Tag Archives: children

Girl dying of cystic fibrosis receives lung transplant

Sarah Murnaghan, the 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl dying of cystic fibrosis, is receiving her long-awaited lung transplant. According to a Facebook post from Sarah’s mother, Janet, the family received word this morning of new lungs that had been made available, and Sarah is currently in surgery.  The operation will take many hours. A spokeswoman from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where Sarah has been hospitalized, said they do not have any information to release. In the Facebook post, Janet said the family is overwhelmed with emotions, and she thanked everyone for their unending support.  She also asked her followers to pray for Sarah's donor. “Please pray for Sarah's donor, her HERO, who has given her the gift of life,” Janet Murnaghan wrote. “Today their family has experienced a tremendous loss, may God grant them a peace that surpasses understanding.” United States Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) released the following statement after being informed by the family of Sarah’s good news: “I am deeply grateful to the organ donor and his or her family for the potentially life-saving gift to Sarah. Now that a suitable donor has been found, a prayer would help, too - a prayer Sarah's body accepts the new organ the way doctors believe it can. The judge gave Sarah a chance to receive a new lung.  Now the surgical team at CHOP is giving her a chance at life.”   Sarah has been in desperate need of a lung transplant for the past 18 months.  She has been hospitalized at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for the past three months, where she has been on a ventilator. Under the current guidelines for organ donation, children under the age of 12 must wait for pediatric lungs to become available.  Adult lungs cannot be offered to children under 12, until they are offered to adults and adolescents first.   The Murnaghans have been in the midst of a legal battle over the established rules for organ donation after they filed a lawsuit last week to have the guidelines changed, arguing the rule keeping Sarah off the list was “discriminatory.” A federal court judge granted a temporary order on June 5 that allowed Sarah to join an adult organ transplant list. It is not yet clear whether Sarah’s donor is an adult or a child. Judge Michael Baylson made his ruling after hearing oral arguments on the case and had scheduled a preliminary injunction hearing for June 14. Baylson's order told Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to direct the group that manages the organ transplant list to cease application of it in Sarah's case. Secretary Sebelius declined to intervene in the case early last week, despite urgent pleas from several members of Congress from Pennsylvania. Sebelius said that such decisions should be made by medical experts and noted that there were three other children at Children's Hospital alone in the same condition. Over the weekend, Sarah's condition worsened, and she was intubated on Saturday after she experienced additional trouble breathing. The Associated Press contributed to this report.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/12/girl-dying-cystic-fibrosis-to-receive-lung-transplant-today/

Most childhood cancer survivors have health problems in adulthood

Nearly all childhood cancer survivors have at least one chronic health condition by the time they reach middle age, a new study suggests. In the study, 95 percent of childhood cancer survivors had a chronic health problem such as hearing loss, heart valve abnormalities, lung problems, memory problems or new cancers by age 45. (For comparison, about 38 percent of adults in the general population who are ages 35 to 64 have at least one chronic health condition). While some cancer survivors in the study had no symptoms from these problems, about 80 percent had a life-threatening, serious or disabling condition, the study found. Considering that participants in the study were relatively young (the average age was 32), the prevalence of disorders typically associated with old age was particularly striking, researchers said. Those disorders include cataracts (15 percent), nerve pain (20 percent) and cognitive impairment (35 percent). These findings suggest that in some cases, cancer treatment may accelerate aging, the researchers said. The findings underscore the need for doctors to monitor childhood cancer survivors for conditions that could cause significant health problems if not detected early, the researchers said. Physicians should check for new cancers, heart disease and additional problems that can be improved with treatment, such as vision deficits. Childhood cancer survivors should be aware of the treatment they had when they were younger so that their doctors can order appropriate screening tests, said study researcher Kirsten Ness, of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. Some survivors may be able to reduce their risk of certain health conditions. For instance, cancer survivors who are at risk for high blood pressure or blood fat levels may be able to reduce their risk of these conditions by following a healthy lifestyle (eating healthy foods, exercising and not smoking), Ness said. Childhood cancer, adult health Some cancer treatments may increase the risk of adult health problems because the treatments damage normal tissue in addition to cancer cells, Ness said. Most previous studies of childhood cancer survivors asked participants about their health problems, but did not evaluate them with a medical exam. These studies thus likely underestimated the prevalence of chronic conditions. In the new study, 1,713 childhood cancer survivors underwent a battery of medical tests such as measurements of blood pressure, blood glucose levels, resting heart rate, heart electrical activity and thyroid function. Some participants, who were considered “at risk” for certain conditions because of the type of cancer treatment they had received in childhood, were also screened with more specific tests, such as mammograms to detect breast cancer among women who underwent chest radiation. In these “at risk” survivors, lung problems were diagnosed in 65 percent of patients, hormone problems involving the hypothalamus and pituitary gland were diagnosed in 61 percent, heart abnormalities were diagnosed in 56 percent, and cognitive impairment, including memory problems, was diagnosed in 48 percent. Participants were survivors of childhood leukemia, lymphoma and tumors of the brain, bone and other organs. Future research Not all of the health problems detected by the tests were noticeable in everyday life. For instance, although tests showed that leukemia survivors who had received radiation experienced impaired memory, their ability to hold a job and carry out daily activities was not affected. Future research will be needed to examine how this problem, and other problems that don't show symptoms, progress over time, the researchers said. Additional studies should attempt to determine which factors predispose childhood cancer survivors to the conditions seen in the study, the researchers said. The study was published June 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/11/most-childhood-cancer-survivors-have-health-problems-in-adulthood/

Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar hopes to slay pertussis through vaccine awareness

While slaying vampires and saving the world may be her area of expertise, television and movie star Sarah Michelle Gellar said she was slightly overwhelmed when she had to tackle a subject she previously knew little about: children’s health care. Gellar is a mother to 3-year-old daughter Charlotte and son Rocky, who was born in September, and she said keeping them healthy has been one of the trickiest aspects of being a parent. “Someone told me when they start pre-school, they’ll be sick within the first six months,” said Gellar, who is famous for portraying Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the cult TV series of the same name.  “And sure enough, when my daughter started pre-school, she was sick for pretty much six months straight.  I thought that I would have a chair at the pediatrician’s office with my name on it, I had been there so much.” One daunting task for Gellar was delving into the world of childhood vaccinations and trying to understand the safest and most effective options for her kids.  Now having learned about the health dangers that face small children, Gellar has made it a priority to get her entire family vaccinated against pertussis – a serious illness, also known as whooping cough, that has been on the rise in the United States. While her family’s health is her chief concern, Gellar also wants others to follow her example.  Hoping to raise awareness about the importance of getting vaccinated, Gellar has teamed up with the Sounds of Pertussis Campaign, a crusade launched by Sanofi Pasteur and the March of Dimes that focuses on the dangers of pertussis and what parents can do to prevent their children from getting this potentially deadly disease. “I’m just like everyone else out there,” Gellar said.  “I’m a mom trying to keep my kids healthy, but I also have access to so much information that I can then go through it all and make it easier for people to understand.  You’re talking about an illness that doesn’t have to exist.  The only way to help fight against it is to get the vaccine, and that’s a simple way.” A serious respiratory illness, pertussis presents in infants and children like a common cold, with symptoms of a runny nose or congestion and sneezing.  But if left untreated, the disease can progress into severe coughing that forces air out of the lungs – causing pertussis sufferers to inhale with a large “whooping” sound.   According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, America is experiencing one of the largest outbreaks of pertussis cases within the past 50 years, with more than 41,000 cases and 18 deaths reported in 2012.  Infants younger than 1 year of age are particularly vulnerable to the outbreak, since they do not begin receiving their own vaccinations until they are 2 months old, and they aren’t fully protected from the disease until they have received at least three doses.  This danger is compounded by the fact that infants with pertussis are often in need of hospitalization, and some can go on to develop life threatening pneumonia.   Gellar said this is why it is just as important for parents and teenagers to stay up-to-date on their vaccines in order to eliminate the possibility of passing pertussis on to small babies. “You look at the statistics, and they can track it back,” Gellar said.  “Eighty percent of the children who came down with it, they can track it back to a family member that brought it in, and 50 percent were the actual parents.  I know there’s nothing worse as a new parent than you thinking that you got your child sick…It’s a simple vaccination for an adult to get every five years, and that’s it.  It’s the only safe way to prevent the child from getting the disease.” To help families keep track of their necessary vaccinations, the Sounds of Pertussis campaign has created a Facebook application called The Breathing Room, which shows which individuals among a person’s friends and family have pledged to get vaccinated. As for the concerns that some parents have regarding the safety of vaccines, Gellar said it is important for people to do the necessary research and talk with the right people before making any judgments.  Gellar, along with many health care professionals, maintain there are minimal side effects when it comes to getting the shot. “I think there’s a lot of misinformation out there about vaccines,” Gellar said.  “People are scared, and I think that if you can bring (information) in a way that people understand the importance, and how simple it actually is, I think people will be more prone to do it.” To learn more about getting vaccinated against pertussis, visit the Sounds of Pertussis website and the campaign’s Facebook page.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/11/buffy-star-sarah-michelle-gellar-hopes-to-slay-pertussis-through-vaccine/

Dr. Manny: FDA loss of control on Plan B not surprising

I told you so - the government is bamboozling us about Plan B. The Obama administration announced on Monday that it will now allow girls and women of all ages to purchase the Plan B pill without a prescription. This is exactly what I have been warning the American public about. I am now totally convinced that our current federal government loves confusion. When you have a single agenda, and many ways to spin it, the American public never gets a clear answer and that is exactly what has happened with the Plan B emergency contraception controversy. Just last week, a U.S. appeals court ruled that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must make only certain forms of the emergency contraception pill available to children of all ages, without a prescription.  In a confusing ruling, the court stated that while the two-pill version of emergency contraception could be sold over-the-counter to women of all ages, the one-pill version would still only be sold to women age 17 or older. The court did not explain its reasoning. One has to remember that the FDA first approved this form of over-the-counter contraception for women of all ages back in 2011. When that initial FDA ruling came out, there was a loud public outcry and restrictions were quickly put in place barring women under the age of 17 from purchasing these pills. But of course, that was just one spin on the story. In April, a New York judge ruled that restricting access to Plan B was inappropriate, forcing the FDA to reconsider their initial finding that emergency contraception should be available to children of all ages. And then, we got another spin on the story, as the FDA tried to lower the age limit for access to emergency contraception to 15 last month. There was another outcry and more criticism, because we know perfectly well that a 15-year-old may not have a clear understanding of how to utilize emergency contraception. Now, we see that the FDA will get to do what they wanted to do in the first place. How convenient. So, what’s the message here?

Swap out soda to take control of your teeth

Soda, we’ve long been told, is bad for us. Various studies have linked significant soda consumption with alarming health concerns, such as an increased risk of having a stroke, getting certain cancers, and being one of the main causes for this country’s obesity epidemic. Yet countless people around the world consume soda on a near-daily basis, often multiple times a day. It seems as much an addiction as anything else, only perfectly legal, freely available, and comparatively cheap. Its most recent bout of bad press indicated that regular diet soda consumption does as much damage to the teeth as years of smoking crystal meth or crack cocaine. Though it is free of sugar, diet soda is highly acidic, and acid wears away at teeth’s protective enamel layer, leaving your pearly whites more prone to cavities, cracks or discoloration.   The case study comparing soda drinking to hard drug use only used three test subjects, and the results were not terribly conclusive.  However, it raises the question of how what we eat or drink affects our teeth; how the health of our teeth affects the rest of the body; and the most natural options for oral hygiene care. As your dentist (and mom) probably always told you, sugary, starchy foods and beverages cause tooth decay. This covers a large part of the food spectrum that is unhealthy in other ways, too. Sugary, starchy foods and beverages can lead to weight gain, diabetes and heart disease. Fill your mouth and your tummy with calcium-rich foods like organic dark leafy greens, yogurt, or soybeans.  Studies have shown that calcium re-mineralizes damaged teeth, as does phosphorous. You can find the latter in broccoli, garlic, nuts and beans. Coincidentally, all of these foods are great for the rest of your body, providing hefty amounts of vitamins, probiotics and antioxidants that fight and prevent disease. Poor oral hygiene affects the rest of your body as well, as bacterial infections generated in the mouth can spread to other parts of your body, like your heart. According to the Mayo Clinic, research also suggests that heart disease, clogged arteries and stroke might be linked to inflammation caused by oral bacteria. Additionally, people who have gum disease appear to have a harder time controlling their blood sugar levels, which can lead to diabetes. Those looking to take control of their teeth can try implementing a holistic approach to oral care. Natural health expert Dr. Joseph Mercola recommends a wholesome diet of unprocessed, low-sugar, organic foods to start. As for toothpaste, there has long been a debate over the safety and efficacy of fluoride, a chemical added to toothpaste, mouthwash, and floss to strengthen teeth and prevent cavities.  It is often added to city and community water supplies for the same purpose. But even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notes that excessive exposure to fluoride may increase the likelihood of bone fracture in adults or cause “pits” to develop in the tooth enamel of children.  If you’re concerned about fluoride’s possible health implications, opt for fluoride-free toothpaste or those with the cavity-fighter xylitol, which are easier than ever to locate.  Many types of toothpaste also contain chemical sweeteners like sorbitol and saccharin; look for those made instead with natural sugar substitutes like stevia or xylitol. We spend so much time and energy thinking about the health of our hearts, lungs, brains, bones and other more obvious body parts. Spend a little more time thinking about your teeth, and chances are you’ll feel better everywhere else, too. Note: Information provided herein is not intended to treat or diagnose any health condition. As always, consult your health care provider with any questions or health concerns.Deirdre Imus, Founder of the site devoted to environmental health, dienviro.org, is President and Founder of The Deirdre Imus Environmental Health Center™ at Hackensack & University Medical Center and Co-Founder/Co-Director of the Imus Cattle Ranch for Kids with Cancer. She is a New York Times best-selling author and a frequent contributor to FoxNewsHealth.com, and Fox Business Channel. Check out her website at dienviro.org. 'Like' her Facebook page& here.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/10/swap-out-soda-to-take-control-your-teeth/

MRI detects early effects of chemotherapy on children’s hearts

Chemotherapy with anthracyclines, such as Doxorubicin, is one of the most effective treatments against many types of cancer, including leukaemia and Hodgkin’s lymphoma, breast, lung, and ovarian cancer. However it can also lead to irreversible heart damage, which may not be apparent until several years after treatment. Being able to detect this damage at an early stage, in order to initiate preventative therapy of affected people, is especially important in children. Researchers from University of Alberta performed MRI scans on children and young adults (aged 7 to 19) at the Stollery Children’s Hospital who were in remission following anthracycline treatment…

Skipping shots at sick visits tied to vaccine delays

Kids who don't get vaccines when they see their pediatrician for a sick visit - despite being due for the shots - are more likely to fall behind on immunizations and routine check-ups, according to a new study. “It's pretty common that kids will come in (for a sick visit) at a time when they should be getting their shots,” said Steve Robison, the study's author and a researcher at the Oregon Immunization Program, part of the state's health department. Sometimes babies end up skipping those shots, perhaps because parents are concerned they could make a sick baby feel worse or doctors are worried that parents won't come back for a well-baby check-up if infants are already caught up on vaccines. “The challenge is, if they come in sick, are they going to come back and get shots and well-baby visits in a timely way?” Robison said. His findings suggest those babies end up worse off if doctors forgo shots until they're better. “It's very clear that vaccinating at sick visits improves the vaccination rate,” said Dr. Alexander Fiks, a pediatrician at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who was not part of this study. “For parents, what I would say is, don't be afraid to get vaccines at sick visits because, for most kids with minor illnesses, it's really no problem. Medically, it's fine,” he added. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that babies receive at least 16 vaccine doses during their first six months. Those are spread across well-child visits. In an earlier study, Robison and his colleagues found a growing number of parents in Oregon are not sticking to the recommended vaccine schedule - so kids end up getting their shots late or not at all. This time, Robison looked at the immunization records of 1,060 children who went to the doctor for an ear infection around the time when a well-baby check-up should occur. All of the children had state-funded health insurance. About 8 percent of the sick babies received a diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP) vaccine at the sick visit itself, and another 57 percent had one within a few weeks. The others were late on their shots. Fiks said the findings support the results of other studies showing that when doctors skip shots at sick visits, kids are more likely to end up not following the immunization schedule. What's more, giving shots at sick visits did not seem to stop parents from bringing their baby back for well-child visits. Compared to babies who received their immunizations at routine check-ups, those who had their shots at sick visits had just as many well-baby visits by age two - about five, on average. And kids who skipped the shot at their sick visit, but had another visit within a few weeks, ended up receiving more routine check-ups compared to similar normally-vaccinated children, Robison reported in the medical journal Pediatrics. On the other hand, kids who didn't get a shot at the sick visit or within four weeks had slightly fewer routine visits over their first two years. Increasingly, children are becoming “under-vaccinated,” researchers said. A study earlier this year found that half of some 300,000 kids born between 2004 and 2008 had fallen behind on their immunizations at some point before age 2. The concern is that those children are vulnerable to the diseases that vaccines are designed to prevent. “The more kids within a given classroom who are unprotected, the more likely it is for there to be an outbreak,” said Fiks. The researchers agreed that a minor illness is not a reason to fall behind on routine shots. “If you want to keep the kids on schedule so that they're protected from disease, it's best to give the shot,” Robison said.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/06/skipping-shots-at-sick-visits-tied-to-vaccine-delays/

More research needed on anesthesia’s impact on brain, study shows

Surgical anesthesia’s impact on the brain has long been debated, and even anesthesiologists have admitted the effects of these drugs on humans is not clearly understood. “Anesthetics have been somewhat of an enigma; nobody knows how they really work, and we basically use them in thousands of patients every day,” study author Dr. Andreas Loepke, a physician and researcher in the department of anesthesiology at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, told FoxNews.com. Concerns have been raised among anesthesiologists like Loepke over previous research indicating that exposure to anesthesia may increase the rate of cell death in the brains of young animals. And now, a new study in mice published in Annals of Neurology indicates that anesthesia seems to kill off younger neurons more often than older neurons – regardless of the age of the animal.  Researchers have not yet studied the impact of anesthesia on human brain cells. “You can’t section a human brain,” Loepke said. “…But if it were occurring in humans, we would predict that anesthetics affect neurons in patients of all ages.” Loepke and his colleagues examined the rates of cell death in the brains of mice exposed to anesthesia for six hours. They focused particularly on the dentate gyrus region of the brain, which helps control learning and memory. “We found something very interesting, in that cell death occurred in the spot where the dentate gyrus forms new neurons,” Loepke said. The root cause and impact of anesthesia-related cell death is unknown, and the study’s authors said more research needs to be done.   “During development, (we) form twice as many neurons as we need as an adult. The brain needs to be pruned back to properly function,” Loepke said. “So it’s currently unknown whether anesthesia kills neurons that would have been eliminated anyways from the brain or neurons later needed for vital function.”   Loepke added that human studies of older adults have indicated that some people do experience memory problems after undergoing anesthesia, which can be short-term or long-term.  Whether this is caused by anesthesia or by the body’s reaction to pain or surgery remains unclear. “The need for surgery could be a marker for these problems occurring – (or the) inflammatory response to the body from the surgery. These have all been found to alter neurons,” Loepke said. Loepke and his colleagues hope to go on to study the effect of anesthesia in humans using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. But until more research is done, Loepke urged people not to worry too much. “Patients need to make sure they get the surgery they need, because putting off the surgery could put you at more risk (than the anesthesia),” Loepke said.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/05/more-research-needed-on-anesthesias-impact-on-brain-study-shows/

Company sells breast milk flavored lollipops

Mothers looking to give their children a unique, yet familiar, candy treat are in luck.  A lollipop company based in Austin, Texas called Lollyphile is offering new Breast Milk Lollipops, meant to mimic the flavor of a mother’s milk. According to Lollyphile’s website, numerous mothers shared their breast milk with the company’s “flavor specialists,” until they were able to turn the flavor into a candy. “I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, but it seems like all of my friends are having babies these days,” Jason Darling, the owner of Lollyphile, said in a statement. “Sure, the kids are all crazy cute, but what slowly dawned on me was that my friends were actually producing milk so delicious it could turn a screaming, furious child into a docile, contented one. I knew I had to capture that flavor.” Lollyphile maintains that the lollipops do not contain any actual breast milk, joking that it would require “armies of pumping women.”  Other eccentric lollipops available from Lollyphile include Absinthe Lollipops and Chocolate Bacon Lollipops. “Any company can make up nostalgic flavors,” said Darling of the breast milk lollies. “We'd like to think that we're tapping into a flavor our customers loved before they even knew how to think.” For more information on Lollyphile, visit their website.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/04/company-sells-breast-milk-flavored-lollipops/