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By Jane Hughes
Health correspondent, BBC News

Several children’s heart surgery units across England should be closed with operations done by fewer, specialised centres, according to an expert review.

It was launched after the 1990s Bristol heart babies scandal when children having heart surgery died needlessly.

The BBC has learned that all 11 paediatric heart centres are being assessed to decide which to keep open.

The intention is to improve care, but patients’ groups say long journeys could put pressure on families.

There are currently 31 surgeons in 11 centres across England carrying out heart operations on children.  Their work first came under the spotlight after it emerged that children had died unnecessarily following heart surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary between 1991 and 1995.

Experts have already advised that fewer, larger centres of excellence would provide better care for children needing heart surgery.

The NHS National Specialised Commissioning Group is now assessing which centres should stop doing surgery, and which should be expanded to provide the best, most specialised care. … Continue reading

An 11-year-old boy is aging five times faster than his schoolmates because of a unique condition.

Harry Crowther is the only person in the world to suffer from a form of Atypical Progeria Syndrome which means his body is already wracked with arthritis despite him still being in Primary School.

His accellerating aging has meant his skin has begun to thin and the bones in his fingers and collarbone have begun to erode as the ageing process prematurely accelerates.

He takes painkillers four times a day and his parents Sharron and John know Harry’s life will be cut short by the cruel condition, though doctors are unable to offer an accurate prognosis.

Mrs Crowther, deputy manager at a pre-school in the family’s hometown of Mirfield, West Yorks., said: “Its just a sit and wait game. Because the change in Harry’s gene is unique, they cannot say what’s going to happen.

“We have had our tears and the “why us” moments like every family would have. But we have to remember he is walking, talking and is in mainstream school.

Source: Telegraph >> Read full article and comment

A three-year-old boy was saved by his David Beckham-style haircut after the trim led to doctors diagnosing his leukaemia.

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Coroner rules NHS staff’s neglect contributed to death of eight-year-old boy, whose rare form of diabetes was diagnosed as swine flu

Denis Campbell, health correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 22 April 2010 19.52 BST

Neglect contributed to the death of an eight-year-old schoolboy at the height of last year’s swine flu outbreak, after 999 and NHS staff mistook his diabetes for the H1N1 virus, a coroner ruled today.

Louis Austin began experiencing bad headaches and chronic fatigue last July. When he became so ill that he could no longer stand or speak, his mother, Melanie, dialled 999.

But the staff who handled her call refused to send an ambulance and classed the case as a non-emergency, the inquest into the boy’s death at Stockport magistrates court heard.

Instead, because it was a Saturday, she was passed to Mastercall, the out-of-hours care provider covering the family’s home in Old Trafford, Manchester.

Dr Tracey Leigh, the out-of-hours GP who was on call, diagnosed the boy with swine flu after following a flowchart to help identify his symptoms.

She then prescribed him Tamiflu, the main drug that the NHS used to treat cases of H1N1. … Continue Reading

A gene has been discovered that causes children to be born deaf and could lead to new medicines to treat the condition, it has been announced.

By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor
Published: 7:25AM BST 09 Apr 2010

The discovery could lead to new tests to identify if deafness in their family is genetic and therefore if any future children would be at risk.

An estimated one child in 750 is born profoundly deaf or with a severe hearing loss. In at least half of these children, the cause of deafness is genetic.

The research was funded by the Royal National Institute for the Deaf and conducted in The Netherlands.

It discovered that changes in the PTPRQ gene can lead to deafness after studying the genetics of families where several members had inherited childhood hearing loss.

The research project compared the DNA of individual family members in order to identify regions in the DNA likely to contain the genes that cause deafness. Using this approach, the researchers discovered this and a further two new deafness-causing genes.

All three genes are thought to play an important role in the development of the delicate inner ear hair cell, which is essential for hearing… Continue reading

Source: Independent >> Read full article and comment

It strikes three children every day, and doctors often fail to recognise stroke in the young. Liz Bestic reports

Kray Mundy was just like any other healthy 12-year-old. He was football crazy and liked nothing better than a kick about at the local recreation ground. So last year when he returned from playing with his friends, his mother, Soniya, had no reason to suspect anything was wrong. But during the night Kray suffered a massive stroke and lost all feeling down one side of his body. Had Soniya not recognised the signs, Kray may not have got the lifesaving help he needed.

“Our two-year-old, Harry, came into our bedroom at about 5am. He kept calling out Kray’s name and was clearly very agitated. I rushed to the bedroom where they both sleep and just took one look at Kray and knew immediately he had had a stroke. Even though he was so young he looked just like my nan when she had her stroke. His face had dropped on one side, he was drooling and he had lost all feeling in the left of his body. He tried to talk but the words came out all wrong; then he started to vomit.”

We placed Kray in the recovery position and called an ambulance. When the paramedics arrived they were insistent it could not be a stroke because Kray was far too young. They thought it was more likely to be a trapped nerve in Kray’s neck or that he had fallen out of bed and hurt himself. I kept shouting at them, ‘He’s had a stroke – get him to hospital!’ He was rushed to the Bristol Children’s Hospital where they immediately did an emergency CAT scan. Once they got the results the doctors took me into a side room and explained that Kray had had a stroke caused by a blood clot on the brain.”… Continue reading

(continues …………….)

Kray was very lucky that his mother recognised the symptoms because most people – parents and doctors alike – have no idea that children have strokes. A three-year study at Bristol University called The Study of Childhood Stroke (Socs), which involves neurologists, physiotherapists and radiologists, has been tracking every child in the South of England who has had a stroke. The aim is to discover why children have them and what treatment they currently get.   … Continue reading

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Children born with birth defects which resulted from the botched decontamination of a steelworks will receive compensation totalling millions of pounds after a council dropped its legal fight.

By Stephen Adams
Published: 9:00AM BST 17 Apr 2010

The hands of 10-year-old India Harrison, to whom Corby Borough Council has finally agreed to pay compensation, along with 18 other children and young people Photo: GETTY

Corby Borough Council agreed an out of court settlement almost a year after the High Court ruled it was negligent in the way it dismantled a steelworks and disposed of toxic waste.

That led to a “statistically significant” cluster of birth defects between 1989 and 1999, including clubbed feet, shortened arms and missing fingers, found Mr Justice Akenhead.

Lawyers had argued that the mothers of 16 children had been left exposed to “an atmospheric soup of toxic materials” while pregnant, because of the council’s mistakes. They included the loads of trucks carrying away contaminated waste not being fastened shut.

Despite the High Court decision, at the time the council said it would fight the ruling.

But yesterday it agreed to drop its challenge.

In a joint statement with the families’ solicitors, the council announced it had reached a final, binding agreement with 19 youngsters, included three not originally included. Negotiations had gone on for weeks.

The contract forbids disclosure of the financial arrangement. … Continue reading

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Millions of people are taking medication for problems

In the US, an increasing number of parents are turning to psychoactive medication to help them cope with the challenging behaviour of their children. So is this an understandable path to take, or a worrying shortcut, asks Louis Theroux.

On a kitchen countertop in their suburban Pittsburgh home the Kelley family keep a small collection of pill bottles.

They jokingly refer to is as “Hugh’s personal pharmacy”.

Hugh, aged 10, appears basically normal – a dark-haired kid who goes to a mainstream school and speaks and interacts well, albeit sometimes in a slightly aloof and off-hand way. Yet he has been diagnosed with a range of mental disorders and put on a battery of medications.

‘It’s very troubling’

He takes Adderall for his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Tenex for impulsiveness. And for his bipolar disorder he is on a heavy dose of a powerful anti-psychotic called Seroquel – in an “off-label” prescription, meaning it hasn’t been tested on children.

“It’s very troubling,” Hugh’s mother Barbro told me when I asked about his reliance on the medication. “The problem with it is, if you continue not to medicate with something for bipolar disorder in a child, the highs and the lows, the cycles get worse and worse.”

I was there for a documentary about the growing number of children who depend on psychoactive drugs to regulate their behaviour, basing myself at one of America’s top hospitals for children’s psychiatric issues, Pittsburgh’s Western Psychiatric Institute. … Continue reading

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Symptoms of brain tumours can be vague

UK doctors are to get new guidelines on diagnosing brain tumours in children, in order to tackle delays in treatment.

Specialists have produced a set of recommendations for GPs and hospitals on when to consider a brain tumour and what tests are needed.

Diagnosis now takes three times longer for UK children than those in the US, Switzerland and Poland, the Archives of Disease in Childhood reports.

Delayed treatment increases the risk of life-threatening complications.

Around one in 600 children under the age of 16 will be diagnosed with cancer, a quarter of whom will have a tumour of the spine or brain.

It is estimated that 60% of children who survive a brain tumour are left with a life-altering disability, such as loss of vision.

Delays in treatment can be fatal and lead to more severe symptoms and complications.

The team of specialists from Birmingham, Nottingham and Southampton, said despite the availability of scans, many children in the UK are unwell for months before they receive a diagnosis.

They said many families of children affected by a brain tumour believe they only got a diagnosis because they were so insistent that something was wrong.

Lack of clarity

Current guidance for diagnosing brain tumours in the under 16s is mainly aimed at GPs and only details what should happen up until the point of referral – not once a specialist view is sought.

Doctors will now be provided with a clear flow-chart outlining what symptoms should signal the need for further tests but also when to carry out scans, and a list of common pitfalls which can delay treatment.

Even those children at lower risk of a tumour should be seen by a specialist within two weeks and have a scan within four weeks, it stresses…. Continue reading

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By Paula Fentiman, Press Association

Thursday, 8 April 2010

Source: The Guardian >> Read full article and comment

Denis Campbell

Surgeons talk about the heartbreak of having to decide whether to operate on children who have run out of options

Blessing is just 48 hours old. A serious congenital heart defect means that, without surgery, she will die within days or weeks. But the operation could itself prove fatal. “Her father agreed to it without hesitation, which is a reflection of human love,” recalls Victor Tsang, the cardiac surgeon who performed the procedure. “He wanted us to do everything we could to help his daughter, even at the risk of her death.”

The baby’s plight typifies those confronted regularly by staff at Great Ormond Street hospital in central London, the world’s best-knownchildren‘s hospital. Its expertise means it ends up accepting patients few others can. Tonight a candid BBC2 series begins which shows the trauma involved for those who have the unenviable task of deciding when to treat, or not to treat, children who have run out of options.

“I gave Blessing’s father the options of a major operation that involved putting her on a heart and lung bypass machine, or comfort care – palliative care, no surgery, letting nature take its course,” says Tsang. “It was very difficult for him to take in what I was saying. His newborn daughter was very sick in hospital, his wife was recovering from a caesarean section and so he also had to look after his two other children.”

Parents always want to know the percentage risk involved in an operation, adds Tsang. “It’s hard to apply a mathematical risk to an individual. If parents say, ‘Doctor, if there is even a few per cent chance [of success], we are prepared to take it,’ then it’s very difficult for the doctors to say no.”

But that natural human reaction puts doctors in a difficult position. “We want to push the boundaries medically speaking, because that’s how progress has been made in surgical techniques,” says Tsang. “And as human beings we understand the dilemmas and the trauma that thefamily is going through. I try to imagine their position, because I have children myself and I know how precious children are to their parents. But sometimes you know the chances of success are quite low because the child is so sick. … Continue reading

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Palliative care for terminally ill children in England will get a £30m increase, the government has said.

Children’s hospices say they will still rely on the public for funding

Half of the cash will help children’s hospices offer outreach services while the rest will go to the NHS, with a focus on providing community nurses.

Health secretary Andy Burnham said the move would help “put the convenience of the patient first”.

Barbara Gelb, of Children’s Hospices UK, said hospices’ funding still relied “overwhelmingly” on local communities.

The Conservatives have said they will provide more funding for hospices which treat terminally ill children if they win the election.

A million unpaid carers in England would get a week’s break every year under plans by the Liberal Democrats.

‘Better results’

Mr Burnham said that for too long, services had been designed to ” fit the convenience of the system”.

He added: “But care in the home can also achieve better results and save money. For anyone, facing major treatment can be scary – but particularly when you’re young…. Continue reading

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By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 9:06 AM on 01st April 2010

A baby songbird could help cure a range of human disorders including autism.

Zebra finch chicks learn to sing in virtually the same way as human babies learn to speak – by copying their elders.

Now researchers have cracked the genetic code of the bird for the first time, identifying more than 800 genes linked to song learning.

Many of their genes are also found in humans.

Songbird: Secrets of song could mirror those of human speech

It means the tiny bird should serve as a valuable model for understanding human learning and memory.

Male baby finches, like human infants, start off by ‘babbling’ before learning to imitate their father’s song.

As they learn in such a predictable way, finches could provide a window into the origins of disorders such as autism, strokes, stuttering and Parkinson’s.

‘Song learning is an excellent paradigm for all types of learning,’ said Chris Ponting, a professor with the Medical Research Council Functional Genomics Unit at University of Oxford, who was involved in the research.

‘There are experiments that can be done that immediately provide information as to what changes occur in neurons (brain cells) upon the learning of a song. The zebra finch genome provides a tool that allows this exploration.’ … Continue reading

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By AMANDA CABLE
Last updated at 1:56 PM on 30th March 2010

The Daily Mail in association with Bupa has launched the Carer of the Year Awards to celebrate the hard work of carers of all ages. Here, we tell the story of a devoted father looking after his daughter with a rare condition that is slowly robbing her of her life. If you know someone who dedicates their life to care for others, nominate them for the awards using the form below . . .

The home video taken on ‘s second birthday says everything about this cherished child’s life. The toddler is squealing with delight as she rips open her presents. When she blows out the candles on her birthday cake, her proud parents start clapping. That’s where the video ends and where Isabel’s life, as she knew it, also ended.

Within 24 hours, this seemingly healthy toddler lay down on the sofa, crippled with stomach pains. Today, almost two years later, she has lost the power of speech and much use of her arms and legs. Struck by a cruel genetic condition, this little girl is slowly diminishing.

And tending to her needs 24 hours a day is her devoted father, Neil Annakin, 38. ‘I look back at the video of Isabel’s party and take in every detail: the way she spoke, how she laughed and the way we used to joke she’d be such a handful when she grew up,’ he says.

‘It was the last time we were truly happy. Perhaps the cruellest thing about that video is that she has never been able to play with the toys she received for her birthday.’ Isabel was an unplanned baby, but the most marvellous ‘mistake’ in her parents’ lives.

Fatherly love: Neil Annakin, with his daughter Isabel, who has lost the power of speech and much use of her arms and legs after being struck by a cruel genetic condition

Neil, a fisherman from Bridlington, E. Yorks, and his partner Karen, 40, had been together for four years when she discovered she was pregnant. ‘I was thrilled to be a father for the first time. My only worry was that Karen suffered from severe bouts of depression from time to time,’ says Neil.

‘But I thought that if I was there to love and support her, we’d be a perfect family.’ On May 5, 2006, their happiness was complete with the arrival of Isabel. ‘She was beautiful from the moment she was born,’ says Neil. ‘When I pushed her in her buggy down the street, people would stop me to tell me how gorgeous she was. ‘But it wasn’t just her lovely eyes and perfect skin. Isabel had a smile and a laugh for everyone. She was a golden child.’

When Isabel celebrated her second birthday, Neil shot the video footage he now treasures. ‘She was walking, talking and just loving life. I remember joking I’d be vetting all her boyfriends when she was older,’ says Neil. ‘But the next day, she just lay on the sofa, clutching her stomach and screaming in agony. I took her to the GP, who said it was probably trapped wind.

Over the next two months, I went to the doctor again and again, but was sent away with Calpol and Ibruprofen. I was convinced something was wrong, but everyone thought I was neurotic.

‘It was like a living nightmare, because no one else could see she was changing. Isabel stopped laughing, and was in so much distress she stopped talking, too. ‘She started to vomit after every meal, so I began to liquidise her food. Then she lost control of her arms and legs. ‘One day, I was so desperate I rang NHS Direct and was told to take her to Scarborough Hospital, where they did blood tests. We were called back three times for more tests.

‘Finally, in September 2008, we were sent to Bridlington Hospital to see a consultant. I was hopeful they might find the problem and be able to cure it.  But the first thing he said was: ”She has Metachromatic leukodystrophy and it is not good news.”

‘He explained it is a genetic condition that affects just one in 40,000 people. Karen and I were carriers of the defective gene.

‘I fell to pieces. I couldn’t drive home. I just sat at the hospital, holding Isabel in my arms.  … Continue reading

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By HILARY FREEMAN
Last updated at 1:10 AM on 21st March 2010

Tom Heaffey is a bright 18-year-old with a string of good GCSEs who wants to be an architect. Yet just three years ago, he was virtually illiterate and predicted to fail his exams.

Remarkably, his life has been transformed by a pair of blue-tinted glasses, which have enabled him to read properly for the first time.

Tom, who lives near Norwich and is a BTech art and design student, suffers from a neurological condition called Meares-Irlen syndrome, also known as visual stress.

Without glasses, when he looks at a printed page, the text appears to jump about, blur and distort. Other symptoms include headaches and migraines.

Shades: Tom Heaffey, mother Sarah and the blue-tinted glasses that changed his life

Some degree of visual stress may affect up to 20 per cent of the population. When Tom was a child, his mother Sarah, 50, knew he was underperforming at school.

‘He used to say the words were “fizzing”. Eye tests showed his sight was normal, so his teachers concluded he was a slow learner.’

‘Trying to read was exhausting and gave me headaches, so I couldn’t concentrate for long,’ recalls Tom.

It was not until three years ago, just months before his GCSEs, that he was diagnosed with Meares-Irlen.

According to Arnold Wilkins, professor of visual perception at Essex University, the condition is a result of the neurons in the visual part of the brain firing too strongly.

‘Different neurons in the brain react to different colours,’ explains ProfWilkins. ‘We discovered that using tinted lenses and overlays reduces the overactivity of these neurons.’

As a patient will respond differently to each hue, Prof Wilkins developed the Intuitive Colorimeter, a testing device that diagnoses the exact colour an individual needs.

Patients are asked to read text on a machine that can generate 110,000 different hues. The correct shade will allow the patient to read clearly. This information is used to make the right tint of coloured lens… … Continue Reading

Source: Guardian >> Read full article and comment

By Randeep Ramesh, social affairs editor

Operations refused mirror those in McKinsey cost-cutting report for Department of Health

The NHS identified £700m of savings by ‘decommissioning’ basic surgical procedures in a recent report. Photograph: Royal Children’s Hospital/Handout/EPA

Surgeons claim cost-cutting lies at the heart of moves to “ration patient care”. Last week the Department of Health revealed a new age of austerity in the NHS – signalling that trusts would have to save £1.5bn by reducing “unnecessary prescriptions and hospital referrals”.

The situation is already critical said Alan Johnson, the president of ENT UK which represents surgeons who specialise in the ear, nose and throat. In a straw poll this month, ENT surgeons said 30 trusts had restricted simple procedures “which they would not fund”.

Johnson said what would in the past have been considered routine surgeries for removing ear glue in small children and taking out tonsils have been “withdrawn effectively from the health service. These procedures have been classified as of low clinical value. But a child who cannot hear has his or her development impaired. Acute tonsillitis in the worst case can see patients admitted to emergency wards which is much more expensive than removing their tonsils.”….Continue reading

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By Richard Edwards

A girl whose life was saved by a heart transplant has called for organ donation to be compulsory unless people decide to “opt out”.

Sally Slater was six years old when she was struck down with a mystery virus that destroyed her heart muscle within days.

She survived after the donation of a heart from the family of a 48-year-old woman who had lost her life just as Sally’s parents appealed for a donor.

Yesterday, as the teenager celebrated 10 years since the transplant operation, she called for a new scheme where organs were automatically made available upon death.

The law currently requires people to join the NHS’s Organ Donor Register.

“My life was saved because someone was kind enough to register,” she said. “But there are many, many more people whose lives could also be saved if more people registered.

“I know this is hard for many families and the scheme would need carefully thinking through to avoid potential problems, but people have to consider how they would feel if it was their son or daughter, mother or father who desperately needed a transplant.”

Sally’s father Jon, 46, a financial planner, supported her comments…..Continue reading

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Mackenzie Fox-Byrne, six, is thought to have the world’s rarest genetic disorder as he is the only person on earth suffering from it.

Published: 8:00AM GMT 27 Mar 2010

Mackenzie Fox-Byrne, pictured with mum Sharon Photo: CATERS

Mackenzie, whose condition has given him learning difficulties and left him unable to speak, is the result of a gene mutation doctors have never seen before.

The condition is so rare doctors have not even come up with a name for it.

Mackenzie’s mother, Sharon Fox-Byrne first noticed something was amiss when his development appeared to be behind that of her other children, Kamara, 14, and Katie, 12.

At three months old, he was still not lifting his head from his cot, he found it difficult to hold down food and had trouble sleeping.

Doctors initially feared he might have the muscle-wasting disease Muscular Dystrophy, but instead tests results showed a much more bewildering picture.

Mrs Fox-Byrne, 40, of Market Drayton, Shropshire, said: “They knew it was unique and told me excitedly that they had found something rare that no one else has.

“Unfortunately, that was all they could tell me. They couldn’t tell me how he is going to progress or whether he might fall ill in the future.

“No one else on earth has ever had this condition.” … Continue reading

Source: Timesonline >> Read full article and comment

(Manchester Evening News)

Sam Linton was made to sit in a corridor as he struggled to breathe

Five teachers have been suspended after a pupil died from an asthma attack during class.

Sam Linton, 11, died after being made to sit in a corridor at Offerton High School in Stockport, Greater Manchester, struggling to breathe. No ambulance was called and by the time his mother arrived at the school Sam’s lips had turned blue. He died a few hours later in hospital.

Neglect “significantly contributed” to his death in December 2007, an inquest jury ruled.

The staff have been suspended while an internal inquiry is carried out, Stockport Council said today. Evelyn Leslie, the head teacher, is among those who have been asked to stand down during the inquiry and Jan Ford, the teacher who told Sam, to sit in the corridor is has also been suspended. The other three members of staff are believed to be teaching assistants. The three-week inquest at Stockport Coroner’s Court heard how valuable time was lost as Sam was made to sit in the corridor.

The jury ruled last week that Sam’s death was by natural causes but neglect at an “individual and systemic level” was a significant contributory factor. … Continue reading

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Meningitis girl’s ‘fairytale’ dreams come true with cutting edge prosthetic legs so she can wear high heels to the ball

Posted on 24 March 2010. Tags: Medical Conditions

Source: Daily Mail >> Read full article and comment

A six-year-old girl who lost both legs is a real-life Cinderella after becoming the first child in the country to have specially-made prosthetics to wear to the ball.

Cinderella ending: Olivia Story, six, can now dance with her friends at parties in a pair of high-heeled shoes

Olivia Story was just two when she was struck down by meningococcal meningitis, losing both limbs below the knee and an arm to the deadly disease.

It meant she could only dream of dancing with her friends in a pair of sparkly pink heels at parties and thought she would always be different.

Olivia Story was just two when she was struck down by meningococcal meningitis, losing both limbs below the knee and an arm to the deadly disease.

It meant she could only dream of dancing with her friends in a pair of sparkly pink heels at parties and thought she would always be different…..Continue reading

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Hospital trust failed hole in heart baby

Posted on 23 March 2010. Tags: Medical Conditions

Source: BBC News >> Read full article and comment

A hospital group which failed to spot a hole in a baby’s heart knew it had problems with its children’s services, the BBC has learned.

Aiden Hollis had a 7mm hole in his heart

Aiden Hollis was born at Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield in November. His parents later took him back and he was referred by his GP.

But he was discharged each time despite having a 7mm hole in his heart.

In December the Royal College of Paediatrics sent the hospital trust a report following “serious incidents”.

The BBC has made a request under the Freedom of Information Act to see the report.

But so far the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, which includes Good Hope, has not revealed its contents.

Aiden was born on 19 November and taken back to Accident & Emergency on Christmas Eve after suffering poor breathing and feeding problems.

Hospital doctors identified a heart murmur and said he needed an ultrasound heart examination, but he was not given an appointment date.

Then on 11 January Aiden’s mother Hannah Roydes took him to the family GP, saying he was turning blue. Hospital doctors identified a heart murmur and said he needed an ultrasound heart examination, but he was not given an appointment date.

Then on 11 January Aiden’s mother Hannah Roydes took him to the family GP, saying he was turning blue.

Miss Roydes said the GP spoke to a paediatrician at the hospital and then sent a referral letter.

But when she arrived at the hospital Aiden was discharged as a well baby. … Continue reading

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Cancer groups challenge NICE ruling on Vidaza drug

Posted on 23 March 2010. Tags: Family Health, Medical Conditions

Source: BBC News >> Read full article and comment

Cancer groups are to appeal against a ruling which would deny NHS patients in England and Wales a drug for treating life-threatening bone marrow diseases.

The drug, Vidaza, gives patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) an extra nine months of life on average.

But the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) ruled that Vidaza is too costly, relative to the benefits it brings.

The drug costs £45,000 a year per patient.

Some MDS patients develop an aggressive form of leukaemia

MDS means that the bone marrow does not produce enough of one or more types of blood cells. Most patients need regular blood transfusions.

The average survival of patients with MDS is about 20 months. Nearly a third of patients progress to acute myeloid leukaemia, an aggressive form of leukaemia.

Research has shown that the average survival for higher-risk MDS patients receiving Vidaza (also known as azacitidine) was 24.5 months, compared with 15 months for patients receiving conventional treatments such as supportive care or chemotherapy.

The appeal against the NICE ruling is being lodged by three cancer patient groups – the MDS UK Patient Support Group, the Leukaemia Society and the Rarer Cancers Forum. The manufacturer of Vidaza, Celgene, is also appealing against the decision… Continue reading

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Gel implant could help hundreds of children with birth defects

Posted on 22 March 2010. Tags: Medical Conditions

Source: Timesonline >> Read full article and comment
David Rose, Health Correspondent

An expanding gel which inflates under the skin is being developed as a means of healing common birth defects such as cleft palate and webbed fingers, scientists say.

The new “hydrogel”, developed by researchers in Oxford, is designed to be implanted next to a major wound or cleft, where it can slowly expand, encouraging skin to grow around it.

The excess skin can then be used by surgeons to close the wound, helping to reduce scarring and avoiding the need for grafts to be taken from other parts of the body.

Surgeons say it could improve the appearance of thousands of people with disfiguring scars, clefts or burns.

One in every 700 children in Britain is born with a cleft lip or palate, a gap in the roof of the mouth which can cause problems with eating or speaking if not corrected.

Conventional surgery involves closing the gap with stitches, but babies with wide clefts can require radical surgery or suffer complications such as a fistula, a hole between the mouth and nasal passage, which can cause complications.

The new potential treatment for these cases involves inserting a small plate made of an anisotropic hydrogel material, similar to that used in contact lenses, under the mucosa of the roof of the mouth.

Studies have shown that the new material — designed and tested using the ISIS molecular microscope in Oxford — can absorb water from the body and expand to 1,500 per cent of its original size…. Continue reading

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Swine flu spread by jet-setting private school children, expert claims

Posted on 21 March 2010. Tags: Independent Schools, Medical Conditions

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Swine flu in Britain was partially spread by rich public school children returning from exotic holidays, a leading expert on flu pandemics has claimed.

Published: 8:00AM GMT 20 Mar 2010

Profesor Lindsay Davies, national director of pandemic influenza preparedness for the Department of Health, said swine flu hot spots had emerged near private schools.

She was speaking at the British Medical Association annual conference of public health medicine.

“Many of the people bringing it back (swine flu) were well off people who had been to fancy places on holiday,” said Prof Davies

“Many hot spots included public schools.”

Those most affected by the outbreak were children, she said, leading to many school closures, including a number of public schools.

… Continue reading

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‘Milestone moment’ as boy undergoes transplant to regenerate trachea

Posted on 20 March 2010. Tags: Family Health, Health, Medical Conditions

Source: Times >> Read full article and comment

A British boy has undergone a groundbreaking operation involving the transplantation of a windpipe which is being regenerated inside his body using his own stem cells.

Scientists described the operation, carried out on Monday at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, as a ‘milestone moment’ in the development of techniques that could allow people to rebuild damaged or transplanted organs inside their bodies.

The replacement trachea, the bony tube that connects the nose, mouth and lungs, was stripped of the donor’s cells to leave a scaffold which was then laced with the child’s stem cells. The boy, aged 10, then received the transplant hours later. The stem cells are now reconstructing the airway and ensuring it is not rejected by his immune system.

The operation is the first to use stem cells with the scaffold inside the body. It is also the first entire windpipe transplant to be carried out on a child and is also the first to involve the entire length of the trachea.
The doctors who carried out the procedure said the technique reduced greatly the risk of rejection of the new trachea, as the child’s stem cells will not generate any immune response. They said the child, who is not being identified, is recovering well and is able to speak… Continue reading
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Windpipe transplant success in UK child

Posted on 20 March 2010. Tags: Family Health, Health, Medical Conditions

Source: BBC News >> Read full article and comment

A 10-year-old British boy has become the first child to undergo a windpipe transplant with an organ crafted from his own stem cells.

This is the third such transplant to be done, and the first in a child

It is hoped that using the boy’s own tissue in the nine-hour operation at Great Ormond Street Hospital will cut the risk of rejection.

The world’s first tissue-engineered windpipe transplant was done in Spain in 2008 but with a shorter graft.

Doctors say the boy is doing well and breathing normally.

He has a rare condition called Long Segment Congenital Tracheal Stenosis, in which patients are born with an extremely narrow airway.

At birth his airway was just one millimetre across.

Doctors had previously operated to expand his airway but in November last year he suffered complications from erosion of a metal stent in his windpipe or trachea.

In order to build him a new airway, doctors took a donor trachea, stripped it down to the collagen scaffolding, and then injected stem cells taken from his bone marrow.

The organ was then implanted in the boy and over the next month, doctors expect the stem cells to transform into specialised cells which form the inside and outside of the trachea … Continue reading

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NHS failings led to death of girl, 8, report finds

Posted on 18 March 2010. Tags: Health, Medical Conditions

Source: Telegraph >> Read full article and comment

By Richard Savill

An eight-year-old girl with a fear of dentists died of starvation after she was failed by the medical authorities involved in her case, a report has found.

Sophie Waller, who would not open her mouth, and refused to eat, drink, or speak after she had eight milk teeth removed, died at home from kidney failure caused by dehydration, 23 days after the operation in 2005.

A senior doctor at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro later admitted at an inquest that Sophie had been the victim of below-standard care.

Now, a serious case review, held by the Local Safeguarding Children Board, has concluded that there was a need for better communication between those involved in Sophie’s care, particularly in relation to her discharge from hospital.

The girl’s mother, Janet Waller, a nursery nurse, has said Sophie developed a fear of dentists at the age of four when her tongue was cut during a routine check up. When she loosened a milk tooth on a sweet, she refused to allow a dentist to look at it.

In November 2005 her family took her to a specialist at the Royal Cornwall Hospital who took all Sophie’s milk teeth out. The girl became so traumatised she refused to open her mouth to eat and had to be fed by a tube.

She was kept in hospital for 11 days before being sent home. She continued to refuse to open her mouth, and when her parents tried to feed her she would not swallow.

Mrs Waller said she had tried to get Sophie readmitted but was referred to a child psychologist.

At the time of her death, Sophie had become so emaciated that she was unable to walk, her hair was falling out and her skin flaking. The inquest was told that she had lost 11kg (24lb), almost a third of her body weight…..Continue reading

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Medieval child’s brain to unlock human thought processes

Posted on 18 March 2010. Tags: Medical Conditions

Source: Telegraph >> Read full article and comment

By Peter Allen in Paris

The almost perfectly preserved brain of a medieval toddler who died 800 years ago is set to provide ground-breaking information into human thought processes.

The brain was found mummified inside a wooden coffin in boggy soil close to Quimper, in Brittany, before being placed in formalin solution.

The boy, who was around 18 months old, appeared to have died of a skull fracture before his head was placed in a leather envelope, and then on a pillow in the 13th Century.

It was exhumed in 1998 and after more than a decade of research scientists have now identified neurons and cerebral cells that are still intact.

Frank Ruhli, head of the Swiss Mummy Project at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, said: “Although reduced by about 80 per cent of its original weight, it has retained its anatomical characteristics and, most of all, to a certain degree its cell structures.”

He said that the “unique case of naturally-occurring preservation of human brain tissue” would enable researchers to learn more about the robust nature of the brain and how it works.

Intriguingly, the brain was the only tissue preserved inside the child’s skeleton and was “almost intact”, said Mr Ruhli.

The gyri and sulci – grooves and furrows in layman’s terms – which make up the surface of the brain’s cerebral cortex were still visible, as well the frontal, temporal and occipital lobe, he added….Continue reading

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Nicola’s mission – The inspired mum who hopes to raise £4 million for Great Ormond Street Hospital

Posted on 15 March 2010. Tags: Medical Conditions

Source: Daily Mail >> Read full article and comment

By JOSEPHINE FAIRLEY

Inspired by her son’s battle against a rare genetic disorder, Nicola Bearman is determined to raise this staggering sum for Great Ormond Street Hospital mission

Nicola at home with her three-year-old son Oscar

Dark clouds sometimes, just sometimes, have silver linings. It certainly wouldn’t in a million years be any mother’s wish to have her baby son endure seven-hour operations, or suffer from a rare genetic disorder that affects the face and skull, impacting on not only a child’s appearance, but also their breathing, hearing and eyesight.

But Nicola Bearman’s adorable three-year-old son Oscar, who was born with Crouzon syndrome, is likely to discover when he’s a bit older that the health challenges he has suffered from birth have (in a not-so-roundabout way) inspired millions of pounds to be raised for Great Ormond Street Hospital, through one of the most ingenious – and probably most enjoyable – fundraising events ever, dreamed up by global hair star John Frieda. But more of that later.

It is, of course, every parent’s fervent hope that their child won’t ever need the world-class medical care that this famous hospital can offer. It certainly never occurred to Nicola that, for the years after Oscar’s birth, Great Ormond Street would become a second home. Like most expectant parents, Nicola and her husband Christian were hugely excited about the future with a new baby. The delivery itself (at St Thomas’s Hospital in London), though, was gruelling: ‘A 42-hour labour, helium, meconium inhalation, forceps, foetal distress, cord around the neck – anything that could go wrong did go wrong,’ recalls 32-year-old Nicola, countering the myth that mothers forget all about birth agonies once their baby has safely arrived….Continue reading

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Ministers ignored safety warnings for years over children’s heart surgery

Posted on 07 March 2010. Tags: Family Health, Medical Conditions

Source: Telegraph >> Read full article and comment

Ministers repeatedly ignored warnings about the safety of Britain’s child heart surgery units, it can be revealed.

By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent
Published: 9:00PM GMT 06 Mar 2010

In 2001, a public inquiry into the deaths of dozens of babies at Bristol Royal Infirmary said cardiac units should be barred from carrying out paediatric surgery unless they met safety standards, including carrying out a minimum number of operations per year.

The recommendation to ensure surgery was only carried out by those skilled enough to perform the most delicate procedures was made to prevent the recurrence of a scandal such as Bristol – dubbed “the killing fields” in the 1990s.

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Later this month, the Department of Health (DoH) will say no unit will be allowed to operate unless it has four surgeons and carries out at least 400 operations a year.

The ruling will mean around half of Britain’s 11 child heart surgery units must close, while the remainder expand.

It means departments such as that at John Radcliffe Hospital, which suspended surgery last week following four deaths, and carried out just 100 operations in the last year, could not continue in their current form.

Today we reveal how:

• Ministers dismissed a warning in 2003 by the UK’s most senior heart surgeon that half of Britain’s units should be closed. As President of the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgeons (SCTS) of Great Britain and Ireland, Prof James Monro was commissioned by ministers to propose changes following the Bristol inquiry, yet “the Government did absolutely nothing” about his key demand, he told The Sunday Telegraph;

• Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of the health service, told NHS bosses two years ago that he feared “another Bristol” tragedy because specialists were so thinly spread;

• The consultant told this newspaper “there has been frankly little progress”  … Continue reading

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Children’s heart surgery suspended at leading hospital after spate of deaths

Posted on 07 March 2010. Tags: Medical Conditions

Source: Telegraph >> Read full article and comment

Children’s heart surgery at a leading hospital has been suspended after the deaths of four young children, it has emerged.

The deaths occurred during or after surgery in the last four months, at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospital Trust in Oxford.

An external review will be carried out to establish if there are any common factors in the cases.

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A statement issued by the trust said the hospital death rates are within normal ranges but it was felt that after a spate of deaths that further investigations were needed.

The trust would not disclose how many operations were undertaken during that four month period, however, it is estimated that it would normally be between 30 and 40.

All of the children who died suffered congenital heart problems.

Hospitals closely monitor the number of deaths that occur during or shortly after surgery and if there is a run of unexpected deaths it is normal practice to review the cases.

Children who have been due to have surgery at the hospital will now be sent elsewhere while the investigation is carried out.

A statement from the trust said: “We have temporarily suspended the paediatric cardiac surgery service while we investigate concerns that have been raised.

“Our investigations are likely to include an external review of the deaths of some very sick children (four children) who underwent surgery at our hospital in the last three to four months.

“The families of children awaiting cardiac surgery are being contacted and we will be placing those patients who need to be seen urgently, with other hospitals. We are reviewing each of these patients to ensure that they are not put at risk by any delay in their treatment.

“Paediatric cardiac surgery outcomes are nationally validated and the data is published. Oxford has been within normal outcome ranges. This is one of the reasons why we felt it was necessary to take a close look at our service to ensure we continue to provide a high quality safe service for our children.

“Any hospital might, at some time, have a run of deaths in a service that provides treatment for patients who are very unwell… Continue reading

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‘Dead’ pregnant mother gives birth a week later

Posted on 07 March 2010. Tags: Medical Conditions, Pregnancy

Source: Telegraph >> Read full article and comment

A pregnant mother who “died” several times on the operating table after suffering a severe heart attack miraculously gave birth to a son just a week later.

Published: 7:00AM GMT 05 Mar 2009

Now, despite the huge trauma which saw doctors battle to save her life, both mum and her three months premature baby son are making a steady recovery.

Expectant Cheryl Crisp, 35, was just six months pregnant when she suffered a heart attack, caused by a blood clot, while on a shopping trip with her partner Terry Kemp.

Terrified Terry, 35, rushed her to a GP’s surgery where doctors were able to resuscitate her and she was then raced to hospital by paramedics.

Cheryl was immediately sent into theatre where doctors carried out emergency surgery to remove the clot.

The mum’s heart stopped several times on the table as surgeons battled to save her life and that of her unborn son. Because of the unborn baby, doctors could not give her the normal drugs to help her heart.

Doctors were able to remove the clot and Cheryl finally came round from the induced coma six days later.

Cheryl, from Beckenham, Kent had suffered memory loss and had no idea she was pregnant.

And two days later Cheryl began to complain of being in pain, and doctors and her worried family realised she had prematurely gone into labour.

But Cheryl gave birth to ittle Albie who weighed in at just 2lb 7oz.

Alfie still suffers from breathing problems because the lungs are the last organs to develop while in the womb but he is now being looked after in the special care baby unit.

Doctors say that . … Continue reading

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Extracts of bitter melon ‘can block breast cancer’

Posted on 01 March 2010. Tags: Family Health, Health, Medical Conditions

Source: BBC News >> Read full article and comment

Extracts of a fruit grown on tropical vines appears to have breast cancer blocking powers, say researchers.

The bitter melon fruit grows in tropical and sub-tropical climates

Scientists found key ingredients of the green and knobbly bitter melon fruit interfered with chemical pathways involved in cancer growth.

It turned off signals telling the breast cancer cells to divide and switched on signals encouraging them to commit suicide.

Experts told Cancer Research journal more trials were needed.

Although promising as an anti-cancer agent, trials in animals and then humans are still needed, study co-author Dr Rajesh Agarwal from the University of Colorado, US, said.

And there is no proof that eating lots of bitter melon would offer any cancer protection, he said.

Bitter melon, sometimes called bitter gourd or wild cucumber, is grown in Asia, Africa and South America.

Its extract has been used for many years in folk medicines as a remedy for diabetes and infections.

The latest findings suggest it may have a role in cancer prevention.

The researchers hope, ultimately, the extract could be used as a dietary supplement for breast cancer patients to stop disease recurrence.

Dr Agarwal said: “Breast cancer is a major killer among women around the world, and in that perspective, results from this study are quite significant.

“This study may provide us with one more agent as an extract that could be used against breast cancer if additional studies hold true.”

Jessica Harris of Cancer Research UK said: “Many plant chemicals can kill cancer cells in the lab but very few end up as useful cancer drugs.

“It will take a lot more work and trials in people before we know if this extract could benefit cancer patients or about any unwanted side effects.

“Many cancer treatments have been developed from plant chemicals, but only after years of thorough research.”.. Continue reading

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Leap in number of children treated for cocaine addiction

Posted on 01 March 2010. Tags: Medical Conditions

Source: Independent >> Read full article and comment
By Jack Doyle, Press Association
Monday, 1 March 2010

Growing numbers of children are being treated for cocaine addiction, figures revealed today.

Since 2005, the number of under-18s being helped to get off the drug has increased by more than 65%, NHS figures show. Treatment numbers for 18 to 24-year-olds doubled in the same period.

The study by the National Treatment Agency in England found three-quarters of users combined the drug with alcohol.

Mixing is thought to boost the high but also causes more damage to the heart and makes users more violent.

After six months of treatment with cognitive behavioural therapy, four in 10 addicts were clean, but nearly a quarter had dropped out of treatment.

Paul Hayes, chief executive of the NTA, said: “More people are using powder cocaine, more people are seeking help for dependency, and more are being successfully treated.

“Powder cocaine is a powerful stimulant drug which induces psychological rather than physical dependence.

“Most users will be treated locally in their communities with talking therapies rather than medication, and our message to users is that if they need help, they can get it and it works.” … Continue reading

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Why autism is different for girls

Posted on 23 February 2010. Tags: Food and Diet, Medical Conditions

Source: The Independent >> Read full article and comment

We may think it only affects boys. But the female variant is often much harder to spot – and that means thousands of girls may be going undiagnosed.

Jeremy Laurance reports

With hindsight, Nicky Clark says early signs of autism were present in both her children. The elder one, though very bright, had a love of routine and was not interested in fantasy games like other children. The younger one liked to line things up in rows and would watch the same video clip over and over again for hours. When she got the diagnosis it came as a huge shock, as it would be for any parent. But there was an additional reason why it was unexpected – both her children are girls.

Autism is an overwhelmingly male diagnosis – it has been described as the “extreme male brain”. Boys with the diagnosis outnumber girls by between 10 and 15 to one. The typical high functioning male, if he is lucky, finds a secure post in a university where he can use his exceptional powers for academic study, shunning most social contact as the “eccentric professor”, and relaxing at home with his train set in the attic.

But in the developing story of autism – interest in which has increased hugely in the last decade – girls have been neglected. That omission will be remedied this week with the first conference on autistic spectrum disorders in women and girls. One aim will be to examine whether the condition has been underdiagnosed in females – and what links there may be with eating disorders.

According to Janet Treasure, professor of psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, London, around a fifth of girls diagnosed with anorexia have autistic spectrum features and 20 to 30 per cent may have exhibited rigidity and perfectionism in childhood. Anorexia has been called the female Asperger’s (the mild version of autism).

Professor Treasure says: “When I was training at the Maudsley 30 years ago, anorexic girls were treated as little more than malfunctioning machines. The view was that it was an illness that mainly affected middle-class intelligent white girls and was little more than an awkward phase of adolescence. Today there has been a huge change in the understanding of the disease. People with eating disorders find it difficult to change self-set rules and learnt behaviour once fixed in the brain. They also see the world in close up as if looking through a zoom lens, and get lost in the detail. There is a strong similarity to autistic spectrums.”.. Continue reading

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Hope for children with peanut allergy as new treatment is tested

Posted on 22 February 2010. Tags: Family Health, Health, Medical Conditions

Source: Timesonline >> Read full article and comment

Mark Henderson

More than 100 British children with severe peanut allergies are to be treated with an experimental desensitising therapy that has had promising early results.

The study, in which children are given small daily doses of peanut flour to build tolerance to the potentially deadly allergen, is to begin next month at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge after scientists were awarded a £1 million grant by the National Institute for Health Research.

It follows successful preliminary research, published a year ago, in which 21 of 23 children treated for peanut allergy showed substantial improvements over six months. By the end of their therapy the children could eat up to 12 nuts a day.

“The families involved say that it’s changed their lives,” Andrew Clark, a consultant in paediatric allergy who leads the project, told the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in San Diego.

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“Before they were checking every food label every time they ate food. They would worry it would cause a reaction or even kill them, but now they can go out and eat curries and Chinese food.

“They can eat everyday snacks and treats. For their birthday they can have chocolate cake and chocolates without any fear of reactions. So that’s our real motiviation — to try to develop that as a clinical treatment that we could spread to the rest of the country.”

Peanut allergy affects an estimated 2 per cent of British children and is becoming more common. Effects range from mild itching and rashes to breathing difficulties and the severe reaction anaphylaxis.

The experimental treatment involves adding small amounts of peanut flour to yoghurt, but starting with a dose of just 5 milligrams. Over six months it is increased to 800mg a week – the equivalent of five peanuts, or 160 times the dose the children can initially tolerate… Continue reading

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Chronic conditions including obesity up in US kids: study

Posted on 18 February 2010. Tags: Family Health, Medical Conditions

Source: Independent >> Read full article and comment

Relax News

ANATOLIY SAMARA

Chronic conditions including asthma, obesity and behavior disorders have become more common among US children in recent years, with environmental changes and more diagnoses partly to blame, a study published Tuesday shows.

Researchers led by Jeanne Van Cleave, a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston, looked at the prevalence of conditions that lasted a year or longer in three groups of children, starting with a first cohort of more than 2,000 kids in 1988.

That group was tracked for six years, after which a second group was studied between 1994-2000 and finally a third group from 2000- 2006.

Mothers of the children were asked whether their kids had any “physical, emotional or mental condition that prevented him or her from attending school regularly, doing regular school work or doing usual childhood activities, or that required frequent attention or treatment from a doctor or other health professional.”

The information gathered was classified into one of four categories of chronic condition: asthma, behavior or learning disorders, obesity and other physical conditions.

“We found that prevalence of a chronic condition at any point during the study period was very high and increased over time,” the authors of the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, said.

“Many factors may have contributed, including environmental changes, which may affect rates of chronic respiratory conditions and obesity,” and greater access to health care for children during the study period, which would have boosted diagnoses of childhood chronic conditions, the study says.

Reports of all chronic conditions, including the much-talked-about childhood obesity, rose from just under 13 percent at the end of the six-year follow-up for the first group of children to 26.6 percent in 2006, the study shows.

.. Continue reading

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How the loss of Nicholas gave life to others

Posted on 16 February 2010. Tags: Medical Conditions

When seven-year-old Nicholas Green was killed in Italy, the decision by his parents, Reg and Maggie, to donate his organs, gave life to seven local people. Now Reg is backing a new NHS initiative to increase organ donation in Britain.

Source: Telegraph >> Read Full Article and Comment

By Elizabeth Grice
Published: 7:00AM GMT 15 Feb 2010

Nicholas, Maggie and Reg Green

On the night his seven-year-old son was shot, Reg Green was driving his family through southern Italy towards their holiday apartment in Sicily. It was October 1994. Maggie, his wife, had just nodded off. The two children, Nicholas and Eleanor, four, were asleep in the back.

Reg felt the first tremor of anxiety as a car started to tail them closely. He thought it must be the police. But instead of overtaking, the car pulled alongside at speed as if taunting them to a race. Then they heard angry voices, the words indistinguishable, yelling at them to stop.

Seconds later, a bullet shattered the window where the children were sleeping. Terrified, Maggie swung round but the children seemed to be oblivious.

Then came a second explosion, which shattered the driver’s window.

“How that bullet missed us I will never know,” says Reg. He drove furiously on, trying to find lights, people, safety. It later emerged that their assailants had been planning a jewellery heist and mistook the Green’s rental car with its Rome licence plates for one that was delivering jewellery. “It disappeared back into the night.”

Without knowing that Nicholas had been injured, they stopped by an ambulance that was attending a road accident. “We pulled in and when the interior light came on, I saw that Nicholas’s hand was sticking out slightly and there was a trace of vomit on his chin. He was not moving. He had been hit in the back of the head by one of the bullets but he had not made a sound. In death, as in life, he was no trouble to us.”.. Continue Reading

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Children with eczema at increased risk of mental problems

Posted on 16 February 2010. Tags: Health, Just for Dads, Medical Conditions

Source: Telegraph >> Read Full Article and Comment

Children with eczema may be more likely to have mental and behavioural problems in later life, scientists believe.

Published: 7:30AM GMT 13 Feb 2010

Side effects of the skin disease, such as sleep disorders and an increased chance of developing hayfever and asthma, may be to blame, scientists believe.

A team from Germany’s Helmholtz Zentrum München followed 5,991 children who were born between 1995 and 1998.

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Dr Joachim Heinrich discovered that children who suffered from eczema during the first two years of life were more likely to demonstrate psychological abnormalities, in particular emotional problems, at ten years of age than children who had not suffered from the disease.

Dr Heinrich said: “This indicates that eczema can precede and lead to behavioural and psychological problems in children.”

Children whose eczema had not cleared up beyond their first two years of life were more susceptible to mental health problems than those who only had the disease in infancy, he said… Continue Reading

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The boy who died for 11 minutes

Posted on 16 February 2010. Tags: Family Health, Health, Medical Conditions

Every year 600 outwardly healthy young people die from sudden death syndrome. But a new free screening test could help

Tracy Cook

Thirteen year old James Doherty at home in Codicote, Hertfordshire. He suffered a heart attack and died for 15 minutes before being revived.

In September 2008, James Doherty, a 13-year-old junior tennis champion, was training with his coach when he collapsed at the back of the court. Realising something was wrong, a spectator started pumping his chest. For 11 minutes, James “died” — his heart beating out of rhythm and no longer able to pump blood around his body. When the ambulance arrived, they shocked his heart and rushed him to hospital.

“By the time I got to the hospital there were six cardiologists and six paediatricians working on my son. I couldn’t believe it,” says Sarah Doherty, 49, from Codicote, Hertfordshire. “He was my fit and healthy boy. I couldn’t understand what had happened to him in the time since I’d dropped him off for tennis. When I asked if he was going to be all right, I was told, ‘We are not in the business of giving false hope’. They thought he was going to die.”

James was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital, Central London, where Long QT syndrome (LQTS) was diagnosed, a congenital heart defect that is estimated to affect one person in 2,500. He was fitted with a cardiac defibrillator, designed to give a life-saving electrical shock to kickstart his heart should it stop beating again. Ten days later James left hospital. Extraordinarily, two other boys from his school also died of sudden cardiac death that year: Mathew Blease, 13, of viral myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and Matthew Pearson, 14, who died of an unconfirmed cardiac condition in his sleep on Boxing Day.

This May, the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (Cry) is launching a free screening programme in London and the South East for 14-year-olds: a simple ECG test that can detect or flag-up potential abnormalities of the heart and takes minutes to carry out. The tests, at St George’s Healthcare Trust in southwest London, are being offered to any child born in 1995, as 14 is the earliest age screening can be carried out. It intends to provide, for the first time, a snapshot of the prevalance of heart conditions across a single age group and could be the model for a national programme in the future… Continue Reading

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Nasal spray gives hope on autism

Posted on 14 February 2010. Tags: Medical Conditions

Source: Timesonline >> Read Full Article and Comment

Scientists have found that some symptoms of autism can be alleviated by a nasal spray containing oxytocin, the “bonding” hormone.

People with autism who inhaled the spray altered their behaviour temporarily, becoming more sociable and trusting.

Autism and Asperger’s, a related syndrome, impede the ability to communicate or form relationships. Many people with the conditions find it difficult even to meet someone else’s eye.

The research, which has been peer-reviewed, was carried out on 13 patients with high-functioning autism, defined as those of normal or above-normal intelligence.

“Under oxytocin, patients with high-functioning autism respond more strongly to others and exhibit more appropriate social behaviour,” wrote Elissar Andari, of the Institut des Sciences Cognitives, a French government centre for neuroscience research, in a summary of a recent conference presentation.

Such a therapy would be a key breakthrough, if proven. About 500,000 Britons have autism or Asperger’s syndrome, with many suffering exclusion from school and long-term unemployment because of the associated behavioural problems.

In a summary of her presentation to the Mediterranean Conference of Neuroscience, held in Egypt, Andari said the results “suggested a therapeutic potential of oxytocin through its action on a core dimension of autism”.

The researchers point out that the effects of the nasal spray are transient and the findings do not mean that a therapy is imminent.

Any proposed medication would have to undergo extensive testing, which could take years.

In the study, Andari and her colleagues asked their 13 subjects to inhale oxytocin and then to undergo two tests to see if the hormone had altered their behaviour… Continue Reading

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Study reveals common bond of children who hate to be hugged

Posted on 13 February 2010. Tags: Growing up, Medical Conditions, Pregnancy

The Times >> Read Full Article and Comment

February 13, 2010

(PhotoAlto / Getty)

Fragile X syndrome is thought to have a significant overlap with autism

A genetic defect that causes children to dislike being hugged and sometimes reject all physical affection is closer to being understood following research into the sensory part of the brain.

Scientists at Northwestern University, Illinois, and the University of Edinburgh explored fragile X syndrome — a genetic condition associated with an extreme hypersensitivity to sounds, touch, smells and visual stimuli that can result in social withdrawal, hyperarousal or anxiety. Some sufferers are even hypersensitive to material on their skin.

The scientists found that critical phases in the brain’s development may be mistimed in people with the condition. This may result in inappropriate communication between brain cells.

By recording electrical signals in the brains of mice, bred to mimic the condition, the researchers found that connections in the brain’s sensory cortex were late to mature. The study, published in the journal Neuron, found that these changes in the brain’s connections occurred much earlier than previously thought — in the first week post-natal in mice, which is equivalent to the middle of the second trimester of pregnancy.
The mistiming, in which the neurons do not communicate properly, may cause further problems with the correct wiring of the brain. The hope is that by understanding how and when the function of the brain is affected in fragile X, a therapy may become possible. … Continue Reading

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Sleeping Beauty condition means teenager sleeps for two weeks

Posted on 11 February 2010. Tags: Medical Conditions

Source: Telegraph >> Read Full Article and Comment

Louisa Ball, 15, has earned the nickname ‘Sleeping Beauty’ thanks to a rare condition that causes her to sleep for up to two weeks at a time.

Louisa Ball suffers from a rare condition called Slepping Beauty Disease, which causes her to sleep for up to 12 days at a time Photo: WORLDWIDE FEATURES

Miss Ball, from Worthing, has slept through school exams, dance competitions and entire family holidays thanks to her unusual condition.

Her prolonged sleeps, which began in 2008 as she recovered from flu, were initially thought to be hormonal until she was diagnosed with Kleine-Levin Syndrome last year.

People who develop the condition, also known as Sleeping Beauty Disease, are prone to falling into extended periods of deep sleep that can stretch to weeks.

Miss Ball’s mother Lottie, 45, told a national newspaper: “She was exhausted and didn’t seem to be getting any better. She started to fall asleep at school and was rambling about things that didn’t make sense – just like she was talking in her sleep.

“It really scared us, we didn’t know what to do. It just didn’t seem like Louisa was the daughter we used to know – she was like a different person.”

Doctors at Worthing General Hospital were baffled by her symptoms, and suggested the problem could be to do with hormones.

Miss Ball’s sleeping episodes began to stretch to ten days at a time, during which time her parents would wake her once a day to feed her and take her to the bathroom, before she succumbed to sleep again.

They said that when woken up she would ramble as though she were sleep talking, and when she fully awoke after several days she would not remember anything that had happened… Continue Reading

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Autism: A healing, not a cure

Posted on 24 January 2010. Tags: Just for Dads, Medical Conditions

Source: Guardian >> Read Full Article and Comment
Joanna Moorhead

Rupert Isaacson believes riding has transformed his autistic son. Now he wants others to benefit from his experience. But is it too good to be true?

Rupert Isaacson with his son Rowan at a horse boy camp on the Cowal peninsula, Argyll, on the west coast of Scotland. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

It’s a windswept, freezing January afternoon on a remote beach in Scotland, and I’m watching four horses, each with a child on its back, plodding across the pebbles. Eight-year-old Rowan Isaacson is standing beside me on the beach. Like the other children, he is autistic: unlike them, he can carry on a conversation, speaks clearly and is toilet-trained – but only since 2007. According to Rowan’s father, Rupert, his extraordinary “recovery” from some of the most difficult aspects ofautism came about through his love of horses – a love affair that culminated in a month-long, adventure-packed trip to Mongolia.

It’s a compelling tale of the lengths to which one couple are prepared to go to make their child better. Not surprisingly, the phenomenon of a little boy with autism, whose symptoms melted away once he climbed on to a horse, delighted the media – and the resulting book, The Horse Boy, made it on to the New York Times bestseller list. Almost inevitably, there are now plans for a feature film.

But does their experience have anything to offer other families? Here on this beach, Rupert and Rowan are trying to prove it does. They are over in Britain from their home in Texas (Rupert is British, but his wife, Kristin Neff, is American, and the couple have lived there for many years) to run what they are calling a horse boy camp for other families who, like them, live with autism every day.  … Continue Reading

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Mother of twins describes cancer ‘nightmare’

Posted on 22 January 2010. Tags: Family Health, Just for Dads, Medical Conditions

SOurce: Telegraph >> Read Full Article and Comment

A mother has described her “living nightmare” after finding both her identical twin daughters were suffering from leukaemia.

Emma Garwood, 38, and husband Mark, 35, were left devastated after they were told that their four-year-old daughter Megan had the cancer.

But just a week later doctors found out that Megan’s twin sister Gracie also had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

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Both the girls are still battling the disease after five months treatment at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.

Mrs Garwood, who also has a two-year-old daughter Martha, said: “To see both girls in a twin room at Addenbrooke’s undergoing the same treatment side by side was an absolute living nightmare.

“I struggle now just to talk about it without getting upset. To be told that two of your three children have cancer is unthinkable and you begin to wonder what you have done to deserve it.”

The ordeal began last August when Megan began looking tired and off colour at home in Colchester, Essex.

Her parents took her to their doctor who immediately referred her to Colchester General Hospital for further tests.

She was then transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital after the leukaemia was diagnosed… Continue Reading

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Leukaemia cell ‘breakthrough’ offers treatment hope

Posted on 22 January 2010. Tags: Family Health, Medical Conditions

Source: BBC News >> Read Full Article and Comment

Scientists believe they have made an important breakthrough in attempts to treat a form of childhood leukaemia.

In mice tests, Australian researchers found a cell which plays a key role in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) can regenerate itself.

The Melbourne University team believes targeting this cell may help to stop this disease returning, but they warned much more research was needed.

UK experts said the findings may eventually lead to better care.

T-ALL is a rare form of leukaemia which is most common in older children and adolescents, although adults can also be affected.

About a fifth of children suffer relapses after radiation therapy.

In the tests, the team found that 99% of cells in the thymus, a small organ in the upper chest which helps protect people from infections and as a result plays a key role in leukaemia, were killed by radiation.

Resistance

But the Lmo2 gene was able to recover because of its stem-cell like properties, suggesting it could be responsible for the disease, the Science journal reported.

Lead researcher Dr Matthew McCormack said: “The cellular origins of this leukaemia are not well understood… Continue Reading

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Cardiff mother’s brain tumour funds plea

Posted on 22 January 2010. Tags: Family Health, Finance, Health, Medical Conditions

Source: BBC News >> Read Full Article and Comment

The mother of a 14-year-old girl with a brain tumour says more research is urgently needed into how they develop.

Holly Timbrell, from Cardiff, was diagnosed with a tumour after suffering repeated headaches, but doctors are unable to say what will happen next.

Her mother Karen is urging people to sign a petition on the 10 Downing St website calling for more funding.

Doctors say brain tumours account for almost a third of cancer deaths amongst children every year.

Holly first started feeling ill seven months ago with a headache which would not go away.

Holly and mother Karen are campaigning for more research into child brain tumours

After seeing her doctor she was rushed into hospital for a brain scan and is now being treated by doctors at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

Mrs Timbrell said: “There was just complete shock, devastation, you don’t know how to react.”

If over the next 10 years the funding is increased they may be able to cure it before it does any damage Karen Timbrell

Because of the position of the tumour, doctors have had problems collecting enough cells to find out more… Continue Reading

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Rickets makes comeback among computer generation

Posted on 21 January 2010. Tags: Family Health, Health, Medical Conditions

Source: The Telegraph >> Read Full Article and Comment
The growth of the computer generation and changing lifestyles among children is leading to a Vitamin D deficiency and a rise in cases of rickets, medical experts have warned.

Rickets, where children develop painful and deformed bow-legs and do not grow properly, is a condition linked with Victorian era poverty.

They said youngsters were spending more time indoors on their computers rather than previous generations who spent time playing outside with their friends.

The two medical experts have called for Vitamin D to be added to milk and other food products.

They said modern diets often lack Vitamin D and this could be a big reason – along with changing lifestyles – for the increasing health problems, in particular rickets in children.

The main source of Vitamin D is sunlight, through skin exposure. But it is also present in a small number of foods, such as oily fish or cod liver oil.

Writing a clinical review in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal, Professor Simon Pearce and Dr Tim Cheetham, of Newcastle University, call for a change in public health policy.

Prof Pearce, a professor of endocrinology, said: ”Kids tend to stay indoors more these days and play on their computers instead of enjoying the fresh air.

”This means their Vitamin D levels are worse than in previous years… Continue Reading

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Child drug errors ‘too frequent’

Posted on 20 January 2010. Tags: Family Health, Health, Medical Conditions

Source: BBC News >> Read Full Article and Comment

Mistakes are being made in a high number of
drug treatments given to children in hospital, experts warn.

A snap-shot study by the University of London of five hospitals in the city found 13% of the 3,000 prescriptions they examined had an error.

Most of the errors were unlikely to cause serious harm

And a fifth of drugs given to children in these hospitals during 2004 and 2005 were administered incorrectly.

Most errors were harmless but a small number were potentially fatal, Archives of Diseases in Childhood reports.

On five occasions, one of the investigators intervened to prevent the patient suffering the consequences.

Too common

Over a period of two weeks, they watched how nurses gave drugs to children on 11 wards at the five hospitals.

They picked up 429 administration errors among the 1,554 doses of medicine given to 265 children, giving an overall error rate of 19%. … Continue Reading

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