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Research briefs
It's been shown that conditions commonly found in orphanages, from lack of human interaction to endless routines, can lower children's IQs. But according to the first controlled study on the topic by Charles Nelson, PhD, these setbacks aren't permanent. Nelson found that children abandoned in Romanian institutions had lower IQs than children raised by their biological families, but those taken to quality foster homes nearly caught up, especially if placed before age 2.
Premature babies are usually born with underdeveloped lungs, and those born more than three months early face the additional risk of inflammation that can lead to lifelong lung disease. Using gene scans of these babies' umbilical cords, Isaac Kohane, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that a certain biochemical pathway is disrupted only in babies who develop inflammation and lung disease. Interestingly, the same pathway is disrupted in adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Drugs targeting that pathway are already in development for adults and might also help newborns.
Another piece of the autism puzzle
Researchers have found that a piece of chromosome 16 either doubles or goes missing in children with autism spectrum disorders, which account for roughly 1 percent of autism cases. The mutation happens during embryonic development and isn't usually inherited. And while treatments are far off, doctors can now offer families a test for the mutation. This finding brings the total percentage of autism cases with known genetic causes to about 15 percent.
The questions were simple, direct, and, importantly, anonymous. Pediatricians across New England, from school clinics to farm country private practices, gave a six-item questionnaire to patients 12 to 18. It asked whether they used drugs or alcohol to relax and whether use had ever led to trouble. The responses suggested that about one in seven of the children had a substance abuse problem. John Knight, MD, who led the study, notes that pediatricians should screen teens "whenever there is an opportunity," since they can both catch the problem confidentially and refer teens to care. Parents, he adds, should make sure their pediatricians screen at least during their teens' annual check-up.
Melanoma may be vulnerable. Its defense is a protein that acts like a bouncer, ejecting toxic substances like chemotherapy drugs used to treat it. Researcher Markus Frank, MD, and colleagues found that this protein is unique to the deadliest cells in melanomaóthe stem cells that keep it growing. Using antibodies, his team leveraged the protein, luring the body to attack the stem cells that bear it. When mice received the treatment, implanted human melanoma tumors nearly stopped growing. "This study lays the groundwork for a possible treatment, showing that targeting stem cells may be a viable strategy in cancer," says Frank.