Research
Modeling urinary tract disorders on a chip: Zohreh Izadifar
When a new tissue sample arrives from the Department of Urology, the Boston Children’s Hospital lab of Zohreh Izadifar, PhD springs into action. The tissue, from a child with urinary tract pathology, is whisked into the tissue culture room. Under a hood, lab members Dasvit Shetty, PhD, and Gretchen Carpenter, MSc, carefully isolate the cells ... Read More about Modeling urinary tract disorders on a chip: Zohreh Izadifar
Research
A surprising link between Crohn’s disease and the Epstein-Barr virus
Crohn’s disease, a debilitating inflammatory bowel disease, has many known contributing factors, including bacterial changes in the microbiome that foster an inflammatory environment. Now, for the first time, Crohn’s disease been tied to a virus — specifically, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), best known for causing infectious mononucleosis (mono). Researchers had already observed increased levels of EBV ... Read More about A surprising link between Crohn’s disease and the Epstein-Barr virus
Research
Addressing food insecurity and nutrition challenges in pediatric type 1 diabetes care
Managing type 1 diabetes can be overwhelming for children and families. As children learn to live with the disease, many cut back on visits to their nutritionists. Others face barriers like food insecurity that make it difficult to maintain a balanced diet. And without the proper professional support and access to healthy foods, children’s overall ... Read More about Addressing food insecurity and nutrition challenges in pediatric type 1 diabetes care
Health and Parenting
The surprising energy demands of marathon training
Training for a marathon? Are you eating enough to help your body recover from one long training run and gear up for the next one? A surprising number of marathon runners don’t. In a study of athletes training for the Boston Marathon, more than two in five women and almost one in five men regularly ... Read More about The surprising energy demands of marathon training
Research
Could peripheral neuropathy be stopped before it starts?
An increase in high-fat, high-fructose foods in people’s diets has contributed to a dramatic increase in type 2 diabetes. This, in turn, has led to an increase in peripheral neuropathy — nerve damage, typically in the hands and feet — that causes weakness, loss of sensation and, in some, a stabbing, burning, or tingling pain. ... Read More about Could peripheral neuropathy be stopped before it starts?
Patient Stories
Every heart has a story. See how we care for them all.
It’s easy to think of the heart as a common denominator — everyone has one — but no two hearts are alike. Every heart is different. Every heart has a story. For many children and adults, that story includes coming to Boston Children’s for specialized heart care. Some were born with complex congenital heart defects, while ... Read More about Every heart has a story. See how we care for them all.
Research
It’s all in the PV loops: New analytical model could improve circulation assessments before heart surgery
The double-switch operation corrects the congenital reversal of the heart’s ventricles and its two main arteries. It’s a practical way of putting the ventricles into the position they belong so that children with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (CC-TGA) can benefit from enhanced circulation. Surgery, though, doesn’t come without risks. Some children’s left ventricles — ... Read More about It’s all in the PV loops: New analytical model could improve circulation assessments before heart surgery
Research
Modifying macrophages in the lung could head off pulmonary hypertension
In the 1980s, when Stella Kourembanas, MD, began her career in neonatology, she cared for newborns with pulmonary hypertension, a disease that results in abnormally high blood pressure in the lung arteries and can lead to heart failure. Since then, treatments like inhaled nitric oxide, new vasodilators, new modalities of mechanical ventilation, and extracorporeal membrane ... Read More about Modifying macrophages in the lung could head off pulmonary hypertension
Research
A new tool could exponentially expand our understanding of bacteria
How do bacteria — harmless ones living in our bodies, or those that cause disease — organize their activities? A new study, combining powerful genomic-scale microscopy with a technical innovation, captured which genes bacteria turn on in different situations and in different spatial environments. The technology, described January 23 in Science, promises to take the ... Read More about A new tool could exponentially expand our understanding of bacteria
Research
MRI could reduce the mystery of brachial plexus injuries in infants
About one in 1,000 children are born with brachial plexus birth injury (BPBI), upper extremity weakness or paralysis resulting from trauma to the brachial plexus nerves during childbirth. Most children with BPBI recover with observation and minimally invasive care, but about 30 percent have injuries severe enough to lead to long-term impairment. Thanks to recent ... Read More about MRI could reduce the mystery of brachial plexus injuries in infants