Kids

According to press reports, there has been an increase in monkeypox infections among youngsters in the United States. More than 11 states and jurisdictions have recorded pediatric cases, according to ABC News. According to officials speaking to the news agency, at least 31 youngsters have tested positive for monkeypox.

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, the state has nine pediatric cases. The virus has also infected three children under the age of four, according to the Florida Department of Health. These kids are from Brevard, Martin, and Monroe counties.

Monkeypox affecting US most

The United States is now the most affected country, with total monkeypox cases approaching 20,000. Earlier in July, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a warning based on preliminary findings indicating children under the age of eight can suffer serious sickness if infected with monkeypox.

According to the CDC, there are 18,989 instances of monkeypox and orthopoxvirus across the country. Monkeypox cases have been documented in all 50 states. With 3,310 and 3,629 instances, respectively, New York and California had the largest number of recorded cases.

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Despite the fact that the vaccine programme intended to serve all populations, the centres were largely located in affluent districts, and vaccination rates were likewise high in wealthy, white neighbourhoods.

Hispanic Americans are another group that has experienced vaccination disparity. Hispanic Americans account for 32% of the cases, but the majority were unable to vaccinate themselves because the CDC was unable to reach the most susceptible in time.

Chicago, Washington, and New York City, among other large cities, neglected to reach out to vulnerable communities.

Children with Down syndrome like greasy, crispy meals and detest brittle or sticky foods, according to a research. These decisions might, however, lead to a less healthful diet.

The Journal of Texture Studies reported the outcome. According to Carolyn Ross, a professor at the School of Food Science at Washington State University, “Children with Down syndrome especially like delicacies like Pirate’s Booty and puffed corn.” “These foods don’t have a lot of nutrients, but they dissolve easily, which is a great benefit for the kids. Making nutrient-dense meals with those qualities is now the difficult part.”

The study investigated the preferred and disliked food textures of children with Down syndrome and compared these preferences to those of ordinarily developing kids.

Around 5,100 kids in the United States are born each year with Down syndrome, a genetic disorder brought on by a complete or partial extra copy of chromosome 21. Impairments in eating and swallowing are frequent and a major indicator of higher mortality in those people.

Children with Down syndrome don’t eat as much as kids who are usually developing, but no one has looked into whether food textures play a role in this. According to Ross, this research may assist doctors, parents, and other caregivers in deciding what foods their children will consume while, ideally, encouraging food producers to design their goods to meet the particular demands of this demographic.

Ross remarked that there was a significant study gap in this area. “You can go down a rabbit hole of knowledge online and find a lot of anecdotal anecdotes. However, research like these helps lessen choking incidents by letting parents and medical professionals know what these kids are most likely to consume. If we can give those items some nutritious value, that will truly benefit a lot of people.”

Children with Down Syndrome

People with Down syndrome frequently choke because they may not chew their food well or “pack” it, overfilling their mouths and cheeks without swallowing.

More so than typically developing children, children with Down syndrome experience a number of health complications, such as difficulties eating and swallowing, as well as sensitivity to certain food textures. Ross aims to make it easier for kids with Down syndrome to consume more wholesome foods and get used to novel textures.

We want to educate people on the preferred food textures for children with Down syndrome and how to transition them from pureed foods to more nutrient-dense, texturally complex foods, according to Ross.

218 kids between the ages of 11 and 18 in 30 states received boxes containing 16 commercially available types of food thanks to Ross and her team. 111 of those boxes went to kids with Down syndrome, while the remaining ones went to a control group of kids who are usually developing.

To make sure that flavour wasn’t the basis for a texture preference, the boxes contained four items in each of four distinct texture groups. Before sending the boxes, the study team asked parents which flavours they didn’t enjoy so that such goods wouldn’t be included. To ensure that enjoyment wasn’t the result of novelty, all of the study participants consumed one of each item each day for a week.

The parents afterwards sent the recordings of their kids interacting with and consuming each food item to the research team.

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The largest home-use test with children with Down syndrome that we are aware of, according to Ross, “we coded a lot of data.” Additionally, research revealed a significant distinction in texture preferences between kids with and without Down syndrome.

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A new thorough study of previous studies on the topic issued a clear warning that children are expected to bear the brunt of the increasing health impacts of rising global temperatures due to record levels of obesity and physical inactivity.

The research lead by Dr Shawnda Morrison, an environmental exercise physiologist, believes that while physical fitness is crucial to managing rising temperatures, children are more fat and less fit than ever before and her findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Temperature. This may increase their risk of heat-related health concerns such as dehydration, heat cramps, heat exhaustion, or heat stroke.

She says that current climate change policies fail to adequately address child health needs and that encouraging children to make exercise part of their everyday lives must be prioritised if they are to cope with living in a hotter world.

From Slovenia’s University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Sport, Dr Morrison is an expert in adaptive and integrative human physiology in extreme environments. She has over 20 years’ experience investigating sport performance and exercise physiology, especially in hot environments.

Her assessments are based on a comprehensive review of more than 150 medical and scientific studies into how children maintain physical activity, exercise, cope with heat, and how this might change as global temperatures rise.

The research she highlights includes a study of 457 primary school 5-12 year old boys in Thailand, which found that overweight youngsters were more than twice as likely to have difficulty regulating their body temperature as those of normal weight when exercising outdoors.

In another study, data from emergency departments at children’s hospitals in the US, found attendance was higher during hotter days. Younger children were particularly likely to need emergency care.

The research has also found:

Children’s aerobic fitness is 30% lower than that of their parents at the same age.

There are rapid declines in child physically activity globally, especially over the last 30 years
Most children are not meeting the World Health Organization’s guideline of performing an average of at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day.

Physical inactivity was accelerated, especially in Europe, during the Covid-19 pandemic when schools and other societal infrastructures were closed.

Rising temperatures could restrict physical activity further when parents of children perceive outdoor temperatures to be ‘too hot to play’, making it more uncomfortable for untrained or unfit children to meet the minimum physical activity levels to stay healthy, says Dr Morrison, who is also the Founder of Active Healthy Kids Slovenia.

Higher temperatures and changes in weather patterns are projected to also lead to outbreaks of new diseases entering the human population. If there are more movement restrictions put in place to contain novel diseases, this will have potentially devastating consequences to children’s physical fitness, mental and physical health.

Dr Morrison also points out that, in terms of thermoregulation – how the body maintains its internal, or core, temperature – young children are not simply smaller adults. When exposed to the heat, children sweat less than adults; they lose heat by increasing blood flow to their skin – a process which can require the heart to work relatively harder.

Despite these differences, most of the research into how the body adapts to higher temperatures has been carried out on adults. The little mechanistic research done in children has mostly been conducted 15-30 years ago, when children’s fitness levels were much higher than they are today.

Dr Morrison concludes: “Fitter adults are better able to tolerate higher temperatures, due to a combination of physiological, behavioural and psychological factors.

“Yet, as the world warms, children are the least fit they have ever been. It is imperative that children are encouraged to do daily physical activity to build up, and maintain, their fitness, so that they enjoy moving their bodies and it doesn’t feel like ‘work’ or ‘a chore’ to them.”

Activities can be a combination of structured games, such as football, basketball and baseball, and active play with friends and family, preferably taking place outdoors.

Physical education (PE) lessons taught by PE teachers are the best and most cost-effective way to increase fitness levels and equip children to continue exercising throughout their lives. Families have a role to play, too, especially if schools offer little PE.

Dr Morrison says: “Do what you love to do, whether it’s a family bike ride or rollerblade, a stroll through the woods or walking the dog.

“Make sure the activity raises everyone’s heart rate, enthusiasm, and positive energy and importantly, try not to completely avoid the heat but choose times of the day that are less hot (mornings/evenings) to keep active, since we need to keep ourselves moving in this new warming world.”

According to a recent study, the Covid-19 epidemic had a significant influence on children’s mental health, as many paediatric patients who experienced headaches during the pandemic reported more frequent pain and greater anxiety.

The findings, published in the Journal of Child Neurology, demonstrated that elevated stress caused by disruptions in daily life, social distancing practises, and anxiety about the threat of illness to oneself and others caused by the pandemic impacted the quality of life for children with headache disorders.

“These findings are really impactful to me as a physician and a parent. It is important we gain a better understanding about how stress and changes in routine affect children’s wellbeing and mood,” says lead author Marc DiSabella, D.O., director of the Headache Program at Children’s National Hospital. “Things like moving to a virtual environment may have resulted in feelings of isolation and anxiety for kids, and increased screen time may have played a role in more frequent headaches.”

Migraine and other headache diseases are quite frequent in children and teenagers. From summer 2020 to winter 2021, 107 patients completed a questionnaire assessing changes in headache features and lifestyle variables from the onset of the epidemic. The survey discovered:

– Pre-pandemic, 60% of patients reported having headaches less than 15 days of the month. After the start of the pandemic, that number dropped to 50%.
– Patients reporting constant daily headaches went from 22% pre-pandemic to 36% after the start of the pandemic.
– 49% of patients reported their headaches had worsened since the onset of the pandemic.
– 54% of patients reported that their physical activity levels decreased because of the pandemic.
– When asked about screen use during the pandemic, 61% of patients reported using screens for more than six hours a day.
The authors of the study note that whether or not increased screen time worsens headaches has not yet been clearly established; however, patients and families routinely cite screen use as a headache trigger. Lack of physical exercise is also often cited as a migraine trigger.

“Having a headache every day, all the time, with no break in site, is really frustrating to children and their parents,” Dr. DiSabella adds. “They just want to be a normal child yet have no control over when the pain increases, and they suddenly are unable to do simple activities like reading a book or seeing friends, which adds to the uncertainty of their future.”

Participants also reported worsened anxiety, mood and workload. According to the authors, this is likely to affect headache patients given their elevated rates of anxiety and depression.

“We already know that patients with headache disorders have disproportionately high rates of mood complaints, including anxious and depressive symptoms,” Dr. DiSabella says. “The fact that our patients reported this worsened during quarantine is an additional stress on their already complex lives, managing pain, school and extra-curricular activities.”

While the study’s sample size and observational methodology have limitations, future population-based research will shed more light on the impact of this epidemic on children who suffer from headaches. In the meanwhile, Dr. DiSabella suggests that parents discuss with their children how the epidemic has affected their headaches and mood. He also suggests providing assistance to youngsters, either at home or through a professional educated in child psychology.

According to new research, differences in the development, weight, and body fat levels of children produced through reproductive therapy are minor and disappear by late adolescence. The study attempted to answer concerns about the effects of reproductive therapy on growth, weight, and body fat from infancy through early adulthood.

Since the first in vitro fertilisation (IVF) birth, concerns have been raised concerning the hazards to infants created in this manner. While prior research has linked assisted reproductive technology (ART) to an increased risk of low birthweight and premature birth, less is known regarding long-term development and weight gain.

The study, coordinated by an international research team from the Assisted Reproductive Technology and Future Health (ART-Health) Cohort Collaboration, looked at whether conception by ART, which mostly involves IVF, was linked to growth, weight, and body fat from infancy to early adulthood.

The data sample comprised 8,600 children from Bristol’s Children of the 90s research, a world-leading health study located in Bristol that has followed 14,000 pregnant women and their kids since 1991 and used data on 158,000 European, Asian-Pacific, and Canadian children conceived through ART.

According to the team’s results, children created with ART were shorter, lighter, and thinner on average from infancy to early adolescence when compared to their normally conceived contemporaries. However, the disparities were minor across all groups and diminished with age.

Dr Ahmed Elhakeem, Senior Research Associate in Epidemiology in Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences (PHS) at the University of Bristol, and lead study author, said: “This is important work. Over the last three decades conception by ART has increased. In the UK just over one in 30 children have been conceived by ART, so we would expect on average one child in each primary school class to have been conceived this way. Since the first birth of a child by IVF, concerns have been raised about the risks to the children conceived.

“Parents and their children conceived by ART can be reassured that this might mean they are a little bit smaller and lighter from infancy to adolescence, but these differences are unlikely to have any health implications. We acknowledge it is important that as more people conceived by ART become adults, we continue to explore any potential health risks at older age.”

Deborah Lawlor, Professor of Epidemiology, MRC Investigator and British Heart Foundation Chair and senior author from Bristol Medical School PHS, added: “This important research is only possible through large scale international collaboration and longitudinal health studies, where participants contribute health data throughout their entire lives. We are particularly grateful to the European Research Council and Horizon 2020 for making this possible and to all of the study participants and researchers.”

Peter Thompson, Chief Executive, The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), said: “Around 1 in 7 couples have difficulty conceiving in the UK which leads to around 53,000 patients a year having fertility treatment (IVF or Donor Insemination). The findings from this study will come as a welcome relief to these patients who begin treatment in the hope of one day having healthy children of their own.

“Health outcomes in children conceived using Assisted Reproductive Technology is a high priority for the HFEA and we monitor the latest research and provide information for patients and professionals. Anyone considering fertility treatment can access this, and other high-quality impartial information on fertility treatments and UK licenced clinics at www.hfea.gov.uk.”

Larger sample sizes at later ages are increasingly required in studies. Other outcomes, like as cardiometabolic risk factors after ART, deserve more exploration. The study’s cooperative network will assist future research into health outcomes following ART.

Researchers have shown that when our brain is exposed to the social or emotional stimuli depicted in a specific film, it reacts differently from infancy to maturity.

Throughout the first 20 years of life, there are significant changes in our capacity to detect and recall the world around us. Although it is well acknowledged that older children and adults are better able to comprehend and analyse their environment and foresee future events, the alterations in brain activity that underlie this phase of knowledge acquisition are not entirely understood. According to the primary author, Samantha S. Cohen, Postdoctoral Scientist, Department of Psychology, Columbia University, US, “In adults, viewing a movie produces synchronised brain responses across different persons, reflecting how they perceive, comprehend, and remember the movie.”

There is little knowledge of how internal representations of complex narrative stimuli emerge with age, enabling us to comprehend predictable and naturalistic events in the world, such as the plot of a Hollywood film, despite the fact that many studies have examined changes in knowledge during development.

Because there are no models that can anticipate how the entire brain will react to these kinds of stimuli, analysing how the brain reacts to complicated stories or movies is difficult. Inter-subject correlation (ISC), which assesses the similarity of brain responses in a particular area of the brain among moviegoers, is an alternative, model-free method.

Children and young adults saw a brief video animation comprising both social and emotional learning, and the researchers used a sizable publicly accessible dataset of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans taken during that time.

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They assessed the ISC for kids in the same age range as one another as well as for kids of different ages for the youngest (5-8 years) and oldest (16-19 years) age groups.

They discovered that whereas brain reactions to the film are often constant across kids of the same age, as kids get older and become young adults, these reactions alter. Brain areas that track coarse narrative information are no longer employed to internally recognise events in stories; instead, those regions are now used to internally recognise sensory details and the mental states of the characters.

Comparing how children and adults notice and interpret the major events that make up a story is one technique to research how children and adults respond to tales.

Children and adults were asked to indicate in the tale where they thought there were significant scene shifts. Children as young as seven split up the plot in the same way that adults did, but older kids’ brains were better able to foresee what will happen next in a movie. Surprisingly, younger children responded more strongly to the story’s transitions between events in the hippocampus, a region crucial for memory formation. This might be because they are still developing their knowledge of how the world works.

According to a lead author Christopher Baldassano’s findings, “brain reactions to tales do not just get more synchronised among children as they develop, but rather alter in dynamics and timing to become more adult-like.

“Moreover, the study provides the groundwork for assessing how children acquire schematic knowledge about the world and learn how to deploy that knowledge at the appropriate time.”

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