PAPA

Swine Flu Risk Overblown, Say Doctors
April 30, 2009 (Thursday)

Pic source

Swine flu is thought to come from mistreated pigs that live in metal crates on factory farms. Their immune systems are therefore compromised. The present flu is a new type combining human flu virus, avian flu, and two types of swine virus.

The symptoms for humans are mainly respiratory, but there can be vomiting and diarrhea.

People are contagious one day before they know they have it and for about one week after getting it. Jay Gordon, M.D., FAAP, wrote in Swine Flu and Tamiflu: “Influenza viruses, especially new ones, trigger more news stories and can be made to seem much more frightening and dangerous than they really are. Government agencies and media make it sound like you’ve got a ‘fifty-fifty’ chance of contracting this new virus. They then make it sound like a lot of people who get this influenza end up in the hospital and may die.

"Statistically, nothing could be further from the truth: The chance that the new virus is really dangerous is small. The chance that you’ll get it is much smaller, and the possibility that you or a family member will be harmed by the virus is so slim that the news should be on page twenty, not page one.”

Dr. Jospeh Mercola also questions the risks in his article Critical Alert: The Swine Flu Pandemic—Fact or Fiction?

Currently there is no vaccine for it. The best advice is to go easy on alcohol and sugary foods, get plenty of rest, plenty of vitamin C and bioflavonoids, and wash your hands.

Tamiflu supplies are running low. Drug companies must hurry to find a vaccine before the epidemic is over. Source

Sarah Jessica Parker & Matthew Broderick to Have Twins
April 29, 2009 (Wednesday)

Photo by: Dara Kushner / INF

It'll be a girl – and a girl! – for Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick.

The Hollywood couple, who already have son James Wilkie, 6, announced Tuesday they're "happily anticipating the birth of their twin daughters later this summer with the generous help of a surrogate. The entire family is overjoyed."

Broderick, 47, and Parker, 44, stepped out together Monday night in New York at the premiere of his film Wonderful World, where the actor gushed about his fashion-icon wife (wearing a skintight dress) of nearly 12 years, saying, "Doesn't she look beautiful."

Twins? Lots of work, especially for a pair of busy working actors. Source

Hello dolly: The tiny tots made of clay that sell for £3,000
April 27, 2009 (Monday)

These little arrivals are so lifelike and appealing that they have captured hearts around the world.

The babies, from just over an inch to 4in high, are the work of artist Camille Allen, who sculpts them from polymer clay using dentist's tools and toothpicks.

The clay babies are cured to a hard porcelain-like finish in an oven and final details are then carefully added: fine mohair is glued in place, strand by strand, and paints are applied to make them come alive.

Once completed, the dolls usually go on to private collections as one-offs, but some babies go on to be made into a limited editions or production dolls.

The 28-year-old lives in Powell River, British Columbia, Canada. She learned the art of doll-making from her husband's grandmother six years ago, sculpting large lifesize dolls.

A year later, she formed some leftover clay into a miniature baby and hasn't looked back.

She has received press coverage in countries as diverse as Sweden, India and Spain.

Originals of her creations can sell for more than £3,000 on the internet. Source

Babe in Arms
April 26, 2009 (Sunday)

Credit: RIV/Fame Pictures

Expectant mom Nicole Richie totes one-year-old daughter Harlow Winter – and her toy giraffe! – on Thursday through Hollywood, where they reportedly made a pit stop at a Starbucks. Source

Plane birth mother deported, baby remains in NZ
April 26, 2009 (Sunday)

A Samoan woman who abandoned her baby after giving birth on an Auckland-bound plane has been deported but her child remains in New Zealand.

An Immigration Department spokeswoman said that Karolina Maika,29, left for Apia last Saturday without her daughter Grace, The Dominion Post reported on Saturday.

She would not give further details, citing reasons of privacy.

A Child, Youth and Family spokeswoman said Grace would remain in Wellington, where she was being cared for by extended family.

Maika, 29, pleaded guilty in court earlier this month to abandoning a child, while police withdrew a charge that she assaulted the new born.

Maika was charged six days after cleaners found the baby in a toilet rubbish bin on a Pacific Blue flight from Apia to Auckland on March 19.

Maika was on her way to New Zealand to work as a kiwifruit picker when her daughter was born. She also has a son living in Samoa.

The court was told that Maika was ashamed she had conceived a child out of wedlock and had concealed her pregnancy from her family and the small Samoan village where she lived with her son.

She had planned to give birth while working in New Zealand as a seasonal fruit picker and leave the baby with her brother but went into labour while on the Pacific Blue flight from Apia to Auckland.

She was convicted but no further punishment was imposed. Source

Speed Kills! (Part 2)
April 25, 2009 (Saturday)

Today, I went to Balai Polis Trafik KL located at Jalan Bandar to pay-up my compaun for traffic offence committed earlier. I wish to thank our Royal Malaysian Police for giving me a discount of RM100. Which mean, I need to pay only RM200 for exceeding the speed limit by 22kph.

Lesson learnt:
While driving, do keep a lookout for abandoned dustbin that left by the roadside...no I'm just joking, it should be 'Do not speed, think of your loved ones'.

Law planned to protect against ART mix-ups
April 25, 2009 (Saturday)

Pickup story from The Star. A law is being formulated to guard against the occurrence of mix-ups during infertility treatments and to prevent abuse.

Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said the law, to be known as the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Act, would regulate the increasing number of ART centres in the country.

“Any ART method practised must guard against any mixing of genes in order to preserve the inheritance of genes and heredity. Every newborn child must relate unequivocally to a biological and legal father and mother.

“An accurate and ‘fool-proof’ system of documentation must be in place to guard against the mixing of lineages and commercialism,” he said when launching the first National Reproductive Medicine Congress organised by the Hospital Kuala Lumpur’s (HKL) reproductive medicine unit.

He also announced the first frozen embryo pregnancy by HKL where a woman infertile for five years was now 36 weeks pregnant.

The Act, he said was almost equivalent to the Human Embryology and Fertility Act in Britain.

“This will ensure proper scrutiny, licensing and audit of ART centres as well as ensuring that only appropriately qualified and competent personnel are allowed to handle patients,” he added.

Dr Ismail said ART was playing an increasingly significant role in enriching the lives of those who would otherwise have to endure the loneliness of life without their own offspring.

He added that the service was already available in 20 private hospitals and several government-affiliated centres and hospitals.

He said the National Advisory Committee on ART would establish guidelines and standard operating procedures to be used by government and private hospitals and ensure a holistic approach towards ART.

Dr Ismail said the success of HKL’s ART centre, set up in 2006, had prompted the setting-up of regional ART centres in Terengganu, Kedah and Sabah, with more centres in Sarawak and Johor in the next phase,

He added they were concerned the total fertility rate among women had dropped from 6.7 children per woman in 1957 to 2.9 last year.

HKL reproductive medicine unit head Dr K.K. Iswaran said the number of women seeking treatment at their ART centre had increased from 50 women in 2007 to 91 last year, with the cost being partially subsidised by the Government.

Speed Kills!
April 24, 2009 (Friday)

'Plastic Man' & wife are expecting
April 21, 2009 (Tuesday)

Photo by: Donato Sardella / WireImage

This is going to be some international family! Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd and his wife, English actress Alice Evans, are expecting a baby, his rep confirms to PEOPLE.

This will be the first child for the couple, who currently live in Los Angeles.

The Fantastic Four actor, 35, met Evans, 37, while filming 2002's 102 Dalmations and they wed in the fall of 2007.

Gruffudd, who gained fame across the pond starring as Horatio Hornblower in Hornblower – the British made-for-TV films based on C.S. Forester's novels – has also appeared in 2004's King Arthur and 2006's Amazing Grace, and played former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Oliver Stone's W. last year. He next appears with Julia Roberts in Fireflies in the Garden, due out in June. Source

Suri Cruise celebrated her third birthday in LA
April 20, 2009 (Monday)

Photo by: James Devaney / WireImage

Suri Cruise celebrated her third birthday with a small gathering of friends and family at home in Los Angeles Thursday afternoon, PEOPLE has learned.

Parents Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes planned a princess-themed party for their daughter, which included a cake featuring Belle from Beauty and the Beast and a treasure hunt.

"They just wanted to keep it small and make it fun for Suri and her friends," says a source. People.com

Carbohydrates Linked With Infertility in Women
April 17, 2009 (Friday)

Infertility is estimated to affect up to 15 percent of couples. While the underlying issue here can be with either the woman or the man (or both), one relatively common cause of infertility relates to a problem with ovulation (the normal release of an egg from the ovary about every month).

Sometimes, problems with ovulation can relate to a condition known as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Individuals with this condition often have problems with sugar and insulin regulation in the body. A mainstay of medical treatment for PCOS are drugs designed primarily for diabetes. Treating women with PCOS with these drugs has been found to improve ovulatory function.

Other evidence has linked higher levels of HbA1c (a measure of blood sugar control over the last two to three months) and reduced fertility.

These lines of evidence suggest that high levels of blood sugar-disruptive carbohydrates in the diet might be bad news for female fertility.

The extent to which a food raises blood sugar can be measured and is expressed as its glycemic index (GI). However, the extent to which a food disrupts blood sugar and insulin will depend not just on its GI, but how much we eat of it. One way to get an idea of the overall effect of a food is to take its GI and multiply it by the amount of carbohydrate found in a standard portion of food. Divide this by 100 and we have a measurement known as the glycemic load (GL).

In a recent study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health assessed the relationship between intake of dietary carbohydrate in women’s diets and their risk of fertility related to problems with ovulation (ovulatory infertility) [1].

The results of this study found that compared to women eating diets of lower GL values, those eating diets with the highest GL were 92 percent more likely to suffer from ovulatory infertility. Total carbohydrate intake was also associated with risk of ovulatory infertility, with highest intakes associated with a 91 percent increased risk compared to the lowest intakes. GI was also associated with enhanced risk, but only in women who had not had children.

One explanation put forward by the authors for their results is that a high-carb diet might displace certain fats in the diet that might have positive benefits for fertility (including saturated and mono-unsaturated fats).

Another explanation is that carbohydrates can induce biochemical and physiological effects that may directly hamper fertility.

This study adds yet another potential reason to be wary about over-consuming carbs, particularly those that tend to disrupt blood sugar and insulin levels. Source

Neonatal equipment for Seremban hospital
April 16, 2009 (Thursday)

THE Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital (TJH) in Seremban received a welcome boost with the contribution of RM108,000 worth of neonatal equipment by the Seremban Rotary Club recently.

The new equipment, which included a transport ventilator, hand-held pulse oxymeter, blood gas analyser, perfusor compact syringe pump, neopuff resuscitor and a NIBP monitor was handed over to the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, who witnessed the presentation ceremony, said the club’s efforts in reaching out to the community had to be applauded.

“The club deserves our gratitude for contributing towards the cause of reducing infant and child mortality.

“Their generous donation is sure to save many lives and I hope other organisations would also emulate its dedication in serving our society,” he said.

Club president T. Xavier Saganathan said club members had always wanted to contribute towards the hospital’s paediatric ward but lacked the funds to do so.

“Rotary International’s priority this year is to reduce and possibly eliminate child mortality worldwide and we decided to do our bit by doing what we can in our own backyard,” he said.

The funds were raised through a matching grant facility, with club members contributing a portion of the total sum which was matched by funds from South Korean partner clubs and Rotary International.

Hospital director Dr Jaafar Che Mat thanked the club for the donation.

“The NICU caters mainly for infants born prematurely or those under a month old.

“About 60% of these babies need some kind of ventilator-aided assistance. The extra equipment complements our present facilities,” he said. Source from The Star

Early child education vital for a nation’s growth, says PM
April 15, 2009 (Wednesday)

Pickup story from The Star. Developing the nation and its people should begin with early childhood education, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

“Every child is precious and children are assets to our society. It is the most valuable resource of the nation. I believe that developing a nation and its people begins with early childhood education,” he said when opening the Malaysian International Early Childcare and Education Conference, on ‘Developing Human Capital Begins With Children’, here, last night.

Also present were Najib’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor who is the National Permata Pintar programme patron, wife of the Pakistani Prime Minister Begum Fauzia Yousaf Raza Gilani, the First Lady of Zambia Thandiwe Banda and wife of Standing Deputy Prime Minister of Laos Bounkongmany Lengsarad.

Najib said while it was the duty of parents to ensure that children had opportunities to develop, it was also the Government’s responsibility to help parents bring the potential to fruition.

“In developing a child’s potential, we are in reality developing the human capital of the child and of the nation. In carrying out this task, we are enabling the child to grow holistically so that the child is equipped with abilities, knowledge and skills to become a productive member of the nation,” he said.

Najib said the challenge now was to work together to ensure that all children had the best possible start to life through quality care and learning in the earliest years as the benefits in the investment would be seen in future years of their lives.

The Government, he said, had given a 10% tax reduction per annum to employers who set up childcare centres at the workplaces.

“Government agencies that provide childcare centres at the workplace will be given a RM80,000 grant for renovation and furnishing the childcare centre. I would like to urge the private sector to fulfil their corporate social responsibility by providing childcare facilities at the workplace.”

Related story:
Set up childcare centres at work place, Najib urges employers

Three's Company
April 14, 2009 (Tuesday)

Credit: Starzlife

Joel Madden, Nicole Richie and Harlow, 15 months, went for a walk in Bel Air on Easter. Source

Sarah Michelle Gellar is Expecting!
April 13, 2009 (Monday)

Photo by: Claire Greenway / Getty

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. are expecting their first child together, a source close to the couple confirms exclusively to PEOPLE. "They're very excited," says the source, adding that the actress, 31, is due in the fall.

Gellar, who has been married to Prinze, 33, for six years, will next shoot the HBO pilot The Wonderful Maladays, for which she serves as an executive producer. Prinze recently shot the comedy pilot No Heroics for ABC. Source

Hand-foot-mouth disease claims 50 lives this year in China
April 11, 2009 (Saturday)

China has reported 115,000 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease so far this year as of Tuesday, of which 50 were fatal and 773 were severe, the Ministry of Health said Friday.

The Ministry recorded 54,713 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease in March, of which 31 were fatal, said Deng Haihua, director of the ministry's Information Office at a regular press conference here.

Nearly 95 percent of the patients were children under age five, and baby patients under three accounted for nearly 78 percent of the total, he said.

He said the disease was mainly in rural areas and nearly 80 percent of the total was in 10 provinces and autonomous regions including Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Anhui, Guangdong, Hebei, Hubei, Hunan and Zhejiang.

"Compared with the figures last year, the outbreak seemed to come early. The number of cases was still increasing, and would reach its peak from May to July," he said.

Hand-foot-mouth disease is a common childhood illness that mainly affects children under the age of 10. Symptoms include fever, sores in the mouth and a rash with blisters. It can sometimes be fatal if complications occur.

A total of 1,144 people died from infectious diseases in the Chinese mainland in March, according to the ministry.

Of the 129,191 cases of Class C infectious diseases, 35 were fatal. Hand-foot-mouth disease, other infectious diarrhea and mumps were the top three killers, accounting for 86 percent of the reported cases, the ministry said.

It said there were 359,516 cases of Class B infectious diseases, with 1,109 deaths. Viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, syphilis, diarrhea and gonorrhea were the top five killers, accounting for almost 95 percent of the reported cases, according to the ministry.

No case of SARS, polio, bird-flu or diphtheria was reported.

Plague and cholera are categorized as Class A infectious diseases, the most serious category, under China's Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases.

Class B diseases include 25 ailments such as viral hepatitis and Class C includes 10 diseases, such as influenza. Souce 

We Welcome Our With Love
April 10, 2009 (Friday)

Siamese twins in China still in intensive care week after separation
April 09, 2009 (Thursday)

"Both twins suffer from septicemia and severe pneumonia, which could cause infections and breathing difficulties at any time," said Gao Xirong, head of the Division of Neonatology at the Hunan Children's Hospital.

She said the twins were still too weak to drink milk and were being fed intravenously.

The twins were connected from their breastbones to their abdomens and shared one liver when they were born on March 16 in Xinhua County.

This was the hospital's first separation surgery of Siamese twins. Such operations are more common in bigger cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai.

Gao said the twins were successfully separated on April 1 and both could breathe without the help of respirators as of April 6.

But, Gao said, if they developed infections and breathing problems, they might need respirators. Source 

Bacteria-fighting goat's milk
April 08, 2009 (Wednesday)

UNIVERSITY of California scientists say they have found a way to combat intestinal diseases in the developing world through a type of enhanced goat milk.
A decade ago, UC Davis researchers found a way to transfer a human gene into goats so they would produce a high concentration of an enzyme that fights diarrhoea-causing bacteria.

They are now working with three Brazilian universities to ship semen and embryos from their goat population to that country, where it is hoped a new herd will begin producing the enzyme-rich milk.

The experiment is the result of work by animal research scientists James Murray and Elizabeth Maga. Their herd produces milk with a high concentration of the enzyme lysozyme. Normal goats' milk contains a fraction of 1 per cent of the enzyme.

Their herd is in its fifth generation, and they said it's time to take the next step. They are seeking government permits to send semen and embryos to Brazil, where breeding with a native goat population should produce a new herd. They hope to begin testing the goats' milk on humans within five years.

So far, the enzyme-rich milk has been tested only on pigs. Pigs fed the enriched milk had no side effects and were better able to fight bacterial infections than pigs fed normal goats' milk.

After more laboratory and animal testing, the scientists plan to give the enhanced milk to adults, then to children in some areas of northeast Brazil where childhood diarrhoea is a deadly problem.

'I think the benefit is potentially huge,' Dr Murray said. 'This doesn't solve the problem. One still needs to have clean water and adequate food.'

Researchers at the University of Fortaleza in Brazil said more than 5 per cent of children die of all causes before age 5 in the region, nearly twice the Brazilian national average. In some cities, 15 per cent of children die, among the highest rates in the world.

Infant diarrhoea remains a leading cause of death in there because the population does not have reliable access to safe water, nutritious food or medical care. Source

Pregnant Moms: Reduce Complications With Exercise
April 06, 2009 (Monday)

Would you believe that a little thing like regular exercise could minimize you and your baby’s risk of dangerous interventions? In today’s hospital world of birthing, it can seem like a pregnant mom has little control over the outcome of her pregnancy and the condition her baby enters the world. You are about to find you may have more input than you think.

Today’s maternity wards often seem more like a repair shop, full of devices and procedures to “help” what women have been designed to naturally do. You may already know some of the tools and techniques doctors often use to help a baby into the world:

•    Forceps—an instrument that puts a great deal of traction on the baby’s neck and spine and often results in some bruising in order to pull the baby out.

•    Vacuum Extractor—a cap-like cup that attaches to the baby’s head and suctions part of the scalp into the cup. The doctor then pulls and tugs at the baby’s head.

•    Episiotomy—according to The Revised Edition of Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way, the episiotomy, a two to four inch cut between the vagina and anus, is the most common surgical procedure done in the U.S. today.

•    C-section is most commonly used during times when the baby is breech, pre-eclampsia is present, fetal distress is occurring, non productive uterine contractions exist, failure to progress (dialate) occurs, baby’s head is too big, failure to progress during the pushing stage, or there are multiple babies.

All of these techniques pose a possible threat to you and your baby. If you could guarantee lowering your chances of these obstetric interventions would you? Both Dr. James Clapp and Certified Nurse Midwife Helen Varney, two prominent figures on pregnancy and exercise, report exercise significantly reduces your need for medical interventions in pregnancy and labor.

Dr. Clapp’s studies show mothers who exercised received an incredible 50 percent decrease in interventions due to fetal abnormalities. Fetal abnormalities often lead to forceps, vacuum, episiotomy, or C-section, and include low heart rate, presence of meconium in your baby’s water, and cord entanglement. Helen Varney teaches her Yale nursing Students that these abnormalities are all reduced for the babies of women who exercise. Dr. Clapp adds an amazing statistic; “You decrease the need for operative interventions like forceps by 75 percent just by exercising.” He also reports that your regular exercise habit decreases the probability that your doctor will perform an episiotomy by 55 percent. Using exercise, you can save you and your baby from a highly stressful entrance into this world. Read more

Child Abuse by Domestic Helper
April 03, 2009 (Friday)

I've lost my words upon viewing the above clip posted recently on the You Tube. Installation of video surveillance of domestic helpers by their employers are common practice nowadays. In Malaysia, we've already started to notice these devices being installed at various public places like retailing outlets, banks, hotels and even in some part of our street. Several years ago, one joker in HK U is questioning the lawfulness of such surveillance by saying that domestic helper's privacy are pretty important here. I've such devices installed in my home and obviously not in the washrooms or any of the bedrooms. It's being installed to monitor the living area, kitchen, yard & front door area. If my maid intend to abuse my two cute little Coo Coos in any one of the bedrooms or washrooms, I'm dead! 

Conjoined twin successfully separated in Central China
April 02, 2009 (Thursday)

Xinhua/Long Hongtao

The conjoined twins are seen before the separation surgery at Hunan Children's Hospital in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, April 1, 2009. A pair of conjoined twin girls were successfully separated on Wednesday after a six-and-half hour operation and in a stable condition. The twins were born joined at the abdomen and shared same umbilical cord in Xinhua County of Loudi City in Hunan Province on March 16, 2009. Source

The Ox Infant and Child
April 01, 2009 (Wednesday)

                                                  Pic source

So, what's in store for your baby born under the sign of the Ox this year? I came across this website that quoted as follows:

"Children born under the sign of the Ox are quiet and amenable. They develop into solid, independent, resourceful children, and are happiest when left to entertain themselves. If interrupted, provoked or forced to do something against their will, they are likely to pout or show themselves, despite their audience.

Generally, Ox-born children are shy, and for many, childhood is quite lonely partly due to them liking to be alone and partly because their siblings are usually much older or younger than they.

At school, subjects with a constructive appeal will be of the most interest to them. They like art and music as well. They are creative children who enjoy sports too. They are respectful, polite, hard-working, children…something their parents take very seriously."

Hmm...quiet and amenable. Let's see!