This is a recap of recent health news featuring Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. We hope you enjoy this week’s edition of collected news, and please feel free to offer comments below – we really do listen!
Hungry Families “Formula Stretching”
MSNBC.com, Philadelphia Inquirer via HealthDay, WVXU, Health.com
Despite receiving public food assistance, one in eight low-income parents is watering down baby formula to keep their infants fed, according to a new Cincinnati Children’s study.
The dangerous practice of “formula stretching” can have serious health consequences for babies’ developing brains, leading to cognitive, behavioral and psychological issues.
The study of urban pediatric clinics also found that approximately 30 percent of families reported food insecurity – defined as the inability to afford enough food to meet basic nutritional needs.
“We were surprised to find one in three families worried about putting food on the table,” said Andrew Beck, MD, MPH, general pediatrician and one of the study’s authors. “Food insecurity tends to be an invisible problem, forcing families to make difficult choices between nutrition and other essential needs.”
Cincinnati Children’s Forms New Center For Prevention Of Preterm Birth
Yahoo News, Health News Digest, WHNS
Cincinnati Children’s recently announced the formation of the Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth and the arrival of Louis Muglia, MD, PhD, as its director.
Dr. Muglia is also the co-director of the Perinatal Institute at Cincinnati Children’s and professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati. He comes to Cincinnati Children’s from Vanderbilt where he served as professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and vice chair for Research Affairs in Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Dr. Muglia will work with a group of more than 30 researchers at the center who are already investigating the underlying scientific causes of preterm birth.
Parents Raise Awareness Of Daughter’s Rare Condition
WSET
Doctors at Cincinnati Children’s are helping a Virginia couple coping with their daughter’s rare genetic syndrome – a condition so uncommon that it affects fewer than 60 people worldwide.
Two-year-old Emaleigh Blankenship, born with Cloves Syndrome, makes monthly trips to Cincinnati Children’s for treatment. The condition is believed to be caused by a genetic mutation and has caused overgrowth of soft-tissue tumors and bones in Emaleigh’s legs and feet.
While there is currently no cure for the condition, Emaleigh’s parents are leading the fight to learn more about it through the formation of the Cloves Syndrome Foundation.
“We want to let people know that this syndrome is out here and it could be your neighbor’s kid, it could be your kid. I had no idea,” said Adrienne Blankenship, Emaleigh’s mother.
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I think that talking to someone (Dr.) in private without feeling embarassed about the current situation is a great idea. We do not anticipate many situations that we end up in.