Study author, Dr Heather Winskel, from the University’s School of Psychology, says middle ear infection or otitis media (OM) is the most common childhood illness.”At least 70% of children are likely to experience at least one episode of otitis media before they are three-years-old and for many children it is a recurrent problem,” says Dr Winskel. [click link for full article]

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee likely will pass legislation that would require health insurance companies to cover mental illnesses at the same level as they cover physical illnesses, committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said, CQ HealthBeat reports. [click link for full article]

The incidence of three childhood neuropsychiatric disorders, including autism, increased among Danish children between 1990 and 2004, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The findings suggest that recent upward trends in reported autism diagnoses may be part of a broader pattern in childhood mental illness. [click link for full article]

Apolipoprotein E (APOE), a gene associated with heightened risk for Alzheimer’s disease in adults, can also increase the likelihood that brain-injured newborns will develop cerebral palsy, researchers at Children’s Memorial Research Center have discovered.This is the first identification of a gene that increases susceptibility to cerebral palsy. [click link for full article]

Doctors who fear their own death say they are more prepared than other doctors to hasten death in sick newborns for whom further medical treatment is considered futile, reveals research published ahead of print in the Fetal & Neonatal Edition of Archives of Disease in Childhood.The findings are based on an anonymous survey of 138 doctors specialising in the care of sick newborns (neonatologists) across Australia and New Zealand. [click link for full article]

Women’s Health Insurance Coverage Fact Sheet, Kaiser Family Foundation: The Kaiser Family Foundation has released a fact sheet that provides state and national data on women’s health insurance coverage. [click link for full article]

Despite the European Union’s commitment to gender equality, women are still underrepresented on the committees that sanction research while the impact of gender differences continues to be ignored in clinical trials, suggests a study in the Journal of Medical Ethics.The authors assessed the composition and procedures of two major research ethics committees in European member states, including Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Austria and The Netherlands in 2003. [click link for full article]

The latest fashion statement for teens is to dye their hair outrageous colors. But they may be getting more than they bargained for: an itchy, flaking rash resembling poison-oak can…

Reuters on Monday examined the practice of surrogate motherhood in India, where surrogacy services are “far cheaper than in the West. [click link for full article]