Having an epidural during labour may protect key muscles and therefore cut the risk of incontinence in later life, a study of nearly 400 women suggests.
Research in the BJOG, the leading obstetrics journal, found more than one in ten women who had vaginal births suffered damage to the “levator” muscles which hold up internal organs.
via BBC News.
Women who drink during pregnancy may be damaging the future fertility of their sons, research suggests.
In a study of almost 350 young men, sperm levels were a third lower in those whose mothers had drunk more than four drinks a week during pregnancy compared with teetotallers.
via BBC News
Breast-feeding seems to provide an immune system boost to infants, helping to prevent respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses in babies, according to new research.
Babies who were breast-fed exclusively for four months, and then partially until they were six months old, had a reduced risk of respiratory and gastrointestinal infections compared to babies who had never been breast-fed, the Dutch team found.
via Health24
Studies have shown fathers who are active in their children’s upbringing can significantly benefit their children’s early development, academic achievement and well being. Now, a new study by University of South Florida researchers suggests that a father’s involvement before his child is born may play an important role in preventing death during the first year of life – particularly if the infant is black.
Pregnant women with thyroid function test results in the upper half of the normal range have an increased chance of miscarriage, even when they lack thyroid-harming antibodies, according to a new study. The results, which the authors say show the need to change screening practices for pregnant women, will be presented at The Endocrine Society’s 92nd Annual Meeting, ENDO 2010, in San Diego on June 22 by Alex Stagnaro-Green, M.D., senior author and senior associate dean for education at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
New research has found that babies born early appear to have a heightened response to pain, when compared with healthy, full-term newborns. Could it have something to do with the invasive tests that they experience in hospital?
Dr Rebeccah Slater from University College London has been measuring babies’ brain activity at the same time they experience a painful stimulus.
via BBC News
Many new fathers experience post-natal depression, yet most cases go undetected and untreated, experts warn.
One in 10 new fathers may have the baby blues, US researchers believe – based on their trawl of medical literature.
While this rate is lower than in new mothers, it is more than currently recognised, they told the Journal of the American Medical Association.
via BBC News
Dr Izzeldin Hussein gave a very good presentation on the situation in Sudan today, at London Metropolitan University’s Graduate Centre.
Dr Hussein told us of the need for careful and expert assessment of people’s needs before applying a “one size fits all” attempt at a remedy – surely a lesson that can be applied in any situation.
In an attempt to address the deficiency of iodine, a generous quantity of iodised salt has been provided in many areas, including by the Red Sea, and in the Nile Valley, where his research has been carried out.
Whilst this has resulted in an optimum level of iodine intake in the Nile Valley, the people by the Red Sea now have too much iodine in their diet, and many are developing goitres as their body attempts to deal with the onslaught of this potent nutrient.
In order to overcome and prevent this, he says, it is essential to carry out a baseline assessment of people’s iodine intake before supplementing their diet, so that they can be given as much as they need, and no more.
via Phil Culmer.
Update:
We now have a copy of Dr Hussein’s report on his work in the United Arab Emirates, where similar problems were all but eliminated by the careful assessment of people’s needs, and measured supplimentation was provided.
If you’d like to study it, you can download a copy here: UAE National Urinery Survey 2009.
Prenatal exposure to ambient levels of flame retardant compounds called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) is associated with adverse neurodevelopmental effects in young children, according to researchers at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
via Medical News Today.
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