by advertisements.

Why kids younger than 12 don’t need OTC cough and cold remedies

TheConversation: The common cold season is here, and if you have children, you will likely feel their suffering from these annoying upper respiratory tract viral infections. Children experience more colds, about six to 10 annually, than adults. With each cold producing symptoms of nasal congestion, runny nose, cough and mild fever lasting up to seven to 10 days, it may seem that children are nearly continuously sick. Parents certainly want their ill children to feel better, and they, naturally, want to help. A frequent solution is over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, which are heavily advertised to treat many maladies, including colds. A stroll down your local pharmacy OTC drug aisle will highlight the numerous OTC drug products available for adults and children.
It is tempting to buy one or more of these products to help your child. However, for children younger than 12 years of age, it is best not to use commonly advertised OTC cough and cold drug products. These products lack supportive clinical study efficacy and safety data, an issue I’ve studied as a professor of pharmacy practice.

Dads' attitudes could influence bubs' behaviours

Scimex: How new fathers see themselves in child’s early years seems to be most influential. Kids whose dads adjust well to parenthood and feel confident about their new role may be less likely to have behavioural problems in the run-up to their teens, indicates research published in the online journal BMJ Open. It’s how fathers see themselves as parents in the child’s early years, rather than the amount of direct childcare they give, that seems to be important, the findings suggest.

How can we prevent type 2 diabetes in children?

TheConversation: Type 2 diabetes used to be known as adult-onset diabetes because it tended to occur mainly in people over the age of 40. But as obesity levels around the world continue to soar, so has the number of young adults with the disease. The global prevalence of diabetes among teenagers and young adults (aged 10-24) has risen from an estimated 2.8% in 1990 to 3.2% in 2015. This may not sound very much, but it is an increase of about 7m young people across the world. An important proportion of this relates to type 1 diabetes – but the increasing prevalence and impact of type 2 diabetes in this age group is a major threat to public health worldwide.

Kids who watch porn won’t necessarily turn into sex offenders

TheConversation: Recent media campaigns have linked children watching online pornography to an increase in the number of school children committing sexual assault. One article linked school students sexually assaulting each other to the rise in online porn. But is there evidence children watching online porn is linked to an increase in sexual offending? We know the public is concerned about the potential harm to young people watching online pornography, with a Senate inquiry on the matter due to report towards the end of November 2016. We also know how easy it is for children to watch online porn, not only on the computers in their bedrooms but on their smartphones.