Research from the University of North Carolina has shown that children at risk of developing schizophrenia have brains that function differently than those not at risk. Brain scans of children who have parents or siblings with the illness reveal a neural circuitry that is hyperactivated or stressed by tasks that peers with no family history of the illness seem to handle with ease...

What is it about the extra chromosome inherited in Down syndrome - chromosome 21 - that alters brain and body development? Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) have new evidence that points to a protein called sorting nexin 27, or SNX27. SNX27 production is inhibited by a molecule encoded on chromosome 21...

Stem cells taken from amniotic fluid were used to restore gut structure and function following intestinal damage in rodents, in new research published in the journal Gut. The findings pave the way for a new form of cell therapy to reverse serious damage from inflammation in the intestines of babies...

Abused or neglected teenage girls become teen mothers at nearly five times the national rate of teen motherhood. A new Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center study, published in the eFirst pages of the journal Pediatrics, shows that teen childbirth rates are more than 20 percent for abused and neglected teens. This compares to the national teen childbirth rate of approximately 4 percent...

Researchers from the University of Alberta are leading a charge among Canada's obesity experts and calling on the federal government to ban food and beverage ads that target children. Kim Raine, a professor with the Centre for Health Promotion Studies in the School of Public Health at the U of A, says governments need to take action to stem the rising obesity epidemic...

Five year-olds who watch TV for 3 or more hours a day have an increasingly higher risk of developing antisocial behaviors, such as stealing or fighting, by the age of 7. However, the likelihood of this behavior is very small, according to the experts, who also found that the amount of time spent playing computer/electronic games had no affect on behavior...

Taking a long time to get pregnant may be associated with minor neurodevelopmental issues in the child, according to a new study published in Fetal & Neonatal Edition of Archives of Disease in Childhood...

The number of deaths among teenagers and young adults due to cancer in the UK has been cut in half since the 1970s, according to new data from Cancer Research UK. The number of deaths among children and young adults dropped from close to 580 annually in 1975-1977 to 300 in 2008-2010. The largest reduction was in young patients with leukemia...

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Ofsted have issued a recommendation to the UK government to make it compulsory that mental health services gather data about children who have parents or carers with mental health problems...

Many moms switch their babies to solid foods much earlier than they should. The finding, published in Pediatrics, came from a new report by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) which showed that over 40% of parents were giving solid foods to their infants before they were 4 months old...

A study at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) found that a surgical procedure known as the "docking technique" to repair a torn elbow ligament in teenage athletes yielded favorable results...

Researchers at King's College London have uncovered how the human ear is formed, giving clues as to why children are susceptible to infections such as glue ear. The work was funded by the UK Medical Research Council and published in the journal Science. It is estimated that one in five children around the age of two will be affected by glue ear, a build-up of fluid in the middle ear chamber...

When babies are deprived of oxygen before birth, brain damage and disorders such as cerebral palsy can occur. Extended cooling can prevent brain injuries, but this treatment is not always available in developing nations where advanced medical care is scarce...

Nearly 75 percent of commercial pre-packaged meals and savory snacks for toddlers are high in sodium, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2013 Scientific Sessions. In the first study to look at the sodium content in U.S...

Parents may plead, cajole or entice their children to try new foods, but some kids just won't budge. Now, new research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reveals that the reason these kids fear new foods has less to do with what's on their plate and more to do with their genes...

Regular family meals can greatly improve mental health among teenagers, regardless of whether they feel comfortable talking to their parents, according to new research published in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The research suggests that adolescents who have family meals are more trusting and generally more emotionally stable compared to those don't...

New research conducted in 10 European cities has estimated that 14% of chronic childhood asthma is due to exposure to traffic pollution near busy roads. The results are comparable to the burden associated with passive smoking: the World Health Organization estimates that between 4% and 18% of asthma cases in children are linked to passive smoking...

An obesity intervention taught by teen mentors in Appalachian elementary schools resulted in weight loss, lower blood pressure and healthy lifestyle changes among the younger students learning the curriculum, according to a new study. In contrast, children taught the same lessons by adults in a traditional classroom saw no changes in their health outcomes...

The number of kids starting to smoke has risen by 50,000 in just one year, new research suggests. Approximately 207,000 children ranging in age from 11 to 15 years began smoking in 2011, a significant increased from 157,000 in 2010, according to data from Cancer Research UK. Each day 570 kids are lighting up and becoming smokers for the first time...

Exposure to traffic pollution near busy roads can cause chronic asthma in kids. The finding came from a new study conducted in 10 European cities which found that traffic pollution is responsible for 14% of chronic childhood asthmas, showing a similar effect that passive smoking has on asthma...