Today, the Boston Globe features the work of researcher Charles A. Nelson, PhD, who runs Children’s Hospital Boston’s cognitive neuroscience laboratory. Nelson studies how babies learn to decode facial expressions by monitoring the connection between children’s eye movements and their brain activity. He hopes to learn how people distinguish faces and how we learn to link expressions with emotions.
In this article, find out how Nelson is studying the brain development of babies with a higher risk of autism to discover early indicators that could be used to identify the condition in infants.
This story describes how Nelson spent time with Romanian orphans in foster homes to learn about what impact deprivation has on the brain—and whether its effects can be reversed.
Dr. Nelson’s work was also featured recently on abcnews.com.
Joanne Cox, MD, director of Children’s Hospital Boston’s Primary Care Center, answers questions about H1N1 during this Karson & Kennedy Morning Show on MIX 104.1. She dispels common myths and answers questions about the swine flu virus and vaccine, like:
How do you know if you have regular flu or H1N1?
Can you be immune if you’ve already had swine flu?
The Wall Street Journal features a story about a Children’s Hospital Boston patient with congenital heart disease who was stricken with H1N1 and required a new heart valve. Because the boy was too sick to undergo open-heart surgery, James Lock, MD, led a team that implanted the new valve using a catheter. Lock and Peter Laussen, MD, chief of cardiovascular critical care at Children’s, talk about how H1N1 presents a serious problem for children with heart disease.
Last week, a multicenter study led by Children’s reported good preliminary results in 30 patients receiving this catheter-implanted valve, which is threaded up a leg vein to the heart.
Each year, many Children’s Hospital Boston patients dress up and go trick-or-treating throughout the hospital. The children love to decorate their bags and the inpatient floors in spooky themes. The staff get in on the fun too. Here are some of today’s costumed kids.
Do you have Halloween photos of your children you’d like to share? Email them to us—and tell us their names—at thrive@childrens.harvard.edu and we’ll include them in our gallery.
“Smart baby” products for infants and have been on the market for years. Now, gadgets geared toward babies who aren’t even born yet are popping up on the market. Could these new “prenatal learning systems” produce a smarter, more alert, calmer – all around better baby? We checked in with David Bickham, PhD, staff scientist at Children’s Hospital Boston’s Center on Media and Child Health, about the trend. Here’s what he has to say. Full story »
What does being able to tolerate cow’s milk protein mean to my milk allergic family?
It means Cheetos, Doritos, yogurt, pizza, Smart food, chicken parmesan and ice cream, but those are the obvious answers.
It means using hand soap without worrying whether or not it has milk in it.
It means no more separate pizza stones and pizza slicers.
It means buying school lunch with friends.
It means eating in a restaurant without stomach-turning fear.
It means movie theater popcorn.
It means vacation without locating the nearest Emergency Room before we go.
It means I can buy the shampoo I used before he was diagnosed with a milk allergy.
It means caramel candy coated apples in the fall.
It means buying junk food at the carnival.
It means milking a cow at our friend’s dairy farm in New Hampshire.
It means re-booking that cancelled trip to Mexico, because they couldn’t feed him at the hotel.
It means Boy Scout camping and school field trips (without mom or dad chaperoning every trip).
It means sitting at a table and not having to wash it because he’d get hives if milk was present.
It means going to a friend’s birthday party and they don’t have to put away the Doritos and chocolate candy when you arrive. It means taking home the goody bag and eating the candy rather than giving the food to his sister.
It means we don’t have to swap out every single candy at Halloween.
But most important, it means I can kiss him and not have to stop and think about what I ate and run to brush my teeth first.
Brett Nasuti is Children’s first patient to go through a new trial that could cure him of his severe food allergy. In this final video on our series, Brett finds out if he passes the final milk challenge in the study—which culminates in him drinking a full 8-ounce glass of milk—and if he’s cured. If he passes the challenge, there’s an enormous pizza party in store for him.
Click here to read our story about Brett, Children’s milk allergy trial and experts’ latest thinking about food allergies. Full story »
The first study focusing on the chemical bisphenol (BPA) and children was recently published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Investigators reported that the amount of BPA that women were exposed to during pregnancy was significantly associated with parents’ views of their child’s behavior when they were 2 years old. Here, we talk to David Bellinger, PhD, of Children’s Hospital Boston’s Neurology Department, about the findings.
Do you have a Children's Hospital Boston story you'd like heard? By sharing your Children's story you can be a great source of inspiration and encouragement to families who are going through similar situations. And it’s a great way to find support by connecting with others. Share your story today »
Today, the Boston Globe features the work of researcher Charles A. Nelson, PhD, who runs Children’s Hospital Boston’s cognitive neuroscience laboratory. Nelson studies how babies learn to decode facial expressions by monitoring the connection between children’s eye movements and their brain activity. He hopes to learn how people distinguish faces and how we learn to link expressions with emotions.
Joanne Cox, MD, director of Children’s Hospital Boston’s Primary Care Center, answers questions about H1N1 during this Karson & Kennedy 
“Smart baby” products for infants and have been on the market for years. Now, gadgets geared toward babies who aren’t even born yet are popping up on the market. Could these new “prenatal learning systems” produce a smarter, more alert, calmer – all around better baby? We checked in with David Bickham, PhD, staff scientist at Children’s Hospital Boston’s 
By Robyn Nasuti
The first study focusing on the chemical bisphenol (BPA) and children was recently published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Investigators reported that the amount of BPA that women were exposed to during pregnancy was significantly associated with parents’ views of their child’s behavior when they were 2 years old. Here, we talk to David Bellinger, PhD, of Children’s Hospital Boston’s Neurology Department, about the findings.
