Health and Fitness

When Wade Somani was put on a new drug to calm his hyperactivity and aggression, he suffered hallucinations and completely lost control.

After two years on Ritalin, he was put on Rubifen in April under Government subsidy changes to save $1 million a year.

"He had terrible hallucinations. He had shaking spasms in his legs. He was throwing himself around the room, screaming and howling that he was in agony," his mother, Jude Betham of Pukekohe, recalled yesterday. "We were very frightened because we’ve never seen him like that before."

Full report: NZ Herald
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Most school children know that milk is white, but what colour would it be if cows ate grass? Surprising new research from Dairy Farmers of Britain reveals that almost one in ten eight to 15 year olds believe that if a cow ate grass, the milk it produced would no longer be white (8%), more than one in three of these believing that it would, in fact, be green (38%).

Full report: Farming UK
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Scientists have identified a gene that causes diabetes in children, which will increase the chances of preventing the condition.

Doctors hope they will soon be able to test infants for the gene, codenamed KIAA0350, and treat them for Type 1 diabetes, known as "insulin dependent diabetes", before it takes hold.

By the time of diagnosis, most of the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas have been destroyed, which makes genetic prediction vital.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

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In a study of 138 children, researchers found that it wasn’t only the children’s exposure to stress, but their bodies’ reactions to the stress, that affected their future behavior.

Young children who had both a stressful home life and an exaggerated nervous system response to stress were more likely than their peers to develop behavioral problems over the next six years.

Full report: Canada.com

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All new parents know that their baby is special and unique, from the top of its bald head to the tips of its tiny toes. Now Stanford scientists have shown that this individuality extends even to the bacteria that colonize the baby’s insides.

By sampling a year’s worth of diapers from fourteen different babies — yes, that was somebody’s job — researchers in the labs of Dr. Patrick Brown and Dr. David Relman mapped out histories for each child, telling which bacteria were present, and when, starting from the day they were born.

Source: latimes.com
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