Brain Center News | Overview
Recent stories from Boston Children's Brain Center
Autism Data shows evidence of human-specific regulatory sequences affecting brain-related functions
GenomeWeb features a new study from Boston Children's Christopher Walsh, MD, PhD, and Ryan Doan, PhD, that suggests parts of the human genome that are conserved in other animals but relatively divergent in humans appear to contribute to normal human brain development, social behavior, and/or some cognitive processes.
Big Idea: The Brain’s Best Kept Secret
Popular Science “Big Ideas of 2016” profiles Boston Children’s Hospital researcher Beth Stevens, PhD, for her work with microglia cells. Because of her discovery that certain cells sculpt brain circuitry, making it more efficient, the MacArthur Foundation awarded her a 2015 “genius grant.” She suspects microglia have other secret abilities—and she plans to uncover them, too.
Early childhood brain development sets the stage for learning throughout life, experts say
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH) reports on brain development in babies and how, over the first three years of life, the brain triples in size, establishing more than 1,000 trillion intricate and complicated connections between neurons. Boston Children’s Charles Nelson, PhD and Michelle Bosquet, PhD both contributed content for this article.
January 5, 2015
Limiting Rest is Found to Help Young Concussion Patients
The New York Times reports on a study suggesting less is more when it comes to rest following a concussion. A randomized trial of young people between the ages of 11 – 22 years old found that recovery was slower for the group of patients who were prescribed strict rest for five days. Dr. William Meehan, director of the Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention, is quoted in the article.
February 25, 2014
Orphan’s Lonely Beginning Reveal How Parents Shape A Children’s Brain
NPR’s “Morning Edition” shares the story of a young Romanian orphan’s struggle to bond with his American parents. Boston Children’s Charles Nelson, PhD, who has spent years studying children who spent time in Romanian orphanages, is featured.
January 7, 2014
Teen athletes with concussions shouldn't do homework, study says
The Los Angeles Times reports on new research from Boston Children’s William Meehan, MD, and colleagues that finds kids who give their brains a few days rest and gradually return to normal mental activity after a concussion heal faster than those who rush back to their books, computers and TVs. Huffington Post also report on the research.
December 11, 2013
Status Epilepticus Tx Often Falls Short
MedPage Today reports that treatment of status epilepticus in critically ill children and adolescents usually failed to meet guideline-recommended standards for the initiation of therapies in a timely way. In a multicenter study involving 81 patients ages 1 month to 21 years, median times to start each of the four steps in the standard algorithm for status epilepticus treatment were far longer than recommended, according to Boston Children’s Tobias Loddenkemper, MD. Read more here.
May 6, 2013
A New Way to Care for Young Brains
The New York Times reports on sport concussion clinics and how they are popping up all over the country to help provide specialized care for basic to complex concussion cases in children and adolescents. Boston Children’s William Meehan, MD, Michael O’Brien, MD, Cynthia Stein, MD, MPH, Rebekah Mannix, MD, MPH, and Alex Taylor, PsyD, are interviewed about the Boston Children’s Sports Concussion Clinic. Also, Boston Children’s patients Brian Lilja, Erin McDonough and Emerson Boone are included. Additional articles include Anecdotal Evidence Provides Clues to Youth Concussions and Flubbing a Baseline Test on Purpose Is Often Futile. A portion of the article was included in The Boston Globe.