Purdue-IU researchers explore new method for early disease diagnosis

bianjie submitted, created time 1 year 5 months (news.uns.purdue.edu)

Purdue University researchers worked with the Indiana University School of Medicine to establish a technique that provides a new approach for detecting a number of genetic disorders found in infants and young children.

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Nearly 90 percent of babies receive recommended newborn screening tests

bianjie submitted, created time 1 year 5 months (www.eurekalert.org)

Nearly 90 percent of U.S. babies are born in states that require screening for at least 21 life-threatening disorders, according to the 2007 March of Dimes Newborn Screening Report Card. In 2005, only 38 percent of infants were born in states that required screening for at least 21 of the 29 genetic and functional conditions recommended by the American College of Medical Genetics. If diagnosed early, these conditions can be managed or treated to prevent severe consequences.

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Being breastfed may not cut kids' obesity risk

Reviver submitted, created time 1 year 6 months (www.reutershealth.com)

A UK research team reports, breastfeeding has many benefits for babies, but protection from obesity may not be one of them.

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Promising protein may prevent eye damage in premature babies

newsdigg submitted, created time 1 year 6 months (www.physorg.com)

A protein long thought to be one of the body’s supporting players has quietly been taking a lead role in healthy eyesight, a discovery that could rapidly lead to treatments for babies born before their eyes are finished growing, University of Florida and Harvard Medical School researchers have found.

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Visual Language Discrimination in Infancy

cappuccion submitted, created time 1 year 7 months (www.sciencemag.org)

This study shows that 4- and 6-month-old infants can discriminate languages (English from French) just from viewing silently presented articulations. By the age of 8 months, only bilingual (French-English) infants succeed at this task. These findings reveal a surprisingly early preparedness for visual language discrimination and highlight infants' selectivity for retaining only necessary perceptual sensitivities.

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Excess Transmission of the NAD(P)H:Quinone Oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) C609T Polymorphism in Families of Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

badboy submitted, created time 1 year 7 months (aje.oxfordjournals.org)

"Topoisomerase II is a DNA-processing enzyme, and secondary acute myeloid leukemia has been associated with exposure to drugs that inhibit its action. Hence, prenatal exposure to chemicals that inhibit topoisomerase II could plausibly contribute to the incidence of childhood leukemia."

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Type I interferons protect neonates from acute inflammation through interleukin 10–producing B cells

athena submitted, created time 1 year 7 months (www.jem.org)

"Newborns and infants are highly susceptible to viral and bacterial infections, but the underlying mechanism remains poorly understood. We show that neonatal B cells effectively control the production of proinflammatory cytokines by both neonatal plasmacytoid and conventional dendritic cells, in an interleukin (IL) 10–dependent manner, after Toll-like receptor (TLR) 9 triggering. "

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