PAPA

Tim Allen welcomes 2nd child
March 30, 2009 (Monday)

PHOTO: REUTERS

COMIC actor Tim Allen is a father for the second time.
Publicist Marleah Leslie says Allen's wife, Jane, gave birth to a 5-pound, 13-ounce (2.6kg) girl, Elizabeth, on Saturday in Los Angeles.

Ms Leslie says the couple is thrilled with the new arrival, and both mother and child are healthy.

Elizabeth is Allen's second child. He has a 19-year-old daughter, Katherine, from his first marriage. This is his wife's first child.

The 55-year-old Allen has starred in many movies, including 'The Santa Clause' and 'Toy Story,' and the TV series 'Home Improvement'. Source

Woman gives birth on airliner, abandons baby in trash
March 27, 2009 (Friday)

A newly born baby was saved by a cleaning lady from a blue trash bag in an airplane bathroom, media reports said Thursday.

Were it not for a cleaning lady who chanced upon the newborn waving a feeble arm from a blue trash bag, Grace would have met the fate her mother apparently intended for her, authorities said.

On Wednesday, police in New Zealand charged the 29-year-old woman with abandonment and assault -- for giving birth to the child on an international flight and then leaving her, without alerting anyone, in a toilet bin amid bloodied paper towels.

The woman, whose name was not released, faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

The woman is a kiwi fruit picker who was returning from Samoa when she walked off a Pacific Blue flight in Auckland Thursday.

About 20 minutes later, a cleaning lady discovered the baby in a restroom inside the Boeing 737. Her fellow custodians wrapped the baby in a blanket and handed her to authorities.

About the same time, police spotted the mother in the airport, "looking pale and bloodstained" after she said she had mislaid her passport, said media reports. Source

Baby boy starves to death
March 26, 2009 (Thursday)

Pickup story from The Star. A baby boy, less then a month old, starved to death Thursday after his parents allegedly forgot to feed him because they were too drunk.

The baby died in the intensive care unit of Miri Hospital Thursday morning and a police report was lodged.

Police now want to question the parents, in their early 30s, from a longhouse in southern Sarawak who came to Miri to work and were now renting a house at a low-cost housing scheme along the Sarawak-Brunei highway some 12kms north of the city centre.

Concerned relatives had found the baby unconscious in the house and had rushed him to the hospital at about 3am on Wednesday.

Miri Deputy Police Chief Supt Ismail Paduka Idris confirmed Thursday that the baby had died in the morning.

"We (police) are investigating claims that the parents had indulged in a prolonged drinking spree and had neglected the baby in the process.

"Initial probe showed that the baby might have been so severely neglected that he suffered fatal consequences. We want to find out whether this was due to carelessness or criminal neglect.

"We will be taking statements from the parents and from neighbours and relatives to find out what actually happened," he said, adding that police have yet to detain the parents.

Asked if there were any signs of physical abuse on the baby, he said police are still investigating all aspects.

The couple have another child, a three-year daughter.

Single embryo best for fertility treatment: study
March 25, 2009 (Wednesday)

Implanting a single embryo is the cheapest and most effective way for women to have a healthy baby through fertility treatment, Finnish researchers said on Wednesday.

The findings from the long-running study counter fears that relying on just one embryo could drive up treatment costs and reduce a woman's chances of giving birth to a full-term baby, the researchers said in the journal Human Reproduction.

"At a time when there is an intense debate in many countries about how to reduce multiple pregnancy rates and provide affordable fertility treatment, policy makers should be made aware of our results," said Hannu Martikainen of the University of Oulu in Finland, who led the study.

"These data should also encourage clinics to evaluate their embryo transfer policy and adopt single embryo transfer as their everyday practice for women younger than 40."

Multiple pregnancies are the biggest risk for women during fertility treatment and significantly increase the likelihood of miscarriage, premature birth and long-term health problems for the child. They can also endanger a mother's health.

More than 3.5 million babies have been born worldwide using assisted reproductive technology since July 25, 1978, when British doctors delivered the world's first test-tube baby, Louise Brown.

The technique involves surgically removing eggs from a woman's ovaries and combining them with sperm in the lab. Doctors then pick the best embryos -- typically one or two -- and implant them in the uterus.

The debate over multiple embryos was reignited this year after a California woman with six children received fertility treatment and gave birth to eight newborns.

The Finnish team compared the outcomes for 1,510 women seeking fertility treatment at a single clinic between 1995 and 1999 when double embryo transfer was more common and from 2000 to 2004 when single embryo transfers were more widespread.

They found that more babies were born at term for women who received a single embryo, with birth rates per woman of nearly 42 percent compared to about 37 percent for those who received multiple embryos.

Single embryo transfers are also cheaper, especially when it comes to costs related to treating complications caused by multiple births, the researchers said.

"This is the biggest evidence yet that single embryo transfer works and it works well," Zdravka Veleva, who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview. Source

Jessica Alba ready for pregnancy
March 23, 2009 (Monday)

CFP

Jessica Alba is working "overtime" to get pregnant again.

The actress - who gave birth to daughter Honor Marie last June - and husband Cash Warren are keen to add to their family and want to conceive by the end of this year.

A source said: "Jessica and Cash are working overtime to get pregnant. She and Cash are boasting that they love being parents and are determined to expand their family as soon as possible."

Jessica, 27, recently revealed how giving birth had given her life a new meaning. She said: "So far, motherhood is the best thing ever. It is exhausting but way more fulfilling than anything I have done. Everything I do now is so much more meaningful because of her."

The stunning star also claimed the labour wasn't as painful as she expected. She said: "Contractions aren't that bad. If you've ever had bad cramps? That's what they're like. But that moment when they put the baby on your chest - that's deep. It's a deep experience." Source

Woman's cryopreserved egg results in healthy baby
March 23, 2009 (Monday)

A way of preserving the chances of having a child for women and girls facing cancer treatment that will leave them infertile has been demonstrated to work, for the first time.

Specialists at McGill University in Montreal have developed a protocol in which they retrieve immature eggs (i.e., "oocytes") from a woman's ovaries, induce the oocytes to mature in a lab dish, then deep-freeze them; the oocytes can then be thawed for fertilization at a future point.

This strategy avoids the rise in estrogen that is necessary for normal ovulation but which can be detrimental for cancer patients, and doesn't require cancer treatment to be delayed.

Furthermore, because eggs and not embryos are being preserved, there's no need for donor sperm or a male partner at that point, which is an attractive option for young cancer patients, Dr. Seang Lin Tan and associates explain in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility.

They report the case of a 27-year-old woman who had a history of problems becoming pregnant. Although she did not have cancer, she agreed to try the new approach.

Her doctors retrieved 18 immature oocytes from the woman after hormone treatment, and these were cultured for 48 hours in a maturation medium. Seventeen of the oocytes were then cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen.

Subsequently, four eggs survived when they were thawed 2 months later. Three were fertilized by injection of a single sperm, and transferred to the patient's womb 2 days later.

At 39 weeks gestation, the patient delivered a healthy 7.5-pound baby girl. "Examination of the newborn by a pediatrician found no evidence of congenital malformations, and the child has continued to develop normally," Dr. Tan's team reports. Source

Are They Really Pregnant?
March 19, 2009 (Thursday)

What do Katie Holmes, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston all have in common — besides being A-list celebs and having millions in the bank? They're all hoping for a baby!

For Katie and Angie, pregnancy would be a welcome addition to their families. But for Jen, having a baby would be a first — and a dream come true. And despite the fact that the 40-year-old Friends star is currently single, it's not stopping the actress from contemplating what she considers to be her ultimate achievement — becoming a mom!

"She can't wait to hold a baby in her arms," a pal of the star tells OK!, but don't expect on-off boyfriend John Mayer to play daddy. "John's number one priority is his music...which is all-consuming for him," the source says.

Eight months after the birth of their twins, Jen's ex, Brad Pitt and Angelina are ready to expand their family — and plans for a seventh child are already underway. The couple intends to adopt another toddler and get pregnant simultaneously.

Angie herself confirmed her wish to have another baby — either through adoption or biologically — recently saying, "We are going to have more kids — one way or another." Source

Prenatal Vitamin Poisoning
March 17, 2009 (Tuesday)

Yes, your “100 percent natural” prenatal vitamins are processed synthetics that actually steal nutrition from your baby. “But how bad could my prenatals be?” You eat healthily already, so adding prenatal vitamins is just the icing on the cake, right? As you’re about to find out, your prenatal vitamins may be worse than icing on a cake.

Ninety-five percent of vitamins on the market today are isolated synthetic vitamins [1] that have been stripped of their enzymes, phytonutrients [phytochemicals], secondary compounds, macronutrients, and cofactors. Mother nature’s true food vitamins can only work optimally if all secondary nutrients and other unknown compounds are present. If not, your body tries to balance the impact by removing nutrients from elsewhere. Perhaps it will steal from your baby’s placenta.

How bad can your prenatal be? Studies show the body treats these isolated and synthetic nutrients like foreign substances [3]. Foreign substances are toxic to your body and to your baby! Synthetic vitamins actually act more like drugs. You know those pharmaceutical drug commercials that spend half the commercial spitting out the required list of side effects that “may” affect you by taking their “isolated synthetic” drug? That’s how “isolated synthetic” vitamins work!

Imagine for a moment that your computer is like your pregnant body. Taking isolated synthetic prenatal vitamins is like uploading your computer with an incomplete version of Microsoft Windows and assuming it will know how to make sense of it. It doesn’t. Your body systems are looking for programs (foods and supplements) in forms that are highly recognizable, like nature’s whole foods. The more often you upload incomplete and altered programs (synthetic vitamins), the more often you risk susceptibility to complications, or viruses, just like your computer! Read more

Call for more nurses at baby ICUs
March 16, 2009 (Monday)

Pickup story from The Star. More nurses are needed at neonatal intensive care units (NICU) at government hospitals to reduce morbidity and infection rates.

Perinatal Society of Malaysia president Dr Irene Cheah said the average ratio of nurses to patients at most NICUs was 1:4; while the ideal figure should be 1:1.

“About 10,000 babies a year require neonatal care,” she said at the opening of the society’s 16th annual congress here on Friday.

Noting that the nurse to patient ratio at many adult ICUs was already at the 1:1 standard, Dr Cheah hoped that the Health Mi­­nistry as well as principal matrons would look into implementing the 1:1 nursing ratio Nicus.

“Good neonatal nursing care is such an important factor in reducing morbidity and infection rates in NICUs,” she said, adding that the nurses needed to improve their skills as well.

Dr Cheah said more neonatal nursing training centres were needed as well, as some potential trainees were discouraged when such centres were too far away from home.

She said that while the neonatal mortality rate was 3.7 per 1,000 live births in 2006; there was however great variance among the various states with Selangor recording a low of 2.2, while among the highest were Sabah with 5.2 and Terengganu with 5.7.

Dr Cheah said that to improve the situation the Government should look at re-adopting successful maternal and child health service programmes carried out in the 1970s.

“These strategies can be selectively applied to the urban poor and deprived rural areas to bring down stillbirth rates in these areas,” she added.

Test finds carcinogens in U.S. baby bath products
March 15, 2009 (Sunday)

A lot of children's bath products in U.S. contain chemicals that may be linked to cancer and skin allergies, said a report released by Analytical Sciences Thursday.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics said that 23 of 28 products tested contained formaldehyde, which is considered a probable carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to Analytical Sciences, who performed the tests.

Thirty-two of 48 products containing 1,4-dioxane, a probable human carcinogen considered by the EPA, was a byproduct of a chemical processing techniques used to make petroleum-based ingredients gentler to the skin, and nearly two-thirds of products tested contained both chemicals released by the campaign.

However, spokeswoman for Johnson & Johnson, Iris Grossman, said the company's products are safe, meeting or exceeding all regulations.

Also, spokesman for the Personal Care Products Council, said the study's results are old news.John Bailey,the council's chief scientist said "Cosmetic and personal care product companies take their commitment to safety and their responsibilities under the law very seriously and work hard to earn and keep the trust of consumers and their families." "Parents should be given complete and accurate information about their products based on sound science rather than on incomplete and alarmist reports."

Other scientists say the report raises important safety concerns. Source

‘Watch out for BPA in baby bottles’
March 12, 2009 (Thursday)

Consumers need to look out for baby bottles and other food and beverage containers containing bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA, which has been linked to cancer and certain disorders.

BPA is usually used in the manufacture of some polycarbonate plastics, such as clear, hard water and baby bottles.

However, more than 130 studies conducted over the past decade have linked BPA to breast cancer, obesity and other disorders, the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) said in a statement Thursday.

Six of the largest US manufacturers of baby bottles have agreed to stop selling bottles made with BPA, but it was reported that one company will continue to market its products overseas.

“This is a cause for concern as the Asian market, including Malaysia, may become a dumping ground for such unwanted products from the West,” said CAP president S.M. Mohamed Idris.

He advised consumers to opt for glass, stainless steel, or BPA-free plastic bottles which are marked with recycling codes No 1, No 2, No 5 or No 7 without the PC (polycarbonate) marking.

CAP has also written to the Health Ministry to call for an immediate halt on the sale of such products containing BPA. Source

Saving the day the monster way!
March 12, 2009 (Thursday)

Movie plot...when a meteorite from outer space hits a young California girl named Susan Murphy and turns her into a giant monster, she is taken to a secret government compound where she meets a ragtag group of monsters also rounded up over the years. As a last resort, under the guidance of General W.R. Monger, on a desperate order from The President, the motley crew of Monsters is called into action to combat the aliens and save the world from imminent destruction!

For Malaysia cinema-goers, guess we need to wait till around end of May to enjoy this great movie, phew! Meanwhile, here is the trailer... 

Migraines during pregnancy linked to stroke and vascular diseases: US population based case-control study
March 11, 2009 (Wednesday)

Women who suffer migraines during pregnancy are at a heightened risk of getting various stroke and vascular diseases, said a U.S. population based case-control study on Wednesday.

The findings, which were published in this week's issue of BMJ, an international general medical journal, found that pregnant women with migraines are 15 times more likely than other women to suffer a stroke, twice as likely to have heart disease and three times more likely to have blood clots and other vascular problems during pregnancy.

"Good prenatal care is essential. Women with persistent and severe migraine during pregnancy should be aware of their risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, history of blood clots, heart disease and prior stroke," the study's lead investigator, Dr. Cheryl Bushnell, a neurologist at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, said.

"There also seems to be a relationship between migraines and preeclampsia, one of the most common and dangerous complications of pregnancy," added Bushnell,

Bushnell and her colleagues analyzed data from 33,956 pregnant women diagnosed with migraine.

According to the study, migraine headache occurs in up to 26 percent of women of childbearing age. The women 35 years and older are more likely to have migraines during pregnancy. Women age 40 and older are 2.4 times more likely to have migraines than women younger than 20, and white women are more likely to have them than women of any other race or ethnicity.

"Migraines, particularly those associated with an aura or visual changes around the time of the headache, have been previously linked to stroke and heart disease in women," Bushnell said. "This study further validates the association between the two."

"Regardless of the cause," Bushnell added, "active migraine during pregnancy should be viewed as a potential marker of vascular disease." Source

The First of Octuplets Coming Home Soon
March 11, 2009 (Wednesday)

Photo by: Nancy Pastor / Polaris

Octuplets mother Nadya Suleman shared details of the impending homecoming of her babies with TV viewers – and admitted that her decision to have eight additional children, when she already had six, didn’t make sense.

"It wasn’t a realistic thing to do," she told Dr. Phil on a segment of his show Tuesday. "I wasn’t thinking rationally at the time."

On the show, Suleman, 33, revealed that the first two of her octuplets would be coming home in a few days, once her recently-purchased home in La Habra, Calif., is ready for her massive brood. She explained that she’s going to have the den of her four-bedroom house transformed into a nursery. For the first few months, only four cribs will be used, each one holding two infants in an effort to promote bonding between the siblings. Read more

Doctor lodges report over child abuse
March 06, 2009 (Friday)

The doctor from Hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah lodged the report on Wednesday.

The six-month-old baby was feverish and parts of her body were swollen when she was first admitted at the hospital on Feb 14.

Her 36-year-old mother, a housewife, claimed the baby had accidentally fallen off the bed.

Doctors initially treated the baby using normal medical procedures as they trusted the mother’s report that she had had a fall.

State Deputy CID chief Super- intendent K. Manoharan said a paediatrician found that there was an element of abuse during a follow-up examination and decided to lodge the police report.

Supt Manoharan said the woman could have possibly twisted and broken the baby’s legs.

The baby remains warded at the hospital.

Following the report, police attempted to arrest the mother at her home in Gong Badak yesterday but found that she had gone missing.

The baby’s grandparents declined to comment when met at the hospital yesterday.

Supermodel Niki Taylor welcomes a baby girl
March 05, 2009 (Thursday)

Photo by: Peter Kramer / AP

Supermodel Niki Taylor and her husband, NASCAR driver Burney Lamar, welcomed their new daughter into the world – the day before Niki's birthday.

What a present! Born on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. in Nashville (near the couple's home in Brentwood, Tenn.), Ciel Taylor Lamar weighed in at 7 lbs., 8 oz.  Source

"Designer Babies"
March 05, 2009 (Thursday)

A clinic with offices in New York and Los Angeles advertised that it has been able to help couples to choose the sex, eye or hair color of their child. 

Genetic counseling usually helps couples avoid passing a genetic disorder or disease onto a child, but now designer babies are not science fiction any more, according to Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg of the Fertility Institute as quoted by reports Wednesday.

"Can they say to me, 'We would prefer to have blue eyes,' and can we offer them an increased chance of blue eyes? Absolutely." said Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg of the Fertility Institute.

Such idea has given rise to disagreement.

“I would try to talk (couples) out of it. I don’t know what in the world they’re thinking that we should be spending our time picking out eye color and hair color," said Dr. Elizabeth Kennard, who practices in Central Ohio and helps couples who have trouble conceiving. Source

TV and Early Pregnancy Risk
March 04, 2009 (Wednesday)

                                                        Pic source

“Do you know where your children are this evening?” It’s a question we often hear these days about parents who fail to keep an eye on their children’s whereabouts. But suppose you’re a diligent parent, and the children are in your own home. How safe are they when watching television?

Psychologists have debated the question of how much in-your-face sexuality on TV adversely affects teenagers for years. Now, Anita Chandra, a behavioral scientist at the Rand Corporation, answers this question. She reports in the Journal of Pediatrics that the amount of time teenagers spend turning the channel to risqué TV increases the risk of pregnancy before age 20.

To reach this conclusion, Chandra and her colleagues carried out a three-year survey of more than 2,000 adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age. During that time, 58 girls became pregnant, and 33 boys admitted they were responsible for pregnancy.

Researchers also analyzed the sexual content of 23 TV shows and calculated how often teenagers were exposed to characters kissing, touching, and having sex. They found that adolescent girls who spent the most hours watching sexual shows were twice as likely to get pregnant.         

Earlier studies had shown that teenagers who watch racy TV shows were more likely to become sexually active at an earlier age. But this is the first study to show that sexual content is a powerful factor in unwanted teenage pregnancies.

According to Chandra, sexual content on U.S. television has doubled in recent years, coinciding with rising teenage pregnancy rates. This may explain why the U.S. teenage pregnancy rate is double that of other industrialized nations. Read more

Zuma heading to park with Mama
March 03, 2009 (Tuesday)

Researchers find safer way to make stem cells
March 03, 2009 (Tuesday)

Researchers said on Sunday they had found a safer way to transform ordinary skin cells into powerful stem cells in a move that could eventually remove the need to use human embryos.

It is the first time that scientists have turned skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells -- which look and act like embryonic stem cells -- without having to use viruses in the process.

The new method also allows for genes that are inserted to trigger cell reprogramming to be removed afterwards.

Stem cells are the body's master cells, producing all the body's tissues and organs.

Embryonic stem cells are the most powerful kind, as they have the potential to give rise to any tissue type. However, many people object to their use, making iPS cells an attractive alternative, provided they can be made safely.

Researchers have known for some time that ordinary skin cells can be transformed into iPS cells using a handful of genes.

But to get these genes into the cells they have had to use viruses, which integrate their own genetic material into the cells they infect. This can cause cancer.

The alternative approach, described in the online edition of the journal Nature by two teams of researchers from Britain and Canada, appears to avoid the risk of such abnormalities.

"PIGGYBAC" RIDE

The researchers harnessed a little piece of DNA called a transposon -- sometimes known as a "jumping gene" because of its ability to move around inside the genetic code -- to carry four genes.

The version used is dubbed "piggyBac" and has been used by researchers to genetically modify a range of organisms.

"It is a step toward the practical use of reprogrammed cells in medicine, perhaps even eliminating the need for human embryos as a source of stem cells," said Keisuke Kaji from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Center for Regenerative Medicine in Edinburgh.

He and Andras Nagy from the University of Toronto used the technique in both mouse and human skin cells and found the reprogrammed cells behaved just like embryonic stem cells.

Ian Wilmut, head of the MRC center and one of the scientists who cloned the first mammal, Dolly the sheep, said it would take time before the new iPS cells could be given to patients, but the new technique was an important step forward.

"Combining this work with that of other scientists working on stem cell differentiation, there is hope that the promise of regenerative medicine could soon be met," he said.

Doctors hope one day to use stem cells to treat diseases such as Parkinson's, diabetes, cancer and spinal cord injuries. By Ben Hirschler of Reuters