Archive for research
Hip reconstruction in complex patients: Predicting complications
Neuromuscular hip dysplasia and progressive spastic hip displacement are among the most common orthopedic concerns in non-ambulatory children with cerebral palsy (CP), leading to pain, decreased function, and impaired quality of life. While hip reconstruction surgery can improve quality of life in these children, it can be associated with acute post-operative pain, medical complications, and ... Read More about Hip reconstruction in complex patients: Predicting complications
COVID-19 vaccines: Do you know myth from fact?
Two COVID-19 vaccines — from Pfizer/BioNTtech and Moderna — have received emergency use authorization in the United States by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Many more are in various stages of development around the world. Several of these are in the final stage of clinical trials and could be submitted for formal authorization ... Read More about COVID-19 vaccines: Do you know myth from fact?
Low-carb diets for diabetes: Rediscovering centuries-old wisdom
This year represents the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, a hormone that regulates the amount of glucose, or sugar, in the blood. While insulin medications have literally been life-savers for many kids and adults with diabetes, diets that help keep blood sugar levels steady are often overlooked for controlling diabetes. These diets, often ... Read More about Low-carb diets for diabetes: Rediscovering centuries-old wisdom
2020, the year COVID-19 tuned us into science: Part 3
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 about 2020, the year COVID-19 tuned us into science: Part 3
2020, the year COVID-19 tuned us into science: Part 2
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 about 2020, the year COVID-19 tuned us into science: Part 2
2020, the year COVID-19 tuned us into science: Part 1
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 about 2020, the year COVID-19 tuned us into science: Part 1
New health care data-sharing rule, coming in 2022, has its roots at Boston Children’s Hospital
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 about New health care data-sharing rule, coming in 2022, has its roots at Boston Children’s Hospital
It’s personal: How the Boston Children’s progeria research community brought new life to an old drug
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 about It’s personal: How the Boston Children’s progeria research community brought new life to an old drug
After decades of evolution, gene therapy arrives
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 about After decades of evolution, gene therapy arrives
A rebirth in Boston: Gene therapy turns 10
Lea la versión en español. Dec. 17 marks a decade since Agustín Cáceres was “renacido” — reborn. That’s how his parents, Alberto and Marcela, describe the day their son received his new gene. Born in 2010 with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID-X1), Agustín spent the first few months of his life in isolation, at home ... Read More about A rebirth in Boston: Gene therapy turns 10