A round-up of other health news stories
VACCINATION EFFECTS: Vaccination against diphtheria, pertussis (whopping cough), polio virus, tetanus and Haemophilus influenzae type b in the first six months of life seems to have little effect on the development of eczema or recurrent wheeze at one year, Dutch researchers said yesterday.
Infant vaccinations have been suggested as the cause of atopic disease. Atopy refers to the tendency to develop allergies, such as "atopic" dermatitis, hay fever and asthma. Atopy occurs as a result of an excessive inflammatory response to everyday environmental substances, such as dust mites and grass pollen.
The goal of the present study, reported in the journal Pediatrics, was to determine the impact of atopic disease on infants who receive standard, incomplete or no vaccinations.
SURVIVAL RISK:Survivors of Hodgkin's lymphoma are at increased risk of having a fatal heart attack for up to 25 years after undergoing treatment, according to a new report.
The risk is related to heart damage caused by radiation therapy of the chest and specific chemotherapy agents, the team of British researchers report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Dr Anthony J Swerdlow, from the Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, and his associates extracted data from the British National Lymphoma Investigation and private databases of several hospitals. The earliest that patients were registered was 1967, with follow-up usually lasting until 2000. The study included 7,033 patients, among whom 2,441 died during an average follow-up of 11 years.
Heart attack was the cause of death in 166 patients. This represents a 2.5-times higher risk of a fatal heart attack compared with the general population.
NEW SCREENING: All babies in England are to be screened for an inherited metabolic disease called Medium Chain Acyl CoA Dehydrogenase Deficiency (MCADD), within two weeks of birth.
The check will be carried out as part of the standard "heel-prick" test for babies that screens for other diseases such as sickle cell disorders and congenital hypothyroidism.
MCADD is a rare inherited metabolic disease that reduces the ability to maintain a normal blood sugar during episodes of metabolic stress. MCADD affects between one in 10,000 and one in 20,000 babies born in Britain and screening should identify around 28 cases a year in England.
ALTERNATIVE BREASTS:A hospital seeking a cheap alternative to costly fake breasts has begun to knit. The woolly boobs are not used for cosmetic surgery, but to teach expectant mothers at Liverpool Women's Hospital how to breastfeed and express milk.
The hospital has so far produced 16 breasts in a variety of skin tones and of similar size, having been stuffed with old tights or soft toy filler. The hospital's infant feeding co-ordinator, Kate McFadden, has knitted several, and also asked her mother to pitch in.
"You can buy model breasts, but they cost around £35 each, which is quite prohibitive, as we need about 50," she said.
HEART TO HEART:World Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) Awareness week runs from February 12th to 16th. To mark this occasion, Heart Children Ireland will hold an information/coffee morning at its offices in the Carmichael Centre for Voluntary Groups on Thursday, 9.30am-12.30pm. Parents of heart children will be there to chat, etc.
Congenital heart disease is the most common of all birth defects, affecting one in every 100 born in Ireland today.
PREMATURE BIRTHS:Results of a new study show that pregnant African-American women deliver their babies before term not only more often than white women, but also earlier in their pregnancies and in multiple pregnancies.
Using data from more than 700,000 births documented in Missouri over eight years, researchers found that African-American women were three times more likely than white women to deliver prematurely - between weeks 20 and 34 of their pregnancy - and were nearly four times more likely to deliver "extremely prematurely" - between weeks 20 and 28 of their pregnancy.
The results of the study, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, also show black women are five times more likely to have a second or third child born prematurely.