All Entries in the "Child Health" Category

Hypothesis regarding the causes of pica are plentiful. One theory is that being nutritionally deficit like iron insufficiency could elicit particular hankerings. Facts that back at least few of the pica cases are a retort to dietetic insufficiency – nutritional paucity mostly are linked with pica and correcting them mostly causes allaying of the symptoms. Few pregnant women, for instance, would give up the craving of consuming non-food substances subsequent to undergoing treatment for iron deficit anemia – a widespread condition noted in expectant mothers with pica. But, not all are observed to respond to a correction of their nutritional deficiency, that could be the result of pica instead of due to the cause, and some individuals with pica do not have a known nutritional dearth. Geophagia  [...]

Osgood-Schlatter Disease is one of the widespread reasons for knee-associated pain among children who engage in sports. Generally just one knee is observed to be affected, though at times both the knees could be involved. Osgood Schlatters Symptoms There could be a slight swelling, warmness and sore bony lump appearing at the top of the lower leg nearly two inches in measurement beneath the kneecap. The bump would be painful when one presses on it. It could additionally hurt while the child attempts to kneel, while jumping, running, squatting or doing any form of activity that involves bending or total extension of the leg. Osgood Schlatter Causes The muscles and tendons function in unison while one is moving the legs. Among those that are involved in playing sports, the knees and the legs  [...]

Those infants that have faced exposure to second hand cigarette smoke are more prone to developing lung cancer when they become adults, even when they would never take to smoking. The outcome of the study was printed in the journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, ‘Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarker & Prevention’ in the December edition that laid particular focus on tobacco. During the present year itself, greater than 2, 19, 000 U.S. citizens would be detected having lung cancer; with nearly 1, 59, 000 fatalities and counting, some of whom might not have ever smoked during their lifetime. Studies done till date have revealed that those adults being exposed to second hand smoke have had damaging effects on their health, however information is inadequate on the risk one faces  [...]

Dyskeratosis Congenita is a heritable skin condition typified by a net-similar dark patchiness, irregular nail growth, oral lesions and progressive bone marrow failure. Dyskeratosis congenital occurs due to the mutation of the gene DKC1 present in the X-chromosome (females), and in majority of the situations is hereditary as an X-linked recessive disorder. The male gender has a single X and Y chromosome while the female gender has two X-chromosomes. In case a male has inherited the DKC1 heritable flaw on his one X-chromosome then he would have dyskeratosis congenital. But, a female would require two flawed X-chromosomes for developing the disorder. Due to this legacy outline, the proportion of male to female that are affected by this disorder is nearly 10:1. Approximately 180 people having  [...]

Several innately inquisitive kids have the tendency of putting non-victual items into their mouths at some occasion or the other. Infants having pica, nevertheless, are observed to cross the line of this naive exploring of their surroundings. With nearly 25-30% of children (twenty percent of whom are noticed in mental health treatment centers) have pica- the eating disorder that is typified by continual and uncontrollable yearnings for eating non-victual items that lasts for a month or more. What Is Pica? Pica is derived from the Latin word for the bird magpie that has the reputation for its humongous and indiscriminate foraging desire for food. Pica is prevalent among individuals having developmental disorders inclusive of autism and the mentally retarded and among kids in the ages of two  [...]

The fact is that the H1N1 nasal spray holds a diluted version of the live flu virus. This is recommended to be offered solely to those in the ages of two to forty-nine years. Infants having conditions like asthma are not entitled for the live flu vaccine. The principal reason why infants that are lesser than two years old must not be given the nasal spray H1N1 vaccine is because it has not yet been adequately tested and hence have not received license to be administered for that age band. There is dearth of substantial data being submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prior to any medication getting approval for usage in a certain populaces – however this data is non-existent in case of infants who are below two years of age. Rare complains associated with the nasal spray version  [...]

There have an inundation of queries from all quarters ever since the H1N1 vaccines have become accessible. In case a child is having a proper egg allergy and not merely sensitivity to it, then the H1N1 or the seasonal flu vaccine cannot be administered in such a situation. The two kinds of H1N1 vaccines namely the injection and the nasal spray version both have been made from eggs, hence it is not suggested for those individuals having severe cases of egg allergies. Yet, allergists believe that those persons having mild version of reactions to eggs could get inoculated with the H1N1 vaccine. One needs to bear in mind that the quantity of egg protein present in the vaccine is mostly lesser in comparison to those one would locate in majority of the baked food items. Hence, in case the child is  [...]

A common query that confounds several parents is whether their child is too young to be administered the H1N1 nasal spray or the injection containing thimerosal or must they wait for the injection that has no preservatives added to become obtainable. It is suggested that children more than six months of age must be administered the H1N1 flu vaccine on an urgent basis as infants below the age of two years are at increased likelihood of developing complications due to the H1N1 infection. The risks arising due to the infection by itself are deemed to have greater repercussions as compared to any kind of risk that could arise due to the H1N1 vaccine, irrespective of whether thimerosal is present in it or not. Thimerosal is a preservative that contains mercury and is employed for multi-dosage vials  [...]

Undecended testicles are known to occur in nearly five percent of full term and thirty percent of premature newly born male babies. Undescended testicles is a condition wherein the testicle in a boy has failed to move from the abdominal region, where it initially commences development in utero, and moves downwards till it finally reaches the scrotum which is its final destination. The reasons behind why testicles at times are not able to descend are still ambiguous. On majority of the occasions, nevertheless the testicle could travel its course till it moves into the right position by itself till the time a baby is nearly six months of age, and nearly always by the time the child turns one year old. In case the testicle has still not descended, surgical intervention would become necessary for  [...]

Pertussis or whooping cough begins alike a cold. Subsequent to one to two weeks, the cold signs lead to severe spells of coughing. The coughing obstructs breathing and could also lead to vomiting. Pertussis could cause life-menacing complications. Signs among adults are milder in nature. Recognizing the signs could help in early detection and hence treatment. Pertussis is vastly Communicable The dowel-shaped Bordetella pertussis bacteria affix themselves in the cilia of the respiratory tract. They are transmitted via suspended droplets arising from coughing and sneezing. An individual having pertussis is infectious from the moment the cold signs start appearing. The transmittable time period would last for nearly three weeks subsequent to the coughing bouts commencing. Containing Coughs Every  [...]

Researchers believe that by matching infants ailing from rare or life-menacing ailments and modelling probable disease development; are hopeful of detecting imminent novel courses. Development of software tools is being done that could seek out and evaluate patient information at hospitals located across Europe for finding infants with nearly matched medical conditions. The doctors could then locate the manner in which the matched cases of the patient in the other hospitals were undergoing treatment and whether it was beneficial. The data would immensely enhance the doctor’s skill to select the correct course for their patient. The software tool under-development in the Health-e-Child project could carry out a comparison of a huge array of ordered and unstructured information, inclusive of  [...]

Bordetella pertussis is bacterial form that could exist in the respiratory tract of humans. Pertusssis or whooping cough is transmitted via discharge or secretions during sneezing and coughing. Majority of the pertussis infections are spread in between kin members and domestic contacts like babysitters. The DTaP vaccines could help in preventing the infection when administered to babies that are two, four and six months old. How communicable is whooping cough? Whooping cough is highly infectious. In case one individual is infected with the pertussis bacteria, every non-inoculated domestic contact has a nearly ninety percent risk of contracting the infection as well. How could one contract whooping cough when they have previously been inoculated? In contrast to some of the vaccines, the pertussis  [...]

Faulty body clock genes could be the reason behind bipolar disorder among infants. Researchers have penned down this crucial finding in the open access academic journal ‘BMC Psychiatry’ detected 4 adaptations of the dictatorial gene RORB that were related to infancy bipolar disorder. Alexander Niculescu from the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, United States, collaborated along with a team of scientists from Harvard, UC San Diego, Massachusetts General Hospital and SANY Upstate Medical University for studying the role of RORA and RORB genes of 152 infants having this condition and 140 infants that were part of a control group. They detected four variations to the RORB genes that are certainly linked to being bipolar. Niculescu stated that their findings indicated that  [...]