“The growth of the CF research program has led to increased participation in nationally supported research and the development of local investigator-initiated studies,” said John McNamara, MD, Medical Director of Children’s Cystic Fibrosis (CF)program. “After learning from our initial survey study that children with CF are struggling with anxiety, musculoskeletal pain and sleep problems, we implemented targeted physical therapy and yoga protocols to help reduce these symptoms. The results of these studies and other research projects in the pipeline will increase our national presence and lead to the ability to initiate multi-centered trials.”

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Children’s has announced it is a participant in a new study of medications that have shown promise in slowing the progress of diabetes and, in some cases, restoring insulin-producing cells.

The study, conducted in collaboration with Sanford Medical Center (Sioux Falls, SD), will focus on the ability of the medications to halt the autoimmune attack as well as to regenerate the body’s islet cells and, therefore, the progression of diabetes.

Similar studies conducted elsewhere, designed to counteract the immune attack, have used medications with high rates of adverse effects stemming from the shutting down of the body’s immune system in general.

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