As Dewitt Jones said at the end of this beautiful, inspirational video
"Incredible things happen when we are open to possibilities. The world is a wonderful place"
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Monday 4 January 2010
Celebrate what's right with the world - Dewitt Jones on Yahoo! Video
The patron saint of what's right with birth, Dr Sarah Buckley shared this video. Sarah wrote the lovely Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering book. Sarah's book explains the possibilities with birth in language that is clear and accessible. The information, like that contained in this video, is also applicable by any woman who wants to birth her baby in an optimal way.
As Dewitt Jones said at the end of this beautiful, inspirational video
As Dewitt Jones said at the end of this beautiful, inspirational video
Sunday 3 January 2010
Solution to killer superbug found in Norway
The World Health Organization says antibiotic resistance is one of the leading public health threats on the planet. A six-month investigation by The Associated Press found overuse and misuse of medicines has led to mutations in once curable diseases like tuberculosis and malaria, making them harder and in some cases impossible to treat.
Antibiotic use in most western countries is widespread. Antibiotics are given as first line of treatment for just about anything you like to mention. In maternity care, antibiotics are poured into pregnant women who test positive for Group B Streptococcus on vaginal swabs and those pregnant and labouring women whose 'waters' (membranes) have been 'broken' for longer than 18 hours. Antibiotics are used as a cure all, even when there is nothing that can be cured by them, even though antibiotic resistence is rising and even though antibiotic use is associated with long term problems for the infant.
However, Norway has taken a radical approach to antibiotic use. Norweigans have stopped pushing antibiotics. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a virulent killer in most hospitals in the west, has been controlled in Norway because Norweigans take less antibiotics.
"Penicillin is not a cough medicine," says the tissue packet on the desk of Norway's MRSA control director, Dr. Petter Elstrom.
"Norwegians are sanguine about their coughs and colds, toughing it out through low-grade infections. "We don't throw antibiotics at every person with a fever. We tell them to hang on, wait and see, and we give them a Tylenol to feel better," says Dr John Birger Haug, the infectious disease specialist. And because Norwegian doctors prescribe fewer antibiotics than any other country, people do not have a chance to develop resistance to them.
According to a press release on December 31 st 2009 by Associated Press Writers, MARTHA MENDOZA and MARGIE MASON, Aker University Hospital's pharmacy does not stock the newest, most expensive antibiotics, because as Dr Haug says "because if we have them here, doctors will use them."
I've noticed that doctors, at least in places I've worked, are frightened not to prescribe antibiotics for fear of being sued if 'something goes wrong'. Fear of litigation is a huge issue in our country and common sense goes out the window when this fear is activated. The mantra in mainstream medicine, at least, for those involved with the care of birthing women is the more you do, the safer you are, however, the safety factor is about being protected from litigation NOT what is best for the woman and her baby.
Group B streptococcus (GBS) management is a perfect example of how fear of litigation overtakes common sense. In Norway, women who test postitive for GBS in pregnancy are offered a Chlorhexidine solution vaginal douche in early labour and every six hours to minimise the potential risk of GBS transmission to the fetus/newborn. The use of this douche is dismissed as unscientific in Australia because doctors prefer the 'security' associated with IV administration of antibiotics.
Thank goodness some doctors and health services are more open minded. At John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, NSW, where routine screening of all pregnant women at 34-36 weeks for GBS colonisation is recommended, while women are advised that antibiotics in labour are the preferred option, they are informed about Chlorhexidine douche. The policy of providing chlorhexidine douche as an option for GBS prophylaxis came about following the visit of a Norweigan Obstetrician who explained their successful approach to GBS management.
When women are given the information about GBS colonisation and risks of infection and a choice of having an IV cannula in their arm and IV antibioitics or a self administered vaginal douche as a prophylaxis for GBS infection, the overwhelming majority of women choose the douche.
Despite the misgivings of the paediatric and some obstetric staff, no baby whose mother has used Chlorhexidine vaginal douche for GBS prophylaxis has been infected with GBS in four years.
Chlorhexidine vaginal douche as prophylaxis for GBS colonisiation is a cheap, easy, benign and effective solution (no pun intended) to the rampant use of antibiotics, and all the long term iatrogenic sequelae, in pregnant and labouring women. The use of a chlorhexidine douche for this common condition will not only be safer for babies long term health, it will help contain antibiotic resistence, ensuring that antibiotics will be effective if ever a person truly needed them.
Solution to killer superbug found in Norway
Antibiotic use in most western countries is widespread. Antibiotics are given as first line of treatment for just about anything you like to mention. In maternity care, antibiotics are poured into pregnant women who test positive for Group B Streptococcus on vaginal swabs and those pregnant and labouring women whose 'waters' (membranes) have been 'broken' for longer than 18 hours. Antibiotics are used as a cure all, even when there is nothing that can be cured by them, even though antibiotic resistence is rising and even though antibiotic use is associated with long term problems for the infant.
However, Norway has taken a radical approach to antibiotic use. Norweigans have stopped pushing antibiotics. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a virulent killer in most hospitals in the west, has been controlled in Norway because Norweigans take less antibiotics.
"Penicillin is not a cough medicine," says the tissue packet on the desk of Norway's MRSA control director, Dr. Petter Elstrom.
"Norwegians are sanguine about their coughs and colds, toughing it out through low-grade infections. "We don't throw antibiotics at every person with a fever. We tell them to hang on, wait and see, and we give them a Tylenol to feel better," says Dr John Birger Haug, the infectious disease specialist. And because Norwegian doctors prescribe fewer antibiotics than any other country, people do not have a chance to develop resistance to them.
According to a press release on December 31 st 2009 by Associated Press Writers, MARTHA MENDOZA and MARGIE MASON, Aker University Hospital's pharmacy does not stock the newest, most expensive antibiotics, because as Dr Haug says "because if we have them here, doctors will use them."
I've noticed that doctors, at least in places I've worked, are frightened not to prescribe antibiotics for fear of being sued if 'something goes wrong'. Fear of litigation is a huge issue in our country and common sense goes out the window when this fear is activated. The mantra in mainstream medicine, at least, for those involved with the care of birthing women is the more you do, the safer you are, however, the safety factor is about being protected from litigation NOT what is best for the woman and her baby.
Group B streptococcus (GBS) management is a perfect example of how fear of litigation overtakes common sense. In Norway, women who test postitive for GBS in pregnancy are offered a Chlorhexidine solution vaginal douche in early labour and every six hours to minimise the potential risk of GBS transmission to the fetus/newborn. The use of this douche is dismissed as unscientific in Australia because doctors prefer the 'security' associated with IV administration of antibiotics.
Thank goodness some doctors and health services are more open minded. At John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, NSW, where routine screening of all pregnant women at 34-36 weeks for GBS colonisation is recommended, while women are advised that antibiotics in labour are the preferred option, they are informed about Chlorhexidine douche. The policy of providing chlorhexidine douche as an option for GBS prophylaxis came about following the visit of a Norweigan Obstetrician who explained their successful approach to GBS management.
When women are given the information about GBS colonisation and risks of infection and a choice of having an IV cannula in their arm and IV antibioitics or a self administered vaginal douche as a prophylaxis for GBS infection, the overwhelming majority of women choose the douche.
Despite the misgivings of the paediatric and some obstetric staff, no baby whose mother has used Chlorhexidine vaginal douche for GBS prophylaxis has been infected with GBS in four years.
Chlorhexidine vaginal douche as prophylaxis for GBS colonisiation is a cheap, easy, benign and effective solution (no pun intended) to the rampant use of antibiotics, and all the long term iatrogenic sequelae, in pregnant and labouring women. The use of a chlorhexidine douche for this common condition will not only be safer for babies long term health, it will help contain antibiotic resistence, ensuring that antibiotics will be effective if ever a person truly needed them.
Solution to killer superbug found in Norway
Tuesday 22 December 2009
Honoring Embodied Wisdom
I was exploring the peaceful birth project's wall (http://www.thepeacefulbirthproject.com/) on Facebook and came across the article about perineal integrity from Midwifery Today 2005.
Honoring Body Wisdom - by Pamela Hines-Powell
Pamela has some wonderful insights including:
"... there are very few things I personally can do to really prevent tearing in a client, but there are a whole host of situations and instances where I could actually create an environment for perineal tearing".
Our role as midwives is to create the environment where a woman can find her own way, get in touch with her inner power, her inner intelligence and innate guidance system. A woman can find her own way when there is an atmosphere of loving, capacity building trust in the process of birth and the woman's ability that the midwife engenders by having a mindful approach to her role in creating that environment. A mindful approach for the midwife involves awareness of and congruency in her intention, focus, thinking patterns, body language, movement and words. A midwife's mindful approach also includes attention to those aspects of the woman she is working with. Such an environment optimises a woman's birthing psychophysiology. A woman's optimal birthing psychophysiology means her mind, body and spirit are in harmony, her brainwave patterns are in gamma, alpha, theta and delta wavebands (known as a 'flow' state) a relaxed, focussed mode; her brain's attentional networks are focused on her baby and her baby's impending birth; the woman is able to let go of her orienting and alerting brain networks with their beta brain waves. When a woman is able to be in that biobehavioural state, genetic switches are flipped to parasympathetic mode; oxytocin and endorphins flow and the woman is able to respond instinctively to her body cues; labour progresses and birth happens.
Pamela asks a really good question: "As midwives, are we finding ways to support women's instinctive behaviors or do we undermine their instincts by directing them?"
How we look, how we move, everything we do and say has an effect on the labouring woman.
Pamela writes:
"The birthing woman is highly susceptible to suggestion—even if very subtle. For instance, a midwife lays a chux pad on the bed. The message received is "sit here"—many women will follow the placement of the chux and reside wherever it is placed, even if there is no spoken direction by the provider. However, left to her own devices, a woman will rarely lie down to push her baby out".
There is so much wisdom in that information. The first job for a midwife on the learning curve of being 'with woman' is to understand and integrate that truth into their practice.
I'm reminded of the words of the wonderful Nicky Leap, a brilliant midwife. Nicky said "the less we do, the more we give". That 'doing less' has to come from a position of trust in birth, trust in women's innate capacity to give birth well as well as being mindful of what is happening with that woman, her baby and the labour process. 'Doing less' is not about being lazy or lassez faire about women and birth. Doing less, is actively mindful, fully present and conscious in the moment, actively aware of the ebb and flow of labour and birth; being a source of feedback for the woman when required; subtly monitoring the woman, her baby and her experience; ready to support adjustment if needed. 'Giving more' in this context means that a woman who is supported to be instinctive feels powerful, her capacity is strengthened, she emerges from labour and birth feeling amazing. Barbara Katz Rothman says that birth is about building strong, capable mothers as well as welcoming new life into the world.
As midwives, we can create a safe, nurturing, protective environment where a woman can express her individuality, her innate wisdom and feel free to make the changes needed in becoming a mother. We can provide a supportive environment within which a woman can empower herself, find her innate power and utilise it; we can't empower her. We can however, disempower. We can 'pull the rug' from underneath a woman, destabilising her so she doubts herself and loses her confidence.
Pamela's question is a good one. We can extend that question and ask ourselves "am I creating an environment where a woman feels safe to be herself and does she feel better about herself when she leaves my presence?" We need to ask ourselves that frequently. We need to ask the women we work with for feedback about that too.
Honoring Body Wisdom - by Pamela Hines-Powell
Pamela has some wonderful insights including:
"... there are very few things I personally can do to really prevent tearing in a client, but there are a whole host of situations and instances where I could actually create an environment for perineal tearing".
Our role as midwives is to create the environment where a woman can find her own way, get in touch with her inner power, her inner intelligence and innate guidance system. A woman can find her own way when there is an atmosphere of loving, capacity building trust in the process of birth and the woman's ability that the midwife engenders by having a mindful approach to her role in creating that environment. A mindful approach for the midwife involves awareness of and congruency in her intention, focus, thinking patterns, body language, movement and words. A midwife's mindful approach also includes attention to those aspects of the woman she is working with. Such an environment optimises a woman's birthing psychophysiology. A woman's optimal birthing psychophysiology means her mind, body and spirit are in harmony, her brainwave patterns are in gamma, alpha, theta and delta wavebands (known as a 'flow' state) a relaxed, focussed mode; her brain's attentional networks are focused on her baby and her baby's impending birth; the woman is able to let go of her orienting and alerting brain networks with their beta brain waves. When a woman is able to be in that biobehavioural state, genetic switches are flipped to parasympathetic mode; oxytocin and endorphins flow and the woman is able to respond instinctively to her body cues; labour progresses and birth happens.
Pamela asks a really good question: "As midwives, are we finding ways to support women's instinctive behaviors or do we undermine their instincts by directing them?"
How we look, how we move, everything we do and say has an effect on the labouring woman.
Pamela writes:
"The birthing woman is highly susceptible to suggestion—even if very subtle. For instance, a midwife lays a chux pad on the bed. The message received is "sit here"—many women will follow the placement of the chux and reside wherever it is placed, even if there is no spoken direction by the provider. However, left to her own devices, a woman will rarely lie down to push her baby out".
There is so much wisdom in that information. The first job for a midwife on the learning curve of being 'with woman' is to understand and integrate that truth into their practice.
I'm reminded of the words of the wonderful Nicky Leap, a brilliant midwife. Nicky said "the less we do, the more we give". That 'doing less' has to come from a position of trust in birth, trust in women's innate capacity to give birth well as well as being mindful of what is happening with that woman, her baby and the labour process. 'Doing less' is not about being lazy or lassez faire about women and birth. Doing less, is actively mindful, fully present and conscious in the moment, actively aware of the ebb and flow of labour and birth; being a source of feedback for the woman when required; subtly monitoring the woman, her baby and her experience; ready to support adjustment if needed. 'Giving more' in this context means that a woman who is supported to be instinctive feels powerful, her capacity is strengthened, she emerges from labour and birth feeling amazing. Barbara Katz Rothman says that birth is about building strong, capable mothers as well as welcoming new life into the world.
As midwives, we can create a safe, nurturing, protective environment where a woman can express her individuality, her innate wisdom and feel free to make the changes needed in becoming a mother. We can provide a supportive environment within which a woman can empower herself, find her innate power and utilise it; we can't empower her. We can however, disempower. We can 'pull the rug' from underneath a woman, destabilising her so she doubts herself and loses her confidence.
Pamela's question is a good one. We can extend that question and ask ourselves "am I creating an environment where a woman feels safe to be herself and does she feel better about herself when she leaves my presence?" We need to ask ourselves that frequently. We need to ask the women we work with for feedback about that too.
Saturday 19 December 2009
The Disappearing Male
Michael Mendezza from Touch the Future shared this information about the effect of environmental toxins on male fetuses and fertility. Artificial chemicals in the environment have increased from less than 100 in the early 1900's to over 86,000 now. The video below explains that 85% of those chemicals have not been evaluated for safety for human babies.
Michael encourages us to get informed. The following came from Michael's newsletter.
Download and read the complete interview with Peat Myers, Chief Executive Officer of Environmental Health Science, one who has been involved with the science behind this issue since it began. He describes with profound clarity how hormones bind with DNA which trigger protein expression - and how chemicals that mimic hormones, in this case estrogen, are altering human development around the world - it is excellent.
From the video site: "The Disappearing Male is a CBC documentary about one of the most important, and least publicized, issues facing the human species: the toxic threat to the male reproductive system. The last few decades have seen steady and dramatic increases in the incidence of boys and young men suffering from genital deformities, low sperm count, sperm abnormalities and testicular cancer. At the same time, boys are now far more at risk of suffering from ADHD, autism, Tourette's syndrome, cerebral palsy, and dyslexia. The Disappearing Male takes a close and disturbing look at what many doctors and researchers now suspect are responsible for many of these problems: a class of common chemicals that are ubiquitous in our world. Found in everything from shampoo, sunglasses, meat and dairy products, carpet, cosmetics and baby bottles, they are called "hormone mimicking" or "endocrine disrupting" chemicals and they may be starting to damage the most basic building blocks of human development". Bisphenol A is a synthetic oestrogen that affects cell differentiation in the fetus, having a particularly troublesome effect on male fetuses/babies.
What is Bisphenol A? Bisphenol A is a chemical commonly used in the manufacture of clear polycarbonate plastic. It is one of the top 50 products produced by the chemical industry, generating revenues in the order of $6 million per day in the United States, Europe, and Japan alone. Global bisphenol A production exceeds 6.4 billion pounds per year.
How pervasive is it? Most people reading this will have come into contact with bisphenol A at some stage in their life. A study by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 95% of Americans have detectable levels of bisphenol A in their bodies. Researchers also found that the median level of bisphenol A in humans was substantially higher than the level that causes adverse effects in other animals.
Where is it found? Bisphenol A is commonly found in a range of polycarbonate plastic products, including most plastic baby bottles. It is also found in the following:
What can we do? Given that bisphenol A has been found to alter cell behaviour even at very low levels – in the parts per trillion – the safest approach is to avoid using products containing it altogether. This is especially important during pregnancy and infancy.
Breastfeeding babies is best, the baby's mother however, needs to avoid bisphenol A containing products. If a mother is bottle feeding her baby, then ensuring the bottles and teats that are used are made of products that do not contain bisphenol A is important.
You may also like to watch a brief ABC report on Bisphenol A and newborn health.
References
vom Saal, F.S. and Welshons, W.V. Large effects from small exposures: II. The importance of positive controls in low-dose research on bisphenol A. Environmental Research, Online November, 2005. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2005.09.001.
vom Saal, F.S. and Hughes, C. An extensive new literature concerning low-dose effects of bisphenol A shows the need for a new risk assessment. Environ. Health Perspect. 113:926-933, 2005.
Gibson, R.L. Toxic Baby Bottles. Scientific Study finds leaching chemicals in clear plastic baby bottles. Environment California Research & Policy Center. Feb 2007
Michael encourages us to get informed. The following came from Michael's newsletter.
Download and read the complete interview with Peat Myers, Chief Executive Officer of Environmental Health Science, one who has been involved with the science behind this issue since it began. He describes with profound clarity how hormones bind with DNA which trigger protein expression - and how chemicals that mimic hormones, in this case estrogen, are altering human development around the world - it is excellent.
From the video site: "The Disappearing Male is a CBC documentary about one of the most important, and least publicized, issues facing the human species: the toxic threat to the male reproductive system. The last few decades have seen steady and dramatic increases in the incidence of boys and young men suffering from genital deformities, low sperm count, sperm abnormalities and testicular cancer. At the same time, boys are now far more at risk of suffering from ADHD, autism, Tourette's syndrome, cerebral palsy, and dyslexia. The Disappearing Male takes a close and disturbing look at what many doctors and researchers now suspect are responsible for many of these problems: a class of common chemicals that are ubiquitous in our world. Found in everything from shampoo, sunglasses, meat and dairy products, carpet, cosmetics and baby bottles, they are called "hormone mimicking" or "endocrine disrupting" chemicals and they may be starting to damage the most basic building blocks of human development". Bisphenol A is a synthetic oestrogen that affects cell differentiation in the fetus, having a particularly troublesome effect on male fetuses/babies.
What is Bisphenol A? Bisphenol A is a chemical commonly used in the manufacture of clear polycarbonate plastic. It is one of the top 50 products produced by the chemical industry, generating revenues in the order of $6 million per day in the United States, Europe, and Japan alone. Global bisphenol A production exceeds 6.4 billion pounds per year.
How pervasive is it? Most people reading this will have come into contact with bisphenol A at some stage in their life. A study by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 95% of Americans have detectable levels of bisphenol A in their bodies. Researchers also found that the median level of bisphenol A in humans was substantially higher than the level that causes adverse effects in other animals.
Where is it found? Bisphenol A is commonly found in a range of polycarbonate plastic products, including most plastic baby bottles. It is also found in the following:
- children’s toys
- dental sealants
- epoxy lining of food and beverage cans
- reusable drink containers
- microwavable food containers
- electronic equipment
- sports helmets
- eyeglass lenses
What can we do? Given that bisphenol A has been found to alter cell behaviour even at very low levels – in the parts per trillion – the safest approach is to avoid using products containing it altogether. This is especially important during pregnancy and infancy.
Breastfeeding babies is best, the baby's mother however, needs to avoid bisphenol A containing products. If a mother is bottle feeding her baby, then ensuring the bottles and teats that are used are made of products that do not contain bisphenol A is important.
You may also like to watch a brief ABC report on Bisphenol A and newborn health.
References
vom Saal, F.S. and Welshons, W.V. Large effects from small exposures: II. The importance of positive controls in low-dose research on bisphenol A. Environmental Research, Online November, 2005. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2005.09.001.
vom Saal, F.S. and Hughes, C. An extensive new literature concerning low-dose effects of bisphenol A shows the need for a new risk assessment. Environ. Health Perspect. 113:926-933, 2005.
Gibson, R.L. Toxic Baby Bottles. Scientific Study finds leaching chemicals in clear plastic baby bottles. Environment California Research & Policy Center. Feb 2007
Want to live well? Harvard experts offer pragmatic pointers on getting healthy and staying there
"The long-running Nurses’ Health Study shows that as much as 80 percent of heart disease, 70 percent of strokes, and 90 percent of diabetes — three of the nation’s top 10 killers — are related to just four lifestyle factors: avoiding smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, and embracing a heart-healthy diet.
“They are absolutely astonishing numbers,” said Manson, who is beginning a large trial of vitamin D’s role in preventing illness. “Studies demonstrate the powerful role of lifestyle factors in preventing chronic disease. One of the most important prescriptions doctors can write is to prescribe regular physical activity.”
One area where knowledge has advanced rapidly in recent years involves the importance of maintaining a healthy body weight, which Willett said is understood much better today than even a decade ago and is linked to heart disease, diabetes, and many cancers".
Other aspects to what constitutes a healthy and rewarding life are explored in this article.
Getting enough quality sleep, saving money, being kind, taking time to reflect and be still to name a few.
The article continues:
"Though people make individual decisions that affect their well-being every day, people are at their core social animals. Recent research has detected those social underpinnings in their personal behavior.
Nicholas Christakis, professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, explores the effects of social networks on health. His research indicates that everything from obesity to smoking to happiness to loneliness can spread through social networks.
Still, Christakis cautioned that someone looking to live healthier should not just avoid friends who have unhealthy habits. Social networks are important, providing companionship and support even from those who smoke or eat junk food. There’s far more to gain, he said, in lending a hand to struggling friends than there is from cutting them off."
Want to live well? Harvard experts offer pragmatic pointers on getting healthy and staying there
“They are absolutely astonishing numbers,” said Manson, who is beginning a large trial of vitamin D’s role in preventing illness. “Studies demonstrate the powerful role of lifestyle factors in preventing chronic disease. One of the most important prescriptions doctors can write is to prescribe regular physical activity.”
One area where knowledge has advanced rapidly in recent years involves the importance of maintaining a healthy body weight, which Willett said is understood much better today than even a decade ago and is linked to heart disease, diabetes, and many cancers".
Other aspects to what constitutes a healthy and rewarding life are explored in this article.
Getting enough quality sleep, saving money, being kind, taking time to reflect and be still to name a few.
The article continues:
"Though people make individual decisions that affect their well-being every day, people are at their core social animals. Recent research has detected those social underpinnings in their personal behavior.
Nicholas Christakis, professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, explores the effects of social networks on health. His research indicates that everything from obesity to smoking to happiness to loneliness can spread through social networks.
Still, Christakis cautioned that someone looking to live healthier should not just avoid friends who have unhealthy habits. Social networks are important, providing companionship and support even from those who smoke or eat junk food. There’s far more to gain, he said, in lending a hand to struggling friends than there is from cutting them off."
Want to live well? Harvard experts offer pragmatic pointers on getting healthy and staying there
Friday 18 December 2009
What is "Normal"? - Mamapedia™ Voices
This is a lovely exploration of the concept of 'normal' by Lisa Morguess of "Finnian's Journey" on Mamapedia.
Good to ponder
A friend of mine had a baby with Down's syndrome.
She told me one day that her child 'wears his imperfections on the outside'.
What is "Normal"? - Mamapedia™ Voices
Good to ponder
A friend of mine had a baby with Down's syndrome.
She told me one day that her child 'wears his imperfections on the outside'.
What is "Normal"? - Mamapedia™ Voices
Saturday 12 December 2009
US C-section rate up 85% in decade 1997-2007
HCUP Facts and Figures 2007 - Section 3
The mission of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans.
"C-section was the most frequent major operating room procedure—performed on 1.5 million women in 2007. Growth in C-sections, up 85 percent between 1997 and 2007, outpaced increases in most other frequently performed maternal procedures and was among the fastest growing procedures for women 18-44 years old"
Section 3
The mission of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans.
"C-section was the most frequent major operating room procedure—performed on 1.5 million women in 2007. Growth in C-sections, up 85 percent between 1997 and 2007, outpaced increases in most other frequently performed maternal procedures and was among the fastest growing procedures for women 18-44 years old"
Section 3
Study shows how gene action may lead to diabetes prevention, cure
Exciting developments in the field!
"A gene commonly studied by cancer researchers has been linked to the metabolic inflammation that leads to diabetes.
Understanding how the gene works means scientists may be closer to finding ways to prevent or cure diabetes, according to a study by Texas AgriLife Research appearing in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
"Because we understand the mechanism, or how the gene works, we believe a focus on nutrition will find the way to both prevent and reverse diabetes," said Dr. Chaodong Wu, AgriLife Research nutrition and food scientist who authored the paper with the University of Minnesota's Dr. Yuqing Hou.
Wu said the research team will collaborate with nutritionists to identify what changes or supplements in a diet will activate the gene to prevent or stop the progression of diabetes".
Nutrition folks! Nutrition, nutrition, nutrition.
And.
Manage your stressors! Turn on the parasympathetic nervous system pathways, keep your nervous system happily calibrating back to a calm, relaxed state and ensure the disease carrying genes are kept switched off; while switching on and keeping on the genes that keep us well.
The role of inflammatory processes in much of what ails us, including premature labour, pre-eclampsia and diabetes - scourges for childbearing women and their babies, is becoming more and more widely recognised.
Inflammatory processes are switched on by numerous environmental factors such as chronic stress (aka cortisols etc), poor nutrition, toxins, lack of exercise and stasis of lymph fluid; feelings generated by social isolation and not feeling/being valued or loved and/or being in a hostile environment to name a few 'biggies'.
Exercise, relaxation, good nutrition, being surrounded by loving people and the ability to talk about what is important to you and bothers you, while being listened to and respected are all environmentally controllable elements which contribute to optimal psychophysiological functioning.
No wonder one to one midwifey care is associated with better heath outcomes for women and babies.
Study shows how gene action may lead to diabetes prevention, cure
"A gene commonly studied by cancer researchers has been linked to the metabolic inflammation that leads to diabetes.
"Because we understand the mechanism, or how the gene works, we believe a focus on nutrition will find the way to both prevent and reverse diabetes," said Dr. Chaodong Wu, AgriLife Research nutrition and food scientist who authored the paper with the University of Minnesota's Dr. Yuqing Hou.
Wu said the research team will collaborate with nutritionists to identify what changes or supplements in a diet will activate the gene to prevent or stop the progression of diabetes".
Nutrition folks! Nutrition, nutrition, nutrition.
And.
Manage your stressors! Turn on the parasympathetic nervous system pathways, keep your nervous system happily calibrating back to a calm, relaxed state and ensure the disease carrying genes are kept switched off; while switching on and keeping on the genes that keep us well.
The role of inflammatory processes in much of what ails us, including premature labour, pre-eclampsia and diabetes - scourges for childbearing women and their babies, is becoming more and more widely recognised.
Inflammatory processes are switched on by numerous environmental factors such as chronic stress (aka cortisols etc), poor nutrition, toxins, lack of exercise and stasis of lymph fluid; feelings generated by social isolation and not feeling/being valued or loved and/or being in a hostile environment to name a few 'biggies'.
Exercise, relaxation, good nutrition, being surrounded by loving people and the ability to talk about what is important to you and bothers you, while being listened to and respected are all environmentally controllable elements which contribute to optimal psychophysiological functioning.
No wonder one to one midwifey care is associated with better heath outcomes for women and babies.
Study shows how gene action may lead to diabetes prevention, cure
Friday 11 December 2009
‘Survival of the Kindest’ – Sympathy is Strongest Human Instinct
“Because of our very vulnerable offspring, the fundamental task for human survival and gene replication is to take care of others,” said Keltner, co-director of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. “Human beings have survived as a species because we have evolved the capacities to care for those in need and to cooperate. As Darwin long ago surmised, sympathy is our strongest instinct.”
Empathy in our genes
Keltner’s team is looking into how the human capacity to care and cooperate is wired into particular regions of the brain and nervous system. One recent study found compelling evidence that many of us are genetically predisposed to be empathetic".
‘Survival of the Kindest’ – Sympathy is Strongest Human Instinct
Empathy in our genes
Keltner’s team is looking into how the human capacity to care and cooperate is wired into particular regions of the brain and nervous system. One recent study found compelling evidence that many of us are genetically predisposed to be empathetic".
‘Survival of the Kindest’ – Sympathy is Strongest Human Instinct
Ovaries must suppress their inner male
"This shows that the maintenance of the ovarian phenotype is an active process throughout life," Treier said. "Like Yin and Yang, FOXL2 and SOX9 oppose each other's action to ensure together the establishment and maintenance of the different female and male supporting cell types respectively."
Further analysis showed that FOXL2 works in cooperation with the estrogen receptor to repress Sox9. Without FOXL2, the estrogen receptor fails to work suggesting that loss of estrogen levels could lead to sex reversal. Treier suspects that this mechanism might underlie the occasional signs of masculinization seen in menopausal women.
"When estrogen declines [in menopause], part of the ovary may switch to a testicle-like structure," he said."
Ovaries must suppress their inner male
Further analysis showed that FOXL2 works in cooperation with the estrogen receptor to repress Sox9. Without FOXL2, the estrogen receptor fails to work suggesting that loss of estrogen levels could lead to sex reversal. Treier suspects that this mechanism might underlie the occasional signs of masculinization seen in menopausal women.
"When estrogen declines [in menopause], part of the ovary may switch to a testicle-like structure," he said."
Ovaries must suppress their inner male
Saturday 5 December 2009
If Loved Ones Lessen Our Perceptions of Pain, Do Enemies Make Them Worse? Sarah Master Answers - Science and Religion Today
A great reason to surround ourselves with people we feel good with! Which of course, has implications for birthing women. Midwives have to be good to be around. Birthing women need to be surrounded by people they love and who love and support them for optimal psychophysiological functioning, which includes not only oxytocin release, but includes the endogenous opiods. So, it can be seen, that not just enemies make things worse, but anyone who is not fully 'present' for the woman in labour, therefore setting off her 'alarm' system, can make things worse.
If Loved Ones Lessen Our Perceptions of Pain, Do Enemies Make Them Worse? Sarah Master Answers - Science and Religion Today
If Loved Ones Lessen Our Perceptions of Pain, Do Enemies Make Them Worse? Sarah Master Answers - Science and Religion Today
Embodied Cognition: Using Movement to Understand the Mind
This study is interesting as it provides an insight into the midwifery maxim first articulated by Ina May Gaskin "fix the mind, fix the body; fix the body, fix the mind". Ina May's midwifery maxim points to a deep understanding of how the nervous system is an embodied system. When we get an appreciation of how the way we think and feel affects the way our body functions, not just in gross physical communication movements but at all levels of movement, (including cellular communication, chemical communication etc) throughout the body, we come to see that attending to the holistic aspects of being is the best way to optimise health.
A clear understanding of the way the mind and the body are inextricably interconnected and integrated helps to explain why midwives work with childbearing women to meet childbearing women's emotional, physical, spiritual, cultural and psychological needs and desires regarding the births of their babies. What some people refer to as 'woo woo' psychobabble or pseudoscience is actually sound midwifery practice.
Embodied Cognition: Using Movement to Understand the Mind
"Interpersonal communication is more than just the exchange of words. Speech, gaze and body coordination are all utilized during conversation. A common example, such as hand gesturing while speaking, shows effective communication is more than just a linguistic dynamic.
This phenomenon, called embodied communication, is the focus of a new study by University of Cincinnati professors in the Department of Psychology.
“Collaborative Research: Dynamics of Interpersonal Coordination and Embodied Communication” is a $418,809 National Science Foundation grant given to Associate Professors Kevin Shockley, Michael Riley and Assistant Professor Michael Richardson to understand coordination of thought by studying coordination of action.
“We’re using movement as a window to understand how people coordinate their thinking,” says Shockley, the principal investigator for the study. “Normally people don’t think of movement when they hear about psychology, but that’s unfortunate because the embodied cognition approach illustrates so nicely how movement is integral to our understanding of the mind.”
A clear understanding of the way the mind and the body are inextricably interconnected and integrated helps to explain why midwives work with childbearing women to meet childbearing women's emotional, physical, spiritual, cultural and psychological needs and desires regarding the births of their babies. What some people refer to as 'woo woo' psychobabble or pseudoscience is actually sound midwifery practice.
Embodied Cognition: Using Movement to Understand the Mind
"Interpersonal communication is more than just the exchange of words. Speech, gaze and body coordination are all utilized during conversation. A common example, such as hand gesturing while speaking, shows effective communication is more than just a linguistic dynamic.
This phenomenon, called embodied communication, is the focus of a new study by University of Cincinnati professors in the Department of Psychology.
“Collaborative Research: Dynamics of Interpersonal Coordination and Embodied Communication” is a $418,809 National Science Foundation grant given to Associate Professors Kevin Shockley, Michael Riley and Assistant Professor Michael Richardson to understand coordination of thought by studying coordination of action.
“We’re using movement as a window to understand how people coordinate their thinking,” says Shockley, the principal investigator for the study. “Normally people don’t think of movement when they hear about psychology, but that’s unfortunate because the embodied cognition approach illustrates so nicely how movement is integral to our understanding of the mind.”
Sunday 15 November 2009
Medical News: Listeriosis Risk to Fetuses Higher than Thought - in Infectious Disease, General Infectious Disease from MedPage Today
The risk of listeriosis in pregnant women and their fetuses is greater than previously thought, researchers said.
Listeria monocytogenes -- one of the most dangerous foodborne pathogens in the U.S. -- can cause miscarriages and stillbirths, according to Mary Alice Smith, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Georgia in Athens.
Medical News: Listeriosis Risk to Fetuses Higher than Thought - in Infectious Disease, General Infectious Disease from MedPage Today
Listeria monocytogenes -- one of the most dangerous foodborne pathogens in the U.S. -- can cause miscarriages and stillbirths, according to Mary Alice Smith, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Georgia in Athens.
Medical News: Listeriosis Risk to Fetuses Higher than Thought - in Infectious Disease, General Infectious Disease from MedPage Today
Friday 13 November 2009
QUESTION 2. Should an infant who is breastfeeding poorly and has a tongue tie undergo a tongue tie division? -- Algar 94 (11): 911 -- Archives of Disease in Childhood
The whole issue (of whether tongue tie -ankyloglossia is related to breastfeeding difficulties) is complicated when considering that many studies have attempted to measure the degree of tongue tie, a notoriously difficult endeavour, and that once graded, the degree of impairment appears not to correlate with breastfeeding problems. With all this considered, one cannot ignore the plethora of documented experience that supports this procedure, so much so that NICE have produced an interventional procedure guideline that acknowledges that the little evidence there is does seem to suggest that this procedure can improve breastfeeding while having no major safety concerns. As a result it suggests that the evidence is enough to support the use of the procedure provided that normal arrangements are in place for consent, audit and clinical governance.11
If mothers overwhelmingly tell us that it works, then why should we argue?
What a sensible conclusion!!!
QUESTION 2. Should an infant who is breastfeeding poorly and has a tongue tie undergo a tongue tie division? -- Algar 94 (11): 911 -- Archives of Disease in Childhood
If mothers overwhelmingly tell us that it works, then why should we argue?
What a sensible conclusion!!!
QUESTION 2. Should an infant who is breastfeeding poorly and has a tongue tie undergo a tongue tie division? -- Algar 94 (11): 911 -- Archives of Disease in Childhood
BBC NEWS | Health | Music 'nurtures' premature babies
Music 'nurtures' premature babies
Music may help block pain
Hospitals that play music to premature babies help them grow and thrive, mounting evidence suggests.
The benefits are said to be calmer infants and parents as well as faster weight gain and shorter hospital stays.
A Canadian team reviewed nine studies and found music reduced pain and encouraged better oral feeding.
Music also appeared to have beneficial effects on physiological measures like heart and respiratory rate, Archives of Disease in Childhood reports.
BBC NEWS | Health | Music 'nurtures' premature babies
and of course, an even better solution is to provide one to one midwifery care to women as the rates of premature birth drop when women have midwifery care.
Music may help block pain
Hospitals that play music to premature babies help them grow and thrive, mounting evidence suggests.
The benefits are said to be calmer infants and parents as well as faster weight gain and shorter hospital stays.
A Canadian team reviewed nine studies and found music reduced pain and encouraged better oral feeding.
Music also appeared to have beneficial effects on physiological measures like heart and respiratory rate, Archives of Disease in Childhood reports.
BBC NEWS | Health | Music 'nurtures' premature babies
and of course, an even better solution is to provide one to one midwifery care to women as the rates of premature birth drop when women have midwifery care.
Early life stress has effects at the molecular level
More evidence of the need to keep mothers and newborn babies together and ensure skin to skin uninterrupted time at birth. Maternity service providers, midwives and doctors take note
Early life stress has effects at the molecular level
Early life stress has effects at the molecular level
Thursday 5 November 2009
Tuesday 27 October 2009
Outcomes for Caseload Midwifery at St Mary's UK
This poster was presented at the June 2009 Normal Birth conference in the UK. The poster reports on a prospective cohort study on all live births at St Mary's Hospital in the Imperial College Healthcare Trust NHS. The study evaluated the caseload model in that health service.
Women who had caseload, or one to one relationship based midwifery care were found to have fewer interventions in labour and birth. These women were found to have a higher rate of births at home, higher rate of normal births, a reduced rate of both analgesia and epidural anaesthesia, higher breastfeeding rates and more normal births. The rates of caesarean section and babies admitted to the nursery were the same for both groups of women.
caseload09.jpg (image)
Women who had caseload, or one to one relationship based midwifery care were found to have fewer interventions in labour and birth. These women were found to have a higher rate of births at home, higher rate of normal births, a reduced rate of both analgesia and epidural anaesthesia, higher breastfeeding rates and more normal births. The rates of caesarean section and babies admitted to the nursery were the same for both groups of women.
caseload09.jpg (image)
Saturday 17 October 2009
Why immune cells count in early pregnancy
"This research identifies immune system cells as critical determinants of normal ovarian activity and the maintenance of early pregnancy. This might be a key to helping prevent early pregnancy loss, such as recurrent miscarriage."
Ms Care says a number of factors - such as smoking, obesity, poor nutrition and stress - could all alter the way macrophages behave and may provide reasons for infertility or miscarriage in some women.
Why immune cells count in early pregnancy
Shared via AddThis
Ms Care says a number of factors - such as smoking, obesity, poor nutrition and stress - could all alter the way macrophages behave and may provide reasons for infertility or miscarriage in some women.
Why immune cells count in early pregnancy
Shared via AddThis
Friday 16 October 2009
The food-energy cellular connection revealed
This article helps us understand why shift workers are more at risk of a raft of diseases. Night duty workers are more at risk of breast cancer. More reasons why changing the way that midwives work leads to better outcomes. This time it's midwives who benefit by coming off shift work and working one to one or in caseload models with childbearing women. Maternity service managers please take note.
"Shift workers face a 100 percent increase in the risk for obesity and its consequences, such as high blood pressure, insulin resistance and an increased risk of heart attacks," says Howard Hughes Medical Investigator Ronald M. Evans, Ph.D., a professor in the Salk Institute's Gene Expression Laboratory.
The researchers' findings, which are published in the Oct. 16, 2009, issue of Science, could have far-reaching implications, from providing a better understanding how nutrition and gene expression are linked, to creating new ways to treat obesity, diabetes and other related diseases. "It is estimated that the activity of up to 15 percent of our genes is under the direct control of biological clocks," says Evans. "Our work provides a conceptual way to link nutrition and energy regulation to the genome."
The food-energy cellular connection revealed
Shared via AddThis
"Shift workers face a 100 percent increase in the risk for obesity and its consequences, such as high blood pressure, insulin resistance and an increased risk of heart attacks," says Howard Hughes Medical Investigator Ronald M. Evans, Ph.D., a professor in the Salk Institute's Gene Expression Laboratory.
The researchers' findings, which are published in the Oct. 16, 2009, issue of Science, could have far-reaching implications, from providing a better understanding how nutrition and gene expression are linked, to creating new ways to treat obesity, diabetes and other related diseases. "It is estimated that the activity of up to 15 percent of our genes is under the direct control of biological clocks," says Evans. "Our work provides a conceptual way to link nutrition and energy regulation to the genome."
The food-energy cellular connection revealed
Shared via AddThis
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