Sharp rise in newborns with opiate withdrawal in USA

The number of babies born in the US showing symptoms of opiate withdrawal increased threefold in the 10 years up to 2009, a medical study has found.

The research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, said one in every 1,000 newborns was affected in 2009.

The number of pregnant women testing positive for illegal or legal opiates increased fivefold in the same period.

The report says abuse of prescription painkillers is partly to blame. The study, the first of its kind in the US, was based on records from more than 4,000 hospitals across the country.

It found that in 2009, about 13,500 babies were born with withdrawal symptoms - roughly one every hour.

Read details: BBC News USA & Canada

Related: What is Opiate Withdrawal

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8 Year old finds out his deadly disease from Google - something his parents hid from him

When their eight-year-old was diagnosed with terminal illness, Dominic and Caroline Stacey thought it best to keep the tragic news from him.

They had, however, not reckoned on Dominic Junior’s inquisitive nature. He looked up the disease he called ‘tired legs’ on Google and discovered the truth.

Lil Dom – as he is nicknamed – then confronted his parents and asked why they had not told him, and had been so upbeat about his condition, Duchenne muscular dystrophy - that would eventually kill him. 'Since then he's had several nightmares about it and always calls us in for a cuddle', says father.

Read more: Mail Online

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BBC sex education video for 9 years old pupils criticized as it 'is like porn'

A sex education video produced by the BBC for children as young as nine has been criticised as being 'like a blue movie' by an MP who said the material is 'shattering the innocence of childhood'.

The video aims to teach children aged between nine and 11 about growing up, the cycle of life, feelings, family life and friendship.

A computer generated graphic shows what happens during sexual intercourse and explains what happens to the body

But included in the CD-ROM is an animated video of two cartoon characters making love and a computer-generated sequence showing a couple having sex, accompanied by a graphic explanation.

There is also footage of a naked man and woman, used to demonstrate the differences between the sexes, information about 'wet dreams' and masturbation, and graphic diagrams of genitalia, reports Mail Online.

Read more: Mail Online

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'Internet Addiction' can change Brain like a 'Cocaine Addiction'

[ via Business Insider ] 12 Jan

Chinese experts who have scanned the brains of 17 young internet addicts and found that their addiction is changing the way their brains function, Business Insider reports quoting BBC.

The teams' discoveries suggest that the brains of the addicted appeared to show the same changes to the brain's "white matter" — the connecting web of the brain — as those found in those addicted to alcohol, cocaine and cannabis.

Read more: Business Insider

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Battery-operated boy who can walk again after doctors 'rewired' his brain

[ via Mail Online ] 8 Jan

Brave Robbie Ovenstone is a walking miracle  operated by a battery after doctors 'rewired' his brain.

Robbie before (L) and after (R) the 'Rewiring' - [Photo: Worldwide Features]

For months Robbie had been unable to walk, feed or dress himself due to a terrible muscular disease that caused his body to twist.

But now after an amazing operation where doctors inserted electrodes into his brain and another to a battery in his stomach, the messages being sent to his muscles have been corrected and and he can start to walk normally again.

Read more: Mail Online
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The twins joined at the head who beat odds of ten million to one to survive surgical separation

[ via Mail Online ] 1 Jan 2012

Wearing her protective pink helmet, Rital Gaboura looks as if she is ready to enjoy a cycling trip with her parents.

The twins (above top) before the operation
The twins (after the operation above bottom) with their parents had their helmets fitted by Jo Drake (left) and Saeed Hamid (right)

But Rital and her twin Ritag are on an entirely different kind of journey. Just four months ago, the sisters were successfully separated by a team of British doctors at Great Ormond Street after being born joined at the head.

They beat odds of ten million to one to survive – and are now thriving thanks to the special helmets they wear 23 hours a day to correct their head shape. 

The 15-month-old girls were fitted with the helmets in October by specialists at the London Orthotic Consultancy. The girls will wear the helmets for the next six months.

Read more: Mail Online

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Doctors look to treat sick children in virtual worlds

[ via The News ] 28 Dec

Doctors in a domed laboratory in Montreal, Canada are designing a virtual world where they hope to one day treat traumatized children with colorful avatars using toy-like medical gadgets.

Sensory stimulation could be used to make a burn victim feel she is encased in a block of ice. Three-dimensional images of a child's bedroom at home could make him forget he is in a hospital.

"You could take a child suffering from burns and put him in a polar environment, crossing the threshold of reality, to dull his pain," said Patrick Dube, who is leading a team of medics from Montreal's Sainte-Justine hospital and software engineers at the Society for Arts and Technology.

"We know that cognitive illusions have an effect on the perception of pain," he said.

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WHO issues Measles Warning to Europe

[ BBC Health ] 2 Dec

WHO cautions European countries against spread of measles and has asked them to act now to tackle measles outbreaks.

The WHO report says there were over 26,000 measles cases in 36 European countries from January to October 2011. Already, Western European countries reported 83% of those cases, with 14,000 in France alone.

In England and Wales, there were just under 1,000 confirmed measles cases in that period - compared with just 374 in the whole of 2010.

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Expecting mothers should avoid a high street coffee to protect their unborn baby

Mail Online 1 Dec

Pregnant women could unwittingly be putting the health of their unborn baby at risk by drinking coffee from high street cafes, researchers warn. A study on the subject concludes that strongest espressos contain 50 per cent more caffeine than a pregnant woman should have in an ENTIRE DAY.

Photo: Automatic Espressos Makers

An analysis of espressos from 20 coffee shops uncovered huge variations in the amount of caffeine they contain – with the strongest having more than six times as much as the weakest.

Read full story for details and for sake of your as well as baby-to-be-born's health.

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Parents lose custody of 200-Pound Ohio Boy

Full Story: Huffington Post 27 Nov

An Ohio third-grader who weighs more than 200 pounds has been taken from his family and placed into foster care after county social workers said his mother wasn't doing enough to control his weight.

Photo: Social Psychology Eye 

A spokeswoman says the county removed the child because caseworkers saw his mother's inability to reduce his weight as medical neglect.

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3-Minute Wait to Clamp Umbilical Cord Reduces Anemia in babies

Full Story: Yahoo 18 Nov

A new study suggests that doctors should wait a few minutes after birth before clamping the umbilical cord to reduce a baby's risk of anemia.

Waiting at least three minutes to clamp the cords of healthy newborns improved their iron levels at 4 months of age, and reduced the baby's risk of developing iron deficiency. Before clamping, blood within the cord and in the placenta flows into the baby; clamping cuts off this flow, reports Yahoo. 

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The Injury That Caused One Man's Daughter To Be Born Addicted

Full Story: The Business Insider 14 November 2011

I have never read such a scary and painful real life story - story of a 15 years boy on whom hell fell and his life thereafter became hell, not only his alone, but of his wife and the daughter born to them. I am sharing this link and story for everyone to read because this may have many lessons for us.

X-ray after initial surgery (Photo: Bernie Mullen) 

Bernie Mullen was 15 when a crane fell on him and he was only very lucky to survive. But to live on he was operated 8 times and had two screws in his neck, five pins in his spine and another big plate in his neck. with this awesome series of surgeries, he grew up only to live in utter pain forever. His pain could not subside with normal dose of pain killers allowed and he had to use all other means to get more pain killers to arrest his pains. He was fleeced by doctors and everyone who came his way.

His wife had to face legal actions for getting medicine from other means. And what was more, their daughter was born premature suffering as methadone infant.

Please read the full story and share the anguish of a family that have to pay the price of an accident which everyone thought would heal of its wounds - but DIDN'T - rather it has become a nightmare of their lives.

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Toddler Operated for Fused Skull Plates

Full Story / Photo: Mail Online  30th October 2011

Harry at home with scar where doctors opened his head to remove the top of his skull

A toddler born with a rare defect of FUSED SKULL PLATES underwent a 7-hours long operation is making incredible recovery. The surgeons were forced to break his skull open and piece it back together to mend the deadly defect of craniosynostosis - a condition where the skull plates fuse together before birth.

Harry, now 19-months-old, had the operation in April this year, which his parents describe as the 'longest seven hours of their lives.'

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Excessive Exposure to TV Can Harm Children's Speech Development

Full Story: Mail Online

A recent research says that due to parents' more reliance on TV and computers to keep their babies entertained, the toddlers and babies may suffer from their ability of language development, which may later lot of time at schools to repair.

The study by American Academy of Pediatrics also concludes, "TV watching distracts the parent and decreases parent-child interaction. Its presence may also interfere with a young child’s learning from play. Therefore parent need to understand that their own media use can have a negative effect on children.

Read full story for more on the research conclusions

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Premature born children are more prone to Autism

Full Story: France Soir

A recent study in USA has concluded that children born prematurely have five times more chances than normal babies to suffer form Autism. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have conducted the survey of 862 children born in New Jersey between September 1984 and July 1987 and having a weight between 500 g and 2 kg at birth. Of these children then followed until the age of 21, 5% had autism, against 1% in the general population.

As per Wikipedai, Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old.

Read full story for details..

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