Thanks to medical advances, people with cystic fibrosis (CF) are living longer than they used to. But with this development comes the increasing incidence of kidney disease among these patients. That's why Tom Harris, M.D., a pulmonologist at Children's of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), is working to improve early detection. In this episode, he explains the research he's done on diagnosis and emerging biomarkers of CF-related kidney disease.

For patients with type 1 diabetes, achieving optimal glycemic control with the current treatments can be difficult. But GLP-1s may provide the solution. In this episode, Children's of Alabama endocrinologists Dr. Giovanna Beauchamp and Dr. Ortal Resnick discuss their research on this topic and the difference GLP-1 receptor agonists could make for patients with type 1 diabetes.

As director of Developmental Therapeutics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Children's of Alabama, Jamie Aye, M.D., works to develop novel treatments for children with cancer and blood disorders. In this episode, she explains what she and her colleagues are doing to discover these treatments and the difference they can make in the lives of patients.

For decades, doctors have relied heavily on ultrasound scans to monitor kidney health in children with spina bifida. Now, a new study from Children’s of Alabama urologists Stacy Tanaka, M.D., David Joseph, M.D., and other national experts, shows that ultrasound alone is not sufficient. The findings challenge current practice and suggest that blood tests measuring kidney function should be routinely performed alongside ultrasound. In this episode, Tanaka explains the findings, which have already changed practice at Children’s.

In recent years, endocrinologists at Children’s of Alabama have seen a drastic increase in the number of young patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia—extremely elevated triglyceride levels that can pose serious health risks if left untreated. To address this, Ambika Ashraf, M.D., was selected to join a group of leading national experts in developing a new framework and tool for managing the condition. In this episode, she describes the challenges of hypertriglyceridemia for patients and clinicians and explains how the new framework and tool can help.

You can find the tool here: https://www.lipid.org/nla/north-american-familial-chylomicronemia-calculator-or-nafcs-scoring-tool

Children’s of Alabama nephrologist Dr. Michael Seifert and his lab are using a novel technique called spatial transcriptomics, or spatial gene expression assays, to develop non-invasive biomarkers reflective of the underlying biology of kidney transplant rejection. In this episode, Seifert explains the work he and his team are doing in the UAB Spatial Core Lab and the difference it can make for patients and physicians.

The independent risk for neurodevelopmental impairments attributed to chorioamnionitis (inflammation of the fetal membranes) in premature infants remains controversial. Children’s of Alabama neonatologist Viral Jain, M.D., has done extensive research on the effects this infection can have on these babies. In this episode he discusses his work and explains what his research shows.

For a closer look at Dr. Jain's work on chorioamnionitis, please check out these links: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35644247/, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40023378/

Last year, Curtis J. Rozzelle, M.D., a pediatric neurosurgeon at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), performed the first deep brain stimulation (DBS) procedure for epilepsy at Children’s of Alabama, offering a new treatment option for pediatric patients who experience drug-resistant seizures. During the procedure, he also implanted the first NeuroPace responsive neurostimulation (RNS) epilepsy treatment device at Children’s. In this episode, Rozzelle describes the procedure and the device, and he explains how they help patients with epilepsy.

Testicular torsion is a serious medical emergency that requires immediate surgical intervention. If not treated promptly, the condition can lead to permanent damage or loss of the affected testicle. Prompt diagnosis is crucial, but challenging. To improve diagnosis, a team at Children’s of Alabama created a testicular torsion model that provides hands-on training for residents to help them determine if the patient is suffering from a torsed testicle. They hope other institutions will be able to use what they created to replicate their own model.

Acquired hypothalamic obesity has long presented a complex challenge in health care, leaving pediatric patients struggling to lose weight. An innovative study involving a medication called setmelanotide aims to address this problem. Hussein Abdul-Latif, M.D., sheds light on this groundbreaking research, offering insights into its origin, mechanism and potential impact.

Childhood and adolescence can be challenging times, especially when children have problems with mood, paying attention or if they face difficulties at home or school. If problems are not treated, children can develop low self-esteem, perform poorly in school, have trouble with relationships or struggle to reach their potential. Children’s of Alabama offers comprehensive behavioral health care that address the specific needs of each patient. In this episode, Brandy Reeve, the senior executive leader of Behavioral Health Services at Children's, explains the breadth of services the hospital offers and how they're helping children cope with difficult times, especially as the mental health crisis progresses.

In this episode, Dr. Matthew Kutny explains the work he's doing in the Pediatric Clinical Trials Office at Children's of Alabama and the difference it's making in the lives of children in Alabama and beyond.

As an endocrinologist who cares for both children and adults at Children's of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Sajal Patel, M.D., understands the needs of both populations. She uses that expertise to help children transition from pediatric care to adult care through the Children's of Alabama Staging Transition for Every Patient (STEP) Clinic at Children's. In this episode, she talks about the care she provides for patients going through this process.

Lung injury is a common complication in children following cardiac surgery. Mechanical ventilation is often required to support patients for hours to days in the intensive care unit. The severity of lung injury can vary by patient. Being able to predict which patient are at a higher risk of requiring respiratory support due to worse lung injury is crucial. Our heart center is the first in the nation to report the discovery of a novel blood biomarker for lung injury following heart surgery. Using our heart center biorepository we identified and validated the finding of the new biomarker “Proteoglycan 4” and its correlation with lung injury. In order to validate this finding, a large number of patients need to be tested. Funding from the Hope Fund is supporting the costs of these tests. It is anticipated that if the initial results are correct, cardiac intensivists will be able to predict who is at higher risk for lung injury and adjust their management to minimize the injury which can last lifetime.

Dr. Jonathan Byrnes is an Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Medical Director of Cardiac ECMO, at Children's of Alabama. During this episode of PedsCast, Dr. Byrnes will discuss the unique aspects of a multicenter anticoagulation study and the use of bivalirudin in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Traci Jester, M.D. is the director of Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Children’s of Alabama and is an Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Jester serves as the Co-Director of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic Chair of Pediatric Affairs Committee for Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. Recently, the Foundation received a grant from the CDC to support a comprehensive 5-year project partnering with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) to identify and address barriers to diagnosis and care of patients with inflammatory bowel disease, especially the experience of African American patients. The study will be conducted at the Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease clinic at Children's of Alabama as well as the UAB Gastroenterology Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic. In this PedsCast, Dr. Jester will talk about the 3 components of the study which include research, focus groups and dissemination of resources to the community to raise awareness about IBD and highlight the importance of timely referrals to gastroenterologists.

Carmen Tong, D.O., is the director of robotic surgery at Children's of Alabama and Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). On this episode of PedsCast, Dr. Tong discusses a quality improvement (QI) project on adherence to follow-up after kidney stone surgery in children. This QI project investigates the association between demographic factors and stone presentation characteristics to see if certain populations are more likely to come back for their postoperative visit. Long term follow up is important for pediatric kidney stones, because first time stone formers are 50% more likely to form stones in the first 3 years.

Dr. Kevin Williams is an orthopedic surgeon at Children’s of Alabama and Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Williams’ clinical interests are in general pediatric orthopedic surgery with emphasis in pediatric sports medicine. During this PedsCast episode, Dr. Williams will discuss a current study focusing on elbow fractures.

Dr. Michael Siefert is the Medical Director of Pediatric Renal Transplantation at Children's of Alabama and UAB. Today Dr. Seifert will be discussing pediatric kidney transplantation and the risks involved, as well as how Children's of Alabama is a national leader in kidney transplantation.

Wendy Landier, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, serves as Associate Professor, School of Nursing Associate Director, Institute for Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship for UAB. Dr. Landier's practice at Children's of Alabama is in the Hematology/Oncology Division.

Dr. Landier has provided two studies about the HPV vaccine in cancer survivors. The first study showed that HPV vaccination rates in cancer survivors are significantly lower than those in the healthy age-matched population. The primary reason for that is lack of healthcare provider recommendation for the vaccine.

Dr. Landier also tested the HPV vaccine in survivors and found that the 3-dose HPV vaccine series is safe and has a similar immunogenicity profile to that seen in the age-matched general population.

The second study, currently in progress, is testing the effectiveness and evaluating the implementation of a healthcare provider-directed intervention known as “HPV PROTECT” in increasing HPV vaccination rates in cancer survivors.

The Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN) program is designed to advance medical research on rare diseases by providing support for clinical studies and facilitating collaboration, study enrollment and data sharing. Through the RDCRN consortia, physician scientists and their multidisciplinary teams work together with patient advocacy groups to study nearly 200 rare diseases at sites across the nation.