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recent bookmarks from jmResearchers Pinpoint Reason Infants Die From SIDS2022-05-13T08:57:24+00:00
https://www.biospace.com/article/researchers-answer-how-and-why-infants-die-from-sids/?hss_channel=fbp-10530620221
jmSIDS refers to the unexplained deaths of infants under a year old, and it usually occurs while the child is sleeping. According to Mayo Clinic, many in the medical community suspected this phenomenon could be caused by a defect in the part of the brain that controls arousal from sleep and breathing. The theory was that if the infant stopped breathing during sleep, the defect would keep the child from startling or waking up.
The Sydney researchers were able to confirm this theory by analyzing dried blood samples taken from newborns who died from SIDS and other unknown causes. Each SIDS sample was then compared with blood taken from healthy babies. They found the activity of the enzyme butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) was significantly lower in babies who died of SIDS compared to living infants and other non-SIDS infant deaths. BChE plays a major role in the brain’s arousal pathway, explaining why SIDS typically occurs during sleep.
Previously, parents were told SIDS could be prevented if they took proper precautions: laying babies on their backs, not letting them overheat and keeping all toys and blankets out of the crib were a few of the most important preventative steps. While safe sleep practices are still important for protecting infants, many children whose parents took every precaution still died from SIDS. These parents were left with immense guilt, wondering if they could have prevented their baby’s death.
Dr. Carmel Harrington, the lead researcher for the study, was one of these parents. Her son unexpectedly and suddenly died as an infant 29 years ago. In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Harrington explained what she was told about the cause of her child’s death.
"Nobody could tell me. They just said it's a tragedy. But it was a tragedy that didn't sit well with my scientific brain.”
Since then, she’s worked to find the cause of SIDS, both for herself and for the medical community as a whole. She went on to explain why this discovery is so important for parents whose babies suffered from SIDS.
"These families can now live with the knowledge that this was not their fault," she said.
(via Damien)
]]>healthcare medicine parenting science via:damienmulley sids diseases neurochemistryhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:fc646fefc553/Wayback Machine Downloader2020-05-28T16:10:40+00:00
https://en.archivarix.com/
jmweb tools archives history downloading via:damienmulley backupshttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:e73e59f348ae/Screen time guidelines need to be built on evidence, not hype | Science | The Guardian2017-06-15T13:36:15+00:00
https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2017/jan/06/screen-time-guidelines-need-to-be-built-on-evidence-not-hype
jmIf the government were to implement guidelines on screen-based technology at this point, as the authors of the letter suggest, this would be on the basis of little to no evidence. This risks the implementation of unnecessary, ineffective or even potentially harmful policies. For guidelines to have a meaningful impact, they need to be grounded in robust research evidence and acknowledge that children’s health and wellbeing is a complex issue affected by many other factors, such as socioeconomic status, relational poverty, and family environment – all of which are likely to be more relevant for children’s health and well-being than screens. For example, there is no consistent evidence that more screen time leads to less outdoor play; if anything the evidence indicates that screen time and physical outdoor activity are unrelated, and reductions in average time spent in outdoor play over time seem to be driven by other factors. Policy efforts to increase outdoor play that focus on screen time are therefore likely to be ineffective.
(via Damien Mulley)]]>via:damienmulley science children psychology screens screen-time childhood development evidence policy health open-lettershttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:7cfff9c3415e/Ireland’s Content Pool2017-04-25T10:10:08+00:00
https://www.irelandscontentpool.com/account/landingpage/
jmBring your content to life with our free resource for positive tourism related purposes. Our image, video and copy collections show people, landscapes and the Irish lifestyle across a range of experiences including festivals, activities, cities, rural life and food.
Interesting idea -- but the licensing terms aren't 100% clear. This would have been much easier if it was just CC licensed!]]>open-data licensing ireland tourism via:damienmulley landscapes photos pictures content failte-irelandhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:a4694a74f86e/