• share
• favorite_border

Results from a clinical trial of eteplirsen, a drug designed to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy, suggest that the therapy allows participants to walk farther than people treated with placebo and dramatically increases production of a protein vital to muscle growth and health. The study, led by a team in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, is the first of its kind to show these results from an exon-skipping drug—a class of therapeutics that allows cells to skip over missing parts of the gene and produce protein naturally.

• share
• favorite_border

In a recent study published in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, researchers from the Center for Injury Research and Policy in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that pediatric trauma patients with preexisting chronic conditions have longer hospital stays, higher hospital charges and an increased mortality risk.

• share
• favorite_border

A group of pediatric surgeons at hospitals around the country have designed a system to collect and analyze data on surgical outcomes in children – the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) is the first national database able to reliably compare outcomes among different hospitals where children’s surgery is performed. The effort could dramatically improve surgical outcomes in children, say the initiative’s leaders, who published their findings online August 5, 2013 in the journal, Pediatrics.

• share
• favorite_border

Choking is a leading cause of injury among children, especially for children 4 years of age and younger. A new study by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined nonfatal food-related choking among children 14 years of age or younger from 2001through 2009.

• share
• favorite_border

“Whole Person,” Family-Centered Conference Focused on Strengths to Address the Individual’s and the Family’s Needs on July 26, 2013 – July 27, 2013 at The Hilton Columbus at Easton.

• share
• favorite_border

Most of the time, it takes decades of accumulating genetic errors for a tumor to develop. While this explains the general occurrence of cancer in adults, it leaves a gap in understanding of the cause of pediatric tumors.

• share
• favorite_border

Nationwide Children’s Hospital was named one of the most wired hospitals in the country in Hospitals and Health Network’s 2013 Most Wired list. This prestigious list includes more than 250 hospitals around the country who have proven to be leaders in healthcare information technology. Nationwide Children’s was one of only thirteen children’s hospitals in the country to earn a spot on this list.

• share
• favorite_border

Nanofiber Solutions, LLC, in collaboration with Gail E. Besner, MD, chief of Pediatric Surgery, program director of the Residency in Pediatric Surgery and co-director of the Burn Program all at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, recently was honored with the Ohio Third Frontier Technology Validation and Start-up Fund award.

• share
• favorite_border

The number of people on gluten-free diets is at an all time high in the U.S. Some people choose to avoid gluten, which is found in grains like wheat, barley, rye and oats, but for others it is a medical must. Today the number of people with celiac disease, or an intolerance of gluten, has surged to nearly one in every one-hundred thirty-three people, quadruple the number of people just five decades ago. But just because you or someone you know has to avoid gluten, doesn’t mean you have to miss out on backyard barbecues this summer. With a little planning and a few precautions, you can make sure your gluten-free guests are safe and satisfied at your next cookout.

• share
• favorite_border

Nationwide Children’s Hospital recently developed an online resource to help parents manage their child’s diabetes more effectively and care for their health at home. The “Diabetes Calculator for Kids,” a first of its kind electronic tool geared toward the pediatric patient, allows parents, caregivers and the adolescent patient themselves to create an individualized chart which calculates the correct insulin dosage that should be given prior to eating.

• share
• favorite_border

Ivor Hill, MD, MB, ChB, DCH, FCP(SA), FAAP, pediatric gastroenterologist, has been named medical director of the Celiac Disease Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

• share
• favorite_border

Did you know the number one reason children complain about chest pain is because they actually have heartburn? A lot of people believe that adults are the only ones who get it, but more and more children complain about heartburn, which often creates an uncomfortable burning feeling behind the breastbone. It has nothing to do with your heart, but everything to do with your stomach and esophagus. These days there are plenty of children who like to eat spicy foods. From hot sauce to salsa to ‘hot chips’ and ‘hot popcorn’, these types of foods are included in the diets of many of the children that I see who complain of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) or heartburn. There are plenty of other foods however that I think parents might be surprised to realize that they can trigger it.

• share
• favorite_border

Measuring blood flow in the brain may be an easy, noninvasive way to predict stroke or hemorrhage in children receiving cardiac or respiratory support through a machine called ECMO, according to a new study by researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Early detection would allow physicians to alter treatment and take steps to prevent these complications—the leading cause of death for patients on ECMO.

• share
• favorite_border

In the first study of its kind in the United States, researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital will examine the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy alone to treat appendicitis in children, research that could allow patients to avoid a surgery many may not need. The $1.6 million project also will explore the impact that involving children and their parents in medical decision-making may have on a child’s response to treatment.

• share
• favorite_border

Ihuoma Eneli, MD, MS, medical director for the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, was recently named as a member of the Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight Steering Committee by the American Academy of Pediatrics. She will serve on the committee for at least two years.

• share
• favorite_border

Prashant Solanki Malhotra, MD, FAAP, recently was appointed a physician in Otolaryngology and director of the Hearing Program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Dr. Malhotra, board-certified in Otolaryngology, comes to Nationwide Children’s from the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio where he was an associate physician staff member of the Head and Neck Institute and the Pediatric Institute.

• share
• favorite_border

Hydrocarbons, a chemical compound commonly found in household items from cleaning products to gasoline, are among the top 10 causes of pediatric poisoning deaths in the United States. A new study by researchers at the Central Ohio Poison Center and the Center for Injury Research and Policy, both at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, found these injuries are most likely to occur during months when the weather is warm and are associated with activities such as mowing lawns, use of Tiki torches and use of lighter fluid for outdoor cooking.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study by researchers in the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital examined injuries to children related to amusement rides, which included rides at amusement parks (fixed-site rides), rides at fairs and festivals (mobile rides) and rides found at local malls, stores, restaurants or arcades (mall rides).

• share
• favorite_border

Collaborating scientists from Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Baylor Institute for Immunology Research, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified an important mechanism for stimulating protective immune responses following seasonal influenza vaccinations. The study was published in Science Translational Medicine, a journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

• share
• favorite_border

Following several years of study, investigators have found more evidence that viral therapy to treat solid tumors can be enhanced by blocking the body’s natural immune response.

• share
• favorite_border

James MacDonald, MD, has been appointed an associate editor of the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, effective immediately. MacDonald is a physician with Nationwide Children’s Hospital Sports Medicine and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Family Medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

• share
• favorite_border

Kan N. Hor, MD, recently was appointed as a pediatric cardiologist in The Heart Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and as The Heart Center’s Director of Cardiac MRI. Dr. Hor, board-certified in both pediatrics and pediatric cardiology, comes to Nationwide Children’s from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. In addition to his appointment at Nationwide Children’s, Dr. Hor will serve as an associate professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University (OSU) College of Medicine.

• share
• favorite_border

Car seats save lives and choosing the correct car seat, accompanied by correct installation, are two of the most important things adults can do to keep the children in their lives safe.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital examined dance-related injuries among children and adolescents 3 to 19 years of age from 1991 to 2007.

• share
• favorite_border

Parents magazine announced today its exclusive list of the 10 Best Children’s Hospitals, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital ranked 9th overall on the 2013 list. The list provides a comprehensive family-focused, data-driven comparison of pediatric facilities. In compiling the list, Parents focused on key areas including treatment success, groundbreaking research and family-friendly facilities.

• share
• favorite_border

Water tubing, a recreational activity in which participants ride an inner tube which is pulled behind a boat by a tow rope, has grown in popularity in recent years. Unfortunately, the number of injuries related to this activity has also increased.

• share
• favorite_border

Brian Kaspar, PhD, principal investigator in the Center for Gene Therapy at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, along with a team of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) researchers and clinicians, received $650,000 in grants in 2012 from Sophia’s Cure Foundation for SMA research and Phase 1 clinical trial development which is set to launch in 2013. Working together with Nationwide Children’s, Sophia’s Cure Foundation has raised more than $2.3 million dollars for Dr. Kaspar’s program during the last three years alone.

• share
• favorite_border

Daniel B. Herz, MD, a pediatric urological surgeon, has joined the Section of Urology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital as director of Robot-Assisted Laparoscopic Surgery. This new program launched in January 2013 with the installation of a state-of-the-art da Vinci® surgical system from Intuitive Surgical, and will enhance the current minimally-invasive surgery capabilities at Nationwide Children’s. The initial focus of the program will be Urology, eventually expanding to encompass additional surgical specialties.

• share
• favorite_border

Incontinence is typically a condition associated with adults; however, many children also struggle with incontinence – bladder, bowel or both. In order to help these children, doctors at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have turned to a device, typically used in adult patients, to help manage children with chronic incontinence.

• share
• favorite_border

Catalin S. Buhimschi, MD, has been appointed Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at The Ohio State University and Irina A. Buhimschi, MD, has been named Director of the Center for Perinatal Research in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

• share
• favorite_border

Nationwide Children’s Hospital is expanding their critical care transport services by establishing a fully dedicated helicopter for neonatal and pediatric transports. The state-of-the-art EC145 helicopter, named Monarch 1, features the best in size, performance and technology allowing for the safe transportation of critically ill patients.

• share
• favorite_border

According to a recent study published in the January print issue of the Journal of Pediatric Surgery, bariatric surgery in extremely obese adolescents also was shown to be beneficial in helping to reverse previously undiagnosed cardiovascular abnormalities believed to be linked to severe obesity.

• share
• favorite_border

Investigators from 15 children’s medical centers, including Nationwide Children’s Hospital, observed and evaluated critically ill children with influenza to evaluate the relationships between levels of systemic inflammation, immune function and likelihood to die from the illness. The study appears in the January issue of Critical Care Medicine.

• share
• favorite_border

Carlo Di Lorenzo, MD, chief of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology has been appointed President-elect of the North American Society for Pediatrics Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN), the largest society in the world dedicated to serving pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition communities.

• share
• favorite_border

Sandra Kim, MD, pediatric gastroenterologist, has been named medical director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

• share
• favorite_border

There are many health effects that a patient may need to overcome after winning a battle against cancer. Cancer treatments can affect the patient’s balance, agility, coordination, prompt weight gain and other physical ailments. At Nationwide Children’s Hospital, beating cancer doesn’t mark the end of a child’s treatment regimen. A new exercise program at the hospital helps pediatric cancer survivors and those in remission regain both physical strength and confidence.

• share
• favorite_border

Infants with severe lower respiratory tract infection caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) may have a dysfunctional innate immune response that relates to the severity of their disease. These are the findings from a Nationwide Children’s Hospital study appearing in a recent issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

• share
• favorite_border

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) among children in China are a growing public health concern. Two new studies by researchers of the International Program at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Wuhan Children’s Hospital in China examined pediatric TBIs that were treated at Wuhan Children’s Hospital from 2002 to 2011.

• share
• favorite_border

Jeffery Auletta, MD, recently was appointed a physician in Hematology/Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) and also in Infectious Diseases at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Dr. Auletta, board-certified in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and Infectious Diseases, comes to Nationwide Children’s from Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to his appointment at Nationwide Children’s, Dr. Auletta will serve as an associate professor of Pediatrics at OSU College of Medicine.

• share
• favorite_border

E. Steve Roach, MD, Chief of Neurology and Vice-Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious Pediatric Neurology journal, effective January 2013.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital examined pediatric injuries associated with inflatable bouncers, such as bounce houses and moonwalks. Researchers found that from 1995 to 2010 there was a 15-fold increase in the number of inflatable bouncer-related injuries that were treated in U.S. emergency departments among children younger than 18 years of age. In 2010 alone, more than 30 children per day, or about one child every 45 minutes, were treated in hospital emergency departments for injuries associated with inflatable bouncers.

• share
• favorite_border

Loren E. Wold, PhD, FAHA, principal investigator in the Center for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of Life Sciences effective January 1, 2013. The journal’s editorial office will relocate to The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s after nearly 40 years at The University of Arizona, where Dr. Wold will lead the team of Executive Editors and more than 40 Associate Editors.

• share
• favorite_border

Children with Prader-Willi syndrome may receive relief from sleep disorders after undergoing an adenotonsillectomy, suggests a new study from Nationwide Children’s Hospital published in the November print issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

• share
• favorite_border

Biorepositories are highly complex research facilities with expert staff to process, store, characterize and secure biological specimens and their corresponding clinical information. The Biopathology Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the hospital’s long-standing biorepository, has received accreditation from the College of American Pathologists, confirming that the biorepository operates to ensure that high-quality biospecimens and related data are available for the purpose of supporting cutting-edge medical research.

• share
• favorite_border

Clinicians should take caution when diagnosing a child who has a high fever and whose tests show evidence of adenovirus, and not assume the virus is responsible for Kawasaki-like symptoms. According to a new study from Nationwide Children’s Hospital appearing in Clinical Infectious Diseases, adenovirus detection is not uncommon among children with Kawasaki disease.

• share
• favorite_border

For the last decade, prematurity has been the leading cause of infant mortality in the United States. As a result of prematurity many infants enter this world too early with a small chance of survival. In order to help treat these extremely premature infants, physicians at Nationwide Children’s Hospital developed a set of guidelines tailored to meet the needs of these tiny infants, some born up to four months early. Now, a new study shows that these guidelines are not only improving survival rates for extremely premature infants, but also improving their quality of life.

• share
• favorite_border

Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and Transformatix Technologies, Inc., in Davis, California, have partnered to create BioLinQ, a new biomedical informatics company designed to supply advanced software solutions for disease diagnosis and medical research.

• share
• favorite_border

Eliminating bacteria’s DNA and boosting antimicrobial proteins that already exist may help prevent middle ear infections from reoccurring. These are the findings from a Nationwide Children’s Hospital study that examined how an immune defense protein common in the middle ear interacts with a structure meant to protect a colony of bacteria.

• share
• favorite_border

A gene known to be involved in cancer and cardiovascular development may be the cause of inflammation in the most common form of aortic aneurysm and may be a key to treatment, according to research from Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The study, appearing online in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology on October 18, 2012, is the first to show that Notch 1 signaling is activated in abdominal aortic aneurysmal tissue in mice and humans.

• share
• favorite_border

With cold and flu season upon us, many companies have geared up for what is predicted to be a busy flu season producing 150 million doses of the influenza vaccine, up 17 million from last year.Dr. Dennis Cunningham, infectious disease specialist, said that part of the problem with consumers and the flu vaccine is many people buy into the long-held myths about the flu vaccine and miss opportunities to avoid getting sick. Hear what he has to say about the common myths.