Vaccines are Likely to Cause Insulin Dependent Diabetes in Over 2% of Children With a Strong Family History of Insulin Dependent Diabetes, New Data Indicates

Newly published data by Dr. J. Barthelow Classen shows that vaccines are particularly likely to cause diabetes in children with a strong family history of insulin dependent diabetes. Previous papers provided proof that vaccines cause diabetes in vaccine recipients at a rate which exceeds their benefit in the general population. New data indicates vaccines are particularly toxic to those with a strong family history of diabetes. For example, the hemophilus vaccine which had been proven to cause diabetes in approximately 1 in every 2,000 immunized children in the general public has now been linked to causing diabetes in 1 in every 50 immunized children (2%) who have a sibling with insulin dependent diabetes. The new data is published in the Open Pediatric Medicine Journal. An accompanying article in the same journal links the hepatitis B vaccine to insulin dependent diabetes.

“The recent data shows that common childhood vaccines are especially dangerous to children with a strong family history of diabetes. Parents of a child with a strong family history of insulin dependent diabetes or other should know that the administration of a full series of vaccines may have a greater than 5% chance of causing their child to develop diabetes.”

Classen’s research has become widely accepted. To view the published papers and to find out the latest information on the effects of vaccines on autoimmune diseases including insulin dependent diabetes visit the Vaccine Safety Web site

Study suggests higher levels of antisocial behaviour in children of mothers with depression

This study sits rather uneasily with me, though it’s worth bearing in mind that I only had access to a few brief paragraphs, rather than the entire paper.

However, for what it’s worth, researchers at King’s College, London, studied 1,116 sets of twins, finding much higher levels of antisocial behaviour in 7-year-olds whose mothers had suffered depression during the child’s first five years of life.

The greatest risk of “problem behaviours” were in children of mothers who also exhibited signs of antisocial personality disorder.

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Girls who eat with their families less likely to do extreme diets

Yet again, more research which shows the benefits of families eating together.

Teens who frequently (five or more times per week) eat together with the rest of their family are less likely to use extreme methods — such as binge eating and self-induced vomiting — to control their weight five years later.

That’s according to research by Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota and lead investigator of Project Eating Among Teens (Project EAT) at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

The same doesn’t appear to be true for boys.

“Health care professionals have an important role to play in reinforcing the benefits of family meals, helping families set realistic goals for increasing family meal frequency given schedules of adolescents and their parents; exploring ways to enhance the atmosphere at family meals with adolescents; and discussing strategies for creating healthful and easy-to-prepare family meals,” said Neumark-Sztainer. “Schools and community organizations should also be encouraged to make it easier for families to have shared mealtimes on a regular basis.”

(Via Insight News)

Study suggests educational DVDs and TV may not be so good for baby after all

This article was first published at Tech Digest:

A new study from researchers at the University of Washington suggests that using educational TV and DVD, such as the “Baby Einstein” and “Brainy Baby” series, or “Sesame Street”, may not be as beneficial for babies and young children as many hoped.

It’s hardly a crime for parents to let their children watch some TV, and if it’s teaching them something too, so much the better (at least, better than letting them watch Big Brother). Even so, the study suggests that for every hour per day that babies watch these DVDs and videos, they learn six to eight fewer new vocabulary words than babies who hadn’t watched them.

Now, parents being told what’s best for their kids by University boffins often leads to emotions running high. While these studies suggest that children who sit passively in front of TV shows don’t do as well educationally, child-raising is a helluva lot more complicated than that.

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1 in 8 campaign launches to bring parents and premature babies closer together

According to research, only 18% of parents of premature or ill babies in special care know how to recognise their babies distress signals, and are able to comfort them.

Today sees the launch of the 1 in 8 campaign - supported by Fairy Non Bio, and BLISS, the premature baby charity - a groundbreaking research project that will look at new techniques to help parents be more involved in their baby’s care from day one.

As the name suggests, 1 in 8 babies in the UK are born premature or sick, and often the most natural instincts of a parent, to hold and soothe their child, are made difficult or uncomfortable in these situations due to being surrounded by medical equipment and complicated procedures.

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Parental divorce is key factor in break-ups amongst their children

This may sound obvious to some, but a new study suggests that the rate of relational and marital breakup was higher amongst those whose parents had divorced.

The study looked at other factors, such as genetics or parental substance abuse, but found that divorce itself was a key factor that lead to the higher rate in children.

Brian D’Onofrio, assistant professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, said that when a host of variables are taken into consideration, such as genetic risks and socioeconomic factors, the real divorce still accounts for around 66 percent of the increased risk of divorce faced by children of divorced parents. “This means the transmission is not due to psychological or substance abuse problems that are passed from parents to the offspring. It’s something very unique about the separation of one’s parents. The societal implications are very important because divorce is such a painful experience for both adults and children. This further suggests that interventions specifically targeted at the consequences of divorce are important for our society,” D’Onofrio said.

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Teens and pre-teens increase cell phone use during the summer

When school’s out, children and teenagers are increasingly to be found using their mobile phone, according to a new Disney Mobile Cell and Tell survey by Harris Interactive.

Teen and tween cell phone use in the summer jumps to more than 3 hours and 45 minutes a day, an increase of more than an hour a day as compared with a normal school day.

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More British grandparents caring for grandchildren than ever before, research suggests

New research from Metanium suggests that British grandparents are more involved than ever with the care of their grandchildren.

Some five million grandparents now spend three days per week caring for their grandchildren.

Childcare is major source of concern for working parents. Cost is a key factor, but trust is even more important – and an increasing number of mums and dads are solving the problem by keeping it in the family and turning to their own parents for help

Statistics show that the percentage of children receiving care from their grandparents is on its way to being tripled from 33% in the 1930s to 82% today.

Unlike the grandparents of the 1930s, today’s grandparents have sophisticated toys, gadgets and electronic devices to help in their childcare role. In spite of that, good old fashioned cuddles, walks and snuggling up with a book are still favourite activities.

Sticks and stones: Verbal abuse of children can lead to PTSD

Psychiatrists at Harvard University have challenged the old playground rhyme.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” might have served some purpose at some time in the face of a tirade of name-calling, but actually a constant barrage of verbal attacks—yelling, shouting, swearing, insults, demeaning, ridiculing, and casting unfair blame—can in fact be as traumatic for a child as experiencing or witnessing some types of physical or sexual abuse.

Constant and severe verbal abuse can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The Harvard news site reports:

Many studies tie physical and sexual abuse to lasting effects on the brain and behavior, but emotional mistreatment has not received the same focus. “Exposure to verbal aggression has received little attention as a specific form of abuse,” notes Martin Teicher, associate professor of psychiatry at McLean Hospital, a Harvard-affiliated psychiatric facility. “This despite the fact that one national study found that 63 percent of American parents reported one or more instances of verbal aggression, such as swearing at and insulting their child.”

Other researchers have associated childhood verbal abuse with a significantly higher risk of developing unstable, angry personalities, narcissistic behavior, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and paranoia. “Verbal abuse may also have more lasting consequences than other forms of abuse, because it’s often more continuous,” says Teicher. “And in combination with physical abuse and neglect [it] may produce the most dire outcome. However, child protective service agencies, doctors, and lawyers are most concerned about the impact and prevention of physical or sexual abuse.”

The article raises some interesting points, and concludes that the occasional harsh or angry word won’t traumatise a child for life, but frequent verbal bashing “could be as bad as sticks and stones that break their bones.”
Study or no study, I know many people who have rightfully dismissed this unhelpful rhyme.

I personally don’t know where it came from, or why it was used—frequently, from memory—in the playground.

Verbal abuse leaves no visible bruises, cuts, or scars, but the emotional trauma it can cause, both at the time, and years afterwards, can be immense.

Ancestry.com members have created over 1 million family trees in last 6 months

OK it’s a blatant plug for Ancestry.com (with which I have no affiliation) but their latest news is that in the past six months, over 1 million people have created family trees using their online service.

Their press release states: “In building family trees, users have added an estimated 150 million names, uploaded 400,000 photos and attached 10 million family history documents directly from Ancestry.com’s 23,000 historical records collections.”

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