Dr van Tilburg
@drvantilburg.bsky.social
Professor UNC, UW, CUSOM Director of Research at CFVH Gut Expert | Child health | #Parenting
New pub alert! HRV, a measure of (para)sympathetic nervous system functioning, is associated with disordered sleeping in children with abdominal pain.
@ngmjournal.bsky.social · 4mo ago🆕🔥 #HeartRateVariability & #Sleep among Girls & Boys with #AbdominalPain‐related #DisordersofGutBrainInteraction‼️ 🎯Sleep-disordered breathing is associated with lower #HRV in both sexes #snoring #gasping 👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #ANMS #ESNM @drvantilburg.bsky.social 👏
0ver 70% of toddlers view YouTube. Content is mostly low and attention grabbing. Less than 1 in 5 watched videos had educational content. Little kids getting trained on dopamine hits very early. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
YouTube Viewing and Content Quality in Toddlers
YouTube is the most popular video-sharing platform for young children and is largely characterized by low content quality. This study examined associations between YouTube viewing in toddlers, family...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
New study: Your mitochondria 🧬might be why depression leaves you drained. In those with depression, cells produced too much energy at rest - but struggled when demand increased. This could explain the fatigue 🥱that comes with depression. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...
Depression may start with an energy problem in brain cells
Researchers have discovered a surprising change in how cells produce energy in people with depression. Brain and blood cells in young adults with major depressive disorder produced more energy molecul...
sciencedaily.com
Nearly 1 in 4 teens sleeps 5 hrs or less per night — and it’s getting worse. A new JAMA study of 121K high schoolers found 75% don’t get enough sleep. The surprising culprit? NOT screens. 📖 npr.org/2026/03/08/nx-s1-5737426/time-change-teens-sleep-screens
Teens are sleeping less than ever and screens aren't primarily to blame
Nearly a quarter of teens sleep 5 hours or less per night and the majority sleep less than 8 hours. The problem is pervasive and technology doesn't seem to be the main culprit, according to a new repo...
npr.org
New study: Kids 🧒 eating more ultra-processed foods 🌭🍕at age 3 showed higher rates of behavioral & emotional problems by age 5. The good news — replacing just 10% of UPFs with whole foods 🍒🥑was associated with better outcomes. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Ultraprocessed Food Consumption and Behavioral Outcomes in Canadian Children
This cohort study examines the associations between intake of ultraprocessed foods at age 3 years and behavioral outcomes at age 5 years among children in Canada.
jamanetwork.com
👶❄️ Kid (0–6 years) with a common cold? A randomized controlled trial found that saline nasal drops can: ✅ Shorten symptoms by about 2 days ✅ Reduce the chance of others in the household getting sick Simple, safe, and effective! www.ersnet.org/news-and-fea...
Saline nasal drops reduce the duration of the common cold in young children by two days
For the first time, researchers have shown it is possible to repair damaged lung tissue inpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using the patients’ own lung cells.
ersnet.org
Do kids really need to sit still to learn? 🤔 In 2 studies with middle schoolers, students generated more novel ideas when allowed to move (wiggle stools) vs. sitting still. No effect on memory. Maybe it’s time to rethink “still = engaged.” 🪑✨ psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
Tired of hearing me talk about the untrustworthiness of Meyers Briggs personality test? I won’t stop soon! Not until you stop using it to decide who to marry, who to hire, or what College to attend. You have been sold a lie by ‘big business’. www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/why-are-we...
Why are we suckers for Astrology, the Myers-Briggs, and other pseudoscientific personality tests?
Astrology signs and MBTI do not predict people's lives (but the Big 5 does). We explain why people love them nevertheless.
powerofusnewsletter.com
New evidence shows chatbots are not only changing the way we write✍️, but the way we talk 🎙️too! arxiv.org/abs/2409.01754
Empirical evidence of Large Language Model's influence on human spoken communication
From the invention of writing and the printing press, to television and social media, human history is punctuated by major innovations in communication technology, which fundamentally altered how idea...
arxiv.org
New study asked 10 LLMs to manage pain for 1,000 ER patients. The result? Bias at scale. Black, unhoused, and low-income patients were flagged as high-risk for addiction but prescribed the most opioids. Low-income patients got less treatment despite similar needs. www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Socio-demographic gaps in pain management guided by large language models - Nature Health
In scenarios involving 1,000 acute-pain clinical vignettes, varied across 34 socio-demographic features, a panel of ten large language models is found to provide inconsistent recommendations, which al...
nature.com
Happy New Year! Starting the year off with more science. Chronic anxiety may be caused by dysfunction of the microglia (the brains primary immune cells), new study in mice suggests. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40897864/ts
Defective Hoxb8 microglia are causative for both chronic anxiety and pathological overgrooming in mice - PubMed
Disruption of the Hoxb8 gene results in chronic anxiety and pathological overgrooming in mice. Using bilateral intracerebral cell transplantation, we demonstrate that mutant Hoxb8 microglia are causative for both behaviors. Mice contain two microglia lineages, Hoxb8 and non-Hoxb8 microglia. We propo …
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Our interdependence with the gut #microbiota is remarkable. New research suggests gut microbes 🦠 may help train the maternal immune system to tolerate the fetus—reducing the risk of pregnancy loss🤰. news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2025/12...
Microbiome May Aid in Successful Pregnancies
Gut microbes may play a key role in training a mother’s immune system to adapt to the developing fetus during pregnancy, according to a preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.
news.weill.cornell.edu
Getting the #RSV #vaccine during pregnancy helped protect babies under 6 months: • Cut doctor visits for RSV by about two-thirds • Reduced RSV hospitalizations by about 70% jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Effectiveness and Impact of Maternal RSV Immunization and Nirsevimab in US Children
This study estimates maternal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine and nirsevimab effectiveness against acute respiratory illness and estimates the impact of these products on RSV-associated hosp...
jamanetwork.com
Attending an Ivy-Plus #college (vs. an average flagship public) increases the chance of: 💰Top 1% of earners 🎓Attending elite graduate school 🏢Working at a prestigious firm 💵Average salaries, however, are not meaningfully different academic.oup.com/qje/advance-...
Diversifying Society’s Leaders? The Determinants and Causal Effects of Admission to Highly Selective Private Colleges*
Abstract. We use anonymized admissions data from several colleges linked to income tax records and SAT and ACT test scores to study the determinants and ca
academic.oup.com
Infants of mothers with childhood abuse, showed more difficult temperament. DNA methylation of HPA-axis-related genes moderated this association, suggesting that epigenetic changes may amplify the effects of maternal childhood abuse on infant stress responses. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40974784/
Maternal history of maltreatment interacts with DNA methylation patterns to predict infant temperament - PubMed
These findings highlight the complexity of the relations among maternal CM, epigenetic modifications to the stress response, and infant temperament. Infants of mothers who experienced more CM, particularly abuse, exhibited more difficult temperament, a relation that was moderated by heightened methy …
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
This is a very sobering graph for the US. Hospitals that treat kids (level 1-2-3 in figure) are disappearing. This is problematic for all. publications.aap.org/pediatrics/a...
Absolutely staggering figures; USA an outlier among its developed countries peers wrt intimate partner violence, and India the outlier for sexual violence against children.
More kids dying of the flu now that vaccine rates are dropping. Misinformation have consequences. Please protect yourself and others. #VaccinesSaveLives
Violence against woman and kids major contributor to ill health. Not just in ‘developing countries’ here too, When will we stop the patriarchy, allow ‘boys will be boys’, and build social structures that help women and girls? www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Disease burden attributable to intimate partner violence against females and sexual violence against children in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden o...
IPV and SVAC are substantial contributors to global health burden, and their health consequences span a variety of individual health outcomes. Importantly, mental health disorders account for the grea...
thelancet.com
Study among Chinese college students shows negative affect of app usage: 😴Less sleep ⏰More often late for class ✏️Lower grades 👔Lower salary in first job Even more scary: Roommate use had huge impact as app use is infectious. www.nber.org/system/files...
nber.org
Pursuing a PhD isn’t just academically demanding — it can strain mental health. Study shows PhD students increase use of psychiatric meds each year compared to master’s students. Exception: medical & health sciences, where use stayed steady. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The impact of PhD studies on mental health—a longitudinal population study
Recent self-reported and cross-sectional survey evidence documents high levels of mental health problems among PhD students. We study the relationship…
sciencedirect.com
🚸 Overparenting hurts mental health. A meta-analysis of 44 studies (21k+ people) found small but significant links between overparenting and anxiety, depression, and lower life satisfaction. Effects varied by culture, parent gender, and age. #Parenting #MentalHealth pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41009265/
Associations Between Overparenting and Offspring's Mental Health: A Meta-Analysis of Multiple Moderators - PubMed
Despite overparenting being considered a critical factor associated with offspring's mental health, the existing research on this topic has yielded inconsistent results. The current study aimed to examine the relationship between overparenting and various mental health outcomes, such as anxiety, dep …
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
AI powered toys are already on the market and more are coming. Martell made a deal this summer with OpenAI. Don’t make your child an experiment. www.npr.org/2025/11/18/n...
Report finds some AI-enabled toys shared inappropriate content or collected data
NPR's A Martinez speaks with Teresa Murray, the co-author of a new report on the potential dangers of artificial intelligence-enabled children's toys.
npr.org
New findings suggest that #microbiome imbalance comes before infant #colic. This is already changing how we care for infants—and reminds us how essential maternal gut health is, since so much of a baby’s microbiome comes from mom. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40485532/
Aberrant microbiota signatures precede symptom development in infantile colic - PubMed
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02536560.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Short social media videos 📱linked to shorter attention spans and more stress 😖, meta analysis of 71 studies with 98,299 participants finds. It is not social media - it’s what you do on it that matters. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41231585/?ut...
Feeds, feelings, and focus: A systematic review and meta-analysis examining the cognitive and mental health correlates of short-form video use - PubMed
The resurgence of short-form videos (SFVs), popularized by TikTok and Douyin, has transformed social media platforms, with features like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts fostering their widespread adoption. Although initially geared toward entertainment, SFVs are increasingly used in education, po …
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Looking for faculty to join our new Medical school in NC. Are you an expert in pathology, anatomy, or biochemistry? www.methodist.edu/offices-serv...
Positions Available | Human Resources | Methodist University
Dear visitors, Welcome to Methodist University’s employment website! I’m delighted to greet potential applicants to our user-friendly online application
methodist.edu
The national rate of pediatric firearm deaths increased by 54% from 2004 to 2023, with most US youth now living in states where firearm injury is the leading cause of death. ja.ma/4opoxgN
Firearm Mortality in the US Pediatric Population
This case series discusses the rise of pediatric firearm mortality in the US.
ja.ma
Houston we have a problem 40% of US women aged 15 to 44 say they would move abroad permanently if they had the opportunity That is a quadrupling in the past decade. For all we talk about a ‘crisis among young men’, women, as usual, are asked to suffer in silence. news.gallup.com/poll/697382/...
Record Numbers of Younger Women Want to Leave the U.S.
The percentage of younger women in the U.S. who express a desire to migrate permanently has surged in the past decade.
news.gallup.com
Dr Carlo DiLorenzo giving the first #NASPGHAN TED talk during the 2025 annual meeting. “This is the best time to be a pediatric gastroenterologist”.
WHO warns children remain under-represented in clinical trials. Clinical trials in children encounter many barriers such as ethical concerns and smaller numbers, but the biggest reason is underfunding. Let’s invest in child’s health! www.who.int/news/item/06...
WHO publishes new global research agenda to strengthen paediatric clinical trials
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a new technical report, The future of paediatric clinical trials – setting research priorities for child health, presenting a global research agenda de...
who.int