Revealed!
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy have no ill-effects on a growing foetus
Scientists have revealed that children
who are exposed to chemotherapy or radiotherapy while in the womb suffer no
negative impacts on mental or cardiac development. In the first study, 38
children prenatally exposed to chemotherapy were recruited from the
International Network for Cancer, Infertility and Pregnancy (INCIP) registry
and assessed for mental development and cardiac health and their outcomes were
compared to 38 control children who were not exposed to chemotherapy.
At
a median age of almost two years of age, mental development as measured by the
‘Mental Development Index’ was in the normal range for both groups of children,
and were not significantly different. Cardiac dimensions and functions were
within normal ranges for both groups. In the second study, which explored
the impact of radiotherapy on the children of women with cancer, it was
revealed that neuropsychological, behavioral and general health outcomes for
those exposed to radiotherapy were within normal ranges. One child revealed a severe
cognitive delay, however other pregnancy-related complications are confounding
factors.
Source:
www.thehealthsite.com
29.09.2014
A boon for
developing nations — baby’s fingerprints could hold the clue to the right kind
of vaccines
According to a recent study led by an
Indian-origin researcher, fingerprints of infants and toddlers might hold the
clue to accurately determining immunisations and improve vaccination coverage,
especially in developing countries. Anil Jain, professor at the Michigan State
University in the US said, ‘In order to increase immunization coverage,
the vaccines must be accurately recorded and tracked.’
‘The traditional tracking method is for
parents to keep a paper document. But in developing countries, keeping track of
a baby’s vaccine schedule on paper is largely ineffective,‘ Jain
added. Each year 2.5 million children die world-wide because they do not
receive life-saving vaccinations at the appropriate time. To improve
immunisation coverage, Jain is developing a fingerprint-based recognition
method to track vaccination schedules for infants and toddlers.
Jain
and his team travelled to rural health facilities in Benin, West Africa, to
test the new fingerprint recognition system. They used an optical
fingerprint reader to scan the thumbs and index fingers of babies and
toddlers. From this scanned data, a schedule would be created and become a
part of the vaccine registry system. Once the electronic registry is in
place, health care workers could simply re-scan the child’s fingers to view the
vaccination schedule. They would know who has been vaccinated, for what
diseases and when additional booster shots are needed. ’These new
electronic registry systems will help overcome the lack and loss of
information, which is the primary problem in the vaccine delivery system in
third world nations,’ Jain said. The findings will be presented at the
International Joint Conference on Biometrics in the US on Oct 2.
Source:
www.thehealthsite.com
29.09.2014
The naked truth is always better
than the best-dressed lie
Ann Landers
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