| After woman aged 67 gives birth to twins, motherhood now beckons ... | | Posted Monday, January 01, 2007 12:46:55 PM by Blog57 Team | | THE number of women "cheating nature" to have babies well into old age will become ever more common - and may herald the era of the 70- year-old mother, a fertility expert said yesterday. Dr Sammy Lee said the revelation a Spanish woman had given birth at the weekend to become, at 67, the world's oldest mother, showed the trend for older women attempting pregnancy will continue. .... | |
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| | | Landfill in birth defects probe | | Posted Sunday, November 12, 2006 6:46:53 PM by Blog57 Team | | THE NHS has launched an investigation into whether there is a cluster of babies born with birth defects near the controversial landfill site at Ware. A director of public health will use a national database to discover if there is an unusually high occurrence of congenital anomalies among infants born to parents living near the Biffa-owned Westmill dump off the A602. The site, notorious for causing rancid smells to waft over nearby housing estates, has already faced 21 charges of breaking its pollution control licence. Now, Joanne Block, 31, and her husband Andy, 33, of Barley Ponds Road, fear the tip may have affected the health of their two-year-old son, Harry. .... | |
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| | | Mutant gene causes severe kidney disease in infants | | Posted Sunday, November 05, 2006 10:46:37 PM by Blog57 Team | | ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School have discovered a previously unknown cause for a severe, early-onset form of kidney disease and renal failure in children: recessive mutations in a gene called phospholipase C epsilon or PLCE1. Identifying the mutant gene is important to scientists because PLCE1 affects the development of podocytes specialized cells that play a vital role in the kidney's ability to remove waste products from blood, while retaining important blood proteins. To parents of infants with inherited PLCE1 mutations, the study is especially significant because it provides the first evidence that some types of a kidney disease called nephrotic syndrome, if diagnosed early in infancy, may be treated successfully in children.... | |
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| | | Ready to be dads, but they're going to need help | | Posted Monday, October 30, 2006 2:47:17 AM by Blog57 Team | | For a baby of their own, David and Chad will have to draw on science, the law, their families -- and most of all, each other. By Kevin Sack, TIMES STAFF WRITER October 29, 2006 FAIRFAX, Va. — Chad Hodge liked #694. She was a 21-year-old college student, 5-feet-5, 135 pounds, with straight brown hair, blue eyes and a narrow nose. She had won 16 awards in high school for academics and music, and scored a 1210 on the SAT. She was outgoing, intelligent, responsible and friendly, or at least she said she was. Chad wanted her to be the mother of his children. But David Craig, Chad's partner of seven years, had his heart set on #685. She was a teacher, 23, 5-feet-2, with wavy blond hair and light blue eyes. She wore a size 0. She had been a varsity tennis player in high school, a ballerina and a classical pianist.... | |
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| | | Pregnancies for survivors of heart birth defects: Safe for some, but not others | | Posted Monday, October 23, 2006 6:46:10 AM by Blog57 Team | | WASHINGTON (AP) - They were born with once-lethal heart defects but lived fairly normal lives - until they wanted babies of their own. Now these survivors need special care again, sometimes even heart surgery, to become mothers. It's care difficult to find: Few cardiologists are trained to treat adults with congenital heart disease, much less when pregnancy puts extra strain on their vulnerable hearts. Some mothers-to-be thought they were cured as children, only to learn a surgical repair is not a cure and may eventually wear out. Many others were told never to get pregnant, though some didn't listen - while other patients with milder conditions were unnecessarily scared by physicians unfamiliar with the defects. "I call these girls my miracle babies, the miracle babies we didn't think would happen," says Angela Trout, 29, of Columbus, Ohio, who has a four-year-old and seven-month-old despite being told as a teenager, erroneously, that her malformed tricuspid valve left her too weak for pregnancy.... | |
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| | | Foreign surgeons to treat Zimbabwean children with birth defects | | Posted Wednesday, October 18, 2006 12:46:11 PM by Blog57 Team | | A group of American surgeons are expected in Zimbabwe at the end of this month to offer free surgery to children with birth defects, the health ministry said on Friday. The group of ear, nose and throat surgeons are scheduled to be in the country from September 29 until October 11 to attend to cases of cleft lip and cleft palate, the ministry said. The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare said only children would be attended to because most adults had their defects corrected during childhood. Many of the specialists have since left the country for greener pastures hence the failure to conduct any repairs in the last five years, the ministry said in a statement. The ministry said they are inviting all those who know of children requiring corrective surgery for these conditions to contact Harare Central Hospital and Parirenyatwa Hospital where they will be admitted.... | |
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| | | Landmark Bank partners with March of Dimes | | Posted Monday, October 16, 2006 2:46:23 PM by Blog57 Team | | DURANT- The local branch of Landmark Bank's goal is to raise $2,000 for the March of Dimes, for research into preventing premature births and researching the cause of birth defects. Landmark Bank is committed to its goal of raising $2,000 for this cause, and they are selling 'Just a Better Cookbook' for $8 instead of its regular $10, with the net proceeds going to March of Dimes. Landmark Bankers have also decorated pumpkins to compete for the best pumpkin by department. The public can vote on their favorite pumpkin by donating money to the March of Dimes. The pumpkins are in the lobby of the main branch of Landmark Bank, and the contest runs through Friday October 20. Also, the bank is selling March of Dimes Beanie Babies, for a minimum donation of $6.... | |
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| | | `Tijuana Dream' Clouded by Pollution, Job Exodus to Asia: TV | | Posted Monday, October 09, 2006 10:46:18 PM by Blog57 Team | | Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Ross Perot heard a ``giant sucking sound'' as U.S. jobs went south to Mexico, an ill wind that has since carried many of those same jobs to Asia and left devastated towns and people in its wake. Filmmakers Vicky Funari and Sergio De La Torre capture this industrial-strength desolation in ``Maquilapolis'' (City of Factories), which airs tomorrow on PBS at 10 p.m. New York time. The documentary reminds us that for all its glories, globalism can leave very dirty footprints. The one-hour film focuses on workers, mostly women, who toil in the industrial areas in and around Tijuana. One roadside sign boasts that the city is the ``World Capital of Televisions;'' it has also supplied consumers with panty hose, batteries and medical equipment, among other things.... | |
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| | | Government Data Confirms Rise in Preterm Birth Rate | | Posted Tuesday, October 03, 2006 6:46:48 AM by Blog57 Team | | Government statistics released today show that more than a half million babies were born too soon in 2004, confirming the growing problem of premature birth. The National Center for Health Statistics released final birth data for 2004 showing that more than 508,000 babies were born prematurely. The report also includes preterm birth rates by state. "These numbers underscore the need to address premature birth in our country with the same urgency and focus that has been brought to other threats to children's health, including secondhand tobacco smoke and rising rates of obesity," said Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, president of the March of Dimes. "The Institute of Medicine report on preterm birth outlined concrete steps we can take to begin to turn the tide and reduce these numbers. We again call on Congress, when they return from recess, to adopt the PREEMIE ACT that will implement many of the IOM's recommendations." The Prematurity Research Expansion and Education for Mothers Who Deliver Infants Early Act, (S.... | |
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| | | Domestic abuse survivor shares her stories | | Posted Tuesday, September 26, 2006 10:46:21 AM by Blog57 Team | | Violence escalates during pregnancy; about one out of three pregnant women and girls report being abused; battery of the mother is the leading cause of birth defects in the United States. Milwaukee Womens Center Case Manager Nedda Avila spoke about domestic abuse at the Multicultural Education Center on Sept. 21. However, facts, like the aforementioned, were not part of her speech. Instead, Avila used her 14 years of experience helping others and her lifetime of personal encounters and education to spread her message of stopping domestic violence. Avila opened her speech by saying she was a battered child, a teen bride married to a man 10 years older and had a daughter at the age of 15. She raised her children in a home where they were battered by their father.... | |
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