Pediatrics

Vaccinating pregnant women against the influenza virus appears to have a significant positive effect on infant birth weight.

There is limited evidence for the comparative benefits and harms of antipsychotics in children and young adults.

Maternal smoking or use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) during pregnancy is associated with increased risk of infantile colic in offspring.

The development of white matter pathways is abnormal in infants before manifestations of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).

A gene variant on the X-chromosome is associated with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) only in boys, particularly those who die at the ages of highest SIDS prevalence.

Motor skills are impaired in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and this impairment correlates with autistic severity and IQ.

Infants already know the meanings of several common words at 6 months of age.

The more time children spend engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), the better their cardiometabolic risk factors, including measures of cholesterol, blood pressure, and waist size, regardless of the amount of time spent sedentary.

The risk of intussusception is not increased in infants aged 4 to 34 weeks who receive the pentavalent rotavirus vaccine compared with infants who do not receive the vaccine, according to research published in the Feb. 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The multicomponent serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis vaccine is safe and immunogenic for infants when given alone or together with routine vaccinations, according to research published in the Feb. 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Female soccer athletes are at risk for delayed menarche, irregular and/or missed cycles, and stress fractures, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, held from Feb. 7 to 11 in San Francisco.

The cost of asthma due to traffic pollution is far higher than previously estimated, researchers report in a study published online Jan. 20 in European Respiratory Journal.

The 2012 recommended childhood and adolescent vaccination schedules have been approved, according to a policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics published in the February issue of Pediatrics.

Treating children with type 1 diabetes with the 65-kD isoform of glutamic acid decarboxylase formulated with alum does not significantly change levels of stimulated serum C-peptide during 15 months of follow-up, according to a study published in the Feb. 2 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Based on reports of a disturbingly high rate of significant intraoperative hyponatremia during major pediatric craniofacial surgery, researchers at Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide, Australia, embarked on a study to establish the incidence, severity, and associated risk factors of hyponatremia during and after major craniofacial surgery for craniosynostosis in their institution.

Maternal support during the preschool years has a positive effect on healthy hippocampal development, which is key to memory and stress modulation, according to an article published online Jan. 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In adolescents, consumption of fructose is associated with multiple markers of cardiometabolic risk, and this association seems to be mediated by visceral adipose tissue, according to a study published in the Feb. 1 issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

In this video, Martin Blaser, MD, chairman of the department of medicine at the New York University School of Medicine, discusses the possible relationship between exposure to antibiotics in infancy and increased rates of obesity.

Infants at risk for developing autism spectrum disorders already show abnormalities in their patterns of eye contact in their first year, which may allow earlier intervention, according to a study published online Jan. 26 in Current Biology.

High prenatal testosterone levels are associated with an increased risk of clinically significant language delay in the first three years of life for male children, but are associated with a reduced risk of language delay for female children, according to research published online Jan. 26 in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.