Palliative care is specialized medical care focused on easing symptoms, addressing psychological and spiritual needs, and helping patients and caregivers make critical decisions aligned with their personal beliefs and values.

As a group, carriers of recessive disorders are slightly less healthy and have a reduced chance of having offspring. This disadvantage is greatest for carriers of a recessive gene for intellectual disability, and reflected in a shorter school career and increased childlessness, according to research from Radboudumc published in Nature human behavior. Time to rewrite the textbooks?

Researchers derived pragmatic models that accurately distinguish mild, moderate and severe pneumonia in children, based on evidence from a study performed in 73 Emergency Departments (EDs) in 14 countries through the international Pediatric Emergency Research Network (PERN). The new predictive tools are intended to complement clinician judgement in deciding whether a child’s pneumonia warrants hospitalization or intensive care. The study was published in Lancet Child and Adolescent Health.