Of the nearly 7,000 rare diseases identified by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), only a few hundred currently have treatments. The development of therapies for rare diseases is often hampered by the special challenges of conducting the needed studies for rare disease drugs and medical devices, such as small numbers of patients and the fact…

Newborn screening is a test done on every child born in the US shortly after birth to detect diseases where, if not diagnosed and treated in the newborn period, the child will suffer significant trauma, disability or die. A few drops of blood from each baby's heel is put on a card and sent to the state's public health lab for testing. Most states…

Tooth decay in children is on the rise in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), tooth decay rose 4 percent in the two-to five-year-old age group in the last four years. These statistics are disturbing to dental professionals because of the ability to prevent approximately 85 percent of tooth decay.…