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PAPA
5th Parenthood Expo - Photo Review (Part 2)
August 29, 2009 (Saturday)
Lex the Lion welcoming the visitors
Wyeth sponsored nursery room
Crawl, baby crawl. Mama needs the prizes desperately.
Babies can swim and yes, we're all naked!
Please keep on massaging, mama!
Where is the instructor?
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5th Parenthood Expo - Photos Review
August 29, 2009 (Saturday)
Escalator stand with the 5th Parenthood Expo 2009 information
Queue of visitors happy to be screened for body temperature, precautionary measures taken by the organiser against the influenza A virus.
Hmm...not too sure whether any contest entries are still available for my tots?
Any more goodies? Any seats left for the free seminar? How much is the surgical face mask? Any place left for my tots to participate in the contest?
Bird's-eye view
An eagle eye view in another exhibition hall
Baby Crawling competition. Yahoo! Sweet throphy, stroller, baby car seats and hampers are some of the prizes here.
Take this home. No fuss, no pain, okay?
No problemo, these men are experts for the job.
The Art of "Baby Moonwalk"
Mommies demostrating their problem solving skills
All tots are ready for action.
Winners takes all.
What's cooking?
A parade of Hot Pregnant Mamas!
Stage programme attracts scores of visitors.
Modern Mom & Baby of the year 2009 contest.
Guess my name. Clue: start with the letter of 'S'
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OrphanCare will set up the country’s first baby hatch
August 25, 2009 (Tuesday)
Pickup story from The Star. DON’T you cringe when you hear stories of newborns being abandoned at rubbish dumps or worse, die from the ordeal?
Usually, these are unwanted babies, but they are human beings who deserve to be loved and cared for.
Thus, the idea of a one-stop non-profit organisation to set up a baby hatch brings hope for these babies.
OrphanCare will set up the country’s first baby hatch in September, tentatively after Hari Raya AidilFitri in Petaling Jaya.
According to wikipedia, a baby hatch is a place where mothers can bring their babies, usually newborn, and leave them anonymously in a safe place to be found and cared for.
This kind of arrangement was common in mediaeval times and in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the device was known as a foundling wheel.
Foundling wheels were taken out of use in the late 1800s but a modern form, the baby hatch, began to be introduced again from 1996 and since 2000 has come into use in many countries, notably in Germany where there are about 80 hatches today.
In German-speaking countries the hatch is known as a Babyklappe (baby hatch or flap) or Babyfenster (baby window); in Italian as Culle per la vita (cradle for life); in Japan as (baby post box).
The hatches are usually in hospitals or social centres and consist of a door or flap in an outside wall which opens to reveal a soft bed, heated or at least insulated.
Sensors in the bed alert carers when a baby has been put in it so that they can come and take care of the child.
In Germany, babies are first cared for for eight weeks during which the mother can return and claim her child without any legal repercussions. If this does not happen, after eight weeks the child is put up for adoption.
According to OrphanCare president Adnan Mohd Tahir they were finalising the details with the relevant authorities.
Adnan said the free service was aimed at reducing the number of abandoned babies as well as providing refuge for single mothers.
Their objective is simple — to give every orphan and abandoned baby a loving family.
“Instead of leaving the babies at toilets or in bins, this is an alternative option. There are many cases where babies are dumped while some are left to die.
“We want to save the babies and get them adopted. We also want to help children from orphanages to be adopted,” he said.
“Orphanages should be the last resort for the children and be a transit point before they get adopted.
“It will be impossible for these children to get the same love from a family compared with an orphanage where there are only 20 caretakers,” he said.
He said Malaysians should also be open to the idea of fostering, which is a temporary situation before legal adoption.
OrphanCare secretary Noraini Hashim said they would welcome pregnant women who might be single mothers and have no one to turn to or help them bring up their babies.
“We will care for them until they deliver their babies. We prefer if they were not anonymous and give consent letter for adoption,” she said.
She said there were 40 parents on standby to adopt children with OrphanCare.
OrphanCare also aims to compile a database of Malaysian orphans and interested adoptive families in order to match the orphans with suitable families.
They also provide counselling and advise to parents in issues pertaining to adoption.
The period for adoption for Muslims involves two years of fostering due to the Registration Act and syariah laws.
For non-Muslims, the period is much shorter and followed by an application in court.
OrphanCare is also looking out for full-time caretakers.
They also seek donations in the form of baby necessities like clothes, bottles, diapers and milk.For details, call 03-6201 7015 or visit them at www.orphancare.org.my.
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Is Your Child an Insect Magnet?
August 19, 2009 (Wednesday)
When you know children will be exposed to insects, Riley Hospital pediatric dermatologist Patricia Treadwell, M.D., Indiana University School of Medicine professor of pediatrics, encourages dressing them in long pants, a lightweight long-sleeved shirt, socks and closed-toe shoes. A broad-brimmed hat helps keep insects away from the face and mosquito netting over the baby’s stroller is effective. When dressing like a 19th century explorer doesn’t work with your child’s lifestyle, she counsels avoiding dressing in bright or flowery patterned clothing, as they attract bugs. She also advises against scented soaps, perfumes, body or hair sprays since they also may attract insects. Source
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The 5th Parenthood Expo 2009
August 16, 2009 (Sunday)
It's that time of the year again and the 5th edition of the most anticipated Parenthood Expo has atmost begun. Many members have asked us what is in store for them like any freebies for this year? Well, last year, we've tried very hard to secure thousand of sponsor goodies exclusivity for our members. However, less than half of the members turn up to collect the goodies despite our email blast efforts. With lack of manpower and also without a proper transportation to bring the excess goodies back, we've decided to gave it all away to the visitors on the last day of the exposition.
This year, as the official web portal for the expo, we've managed to secure some freebies from our sponsors to be given away but it's no longer 'exclusive for members' like before. It will be on first-come-first-serve basis for every visitors that come to the information counter during the exposition between 21 - 23 August held in Mid Valley Exhibition Centre. Having said that, I found out that this year sponsor goodies are less generous than last year, which is understandable in view of the current economic climate. So, don't come with high expectation, okay?
Feel free to check out available workshops at http://www.harenet.com.my/expo/5PE09/workshops.html
To find out more on what's happening on the stage, surf http://www.harenet.com.my/expo/5PE09/programme.html
See you all there. ;-P
Celebrating New Life!
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Drug compound kills breast cancer stem cells
August 14, 2009 (Friday)
U.S. researchers have discovered a compound that can kill breast cancer stem cells, a kind of master cancer cell that resists conventional treatment and may explain why many cancers grow back, they reported on Thursday.
The discovery came using a new method of screening for drugs that specifically target and kill cancer stem cells, and it could be used to find drugs targeting other cancer stem cells as well, they said.
Many teams have been looking for ways to destroy these master cancer cells in hopes of making cancer easier to cure.
"There is a lot of evidence to suggest now that these cells are responsible for many of the recurrences that are observed after treatment has stopped," Piyush Gupta of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Broad Institute, whose study appears in the journal Cell, said in a telephone interview on Thursday.
The problem is that cancer stem cells are rare and difficult to study in the lab because they quickly change into other types of cells. And they are hard to kill.
"It wasn't clear it would be possible to find compounds that selectively kill cancer stem cells," Gupta said in a statement. "That's what we did."
To study the cells, Gupta's team first devised a method for stabilizing cancer stem cells in the lab and getting them to multiply. They then tested them against 16,000 natural and commercial chemical compounds to see which ones were able to kill the cancer stem cells specifically.
That turned up 32 contenders.
They narrowed down this list to a handful of chemicals, and tested these in the lab and in mice.
A chemical called salinomycin hit the target. It was 100 times more potent at killing breast cancer stem cells than Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's cancer drug Taxol, or paclitaxel.
Cancer stem cells treated with salinomycin were far less able to start breast cancers when injected into mice than cancer stem cells treated by paclitaxel. And the treatment also appeared to slow the growth of tumors in the mice.
Gupta said it is not clear if salinomycin will emerge as the best drug compound for killing breast cancer stem cells -- or that it will be safe to use in people with cancer.
But the study offers a new roadmap for drug companies to isolate and test compounds capable of killing the cells.
"We now have an approach that can be used very systematically to find such compounds," he said.
SELF-RENEWING
Researchers are still trying to understand the role cancer stem cells play in promoting different types of cancer, but many teams think they may explain why so many cancers come back even after treatment with powerful chemotherapy and radiation.
"The theory is these cells are self-renewing, which means they can make identical copies of themselves," Robert Weinberg of MIT, who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview.
"They have the power to generate a new tumor, and they are resistant to existing anti-cancer therapeutics. That suggests the need to develop therapies for cancer stem cells," he said.
Weinberg said it will take several years before therapies targeting cancer stem cells can be used in people. But the finding does hold promise for a new way of looking for cancer treatments.
"Ideally, if one hit the cancer stem cell, sooner or later the bulk of the cells of the tumor, which lack a self-renewal capability, would gradually poop out and the tumor would eventually die just by attrition," Weinberg said.
Cancer is the No. 2 killer of Americans, with about 560,000 deaths annually, topped only by heart disease, according to the American Cancer Society. Source
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Roger Federer Introduces His Twin On Facebook
August 12, 2009 (Wednesday)
Swiss tennis player Roger Federer, 28, and his wife Mirka welcomed twin daughters on July 23rd and he has posted the first public photo of Myla Rose and Charlene Rive on Facebook. The cute photo was accompanied by the following message from Roger:
“As promised, here is a family picture that my dad took. He thinks he’s becoming a professional photographer. It was very funny as both girls had the hiccups while we were trying to take a decent picture. The girls and mom are doing great. Thanks for all your warm wishes.”
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What Parents Should Know About Breech Births
August 06, 2009 (Thursday)
What’s one of the worst things a baby can do to a mother (and her partner) at the time of delivery? It decides to be born feet or bottom first, rather than head first. Wrong-way birth is called breech birth, and it can have major health consequences for the baby and for family, lasting a lifetime. So women and their partners should never, ever make a hasty or emotional decision on whether or not to have a cesarean section.
The Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada (SOGC) recently stated that doctors should no longer opt for cesarean section for breech birth. They claim there is no difference in the complication rate between a right-way and wrong-way delivery.
This decision is adding fuel to the fire for organizations that want women to have the personal right for vaginal delivery even for breech births. As one woman complained after cesarean, “I didn’t have the experience to catch her.” But with this option, women and their partners should remember the old adage, “Let the buyer beware” of the potential long-term consequences.
What are the possible hazards of vaginal birth when the fetus is out of position? For several years vaginal delivery was considered too dangerous in this case and cesarean section became the preferred choice of doctors. Medical schools have therefore not trained young doctors about the technique of breech delivery. In addition, many older doctors with this expertise have either died or retired.
If I were a woman I would not agree to fly with an inexperienced pilot. Nor would I want to have a wrong-way baby delivered by a doctor who lacked the expertise to perform a breech delivery.
To correct this shortage the SOGC says there will be a national training program to bring doctors up to scratch on breech deliveries. I wish the SOGC and patients luck for this is easier said than done. First, there are few doctors who can teach this technique. There are also few cases in university hospitals as only 3 to 4 percent of births are wrong-way births. It also takes many breech deliveries for doctors to become proficient. And how will they teach doctors already in practice?
But let’s assume this monumental task can be accomplished. There’s another major problem: lawyers. Litigation lawyers must be rubbing their hands in glee just waiting for those pregnancies that end in disaster. After all, it was in part because of lawsuits that vaginal breech deliveries were largely discontinued years ago.
What will lawyers and willing patients be looking for following a wrong-way delivery? They will be looking for a baby that is not perfect and has been injured in some way by vaginal birth. And asking why the doctor didn’t choose cesarean delivery.
The real tragedy is a baby who has been severely brain-damaged in childbirth. A baby whose feet and buttocks were delivered first without trouble, but the fetal head, larger than expected, became stuck in the bony birth canal causing a traumatic wrong-way delivery. All too often in the past this has caused brain injury, and families have sued for millions of dollars.
One highly respected obstetrician said to me, “I have the expertise, but in view of possible litigation, I no longer do a vaginal delivery for breech birth.” He knows that if a complication occurs, the organization sponsoring vaginal breech birth won’t be in court holding his hand. Or help him through the emotional strain of a court case that could last several years.
What’s the outcome? I have no crystal ball, but I believe this guideline issued by the SOGC will have limited success with huge economic costs. And I think hell will freeze over before this policy is adopted in the United States where litigation has become a way of life.
Women and their partners who want the right to “catch” their baby should also be willing to sign a legal document that they also accept the possible complications. I realize that cesarean section poses a risk of infection and other surgical problems. But pound for pound, I’d get down on my knees and beg for a cesarean section after what I have personally observed over the years. As always, these decisions must be between patient and doctor. Source
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February deadline for safer toys
August 05, 2009 (Wednesday)
Manufacturers and importers of toys for children aged 14 and below will have to get their products tested and verified safe for use before they can be sold, starting February next year.
Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said regulations gazetted at the end of July states that the toys will be issued with safety stamps once laboratory reports were verified by Sirim.
Toys sold without the stamps will be seized and the sellers, importers or manufacturers charged in court for failure to comply with the regulations.
“We are serious about imposing the safety standards and we will not budge on the date,” he said yesterday.
“Officers will check toys in all shops and at night markets.”
Individuals who fail to comply face fines of up to RM100,000 or three years’ jail or both for the first offence and up to RM250,000 and six years’ jail for subsequent offences.
Companies faced fines of up to RM250,000 for the first offence and RM500,000 for subsequent offences.
He said importers would be allowed to have their products tested by Sirim-recognised laboratories in countries of origin while local manufacturers could have the tests conducted by recognised laboratories.
They then have to submit the lab reports to Sirim for verification.
He added that importers and manufacturers have until February to exhaust their existing stocks.
Ismail Sabri said the safety standards were those recognised internationally.
He added that the tests would check for dangers the toys posed to children through their mechanical operations and chemical transfers when they were touched or placed in the mouth. Source
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Lovely Sarah Michelle Gellar!
August 03, 2009 (Monday)
Credit: Flynet
A black-clad Sarah Michelle Gellar lets her growing belly bask in the sunlight during an afternoon lunch date with a friend in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Source
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360 mothers breastfeed at same time nationwide
August 02, 2009 (Sunday)
A total of 360 mothers nationwide breastfed their babies simultaneously when the clock struck 10.30am yesterday in conjunction with the World Breastfeeding Week 2009.
Organised by the Mother-to-Mother Peer Support Group, the “One-Minute Simultaneous Breastfeeding” event saw 30 mothers breastfeeding their babies at the Universiti Sains Malaysia lecture hall, with the rest doing so at 30 participating hospitals in Malaysia – for one minute.
They sang along to the tune of Barney’s I love you, We could have danced all night from My Fair Lady, Are you sleeping, and If you’re happy and you know it.
Lecturer Ahmad Taiff Isahak, 41, who was there with his wife Sabrina Sunderraj, 35, said mothers needed support from the community to practise breastfeeding.
“Sometimes, when you go to your in-law’s place they have the idea that it is more nutritious to feed babies with infant formula.
“They probably have got this wrong impression from advertisements that says that the ingredients in the infant formula will help build the baby’s brain and so on but the truth is, mother’s milk is the best of all,” he said. Source
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Taiwan - Touch Your Heart
August 01, 2009 (Saturday)
Taipei 101 features an Indoor Observatory (89th floor) and an Outdoor Observatory (91st floor) - Tickets cost NT$400
Last week, I've been to Taipei with Mama for a short business trip. It's summer there now and the weather is blistering hot. If you've been travelling lately, you'll notice people just don't care about H1N1 pandemic. There are a lot of people in the airports, shopping complexes and some even planning for a mass street demo on the local front. The food there is so so only, probably I don't like its smell & taste. One of my Taiwanese customer has been boasting about their variety in food choice compare to Malaysia. Over the dinner, we've a cordial conversation about various issues and it just struck me when he's complaining a lot about my country on this and that from the notorious taxi driver to the corrupted local authorities while he's in Malaysia conducting his business, arrgh! I didn't switch into defensive mode then as I'd personally experienced myself exactly what they've told me their situation. I thought I must tell them that although we've been robbed of our nation wealth by the powers that be for more than 50 years, our Malaysian food is still the best!
In Taipei, you will noticed a lot of high-end Japanese car taxis like the latest Toyota Camry & Honda Accord plying the streets of Taiwan. I'm not too sure whether owning a car in Taiwan is affordable or our Malaysia's car price is expensive? The hotel that we're staying near Zhongshan North Road is clean and come with high-speed Internet acccess; it's affordable too that cost us RM160 per night. Like Hong Kong, Taiwan is famous for its night markets. My other Taiwanese customer purposely brought us to Ximending to try out the famous Ay-Chung flour-rice noodles that stewed in thick soup. You woudn't miss the shop so long as you look out for the long queue and a crowd of people slurping the noodles either standing or squating in front of the shop. I must say majority of Taiwanese are warm-hearted and hospitable to visitors. If given opportunity to travel to Taiwan again in the near future, a sure go go again but not in the summer time!
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