You may feel silly doing it, but baby talk helps your infant learn the basics of human language, a new study suggests. By mimicking the sound of a smaller vocal tract, baby talk guides babies on how words should sound coming out of their own mouths, the researchers explained. “It seems to stimulate motor production… read on > read on >
Long COVID can be tough to diagnose in children, but there are a number of things to look for. “Many children don’t have any symptoms when they have a COVID infection,” said Dr. Sindhu Mohandas, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and attending physician at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “So if the symptoms of long COVID… read on > read on >
Fever-related seizures in young children can be alarming for parents, but they’re usually not life-threatening, an expert says. During a so-called febrile seizure, a child may lose consciousness, experience body stiffness and have full-body shaking. The seizures — which typically last a minute or two, but can go on longer — rarely require medication, and… read on > read on >
Children with the rare cancer neuroblastoma often succumb to the disease despite aggressive treatment. But researchers have found that adding an experimental antibody to that treatment, right off the bat, may improve their outlook. Of 64 children treated with the antibody in a clinical trial, 74% were still alive and free of a recurrence three… read on > read on >
Nearly half of 12- to 17-year-olds in the United States have had at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, but the initial rush to get teens immunized has stalled, a new survey of parents shows. Only 1% of parents now plan to get their teen vaccinated as soon as possible; 13% said they’ll wait and see… read on > read on >
The world isn’t ready to prevent or deal with another pandemic because many nations aren’t taking the necessary steps to prepare for what is likely an inevitable future scenario, a new report shows. The Global Health Security (GHS) index — an assessment of preparedness for various health emergencies and problems — is produced by the… read on > read on >
U.S. operating rooms got busy once again soon after the first round of pandemic shutdowns, according to a study that challenges the widely held belief that operations have been curtailed indefinitely during the age of COVID-19. “It’s an untold story,” said senior study author Dr. Sherry Wren, a professor of general surgery at Stanford University… read on > read on >
Children with hard-to-control asthma may get relief from adding an injectable antibody drug to their standard treatment, a clinical trial has found. The drug, called dupilumab (Dupixent), has been available for several years to treat stubborn asthma in adults and teenagers. Based on the new findings, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently gave it… read on > read on >
What do all the microbes living rent-free in your gut have to do with disease risk? Perhaps a lot. A groundbreaking analysis of decades-old stool and blood samples from the early AIDS epidemic suggests that men who had high levels of inflammation-causing bacteria in their intestinal tract may have had a greater risk for contracting… read on > read on >
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday backed the emergency approval of Pfizer’s booster shots for Americans aged 16 and 17. The decision came shortly after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a third dose for that age group; boosters for those aged 18 and up were approved in November. “Although… read on > read on >
