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By UNC Health Talk Editor's note: This article originally appeared on UNC Health Talk. Doctors around the world are trying to understand what is causing children to develop severe hepatitis (liver inflammation) that in some cases results in liver failure. These puzzling cases have been linked to a common adenovirus that typically causes colds, conjunctivitis (pinkeye), and stomach cramps and diarrhea. The number of known cases is very small, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Still, both organizations are asking doctors to report any cases of otherwise healthy children who develop liver disease. In North Carolina, two school-age children with seve...

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) accounts for about 37% of sudden unexpected infant deaths a year in the U.S., and the cause of SIDS has remained largely unknown. On Saturday, researchers from The Children's Hospital Westmead in Sydney released a study that has identified the first biochemical marker that could help detect babies more at risk of SIDS while they are alive. SIDS refers to the unexplained deaths of infants under a year old, and it usually occurs while the child is sleeping. According to Mayo Clinic, many in the medical community suspected this phenomenon could be caused by a defect in the part of the brain that controls arousal from sleep and breathing. The theory was that if the infant stopped breathing during sleep, the defect would keep them from startling...

Low-protein diets appear to have incredible benefits for the health and lifespans of rodents, fruit flies, and yeast. A new study in mice has now identified a single hormone that is essential for these curious anti-aging effects.   The hormone is called fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), and it is secreted by the liver. In recent years, studies have shown that FGF21 responds to protein restriction in male mice, improving energy expenditure and glucose tolerance while reducing body weight. Now, the same team of researchers has found FGF21 is required for the anti-aging effects, too. "Indeed, mice that are FGF21 deficient are not only resistant to the health [benefits] of [protein restriction], but they also exhibit early-onset weight loss, increased frailty, and reduced lifespan whe...

In early April, when word began to circulate that hospitals in the United Kingdom were seeing unexplained hepatitis cases in very young children, some physicians and researchers on this side of the Atlantic experienced a moment of déjà vu. Kevin Messacar and colleagues at Children’s Hospital Colorado found themselves remarking on how reminiscent the unfolding investigation was of a medical mystery they’ve been enmeshed in for the past eight years — acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, a polio-like condition in children. Meanwhile, Carlos Pardo, the co-principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health study into the natural history of AFM, started fielding queries from hepatologists at Johns Hopkins Medicine, where he teaches, about what kinds of samples they should be collecting from s...

Cancer researchers say more people are getting certain cancers at younger ages than the previous generation. [ALSO READ: Atrium Health PINK DAY: Breast cancer resources] Channel 9 spoke with some cancer patients about their journey to healing, and an oncologist about why they are seeing the rise and what can be done to lower the risk. Courtney Whitley noticed something unusual on her body in January 2021 while showering. “I was just soaping myself,” said Whitley, a breast cancer survivor. “I wasn’t even doing a self-check or anything, and I felt a lump.” She wasn’t old enough to start thinking about getting a mammogram, nor did she know about any family history of breast cancer. “I was, kind of, in shock at first,” Whitley said. “It was stage 2.” Whitley is part of a troubling trend nat...