Health - Health - Kids latest news

Premature birth is associated with various life-long problems. Still, many premature children seem to function very well as adults according to a new large and comprehensive study from Norway. Recent advances in perinatal care have increased the survival rates of premature babies. Follow-up studies to School age have shown an increase in learning difficulties, and behavioral and psychological problems.

Giving children preventive antibiotics within one hour before they undergo spinal surgery greatly reduces the risk for serious infections after the surgery, suggests a Johns Hopkins study to be published in the August issue of Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal (also available online ahead of print).

A new website has been created by the parents of a child who suffers from a serious, incurable illness, to tell their story and provide information for other parents who are going through similar experiences. The website - www.thesophiestory.co.uk - has a links page, a blog, photos, medical information, an email mailing list, and their own story from the beginning.

Children from immigrant families are assumed to give up their families' ethnic and cultural background in order to assimilate with American culture. But a new study shows that in fact, they find ways to combine their cultural heritage with their identification as members of American society, especially during the high School years. The types of labels they create and use could foreshadow the types of labels used by the larger society in the years to come.