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Gene variant that is a major contributor to cleft lip

An international team of researchers has identified a gene variant that is a major contributor to oral clefts and triples the risk of recurrence in affected families, it was reported today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

18 Aug 2004

Expatriates find better quality outside of the UK

Despite what Victoria Beckham may think, Spain has come out on top in a poll of people living and working abroad. Research carried out by BUPA International found that nine out of 10 expats they questioned claimed that their quality of life is better, or very much better, in Spain than in their home country.

18 Aug 2004

Limb-sparing technique called rotationplasty helps very young children with bone cancer

The current issue of New England Journal of Medicine illustrates a case of a five-year-old girl with Ewing’s sarcoma, a cancerous tumor, behind her left knee. Surgeons at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia used a limb-sparing technique called rotationplasty to remove the diseased portion of bone, turn the shortened portion of the leg bone in a half-circle and reattach it, with the ankle joint functioning as a knee.

18 Aug 2004

Girls play truant more than boys

New research published by the University of Edinburgh reveals that there is a substantial difference in levels of serious delinquency between boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 15.

18 Aug 2004

Doctors say school lunches still failing to make the grade

With schools starting up all over the country, kids have one more thing besides pop quizzes and exams to worry about this fall, school lunches.

18 Aug 2004

Research will lead to better treatments for mastocytosis

Tens of millions of people know what it's like to suffer the seasonal torment of allergies, when just a whiff of pollen, mold or dust can set off a chain reaction in the body that causes sniffling, sneezing and coughing.

18 Aug 2004

Researchers find way to detect dangerous brain swelling in diabetic children

A rare swelling of the brain that is nonetheless the most common diabetes-related cause of death for children with the disease could be caught earlier — potentially saving lives — if practitioners learn to recognize key signs, researchers at the University of Florida report.

18 Aug 2004

The world's population in 2050 will be 9.276 billion, currently 6.396 in 2004

The Population Reference Bureau has released the 2004 World Population Data Sheet. The new data is now the most up-to-date world demographic information and makes estimates for all countries and regions of the world. It also highlights key world demographic shifts between now and 2050.

18 Aug 2004

"Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study" - a landmark study

The "Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study" (TADS), reported in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first multi- center, randomized clinical effectiveness trial to review a combination of treatments for the types of adolescent depression likely to be treated in routine community-based practice settings.

18 Aug 2004

Exposure to natural and man-made substances in the environment accounts for at least two-thirds of all the cases of cancer in the U.S.

These environmental factors include lifestyle choices like cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, poor diet, lack of exercise and excessive sunlight exposure. Other factors include exposure to certain medical drugs, hormones, radiation, viruses, bacteria, and chemicals that may be present in the air, water, food and workplace.

18 Aug 2004

Walking to school doesn't have a major affect on overall physical activity in children

The proportion of children traveling to school by car in the United Kingdom almost doubled from 16% in 1986 to 30% in 1998. Not walking to school is perceived as a compromise to physical activity.

18 Aug 2004

Mother’s milk may not be best for preterm babies

The study by Lydia Furman, M.D., of Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland and colleagues found that other influences, such as health problems at birth and social factors like the mother’s race, marriage and education were more important in predicting any mental and motor development problems among the infants.

17 Aug 2004

Critical shortage of support services for parents raising children with autism

The findings come hard on the heels of controversy over the tragic death of autistic ten-year-old Jason Dawes at the hands of his mother, who had received only three of the 20 hours per week of early intervention that her child needed since the age of 18 months.

17 Aug 2004

Initiative to develop medicines designed specifically for use in children welcomed by BNF

The use of medicines in children is particularly complex. Because many medicines are not licensed for use in children, healthcare professionals currently have to rely on a variety of non-standard resources".

17 Aug 2004

Disruption of chromosome loops can lead to Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome

Babraham Institute scientists have identified chromosome ‘loops’ which have implications for healthy growth of babies in the womb.

17 Aug 2004

Iacocca pledges $1 million to the type 1 diabetes cause

Lee Iacocca the Chief Executive Officer of Chrysler from 1978 to 1992 has announced the launch of "Join Lee Now," a fundraising initiative to investigate a potential cure for type 1 diabetes. Mr Iacocca has personally pledged $1 million to the cause.

17 Aug 2004

Why more than 70 per cent of child poisoning cases involve medications

"Although deaths are now rare, poisoning still remains a prime cause of hospitalisation in children under five," Professor Ozanne-Smith said. "Also, the rate of poisoning in this age group is increasing in Victoria, and we need to find out why."

17 Aug 2004

Students will temporarily lose their sight in an attempt to gain an understanding of what it could be like to have vision impairment

“Students are blindfolded for a period of about one hour,” she said. “It really demonstrates how much we take for granted – suddenly activities such as eating and socialising become difficult and exhausting. There is always at least one dinner guest who feels they can’t cope and has to remove their blindfold.”

17 Aug 2004

Steps families take to minimize asthma triggers in the home are either wrong or ignored

Parents of children who suffer with asthma are making many efforts to clear their homes of substances that could trigger their child's symptoms, but the steps they take aren't always the ones that could do the most good, a new University of Michigan study finds. And many don't take other steps that are known to help.

17 Aug 2004

Kids who grow up with poor single mothers are more likely to get into trouble

Kids who grow up with poor single mothers are less likely to expect to go to college and more likely to get into trouble in school and to perform poorly academically, according to a study by a Rice University sociologist

17 Aug 2004