February 16, 2016

An armadillo with thick, long eyelashes whistles as she notices a problem with the blood flow in a child’s heart. Almost immediately an army of robot-like caregivers race into the hospital room and fix the problem.

No, this is not your typical medical setting. This is an imaginary world made to help children with heart problems better understand their diagnosis and potential treatment options. Created by a team led by Chief of Cardiology Dr. Daniel Penny, the series of almost 40 animated videos features Ruby, an armadillo; Beau, a bison; and a group of caregivers called Blings.

Ruby and Beau’s role in the videos is to identify the problem with a child’s heart, call in the Blings for help and explain – in very simple terms – what’s happening and how it’s affecting the patient. The Blings fix whatever is wrong while hopping in and out of colorful cars and using a cadre of MacGyver-like tools.

“The aim of our project is to improve the health literacy of the children and parents who come to us with heart disease,” Penny said. “If we can empower them through information, we can likely improve their treatment outcome and overall quality of life.”

To effectively communicate complex issues such as ventricular septal defect and patent ductus arteriosis, Penny is working with Michael Liddy, a friend and Australian animator, to script the 4- to 7-minute videos and create their characters, sound effects and musical score, all of which are done very intentionally and with the young age of the viewer in mind.

An additional bonus to the production of the videos, which is being funded by a grant from ExxonMobil, is the voices of Ruby and Beau are recorded at Texas Children’s Hospital by employees Hasti Taghi and Dr. Stuart Hall.

“We were very lucky to get the voices of Ruby and Beau in house,” Penny said. “They definitely add a special touch.”

To date, six of the videos in the series have been completed and were unveiled at a February 15 red carpet premier at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women (click here to view a video). Doctors, patients and families across the organization and beyond can access the videos via Texas Children’s website at http://www.texaschildrens.org/hearteducation.

Penny and his team will continue to add to the animated series and work on another series of videos that educate patients on certain types of routine procedures done at the average heart center.

“We hope that having a program like this any child who enters a heart center will be able to get a feel for what they are going to experience,” Penny said.

111914NEC640A recent Baylor College of Medicine study led by Texas Children’s neonatologist Dr. Amy Hair, and published in the journal Breastfeeding Medicine, found that premature infants weighing less than 1,250 grams at birth showed improved outcomes after being fed a human milk-based diet.

Texas Children’s and Baylor researchers compared outcomes data of more than 1,500 premature infants in four large centers in the U.S. two years before and two years after implementing an exclusive human milk-based diet in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). They found that babies who were exclusively fed human breast milk had a lower incidence of mortality, late-onset sepsis, retinopathy of prematurity (which can lead to blindness) and bronchopulmonary dysplasia, a form of chronic lung disease in infants.

Hair, who is also an assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor and director of the Neonatal Nutrition Program at Texas Children’s, says feeding premature infants an exclusive human milk-based diet has also been shown to decrease the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a life-threatening neonatal condition that causes inflammation and death of intestinal tissue.

“Since implementing an exclusive human milk feeding protocol for newborns weighing less than 1,500 grams at birth, not only have we reduced the rate of NEC by 77 percent in our NICU, but we have seen additional benefits with this diet,” Hair said.

An exclusive human milk-based diet consists of a mother’s own milk supplemented with donor human milk and fortifier derived from donor human milk. Babies do not receive any bovine protein as formula or fortifiers. Prior to implementing a human milk feeding protocol, infants were fed mother’s own milk with bovine fortifier or formula.

“We know that human milk has immune factors, antibodies, high levels of important fat and vitamins, so it makes sense that it would work with different processes in the body to improve the overall health in babies,” Hair said.

Click here to read the journal article highlighting their study, which was funded by Texas Children’s Hospital’s Bad Pants Day golf tournament.

February 9, 2016

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Remember reading the official announcement of our CareFirst plans in November 2014? Well, as you can imagine, a lot has happened since then. After receiving the green light to proceed, Texas Children’s has made remarkable progress on the Pediatric Tower E vertical expansion project.

The first visible sign that construction has begun is the large crane that towers over the south end of Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women. Concrete slabs were removed to make room for the tower crane installation which was completed last December.

“We’re excited to see everything gradually come together,” said Jill Pearsall, Texas Children’s assistant vice president of Facilities Planning and Development. “The progress over the last two months is a direct result of the collaboration among our CareFirst executive leadership and project management teams, our design and construction contractors, and most importantly, our patients and their families.”

Perhaps one of the most significant milestones to date is the completion of the pre-construction simulation-based design tests on the proposed patient room layouts for the cardiovascular intensive care unit, pediatric intensive care unit and the progressive care unit.

In collaboration with Dr. Jennifer Arnold and her simulation team, the CareFirst Quality, Service and Safety Project Team led by Dr. Angelo Giardino, Trudy Leidich and Maria Happe, participated in 32 hours of simulated patient scenarios over a period of four days inside a large warehouse mock-up that resembled a critical care environment. A multidisciplinary team of intensivists, nurses, surgeons, anesthesiologists, respiratory therapists, patient families and other support staff, participated in the simulation and provided feedback to drive design of the space. During these simulations, 115 latent safety threats (LSTs) were identified. The LSTs were categorized based on Safe Hospital Design Principles outlined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and recommendations will be incorporated into the design.

“We have an opportunity to provide a new space that accommodates the needs of patients, families and clinicians,” said Happe, clinical senior project manager for CareFirst. “All patient rooms are configured to provide dedicated space for the patient, clinicians, all associated clinical equipment, as well as for the families, which helps to promote and enhance family engagement and patient and family-centered care. Simulation has allowed us to test these spaces prior to construction and has guided our design decisions.”

Other recent progress updates include:

  • The interior design concepts for the pediatric tower’s public spaces were fine-tuned with the Board of Trustees Building and Grounds Design Subcommittee on January 13. Once the design theme and colors have been finalized, this will provide architectural guidance to ensure a consistent look and feel throughout the building.
  • A pilot study to test the use of touch-screen activated information stations was launched on the first and third floors of the Clinical Care Center (CCC) for a 60-day assessment and feedback period. Survey input from patient families will be used to refine the hospital navigation tool before it is adapted to other Texas Children’s campuses, including Pediatric Tower E.
  • The technology team installed wireless access points for Voalte phones outside of the operating rooms (ORs). Tests are still ongoing to determine if wireless access points can be added in the OR suite to fully operationalize the Voalte phone roll-out in a manner that does not interfere with the communication of medical equipment in the OR. Additionally, the team will begin testing and reviewing a variety of other devices for CareFirst implementation.
  • The Pavilion Express Gift Shop closed to prepare for the installation of the tower’s elevator shafts. The gift shop will relocate to the first floor of the Pavilion for Women as a separate renovation project. The Pediatric Radiology department’s 3D lab moved from Building E 5 to the fourth floor of the CCC to make way for the upcoming construction activities.
  • Concrete pours to build the floors in the 25-story Pediatric Tower E will continue this month. From north to south, it will take roughly three concrete pours to create one floor.

“We’ve made incredible progress since the initial planning phase began for Pediatric Tower E,” said Texas Children’s Executive Vice President Mark Mullarkey. “This expansion will help us deliver on our promise to make Texas Children’s the best possible place to give and receive care.”

Click here to learn more about how the Pediatric Tower E project will help meet the growing needs of our critically ill patients.

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Wangler, Yamamoto awarded SFARI grant for autism spectrum disorder study

Drs. Michael Wangler and Shinya Yamamoto recently obtained a research grant from the Simon’s Foundation for Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) to advance their study on autism spectrum disorders.

Their study titled, “In vivo functional analysis of autism candidate genes” is one of five projects selected for research funding by the SFARI.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are highly heritable but have a complex genetic architecture. Whole-genome sequencing has been used to identify many potential genetic mutations that may be responsible for ASD. However, interpreting the disease relevance of these enormous numbers of individual variants has been difficult because many of them are poorly characterized.

In their study, Wangler and Yamamoto will use a fruit fly model system to study a subset of 300 autism candidate genes to determine their role in disease causation and progression. They predict that using this powerful genetic system will provide much-needed information on the biological mechanisms underlying ASDs.

Besides being on the NRI faculty, Wangler and Yamamoto are assistant professors in the department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor.

Ballabio to receive the 2016 Louis-Jeantet Prize

Dr. Andrea Ballabio, founder and director of the Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), Italy, professor at Baylor and faculty member at the NRI, has been selected to receive the 2016 Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine. He will share this award with biochemist John Diffley, associate research director at the Francis Crick Institute, United Kingdom.

The Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine is awarded each year by the Louis-Jeantet Foundation to experienced researchers who have distinguished themselves in the field of biomedical research in Europe. The prize is intended to encourage the continuation of innovative research projects of major importance to fundamental or clinical medicine.

Ballabio was recognized for his contributions in advancing the understanding of molecular mechanisms controlling the function of lysosomes in health and disease.

Lysosomes are organelles responsible for the degradation of cellular waste. A growing number of diseases are associated to lysosomal dysfunction such as neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, obesity and infections. Ballabio’s group identified a master gene that globally controls lysosomal function and promotes intracellular clearance of accumulating pathological materials. These observations revealed a new biological pathway and provided a tool to modulate lysosomal function to treat human diseases.

Ballabio will receive the award during a special ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday, April 20.

21016Anvari175The Clinical Research Center will present the Clinical Research Award for First Quarter 2016 to Dr. Sara Anvari, physician, Allergy and Immunology. Dr. Anvari is a dedicated clinical scientist for the food allergy research trials at Texas Children’s Hospital.

The award was established by the Clinical Research Center in collaboration with the Research Resources Office to recognize and honor individual contributions to protecting the best interest of the research subjects and compliance with applicable rules and regulations.

Dr. Anvari’s research activities in the CRC focus on understanding the underlying immunopathogenesis of food allergies and the mechanisms that lead to the development of oral tolerance in food allergic patients undergoing immunotherapy.

Through the support of the Texas Children’s Food Allergy Program, Texas Children’s Center for Human Immunobiology and the Clinical Research Center, Dr. Anvari has been able to pursue her research goals and currently oversees the clinical research trials that will provide her with the groundwork for the development of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic options for patients with food allergies.

21016Cooperflu640Super heroes come in many shapes and sizes, and Texas Children’s Health Plan encouraged students to channel their inner super hero by protecting themselves and their families against the flu. Schools from eight school districts in Houston, Beaumont and the surrounding areas were invited to participate in a month-long super hero themed flu vaccination contest. The school in each district with the most students receiving the flu vaccination won a pizza party that included pizza and drinks. A portion of the drinks were provided by Kroger.

“With more than 2 million Texans admitted to the hospital last year because of flu, it is very important we do something to protect children and their families,” stated Dr. Heidi Schwarzwald, Chief Medical Officer, Pediatrics, Texas Children’s Health Plan. “Texas Children’s Health Plan wanted to empower children to be an active part in their health and wellness in a fun way. We are very excited that so many schools and students participated in the contest.”

During the month-long contest (October 15 through November 15), more than 2,000 students from 93 schools in eight school districts were immunized against the flu. The winning schools were:

  • Johnson Elementary – Aldine ISD
  • Fletcher Elementary – Beaumont ISD
  • McFee Elementary – Cy-Fair ISD
  • Dick Dowling – Port Arthur ISD
  • Taylor Ray Elementary – Lamar CISD
  • Hopper Elementary – Goose Creek ISD
  • Jessup Elementary – Pasadena ISD
  • Rhoads Elementary – Katy ISD
  • Cooper Elementary – Spring ISD

Texas Children’s Health Plan began their cold and flu initiative in the fall of 2015 to help educate parents about flu and cold. In addition to the school contest, Texas Children’s Health Plan also launched www.coldandfluhero.org and created Cold and Flu Defender kits to distribute to their members. The kits included tissues, nasal saline, hand sanitizer, bulb syringe and information on how to prevent cold and flu symptoms.

February 8, 2016

 

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Bench and Bedside is a digest of the previous month’s stories about the clinical and academic activities of our physicians and scientists. We welcome your submissions and feedback.

January 5

Zoghbi to receive Vanderbilt prize in Biomedical Science

2116zoghbilab300Dr. Huda Zoghbi, professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, and director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s, will be honored with the 2015 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science. This award is given by the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine to recognize women scientists with a stellar record of research accomplishment who have also mentored other women in science. More

January 5

Second location of The Center for Children and Women celebrates milestone

2116TheCenterAnniv300Texas Children’s Health Plan recently celebrated the first anniversary of The Center for Children and Women in Southwest Houston. During the past 12 months, the Center has provided care to more than 5,800 patients, including 356 births, demonstrating The Center’s remarkable footprint in the community. More

 

 

 

January 12

Dr. Sanjeev Vasudevan selected for Baylor Young Alumni Award

Dr. Sanjeev Vasudevan will receive the 2016 Young Alumnus Award from the Baylor College of Medicine Alumni Association. Vasudevan is a pediatric surgeon and researcher specializing in pediatric cancers such as neuroblastoma, liver cancer, renal tumors and sarcomas. More

January 12

Harpavat receives ASSLD award for study on newborn screening tool to detect biliary atresia earlier

Dr. Sanjiv Harpavat, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine, received the 2015 Jan Albrecht Clinical and Translational Research Award in Liver Diseases from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Foundation. His study titled, “Assessment of a Novel Newborn Screening Tool for Biliary Atresia,” explores a new strategy to detect infants with biliary atresia earlier. More

January 12

Pediatric Surgeon Dr. Sundeep Keswani awarded visiting professorship

Dr. Sundeep Keswani, pediatric surgeon, was chosen by the Association for Academic Surgery to receive the 2016 International Visiting Professorship Award to attend the Columbia Surgical Association Congress in Bogota, Colombia, in August 2016. Keswani is the principal investigator for the Texas Children’s Laboratory for Regenerative Tissue Repair. More

January 12

Family Fertility Center advances innovative research to improve IVF process

2116FFC300From exploring the metabolic factors impacting egg quality to the genetics of embryo implantation, Family Fertility Center researchers at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women are engaged in several fascinating studies to help infertile couples achieve successful pregnancy outcomes. Read about the various studies in progress. More

 

 

January 19

Three Texas Children’s Cancer Center researchers receive prestigious ASH awards

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized three researchers from Texas Children’s Cancer Center and Baylor College of Medicine for their work in advancing our understanding of disease pathogenesis and exploring novel innovative approaches for the treatment of pediatric cancers. More

January 19

Texas Children’s uses advanced orthopedic imaging, less radiation exposure

2116EOS300Texas Children’s is the first pediatric hospital in the southwest to offer advanced orthopedic imaging that provides full body, 3-D views of a patient’s bone structure using less radiation. Because of the low radiation dose, EOS imaging is beneficial for orthopedic patients with scoliosis and other spinal deformities who require frequent imaging to monitor disease progression. More

 

January 26

Texas Children’s Hospital welcomes expert pediatric hand surgeon

Texas Children’s Hospital is excited to welcome Dr. William Pederson, a highly-regarded pediatric hand surgeon, to the Department of Surgery. Pederson, whose appointment was effective in January, also is a professor of surgery and pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. More

January 26

Texas Children’s Heart Center welcomes trio of cardiologists

Texas Children’s Heart Center has welcomed three new pediatric cardiologists to the team. Drs. Tobias Schlingmann, Betul Yilmaz and Justin Zachariah joined Texas Children’s in July. More