Children are disproportionately affected as genetic diseases typically manifest during childhood
A new pilot program aims to find answers and better treatments for children living with rare genetic conditions. The Undiagnosed Disease Program, launched in January, is a collaboration between the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute (WCHRI) and University of Alberta researchers from medical genetics and pediatric neurology to provide a diagnosis to patients in the…
New findings an important step toward developing potential new treatments for mental health disorders
A groundbreaking new study has shown that traumatic or stressful events in childhood may lead to tiny changes in key brain structures that can now be identified decades later. The study is the first to show that trauma or maltreatment during a child’s early years – a well-known risk factor for developing mental health conditions such as…
Federal Child Support Guidelines biased against men and need to be overhauled
If Christopher Sarlo is right, Canada’s Federal Child Support Guidelines are wrong. The economics professor at Nipissing University in North Bay, Ont., made an in-depth analysis of the guidelines and found them wanting. A 100-page examination leads him to one conclusion: the guidelines are biased against men and deserve an overhaul. Fights over money are…
When University of Alberta pediatric cardiologist Lori West was put in charge of the transplant program at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children in 1994, the situation was dire for newborns with bad hearts. Up until the first infant heart transplant in 1986, children born with certain kinds of heart malformations had a 100 per cent…
Timothy Caulfield suggests trying the following thought experiment. It’s far-fetched to be sure, but to test the “stranger danger” hypothesis – known to cause considerable anxiety among today’s parents – imagine placing your child alone on the street as bait for some shady character in a white van. How long would it take for that child…
We’re in the midst of both a COVID-19 pandemic and a childhood physical inactivity epidemic. That creates a dilemma for young athletes and their parents: Is the risk of playing organized sports during the pandemic greater than the risk of the negative physical and mental impacts of not playing? Young people need to move their…
Some of the earliest signs apparent quite early in life – for many children even by the first birthday
Medical researchers reliably predicted autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a large sample of at-risk children by identifying and tracking early behavioural signs at 12 months of age, according to study findings published Dec. 25 in Child Development. “This research really reinforces what parents have been telling us for so many years,” said principal investigator Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, pediatrician…
As a teacher, I have never worked with a bad child but I have seen a fair amount of bad behaviour
In the early 20th century, Edward Flanagan, the founder of Boys Town said, “There are no bad boys. There is only bad environment, bad training, bad example, bad thinking.” Modern research is proving Flanagan correct. According to York University researcher Stuart Shanker, children often misbehave due to the stress that they feel. If we remove or…
Discovery may help explain cases of sudden infant death syndrome
At the moment of birth, the essential role of delivering life-saving oxygen to the baby switches from mom and her placenta to the baby’s lungs and brain. That the timing of this happens so precisely is miraculous, but how it happens remains largely a mystery. New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, in…
More than one-third of kids who have COVID-19 are asymptomatic, according to a study that suggests youngsters diagnosed with the disease may represent just a fraction of those infected. “The concern from a public health perspective is that there is probably a lot of COVID-19 circulating in the community that people don’t even realize,” said Finlay…
A new pilot program aims to find answers and better treatments for children living with rare genetic conditions. The Undiagnosed Disease Program, launched in January, is a collaboration between the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute (WCHRI) and University of Alberta researchers from medical genetics and pediatric neurology to provide a diagnosis to patients in the…
