Blog | Page 87 of 159 | Boston Children's Answers

Navigating the aplastic anemia journey

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Dominic Malfara | Patient Stories

Hadas Asgedom is a woman with many titles: daughter, sister of 12, aunt, mother. But, after her own daughter’s journey with aplastic anemia, she may have earned the right to add another — relentless researcher. Hadas and her only child, Asada, live in Tampa, Florida, where Asada had always enjoyed theater rehearsals, soccer, and time ... Read More

Tagged: blood disorder

What’s the difference between the COVID-19 vaccines?

Posted on December 29, 2020 by Joanne Barker | Health and Parenting

Tags: clinical trials, coronavirus, infectious diseases, vaccines

After a long, difficult year, the world had reason to celebrate in late 2020 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized two COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use. Many more COVID-19 vaccines are in various stages of development. Several of these are in the final stage of clinical trials and could be submitted for ... Read More

Tagged: clinical trials, coronavirus, infectious diseases, vaccines

2020, the year COVID-19 tuned us into science: Part 3

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Nancy Fliesler | Clinical Care

Tags: coronavirus, immunology, research, vaccines

Since the arrival of a new, unknown, dangerous virus in January, we entered the realm of COVID-19 science. Part 1 and Part 2 of this series recapped what we learned about how the virus spreads, how to test for it and treat it, and how COVID-19 plays out in children. This month, vaccines began to be ... Read More

Tagged: coronavirus, immunology, research, vaccines

2020, the year COVID-19 tuned us into science: Part 2

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Nancy Fliesler | Clinical Care

Tags: coronavirus, drug development, mis-c, research

Thanks — or no thanks — to COVID-19, 2020 has been a year in which science became a household topic of discussion. Our last post recounted what we collectively learned in the spring: what COVID-19 is, who is at risk, how to test for it. As the year unfolded, there were new lessons to be learned. ... Read More

Tagged: coronavirus, drug development, mis-c, research

2020, the year COVID-19 tuned us into science: Part 1

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Nancy Fliesler | Clinical Care

Tags: coronavirus, diagnostics, epidemiology, infectious diseases, research

On January 9, the World Health Organization announced a mysterious pneumonia in Wuhan, China. Few people knew it was the threat infectious disease experts had feared for decades: a fast-spreading, potentially deadly new virus with no known cure. As the first images of critically ill patients came out of China and Italy, we watched as ... Read More

Tagged: coronavirus, diagnostics, epidemiology, infectious diseases, research

New health care data-sharing rule, coming in 2022, has its roots at Boston Children’s Hospital

Posted on December 24, 2020 by Nancy Fliesler | Clinical Care

Tags: big data, electronic health records, informatics, public health, research

Are you sick of health care systems not communicating with each other? Do you wish you could access more of your medical information — or your patients’ information — online? Do you ever wonder whether a health pattern you see is part of a larger trend? Two key developments have advanced the vision of seamless, ... Read More

Tagged: big data, electronic health records, informatics, public health, research

Zooming in on screen time for children with special education needs

Posted on December 23, 2020 by Meredith Close and Jason Fogler | Health and Parenting

Tags: ADHD, autism, learning disabilities

In 2013, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended no more than two hours of screen time per day for school-aged children. This includes time on television, computers, tablets, and cell phones. However, during the current COVID-19 pandemic, many children are doing some, if not all, of their schooling remotely via a screen. So, how do you ... Read More

Tagged: ADHD, autism, learning disabilities

It’s personal: How the Boston Children’s progeria research community brought new life to an old drug

Posted on December 23, 2020 by Alice McCarthy | Patient Stories

Tags: advocacy, clinical trials, drug development, rare disease, research

In late November, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a repurposed cancer drug called lonafarnib to treat Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, better known as progeria — an ultra-rare incurable genetic disease associated with rapid aging. On average, children with progeria die before age 15, usually the result of rapidly accelerated atherosclerosis resulting in heart ... Read More

Tagged: advocacy, clinical trials, drug development, rare disease, research

After decades of evolution, gene therapy arrives

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Nancy Fliesler | Clinical Care

Tags: gene editing, gene therapy, genetics and genomics, history, research

As early as the 1960s, scientists speculated that DNA sequences could be introduced into patients’ cells to cure genetic disorders. In the early 1980s, David Williams, MD, and David Nathan, MD, at Boston Children’s Hospital published the first paper showing one could use a virus to insert genes into blood-forming stem cells. In 2003, the ... Read More

Tagged: gene editing, gene therapy, genetics and genomics, history, research

How does the placenta protect unborn babies from COVID-19?

Posted on December 21, 2020 by Nancy Fliesler | Clinical, Research

Tags: cellular and molecular medicine, coronavirus, genetics and genomics, newborn medicine, pregnancy

Evidence has shown that pregnancy is a risk factor for severe illness in women with COVID-19. A recent CDC study reviewed case reports of approximately 400,000 women aged 15 to 44 with symptomatic COVID-19. Those who were pregnant had a roughly tripled likelihood of ICU admission and invasive ventilation and 70 percent higher mortality. Yet ... Read More

Tagged: cellular and molecular medicine, coronavirus, genetics and genomics, newborn medicine, pregnancy