Archive for Alice McCarthy
COVID-19 takes its toll on kids’ mental health
As experts warn that increasing behavioral and mental health challenges could represent a “second wave” of the pandemic in kids and teens, a recent study suggests that hospitalizations for self-harm and suicide attempts show no signs of ebbing. According to a study from Boston Children’s Hospital and the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, ... Read More about COVID-19 takes its toll on kids’ mental health
Piecing together the preterm infant microbiome
The human microbiome — the collection of microbes living in the gut — is now recognized as an important contributor to health and disease. The environment, the host, and microbe-microbe interactions are all likely to shape the microbiome’s dynamics, but the unique roles of each are not well understood. Now, a Boston Children’s Hospital infectious ... Read More about Piecing together the preterm infant microbiome
Diversifying therapeutic antibodies: From one, come many with potential different uses
A new method for producing antibodies against disease could result in a wider variety of drugs for infectious diseases, immune disease, and even cancer. The immune system naturally produces enormous varieties of antibodies to fight diseases. Therapeutic antibodies — antibodies created against specific therapeutic targets — have been used for decades to either rev up ... Read More about Diversifying therapeutic antibodies: From one, come many with potential different uses
COVID-19 vaccines for kids: What has to happen first
Now that adults and older teens are receiving COVID-19 vaccines, some younger kids are wondering why they can’t get vaccinated too. While testing has begun in children 6 months to age 12, we aren’t ready to begin vaccinating most kids yet. But we do know the steps the companies are taking to be sure their ... Read More about COVID-19 vaccines for kids: What has to happen first
Minimally invasive surgery safe and effective for craniosynostosis
Traditional treatment for children with craniosynostosis — a condition in which the bones of the skull grow together too early in the child’s development — usually involves an extensive open craniectomy surgery with a incision to release the fused bones. But a study from physicians in the Cleft and Craniofacial Center at Boston Children’s Hospital ... Read More about Minimally invasive surgery safe and effective for craniosynostosis
Neurological involvement common in kids and teens with acute COVID-19 and MIS-C
In the largest study of its kind, researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital found neurological involvement in 22 percent of children and adolescents hospitalized with acute COVID-19 or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). These symptoms included fatigue, headache, confusion, difficulty walking or crawling, or loss of taste and smell. However, 1 in 8 children with ... Read More about Neurological involvement common in kids and teens with acute COVID-19 and MIS-C
What you need to know about the new COVID-19 vaccine
Today, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Johnson and Johnson (J&J) emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine. We spoke with Dr. Thomas Sandora, hospital epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, to learn more about this new vaccine, including how effective it was in clinical trials and how it compares with the two COVID-19 vaccines ... Read More about What you need to know about the new COVID-19 vaccine
Tuber locations associated with infantile spasms map to a common brain network
About half of all babies with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) develop infantile spasms, a type of epilepsy that can have serious long-term neurologic consequences. Infantile spasms occur more often in children who have more brain tubers — groups of cells that do not divide into normal neurons and brain cells — but we haven’t known ... Read More about Tuber locations associated with infantile spasms map to a common brain network
Specialized T cells protect against the deadliest form of malaria
Each year, there are about 230 million cases of malaria globally. Children under the age of 5 are at highest risk of serious illness and death, accounting for about 265,000 deaths, or nearly 70 percent of all malaria deaths worldwide. Despite significant time and money poured into efforts to develop an effective malaria vaccine, the ... Read More about Specialized T cells protect against the deadliest form of malaria
The COVID-19 vaccine for kids: When will children be vaccinated?
In late 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave emergency use authorization to two COVID-19 vaccines — one from Pfizer/BioNTech, the other from Moderna. Other vaccines are expected to be authorized soon. Currently the Pfizer vaccine can be given to people ages 16 years and older; Moderna’s is for use in those 18 ... Read More about The COVID-19 vaccine for kids: When will children be vaccinated?