Below are some safety tips for families with children who plan to get away from the cold, dark days of winter and enjoy the sun. Sunny days mean children tend to be outdoors much more compared to the winter months. Increased exposure to direct sunlight does not only mean protecting one's skin and taking measures to prevent heatstroke and dehydration, but also protecting children's eyes...

Students who date in middle school have significantly worse study skills, are four times more likely to drop out of school and report twice as much alcohol, tobacco and marijuana use than their single classmates, according to new research from the University of Georgia...

Mindfulness is a form of meditation therapy focused on exercising 'attentiveness'. Depression is often rooted in a downward spiral of negative feelings and worries. Once a person learns to more quickly recognise these feelings and thoughts, he or she can intervene before depression sinks in...

Transplants of blood-forming stem cells from umbilical cord blood may be an effective alternative to transplants of matched donor bone marrow stem cells to treat children with a rare, debilitating disease known as Hurler's syndrome (HS), according to results of a study published online last week in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH)...

Both daughters and sons from divorced families are significantly more likely to initiate smoking in comparison to their peers from intact families, shows a new analysis of 19,000 Americans...

Transplants of blood-forming stem cells from umbilical cord blood may be an effective alternative to transplants of matched donor bone marrow stem cells to treat children with a rare, debilitating disease known as Hurler's syndrome (HS), according to results of a study published online in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH)...

Teens who were depressed as children are far more likely than their peers to be obese, smoke cigarettes and lead sedentary lives, even if they no longer suffer from depression. The research, by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Pittsburgh, suggests that depression, even in children, can increase the risk of heart problems later in life...

As success rates in treating childhood cancers have improved, greater emphasis is being placed on quality of life issues following successful treatment. Many cancer treatments can lead to infertility, but there are few methods to preserve the fertility of children who have not entered puberty...

College-age kids who don't consume at least three servings of dairy daily are three times more likely to develop metabolic syndrome than those who do, said a new University of Illinois study. "And only one in four young persons in the study was getting the recommended amount of dairy," said Margarita Teran-Garcia, a U of I professor of food science and human nutrition...

Sexting: Involves sending sexually explicit messages and/or photographs, primarily between mobile phones using the SMS system was first reported in 2005. It is an obvious portmanteau of "sex" and "texting"; the word was added to the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary in August 2012...

A virus that most people have probably never heard of, yet most of us carry, is the number one infectious cause of congenital birth defects. One in 750 children are born with, or develop, permanent disabilities such as hearing loss or brain damage as a result of CMV (cytomegalovirus) infection in the womb. Major research efforts are underway to combat this invidious disease...

A new research technique, pioneered by Dr. Maria Angela Franceschini, was published in JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments). Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School have developed a non-invasive optical measurement system to monitor neonatal brain activity via cerebral metabolism and blood flow...

Despite overwhelming evidence about the benefits of physical activity for children, most American youngsters are not meeting the federal recommendation of 60 minutes a day. A new study by a team of University of Tennessee researchers has identified specific ways - and estimated minutes for each approach - that can help children achieve the recommended daily physical activity goal...

A study by the University of Liverpool has found that celebrity endorsement of a food product encourages children to eat more of the endorsed product. It also found that children were prompted to eat more of the endorsed product when they saw the celebrity on TV in a different context...

New Study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine Reports A new study from the Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reports that sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are primarily responsible for higher caloric intakes of children that consume SSBs as compared to children that do not (on a given day)...

Students' intake of fruits and vegetables increased when states required schools to offer them at lunch, especially among teens who had only unhealthy snacks available at home Teens in states that required schools to offer fruits and vegetables as part of the meal program consumed more fruits and vegetables than those living in states with no such policies, according to a st...

According to New Study in Academic Pediatrics Overweight and obese children in low-income households can meet or exceed the Expert Committee Recommendations Regarding the Prevention, Assessment, and Treatment of Childhood and Adolescent Overweight and Obesity when given access to a structured weight management program, according to a new study published in Academic Pediatrics...

Researchers at the University of Southampton are planning to investigate tests for a breathing disorder that affects babies and children who have Down syndrome while they sleep. They aim to provide the missing evidence so that doctors can introduce affordable and simple routine screening...

La Jolla Institute and Cardiff University Discovery Aids Efforts Toward Cytomegalovirus Vaccine A virus most people probably have never heard of, but that the majority of us carry, is the No. 1 infectious cause of congenital birth defects in the U.S. today...

New research on household pesticide contamination emphasizes the need for less reliance on pesticides and more emphasis on neatness, blocking cracks where insects can enter and other so-called "integrated pest management" (IPM) measures, scientists have concluded. Their study appears in the ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology...