Snippets

Monday, November 15, 2010

Traumatic first births fuel rise in women opting for a Caesarean second time round

By Sophie Borland
Last updated at 4:16 PM on 15th November 2010

Some doctors speculate that tokophobia - a fear of childbirth - could be prompted by a more 'confessional culture' in the UK, with mothers sharing stories of difficult births.

Some doctors speculate that tokophobia - a fear of childbirth - could be prompted by a more 'confessional culture' in the UK, with mothers sharing alarming stories of difficult births.

Expectant mothers are increasingly demanding a Caesarean for their second baby because their first birth was so traumatic, midwives warn.

In some maternity units the numbers of women wanting the procedure has doubled in the last year.

Midwives say that many were so traumatised by having their first child that they are putting off future plans to have more babies or even abandoning them altogether.

They also warn that birth is becoming far more stressful experience because maternity units are so overstretched.

Often women are left alone and scarred before and after the labour as midwives simply don't have the time to offer them the advice and reassurance they need.

The number of expectant mothers asking for a Caesarean at Liverpool Women's hospital, one of the largest female-only hospitals in Europe, has increased by 40 per cent in the last 12 months.

Other maternity units including those at Birmingham Women's Hospital, St Mary's in Manchester and Stepping Hill in Stockport report similar trends.

Meanwhile birth trauma clinics which support women after difficult labours say they have seen a doubling in patients in the last year.

Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said that many maternity units were now so overstretched that labour was now a more stressful experience for women.

She added: "If a midwife is very busy then clearly she won't have the time between dealing with women in labour to give others the emotional support and reassurance she needs.It's certainly having an effect.'

She also said that doctors and midwives were now increasingly offering women Caesareans if they were fearful of giving birth.

In the past it was only carried out in an emergency or if the birth was likely to be complicated, such as the foetus being in the breech position.

She added: Professionals are increasingly aware of the option of advising women to have a Caesarean.

'In the past the usual approach would have been to talk through women about what went wrong the first time round and give them support so that they could try and have a normal birth the second time round.

'We'd try and avoid saying to them you're answer is a Caesarean as it can cause several complications such as post-partum haemorrhage.'

Midwives also say that increasing numbers of women are suffering from tokophobia, a fear of childbirth.

In some cases they are being put off by the experiences of friends whose labours lasted 18 hours.

Midwife Debbie Garrod, who runs a birth trauma support unit at Stepping Hill hospital said that she had seen 48 women so far this year, compared to just 21 in 2009.

Simon Mehigan, a consultant midwife Liverpool Women's hospital said: 'Tokophobia is a distressing psychological disorder that is growing at an alarming rate.'

Typically, this fear is a result of experiences during the first pregnancy or delivery and can often be traced back to a lack of information or explanation about what was happening, he added.

Dr Tracey Johnstone, a consultant in foetal maternal medicine at Birmingham Women's hospital, said: 'Women are more frightened of labour and delivery now.

'Among women there almost seems to be a competition about who has suffered the most during childbirth, talking about 18-hour labours and the like, and that scares other women before they have their babies.'

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

USING smartphones while visiting the loo is causing a surge in PILES.

By KATE WIGHTON and EMMA SHRIMSLEY

Increasing numbers of us are so hooked on hi-tech gadgets such as iPhones and BlackBerries that we even use them to chat and play games while using the toilet.

And doctors say this has led to a sharp rise in cases of haemorrhoids, which are now being dubbed "BlackBerry Bottom".

A recent survey found more than eight in ten smartphone owners use their devices while on the throne. Piles cause swellings around the back passage and spending too long on the loo increases the risk.

Long arm of the sore ... Wii can cause painful lesions on hands

Kent GP Stephanie DeGiorgio warned: "Sitting on a cold, hard surface for a prolonged period can raise the chance of haemorrhoids, so you really should play Angry Birds somewhere more comfortable."

The poll found men were more likely to play games on the toilet, while women made the most calls there. Both sexes admitted checking Facebook, Twitter and emails. And almost all texted.

But our rears are not the only parts of our bodies threatened by new gizmos. Here, we reveal other areas at risk of hi-tech harm.

Head

US doctors recently identified "ringxiety" - where people imagine they hear their phone ringing. A study revealed that more than 60 per cent of mobile phone users suffer from "phantom ringing".

Ear

Researchers in India found that people who listen to music on insertable earphones have thousands of times more bacteria in their ears than other people.

Using earphones in our lugholes make them warmer and moister, so bugs can thrive.

Thumb

Repeated actions with your thumb and forefinger - such as dragging items on a laptop - can cause repetitive strain injury, experts warn. This causes pain in the fingers, thumb and joints, and experts recommend taking a break from gadgets every 30 minutes.

Skin

Your mobile can even bring you out in a rash. Mobile phone dermatitis is a skin disorder that, according to the British Association of Dermatologists, can be triggered by spending too long on the blower.

Hands

Overuse of gaming consoles, such as the Wii and Xbox, can lead to neutrophilic hidradenitis - painful red lesions on the hands.

It's also known as PlayStation Pimple.

The condition, reported in the British Journal of Dermatology, is said to be caused by excessive sweating from gripping handsets

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Tweet Everest: Mountaineers get 3G access at 17,000ft thanks to new mobile phone towers

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:09 PM on 30th October 2010

You can't get away from a mobile phone call, even at the top of the world.

Thanks to 3G towers newly installed near Mount Everest's base camp, explorers can surf the Web, tweet and post Facebook updates without worrying that their signals will disappear into thin air.

The new high-speed service, announced yesterday by Ncell, will allow mountaineers setting off to the summit of the world's tallest mountain to access wireless Internet and make video calls to family, friends and supporters.

Pasi Koistinen, chief executive officer of Nepal's first private telecom company Ncell, talks with Mountaineer Namgyal Sherpa, who is speaking from an Everest base camp at 17,000ft

'You know, I think it's kind of good and kind of bad, but to me it's kind of inevitable,' said renowned climber Ed Viesturs, frequently described as the strongest U.S. high-altitude mountaineer.

The 51-year-old veteran of seven climbs to Everest's 29,035-foot (8,850-metre) summit said the new technology is not for him.

'I'm kind of old school,' said Viesturs, who has climbed all 14 of the world's highest peaks.

'But you can imagine the newer generation saying, 'No, bring it on. The more the better.'

Every year, thousands of trekkers from all over the world walk to Everest's base camp at 17,000 feet (5,182 metres), and hundreds of mountaineers take on the arduous and dangerous route to the summit.

Until now, they were forced to carry heavy - and expensive - satellite equipment to transmit information and images from base camp.

Mount Everest from an aerial view taken over Nepal. Climbers attempting to scale the world's highest peak now have access to high-speed Internet

On the climb, mountaineers carry handheld VHF radios to talk with base camp, though an expedition might also carry a satellite phone to contact sponsors and family.

For 25-year-old Leif Whittaker, who summited Everest for the first time in May - calling his mother on the descent, using a satellite phone - the advantage comes down to being able to easily phone home.

'Just being able to communicate with your family and friends would make it a lot easier to spend two months in a tent away from home,' said Whittaker, whose father, Jim Whittaker, was the first American to summit Everest.

But there is a risk that it could be a dangerous distraction, the Port Townsend, Washington, resident said. When attempting the summit, 'you need to stay focused in the moment.'

Dave Hahn, who has climbed Everest 12 times, more than any other American, noted that the north side base camp in Tibet has had cell service for several years, but not the south side in Nepal.

The 48-year-old from Taos, New Mexico, said that when he first climbed Everest in 1991, he had equipment that allowed him to transmit lines of Telex. 'That was pretty high-tech in 1991.'

And in 1999, when Hahn was on the expedition that found the body of legendary English mountaineer George Mallory, who died on Everest in 1924: 'I remember sitting up all night figuring out how to send the photos out in big enough resolution.'

That will be a thing of the past now. But might Facebook, Twitter and the high-pitched sound of dozens of cell phones ringing cheapen the experience?

'I hear that all the time,' Hahn said. 'And what can you say? Things change that way. And those of us who've beamed home pictures and stories from the place, well, we've accelerated that change.'

Gordon Janow, who helps set up base camps for expeditions led by Alpine Ascents International of Seattle, agreed.

Trekkers in the lower elevations of the Himalayas also use cell phones, and 'I don't know if it's good or bad,' he said. 'It was one of the few places you could go and lose yourself from the world.'

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Sex.com is sold for £8.2m at auction

The internet web address sex.com has been sold for $13m (£8.2m).

The distinctive name was put up for auction in July 2010 when its former owner, Escom LLC, went bankrupt.

Clover Holdings, a company registered on the Caribbean island of St Vincent, put in the highest bid for the domain.

The domain name for sex.com has been sold for $13m

At least 12 companies were understood to be bidding for the name. The price is among the highest ever paid for a domain.

In 2006 when Escom bought sex.com it is thought to have paid up to $14m for it.

The highest price ever paid for a domain was $16m, which marketing firm QuinStreet paid for insure.com in 1999.

Sex.com was first registered by Gary Kremen, the owner of the dating site Match.com, in 1994.

He later had the name 'hijacked' by a conman called Stephen Cohen and waged a long legal battle to retain control of the name.

Cohen ended up being jailed and fined more than $65million for stealing the domain name

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Columbus cleared of importing syphilis from America after skeletons from two centuries earlier show signs of disease

By Niall Firth
Last updated at 7:21 PM on 25th October 2010

Christopher Columbus and his crew have long been blamed for syphilis back from the Americas to Europe after their historic first voyage.

In 1493 they returned to Spain bringing news of lands across the Atlantic and the first cases of the potentially deadly disease thanks to their exploits abroad, it was believed.

But now scientists have found evidence that the disease existed in Europe long before Columbus was even born.

A syphilitic skull

A syphilitic skull with the tell-tale indentations on the forehead (file picture). A new discovery in London may prove that syphilis exists ed in Europe far earlier than previously thought

Skeletons unearthed in a cemetery at a church in East London show signs of the disease up to two centuries before the explorer first set sail.

Archaelogists excavating bones from St Mary Spital in East London found rough patches on skulls and limbs of some of the skeletons, telling evidence of syphilis.

Brian Connell, an expert from the Museum of London who studied the bones, said he had no doubt that the skeletons were buried before Columbus’ voyage. Radiocarbon dating of the samples is estimated to be 95 percent accurate.

Previous findings of early syphilitic bones have been inconclusive.

Mr Connell said: ‘We’re confident that Christopher Columbus is simply not a feature of the emergence and timing of the disease in Europe,’ he told The Times.

‘This puts the nail in the coffin of the Columbus theory.’

Two of the syphilitic skeletons unearthed at St Mary Spital are from 1200 - 1250 while the other five are from 1250 – 1400. They were buried with coins and other objects that helped the experts corroborate the radiocarbon dating results.

The site was named after the hospital nearby in the City of London and the skeleton were probably victims of the disease who were patients there.

Christopher Columbus has been blamed for bringing syphilis back from the Americas

One of the skeletons belong to a child who would have been blind, bald and had teeth that grew at a 45 degree angle through its jaw because of the disease.

Mr Connell said: ‘IT would have had gross facial disfigurement, which would have been very distressing for the child, who was about 10 years old when it died.

‘The skull, which should have been smooth, looks like a lunar landscape. It caused a bit of a stir when it was found because the symptoms are so obvious.’

Syphilis causes serious damage to the heart, brain, eyes and bones and if untreated can be fatal. It is carried by the bacterium Treponema palladium.

In an era hundreds of years before the discovery of antibiotics, syphilis quickly spread and was soon the scourge of every major city.

Ever since the first recorded case in Europe took place in 1495 - three years after Columbus's first voyage to the New World - doctors have argued over its origins.

Some have claimed that it existed in Europe in ancient times. But others have claimed it was the price of those early and often violent visits to Latin America.

Columbus was once credited with being the first European to reach the Americas, but it is now thought that the Vikings made the journey several centuries earlier.

Soon after syphilis crossed the Atlantic, the Europeans were quick to blame each other. It was called the French, the Naples and the Venetian disease.