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‘Toasted’ boy used laptop for a few hours a day
Damage can lead to skin cancers in some cases
Temperature underneath computer can hit 52C

By FIONA MACRAE
Last updated at 4:10 PM on 4th October 2010

Balancing your laptop on your knees could be bad for your skin, doctors have warned.

The heat generated by the ubiquitous devices can cause ‘toasted skin syndrome’ – a nettle sting-like rash that can cause permanent discolouration and, in rare cases, cancer.

Common in the days before central heating, when people huddled around open fires and electric heaters to stay warm, the condition is making a comeback in computer users.….Continue Reading

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Two nursery nurses were today found guilty of bullying a two-year-old boy at a day nursery.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 5:56 PM on 1st October 2010

Lisa Wymer, 22, and her colleague Rebecca Robins, 21, were caught on the CCTV camera installed at the nursery in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.

Footage played to a jury at St Albans crown court showed the toddler being dragged across the floor by his legs and other children being encouraged to poke the little boy as he lay on the floor.….Continue Reading

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A brain scan that can tell how mature someone is could one day be used to decide whether a child should be prosecuted for a crime.

By NIALL FIRTH
Last updated at 12:37 PM on 23rd September 2010

An MRI scan can show how old someone is after just five minutes because of the difference in structure between an adults and a child’s brain.

Now scientists say that, in the future, defence lawyers could use these scans to argue that their defendant’s brain was not mature enough for them to truly understand what they have done.

Jay Giedd, at the National Institute of mental Health in Bethseda, Marlyand, told New Scientist: ‘The findings are going to make a splash.’….Continue Reading

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A 10-year-old girl whose jaw was broken in two places by a pair of Rottweilers has become the latest victim of a growing wave of dog attacks across the country.

By Stephen Adams, John Bingham and Simon Johnson
Published: 9:00AM BST 31 Aug 2010

Source: BBC NEWS

A six-year-old boy is in a critical condition after being struck by a speedboat at Cranfield beach in County Down.

31 August 2010 Last updated at 05:43 GMT

The boy was in the water on a wave board being towed by a boat, when the collision happened at about 1700 BST on Monday.

He is believed to have suffered severe head injuries and was taken to Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry.….Continue Reading

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She cradled baby after being told to ‘say her goodbyes’

By MAIL FOREIGN SERVICE
Last updated at 1:23 PM on 26th August 2010

An Australian mother has told how her touch brought her ‘dead’ baby back to life. Doctors gave tiny Jamie Ogg no chance of survival when he was born prematurely at 27 weeks weighing just 2lb.

His twin sister Emily had survived but after battling for 20 minutes to get him to breathe Jamie was declared dead. He was then handed to his mother Kate so she and her partner David could grieve and say their goodbyes.….Continue Reading

Source: BBC NEWS

Allah Rakhi was sitting quietly on a rush mat under a tree, getting what shade she could from the blistering sun in the Pakistani city of Sukkur.

By Jill McGivering BBC News, Sukkur

She was surrounded by noise and pressing people and just a few feet from passing traffic. She was a young woman and gazed at me distantly as we spoke – as if she was not quite sure where she was.

Her village was 60km (37 miles) away, she said, but when the floodwater came, she had to leave.

She walked all the way to Sukkur and five days ago, soon after arriving, she gave birth to a daughter on the roadside, without any help from a doctor or midwife.….Continue Reading

Source: BBC NEWS

A mother has talked of how she decided not to tell her 11-year-old daughter she was dying of brain cancer.

23 August 2010 Last updated at 13:17 GMT

Ellie Othick-Bowmaker developed a brain tumour in 2007. When she went to the hospital a consultant told her parents that patients with this type of cancer usually survive 6-12 months.….Continue Reading

Source: BBC NEWS

A young girl has been airlifted to hospital after she fell 100ft down a cliff while riding her bike in Gwynedd.

21 August 2010 Last updated at 13:21 GMT

The incident happened at Arthog near Barmouth on Saturday morning.

The girl, five, suffered a serious back injury, said the Wales Ambulance Service. She was taken by RAF Valley helicopter to hospital.

A BBC Wales reporter, staying nearby, said the drop is not sheer and includes trees and bracken.….Continue Reading

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A toddler could lose one of her eyes after getting a rare infection from dog mess left in a park playground.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 2:06 PM on 18th August 2010

Amiee Langdon, who turns two next week, put her hand down as she tumbled over, then wiped her left eye.

The youngster, who was playing in a gated children’s area in Platt Fields Park, Manchester, was diagnosed with a potentially deadly infection that could spread to her brain.Hospital tests confirmed toxocariasis, an infection which is spread by dog dirt.….Continue Reading

Source: BBC NEWS

A seven-year-old boy has lost an eye after being struck by a stone while having a picnic with his family in a park.

13 August 2010 Last updated at 14:09 GMT

An inquiry is examining whether the stone was thrown up by a grass-cutting machine in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan.

He was taken to hospital and underwent surgery but the eye could not be saved.

The boy has been named locally as Andrew Attwell, from Barry. South Wales Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are investigating.….Continue Reading

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A toddler lost an eye after a hospital took more than three months to diagnose cancer – because it had lost his medical records.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 4:40 PM on 11th August 2010

Harvey Dellar, three, was referred for treatment by an optician in February 2008 after he noticed his eye was turning inwards.

But after a delay in getting an appointment, a cancerous tumour spread so badly that doctors had no choice to remove Harvey’s right eye.….Continue Reading

Source: INDEPENDENT

The family of a mother questioned over the murder of her two-year-old son were so concerned about her behaviour they took her to hospital the day before she carried his lifeless body into a police station, it emerged today.

By Rod Minchin and Tom Wilkinson, Press Association

Melanie Ruddell, 39, was taken to Hartlepool General Hospital on Sunday by relatives and was later allowed to leave. The following morning Mrs Ruddell, who is believed to have split from her husband several months ago, walked into a County Durham police station, carrying her son Christy.

Police quickly realised something was wrong and as the little boy was rushed to hospital, Mrs Ruddell was arrested. Detectives believe Christy had been dead for some time before his mother took him to the police station.….Continue Reading

Source: DAILYMAIL

Doctors have carried out pioneering lifesaving surgery to give a new windpipe to a British teenager suffering from cancer.

By JENNY HOPE
Last updated at 7:40 AM on 4th August 2010

The 19-year-old was able to speak within a few days of the operation carried out in Italy using her own stem cells.

Another 31-year-old patient from Czechoslovakia also underwent surgery for the same rare form of trachea cancer.Doctors regenerated tissue from the patients’ nose and bone marrow stem cells to create windpipes in the laboratory which were biologically identical to the patients’ original organs….Continue Reading

Source: DAILYMAIL >> Read full article and comment

Doctors have carried out pioneering lifesaving surgery to give a new windpipe to a British teenager suffering from cancer.

By JENNY HOPE
Last updated at 7:40 AM on 4th August 2010

The 19-year-old was able to speak within a few days of the operation carried out in Italy using her own stem cells.

Another 31-year-old patient from Czechoslovakia also underwent surgery for the same rare form of trachea cancer.Doctors regenerated tissue from the patients’ nose and bone marrow stem cells to create windpipes in the laboratory which were biologically identical to the patients’ original organs….Continue Reading

Do you represent a school, nursery or children’s group? Click here to Enter our competition to win one of 5 Medikidz comics. Examples of the comics in the range includes:

Continue reading about the background to Medikidz

A brave young boy, William Milne is amongst a small percentage of children in the UK to undergo a small bowel transplant. At only seven years-old, William is currently recovering from one of two operations he has had to have since his organ transplant in 2008.

When Medikidz heard about William’s story, they immediately put pen to paper to begin developing a story around his illness.  This comic, as well as all the comics produced by Medikidz, explains the journey of the body before, during and after a condition. It tells the story in a way that is imaginative, engaging and easy to understand.

Developed by a team of doctors, the books are used as an educational tool that empowers children with the knowledge they need,  to take ownership of their illness, while taking away their fear of the unknown. Marvel Comics expert, John Taddeo, also contributes to the drawings for the comics.

Case Study background :

William first underwent  a small bowel transplant in November 2008 when he was just six years old. Since then, he has had to have two further operations due to complications – the most recent of which took place this week.

The transplant and operations took place in Birmingham Children’s Hospital well-known throughout the country for specialising in children’s organ transplants. William is one of only 91 children to have had this operation since they began in 1993.

William lives in Croydon with his family. He has two older sisters, aged 11 and 14, who have both had to come to terms with his illness. The Medikidz book has also helped them to understand what he is going through and how it affects his body.

Quick facts about organ transplants:

1.      Organ donation is the gift of an organ to help someone who needs a transplant. The generosity of donors and their families enables nearly 3,000 people in the UK every year to take on a new lease of life.

2.      Factors affecting transplants are blood group and size primarily.

3.      Patients usually only get one chance with heart and/or lung transplants as the anti-rejection drugs can damage the body even though they are vital to maintaining the patients health for the rest of their lives.

4.      Kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, pancreas, small bowel, corneas, heart valves and bone can all be transplanted. Skin can be used to treat patients with severe burns. Techniques are improving all the time and it may soon be practical to transplant other parts of the body.

5.      Every year hundreds of people die while waiting for a transplant and many others lose their lives before they even get on to the transplant list. There is a serious shortage of organs and the gap between the number of organs donated and the number of people waiting for a transplant is increasing.

Medikidz background

‘Medikidz’ are a gang of five larger-than-life superheroes, who each specialise in a different part of the human body.  The characters are funny, relatable and unique; entertaining young patients as well as educating them about serious medical issues. The Medikidz characters live on ‘Mediland’ – a living, moving planet shaped just like the human body.  The children are taught about their own condition (ranging from ADHD, asthma, and diabetes, through to epilepsy, food allergy, HIV, swine flu and osteosarcoma) by going on a personal tour through Mediland.
Each comic book is co-written by a doctor – alongside graphic novelist John Taddeo (of Marvel Comics fame).  It is subsequently peer reviewed by a leading professor and clinical nurse specialist within the field.  We currently have fifty internationally-renowned consultants on our medical advisory board, with over 300 titles planned for the future.

Why?

Everyday, millions of children worldwide are diagnosed with conditions that even their parents may find difficult to comprehend. Most children don’t understand their medical conditions, associated investigations or why they need to receive medical treatment and how it will help them in the future. In the past, it has been a commonly-held view that children are too young to understand medical concepts, or – worse – are better off not knowing. Therefore, there is an unsatisfied need for medical information for young patients to not only educate, but also for compliance purposes.

How?

Medikidz graphic novels are available for £6.99 each from Amazon.co.uk and Medikidz.com.  For more information about Medikidz, please visit www.medikidz.com <http://www.medikidz.com>

Source: TELEGRAPH  >> Read full article and comment

The parents of Richard Rudd, the man who told doctors he wanted to live by moving his eyes while trapped in a coma, have revealed the emotional turmoil caused by their son’s choice.

By David Harrison
Published: 7:45AM BST 18 Jul 2010

Source: DAILYMAIL >> Read full article and comment

A woman is pregnant with two babies who were conceived almost a week apart.

By PAUL THOMPSON
Last updated at 12:59 AM on 17th July 2010

But they are not twins because their 34-year-old mother has a rare medical condition which means she has two wombs. The condition, known as uterus didelphys, affects only one in five million women.

But fewer than 100 women worldwide are known to have become pregnant after conceiving at different times.

Mrs Cromar, who has three children under eight, was aware that she had more than one uterus. …Continue Reading

Source: Telegraph >> Read full article and comment

Medical conditions should not be blamed or used as an excuse for children’s bad behaviour says Max Pemberton.

By Max Pemberton
Published: 7:00AM BST 12 Jul 2010

Source: Dailymail >> Read full article and comment

The family of a baby boy born with back-to-front KNEES said they were disgusted that he was still waiting for specialist treatment months after his birth.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Last updated at 8:28 AM on 1st July 2010

Gabriell Camilleri-Nugent was born with hyperextended knees and bronchomalacia, meaning his lungs and airways are too small for him to breathe on his own.

A 20-week scan showed Gabriell’s legs were doubled back near his head in the womb, instead of being curled up in the foetal position.

When he was born by caesarian section last December his shocked family said he looked ‘like he was doing the splits’ as his knee caps are effectively back to front.

Now aged six months, he has worn plaster casts on both legs since birth but he is sitll waiting to be transferred to a specialist hospital for treatment.

His grandmother, Carol, 50, said the youngster’s health is being compromised by NHS bureaucracy….Continue Reading

Source: Guardian >> Read full article and comment

The soap Hollyoaks is about to introduce a challenging new storyline about Jasmine, the girl who wants to be Jason. Can it help change attitudes to transgender teens?

By Viv Groskop

Thursday 1 July 2010

‘From the age of about eight I knew something wasn’t right with me,” says Benson, a 17-year-old from Cumbria. “But it was never an issue because I was just a kid having fun. When I hit puberty and started growing breasts, I looked at other boys and thought, No – that’s the way I am supposed to be. I had no idea what transgender was. The internet helped a lot and I began to read blogs. I never came out to my family; they just guessed, really.” At 16, he went to the doctor….Continue Reading

Source: Dailymail >> Read full article and comment

Girl, 6, with body of 80-year-old has new lease of life thanks to cancer drug that halts arthritis

By FAY SCHLESINGER

Last updated at 2:02 PM on 24th June 2010

Lottie Lafferty was just three when she was crippled by a condition more associated with the frail and elderly – arthritis.

Even lowering herself to sit on the floor was painful, while her swollen joints left her unable to run around easily or cycle or swim with friends.

Her parents feared the worst for their little girl, who they described as ‘stuck in the body of an 80-year-old’.

But three years on a drug normally used to treat cancer has transformed Lottie back into a normal schoolgirl who can bound around with all the energy of a happy six-year-old…Continue reading

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Tara was just seven when puberty struck – shockingly, cases like hers are becoming all too common – so what’s to blame?

By WINIFRED ROBINSON

Last updated at 7:51 AM on 17th June 2010

The first reports of a steep drop in the age of puberty began to emerge from the U.S. just over a decade ago – around the time my son Tony was born – but I didn’t take too much notice back then.

If it was a real problem, I reasoned, I would know someone with a child in this situation and back then I did not.

As with so many other health stories, sceptical scientists quickly stepped in to criticise the methods used in the American studies, while others blamed the lifestyle there – too much obesity, too much sitting in front of televisions and computer screens and too much hormone-treated beef.

It couldn’t, I thought, happen to us. I could not have been more wrong. A study at the University of Copenhagen by some of the most respected experts in this field – and the first of its kind in Western Europe – has concluded the age at which girls and boys begin to mature physically has dropped in a short space of time.

In girls, the age of puberty is down by a whole year – from 11 to ten. For boys, the change is less stark,  but it’s nonetheless real – they now start puberty around four months earlier than they once did, on average aged ten rather than 11. ..Continue reading

Source: Independent >> Read full article and comment

Baby P was probably suffering from eight broken ribs when he saw his GP eight days before his death, the General Medical Council heard today.

By Sam Marsden, Press Association

Tuesday, 15 June 2010

An expert said the little boy would have felt “acute pain” from his injuries if he had been picked up at the time of his consultation with Dr Jerome Ikwueke.

It is also likely that the toddler – now named as Peter Connelly – had a mouth injury known as a classic sign of abuse when he saw the doctor on July 26 2007, a GMC fitness to practise panel heard.

Dr Ikwueke, 63, is accused of failing to carry out an adequate examination of Peter or make an urgent referral to hospital despite knowing the child was on the at-risk register and noting his behaviour had changed.

Eight days later, on August 3 2007, he died in a blood-spattered cot in Tottenham, north London, aged 17 months...Continue reading

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Girls reaching puberty younger is a physiological phenomenon with important emotional implications, says Cassandra Jardine.

By Cassandra Jardine
Published: 7:00AM BST 15 Jun 2010

Source: Guardian >> Read full article and comment

A new study says girls are hitting puberty at the age of nine – if so, it’s a worrying phenomenon

By Deborah Orr

Monday 14 June 2010 20.00 BST

At least they have company, I suppose. At our primary school, in the early 70s, from a year containing almost 90 10-year-olds, only one child was clearly undergoing puberty. It set her apart, not least because she embraced it so enthusiastically. What a to-do, when we all went to the baths for swimming lessons. Little boys in children’s trunks. Little girls in children’s swimsuits. Gillian in a purple halter-neck bikini, looking like something out of a Bond film…Continue reading

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Schoolgirl, 12, with body of 96-year-old refuses to be beaten by aging disease by living life to the full

By CLAIRE BATES

Last updated at 4:00 PM on 14th June 2010

When Hayley Okines arrives home after a tiring day at school she would have more reason to grumble than most. The 12-year-old suffers from the rapid aging disease progeria, an incredibly rare condition that affects one in eight million people.

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As Rebecca Radford lay recovering from a heart transplant after being given only two weeks to live, she was told she would never be a mother.

By LUCY LAING

Last updated at 7:54 AM on 14th June 2010

As Rebecca Radford lay recovering from a heart transplant after being given only two weeks to live, she was told she would never be a mother.

She had had the operation at the age of only 23, but doctors had also given her some devastating news  -  the strain of any pregnancy would be too much for her new heart.

Then in May last year, only two years after her transplant, she discovered she was pregnant. If she chose to carry on with it she risked her new heart failing  -  which could cost her her life.

But Mrs Radford was so determined to become a mother that she took that risk, and luckily it paid off. She gave birth to a healthy son, Logan, in January. ..Continue reading

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The latest generation of girls are reaching puberty before the age of 10, a new study suggests, raising fears they may also begin sexual activity earlier.

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent

Published: 12:23PM BST 13 Jun 2010

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It must have seemed that luck just wasn’t on their side.

By RACHEL ELLIS

Last updated at 11:17 PM on 11th June 2010

Anna Vidnes and her partner Brad had been trying for a baby for seven years.

They spent £18,000 and had 12 courses of IVF treatment without success, even travelling abroad in their desperation for a child.

So when the couple began another attempt last year, they had nearly lost all hope.

Incredibly, however, thirteen proved their lucky number – and they are now the proud parents of two-month-old twin girls, Sienna and Annika.

‘When it came to do the pregnancy test after our last IVF cycle, we were both so nervous I just closed my eyes,’ said Ms Vidnes, 38, a beauty consultant. ‘We had almost given up hope of ever having a child.

‘When the two lines came up to show I was pregnant, I just couldn’t believe it. It was both fantastic and scary at the same time. ..Continue reading

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Blogger Lisa Lynch and her parents tell Viv Groskop how her breast cancer changed their adult-child relationship

By Viv Groskop

Saturday 5 June 2010

“At the clinic someone said, ‘It’s good that your parents are around you. Long may it continue.’ When I heard that I just knew.” Lisa Lynch is remembering waiting for the results of her initial tests for breast cancer. Her husband – and her parents – were waiting with her.

A diagnosis of invasive breast cancer at the age of 28 is devastating. But is it any less painful for the parents of an adult child to have to cope with this news? “I felt guilty that it wasn’t me,” says Lisa’s mother, Jane. “Why was Lisa picked and not me? It seemed so unfair. Just because your child has grown up and left home, it doesn’t mean they are not your child. If your child is ill you do everything for them.” Her father Ian adds: “As a parent you feel totally helpless.”

Lisa’s illness marked the beginning of a two-year journey for her family. They lived in each other’s pockets for weeks on end during her treatment, their roles frequently reversing. Sometimes, Lisa treated her parents like children, nursing them through their grief over her illness. Sometimes she was reduced to being a child herself, as her mother cared for her during the worst of her chemotherapy…Continue reading

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Sitting side by side in their summer dresses, with floppy hats to shield them from the sun, these are the nine-month-old twins savaged in their cots by a fox.

By NEIL SEARS and KATHERINE FAULKNER
Last updated at 12:35 PM on 9th June 2010

Sitting side by side in their summer dresses, with floppy hats to shield them from the sun, these are the nine-month-old twins savaged in their cots by a fox.

Isabella and Lola Koupparis were having surgery in separate hospitals yesterday for the ‘life-changing’ injuries they sustained in the attack.

Isabella, who gazes up at the camera, had been in intensive care before being transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital, while Lola’s face was described by her mother as ‘looking like something from a horror movie’.

This morning the twins’ grandmother Zoe Koupparis said: ‘Lola is a lot better but Isabella is still sedated.

‘We’re really pleased about Lola. Nick and Pauline (the girls’ parents) are definitely pleased but of course they’re concerned about Isabella…Continue reading

Source: New Scientist >> Read full article and comment
13:56 07 June 2010 by Linda Geddes

Children with autism appear to have a characteristic chemical signature in their urine which might form the basis of an early diagnostic test for the condition.

The finding also adds weight the hypothesis that substances released by gut bacteria are contributing to the onset of the condition.

Autism has previously been linked to metabolic abnormalities and gastrointestinal problems such as gut pain and diarrhoea. Several studies have also hinted at changes in gut bacteria in the faeces of children with autism.

To investigate whether signs of these metabolic changes might be detectable in children’s urine, Jeremy Nicholson and colleagues at Imperial College London investigated 39 children with autism, 28 of their non-autistic siblings and 34 unrelated children.

Chemical fingerprint

Using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to analyse the children’s urine, they found that each of these groups had a distinct chemical fingerprint, with clear and significant differences between children with autism and unrelated controls. … Continue reading

Source: Daily Mail >> Read full article and comment

Schoolgirl’s life saved by optician who spotted rare brain condition that could have blinded her within days

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:30 PM on 8th June 2010

Source: Independent >> Read full article and comment

…but were he white it would be a different story. Jerome Taylor reports on the racial lottery for patients in need of transplants

Tuesday, 8 June 2010

Ten-year-old amun Ali desperately needs a bone marrow transplant. If he were white, the likelihood of his finding a life-saving match would be one in three. But he is Asian so his chances are closer to one in 125,000.

The chronic shortage of ethnic minorities on Britain’s various donor registries – be they blood, bone marrow or hard organs – means that the chances of survival for thousands of patients like Amun are drastically reduced.

Patients from South Asian or black backgrounds are three times more likely to need a kidney transplant as white patients. But once they get on to the list they usually have to wait twice as long, which in turn increases the chances of the kidney being rejected because bodies that have had to spend long periods on dialysis often have a harder time accepting new organs. … Continue reading

Source: Guardian >> Read full article and comment

Student loans must be repaid unless disability status is granted

By Margaret Dibden

The Observer, Sunday 6 June 2010

I graduated in 2002 and was part of the first cohort to pay tuition fees. I then secured funding for an MA and PhD. On completing the PhD two years ago, I was diagnosed with a brain tumour. I had surgery and made a good recovery but am left with severe fatigue and some sight loss.

I work two days a week, plus additional part-time teaching. In the months I am paid for teaching, I reach the threshold for repaying the student loan. Of course, the interest continues to accrue and I wonder if the debt will go with me to my grave.

Is the status of my debt changed at all by my long-term health condition? IR, London..Continue reading

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Rebekah Gibbs was just weeks away from giving birth when she first noticed a lump in her breast.

By Jane Elliott, video Neil Bowdler
Health reporters, BBC News

Doctors were reassuring and said it would be benign.

But just months after having baby Gigi and after pushing for a referral, the former Casualty actress was told she had a particularly aggressive cancer.

Now she is celebrating her second year clear of the disease, but admits her life will never be the same again.

“I have just had an all-clear. You don’t get a band waiting for you at the hospital doors, but it is a ‘wow I have done my two years’.

“I won’t get cocky though and I take each day as it comes. I am always a little unsure about the future.”

Rebekah, who played paramedic Nina Farr in the popular soap, said her daughter had been pivotal in her recovery… Continue reading

Source: Guardian  >> Read full article and comment

They are stereotyped as high-flyers – but new figures show many other reasons for late motherhood

By Denis Campbell, health correspondent

The Observer, Sunday 30 May 2010

“Mothers over 40 in record baby boom”, ran a front page headline last Wednesday. The accompanying story relayed a set of Office for National Statistics (ONS) data – last year’s annual birth figures for England and Wales – that underline a cultural revolution in childbearing that began in the 1980s and is gathering pace. Doctors keep warning of the risks involved in older motherhood, but growing numbers of women clearly are not listening.

To recap: the number giving birth in their 40s has almost trebled in 20 years, from 9,336 in 1989 to 14,252 in 1999, then to 26,976 last year – the highest ever. The number of 35- to 39-year-olds producing offspring is also rising. It went from 81,281 to 114,288 between 1999 and 2009. Overall fertility increased in the past decade, admittedly but, significantly, these two age groups account for a growing proportion of all births. All this late-stage baby-making explains why the average age at which a woman gave birth last year reached 29.4 – another record.

So who are these women? The latest ONS data tell us little, frustratingly; further analysis is being done, but will not be published until September. However, the agency’s in-depth look at 2008′s birth stats offers fascinating insight into that question. Late motherhood is basically a middle-class phenomenon, right? Yes, so it seems, which may be of little surprise. An examination of which parts of England and Wales had the highest rates of older mothers in 2008 reveals a sharp north-south divide and so almost certainly a similar social class division... Continue reading

Source: Telegraph >> Read full article and comment

Expecting men to become involved in their partner’s pregnancy can damage the father-child relationship later in life, because the experience makes them feel a failure.

By Matthew Moore

Published: 8:17AM BST 31 May 2010

Source: Telegraph >> Read full article and comment

Sleepy children aren’t stupid, says Dr James Le Fanu.

Dr James Le Fanu
Published: 10:46AM BST 25 May 2010

Doctor caused MMR scare that left thousands of children unvaccinated

Raf Sanchez, David Rose

Andrew Wakefield, the doctor who triggered the MMR vaccine scare, was struck off the medical register today following the longest medical misconduct trial in British history.

After nearly three years of formal investigation the by the General Medical Council (GMC), Dr Wakefield was found guilty of “multiple separate instances of serious professional misconduct” and removed from the register.

He acted in a way that was “dishonest”, “misleading” and “irresponsible” while carrying out research into a possible link between the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, bowel disease and autism, the GMC said.

The doctor “abused his position of trust” and “brought the medical profession into disrepute” in studies he carried out on children.

A fitness to practise panel had already found Dr Wakefield and two former colleagues, John Walker-Smith and Simon Murch, guilty of a series of charges over “unethical” research that sparked unfounded fears that the vaccine was linked to bowel disease and autism.

The doctors, formerly employed at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, North London, first raised concerns over the combined MMR vaccine in 1998, when they published a study of 12 children in The Lancet medical journal. … Continue reading

Source: BBC News >> Read full article and comment

Researchers have discovered that where you used to live could affect your child’s chances of being autistic by up to five times.

The study looked at children whose mother had moved to the UK from outside Europe.

It showed an increased risk of autism in children whose parents had migrated from Africa, the Caribbean and Asia, the UK researchers said.

The greatest risk was for the Caribbean group, the BBC World Service reported.

Speaking on Health Check, Dr Daphne Keen, from St. George’s Hospital London, said while the findings show a clear link between immigration and autism – they could not determine exactly why this was the case.

The research covered 428 children diagnosed with autism during a six-year period.

“We didn’t find there was an increased risk in the parents who had migrated from other European countries,” Dr Keen added.

“The size of the increased risk was greatest for the Caribbean group. This was at least five times.

“The risk was also very significant, but slightly less, for the African population and much lower, but still a little present, for the Asian population.” … Continue reading

Source: BBC News >> Read full article and comment
By Jane Dreaper
Health correspondent, BBC News

A campaign is being launched to try to enlist public support to ensure no more children are born with HIV by 2015.

It is the work of the Global Fund, which uses donations from governments to fight HIV, TB and malaria.

The Born HIV Free campaign comes at a critical time, with the fund seeking donations of up to $20bn over the next three years.

It recognises this will be a battle, as governments deal with the aftermath of the Greek financial crisis.
HIV can be passed from mother to child during pregnancy, labour or breast-feeding.

This type of transmission has been almost wiped out in countries such as the UK, because pregnant women who test positive for the virus that causes AIDS can be treated with drugs.

Other measures – such as giving birth by caesarian section – help stop HIV being transmitted to the baby.

But in developing countries, 430,000 children are born with HIV every year. … Continue reading

Source: Independent >> Read full article and comment
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Monday, 17 May 2010

A hormone that helps children grow may cause breast cancer, and women with high levels are at higher risk, a new study has found.

The hormone, IGF-1, stimulates cell division, especially during childhood, and is being investigated as an anti-ageing treatment. Its effect on the breast is unclear, but cancer results when cell division multiplies out of control.

The hormone has been linked to breast cancer before in smaller studies. For the new research, Cancer Research UK scientists at the University of Oxford analysed findings in 17 studies from 12 different countries, which together included nearly 5,000 women with breast cancer. The results showed that the 20 per cent of women with the highest blood levels of the growth factor were 28 per cent more likely to develop breast cancer than the 20 per cent with the lowest levels.

The effect was seen mainly in women with a certain type of breast cancer that responds to the female hormone oestrogen.

Professor Tim Key, lead author of the study, published in the journal Lancet Oncology, said: “Over the last few years there has been increasing interest in the possible link between growth factors and breast cancer, but the results have been inconsistent. Putting together all the information available worldwide gives us conclusive evidence that the higher a woman’s blood levels of IGF-I, the higher her risk of breast cancer.” … Continue reading

Source: Telegraph >> Read full article and comment

Parents of children with diabetes are being forced to forfeit their careers to give them daytime care because medical facilities in schools are lacking, campaigners claimed.

By Andrew Hough
Published: 8:00AM BST 17 May 2010

Almost half of parents of primary school students with diabetes have had to reduce hours or give up work to help their child “administer life-saving” insulin injections.

Research commissioned by Diabetes UK, a charity, found a third of parents with students in secondary school also had to forfeit their careers to treat their child.

In its report, titled State of diabetes care in the UK, the charity found that children with long term medical conditions, such as diabetes, were not being supported properly by poorly trained teachers and health professionals.

In Britain, 20,000 children under the age of 15 have Type 1 diabetes with a further 2,000 children diagnosed every year.

Diabetes UK Chief Executive, Douglas Smallwood, said an urgent review was needed address the “long-standing failings in support of children with long term medical conditions in UK school”.

“It is completely unacceptable that parents of children with diabetes are forced to forfeit their careers and risk financial hardship because of medical policy failings in schools,” he said. … Continue reading

Source: Times >> Read full article and comment

The latest scientific research and the “autistic pride” movement are saying that the condition can be advantageous

Sarah Hewitt has an enviable list of skills for her job as a senior IT consultant: incredible attention to detail, rapid analysis of complex information, an amazing memory and a laser-sharp focus that can, she admits, border on the obsessive.

She believes her talents are in part down to her autism; six years ago she was found to have Asperger’s syndrome — a high-functioning form of autism. “It’s difficult to know what’s a result of the Asperger’s and what’s me,” says Hewitt, 32, the only female technical consultant for BT Business. “Blue-sky thinking and role-play exercises are a nightmare for me. But I am very technically savvy, and my Asperger’s gives me an honest, blunt approach that customers like, even though it can cause problems with colleagues.”

Sarah is representative of a growing “autistic pride” movement — people who see autism as an advantage rather than a debilitating illness that needs to be “cured”. Their brains, they say, are simply wired differently. The latest New Scientist magazine reveals how research is uncovering the cognitive benefits of the autistic brain — ranging from the ability to process complex information incredibly quickly to the kind of talent shown by the autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire, who draws cityscapes from memory and has a West End gallery. … Continue reading

Growing numbers of children are being given drugs to combat behavioural problems, poor concentration and learning difficulties, figures suggest.

Source: Times >> Read full article and comment

American scientists are keenly studying the DNA of a 17-year-old girl who still has the body and behaviour of a baby

Jonathan Leake

Scientists are hoping to gain new insights into the mysteries of ageing by sequencing the genome of a 17-year-old girl who has the body and behaviour of a tiny toddler.

Brooke Greenberg is old enough to drive a car and next year will be old enough to vote — but at 16lb in weight and just 30in tall, she is still the size of a one-year-old.

Until recently she had been regarded as a medical oddity but a preliminary study of her DNA has suggested her failure to grow could be linked to defects in the genes that make the rest of humanity grow old.

If confirmed, the research could give scientists a fresh understanding of ageing and even suggest new therapies for diseases linked to old age

… Continue reading

Source: Telegraph >> Read full article and comment

Fifty children will experience circuit drives at Silverstone in a fleet of Ferrari Californias.

By David Williams
Published: 7:15AM BST 28 Apr 2010

The Ferrari California

Courtney Moses is a lively 13-year-old and is passionate about sport – especially Formula One.

But that’s where his similarity with thousands of other teenagers ends: he has a debilitating condition known as sickle cell anaemia, an abnormality that causes blood vessels to become blocked causing horribly painful and damaging attacks.

Now, thanks to a remarkable charitable event masterminded by Ferrari, Courtney – along with 49 other critically ill children – is about to have the treat of a lifetime. … Continue reading

Source: Independent >> Read full article and comment
By Rosamond Hutt, PA
Monday, 26 April 2010

Several children’s heart surgery units should stop performing operations and merge with bigger, specialist centres to improve patient safety and care, according to a new report.

The review, carried out for the NHS National Specialised Commissioning Group, will help to determine which of England’s 11 paediatric heart units are amalgamated.

Some units currently have one or two surgeons, but the report says there should be a minimum of four at each centre to deal with emergencies and to provide round-the-clock cover.

Under the plans, staff will be required to move to other centres or remain at their units which will focus on diagnostics and non-surgical care. … Continue reading