Science Snippets
Here is a roundup of recent findings from scientists at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, home to one of the country’s largest pediatric research programs.
TB Testing Recommended for Internationally Adopted Kids
The International Adoption Center at Cincinnati Children’s is leading research to help families with internationally adopted children manage the risk they may face due to infectious diseases. One such disease is TB, which starts as a latent or dormant infection. At this point, the child has no symptoms and is not contagious. Years later the infection can become active TB and, if left untreated, can become contagious. The research findings strongly recommend testing once and repeating later to ensure that children with the infection are identified and treated while they are not ill or contagious so they can stay well.
Making Chemotherapy More Successful
Researchers at Cincinnati Children’s have found that the unique conditions that exist inside a person’s body may play a significant role in whether that person will develop one type of leukemia over another. In a recently published study, James Mulloy, PhD, and his research team showed that timing and where a cell is in the normal cycle of blood cell formation may play a larger role in determining the type of leukemia than previously thought. According to Dr. Mulloy, this research suggests that targeting cells at crucial stages during leukemia cell maturation could help make chemotherapy more successful and less toxic.
Time 2 Take UR Meds?
Teens’ text messaging may end up helping them manage their health care. Successful self-management of chronic illness by patients and their families is a major health challenge in pediatric medicine, according to Dennis Drotar, PhD, a psychologist at Cincinnati Children’s. He and fellow researchers are looking at everything from motivational science to digital technology to help patients and their families more effectively manage chronic conditions. One effort they’re working on is a text messaging pilot program, currently focused on asthma patients being treated at the medical center’s Teen Health Center. If new approaches work for asthma patients, they could also be effective for patients with other conditions.
