New insight is being gained into the youth visiting Alberta’s emergency rooms for self-harming behavior. The study examined approximately 6,000 visits of young patients from 2002 until 2011. It found youth from families who received various government subsidies, and First Nations youth, had far higher visitation rates to emergency rooms for self-harm compared to youth from families who didn’t receive a subsidy.
Category: children
UK population is becoming overweight and obese at younger ages
Children born since the 1980s are two to three times more likely than older generations to be overweight or obese by the age of 10, according to new research. The study characterized population shifts in body mass index using data from more than 56,000 people born in Britain from 1946 to 2001.
Cancer drugs may hold key to treating Down syndrome and other brain disorders
A class of FDA-approved cancer drugs may be able to prevent problems with brain cell development associated with disorders including Down syndrome and Fragile X syndrome, researchers have found.
Researchers determine best anesthesia option for infants
Experts have long examined the effects of anesthesia on infants and toddlers, and many believe infants who undergo general anesthesia in their first year of life may be at higher risk of developmental and learning issues. New work suggests that infants undergoing some types of surgery could have better recovery if they receive regional anesthesia rather than general anesthesia.
Stuttering linked to rhythm perception deficiency
Stuttering may be more than a speech problem. For the first time, researchers have found that children who stutter have difficulty perceiving a beat in music-like rhythms, which could account for their halting speech patterns.
Cognitive process speed in teen years affects depression risk in adulthood
Teens with slower performance on a test of “cognitive processing speed” are more likely to have depression and anxiety symptoms as adults, reports a new paper. Previous studies have shown that people with more severe depression have slower reaction times and other cognitive deficits. It has generally been assumed that this “psychomotor slowing” is a consequence of depression, rather than a risk factor for it. The new study suggests that slower processing speed may contribute to the development of mental health disorders — possibly by leading to “increased stress and difficulties responding to adversity earlier in life.”
Text messages can help boost teen birth control compliance
Sending teen girls periodic text messages reminding them to follow through on their clinic appointments for periodic birth control injections can go a long way toward improving timing and adherence to contraception in an age group that is notoriously noncompliant, according to a small study.
The Sweetener Historian
Regard de Kurt Ehrmann In olden times, crusaders ransacked a continent looking for the Holy Grail, and alchemists competed to rediscover the Philosophers’ Stone that could turn base metals into gold. In more recent centuries, humankind has labored to find a sweetener that can step in and take the place of sugar. All the substance must do is taste as good as sugar. The other requirement is that it have none of sugar’s less desirable intrinsic qualities, such as weight-boosting calories and or a chemical makeup that wreaks havoc on the human body. We just want an acceptable sugar substitute—is that too much to ask? Daniel Engberjan wrote, and the New York Times published, a monumental history of science’s attempt to answer this question.
Why Early Intervention Programs Benefit Kids with Developmental Delays
Parents often have a vision of how the first few years of their child’s life will go – filled with the traditional milestones of rolling over, walking, and saying their first word. But what happens when things don’t go as planned? You may have received a diagnosis in utero or soon after birth that your […] The post Why Early Intervention Programs Benefit Kids with Developmental Delays appeared first on .
Smoking marijuana may cause early puberty and stunts growth in boys
Boys who smoke marijuana go through puberty earlier but grow more slowly than those who have never smoked the drug according to a new study.
New school-based program helps reduce absentee rate for urban minority children with asthma
Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in children, and it can only be managed, not cured. It affects a disproportionally higher percentage of low-income, urban minority children, and is also the most common disease-related reason for children missing school. This can have a negative effect on their academic achievement, as well as later success in life.