- Ukraine: Chornobyl - Polissia - International Partnerships
- Geno-Terato-Epi-Tome (Genetics - Teratology - Epidemiology in Brief) - 2006 Issue
- American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR): Position Statement on Environmental Health
- Lessons from Ukraine can help babies
- Wertelecki To Speak on Long-term Impact of Chornobyl nuclear disaster (cached)
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Spina Bifida Prevention And The Law
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“Was It Possible To Prevent Your Baby’s Spina Bifida or Encephalocele?”
The above heading prepared by a law firm is prominently displayed on a website concerned with “spina bifida advocacy”. The legal experts state their interest in “injured children and their parents in claims arising from the failure of some doctors to recommend that their female patients take prenatal vitamins or multi vitamins containing folic acid before they become pregnant in order to prevent Spina Bifida or other Neural Tube Defects.”
The above may be representative of a trend - imposing spina bifida prevention on health systems through the threat of legal actions.
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“Was It Possible To Prevent Your Baby’s Spina Bifida or Encephalocele?”
- New Ukrainian Minister of Health informed about Spina Bifida epidemic
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Women may possess a hidden cache of stem cells in the bone marrow
- Women may possess a hidden cache of stem cells in the bone marrow that constantly replenishes ovaries with new eggs is noted in a report by Joshua Johnson et al in Cell,122:303,2005. Further, bone marrow transplantation restores oocyte production in mice sterilized by chemotherapy as well as in ataxia telangiectasia-mutated gene-deficient mice incapable of making oocytes ...
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Scientists must abandon outdated models of micronutrients ... the optimum amount of vitamins and minerals ...
is the amount that maximizes a healthy lifespan ...
- Bruce N. Ames in EMBO reports 6:S20,2005 states that to maximize human health and lifespan, scientists must abandon outdated models of micronutrients. The optimal amount of vitamins, minerals and essential biochemicals and the amount that maximizes a healthy lifespan are likely to be higher than the amount needed to prevent acute deficiency diseases. …
Fortification of food is another useful approach, such as the addition of folate to flour, or calcium to juice.
Micronutrient deficiencies can cause DNA damage, which may ultimately lead to cancer. Although 5–9 portions of fruit and vegetables a day are advised, 80% of American children and adolescents and 68% of adults do not eat five portions daily (Ames, 2001).
Fruits and vegetables are a main source of folate, and low folate intake has been associated with several types of cancer (Ames & Wakimoto, 2002). Folate deficiency causes chromosome breaks due to the massive incorporation of uracil in the DNA (Blount et al, 1997). Before the recent folate supplementation of flour in the USA, 25% of the population and close to half of poor urban minorities had levels of folate intake that are associated with high uracil content and DNA breaks. Deficiencies (less than 50% of the RDA) of vitamins B12 or B6 also cause high levels of uracil incorporation in human DNA and chromosome breaks (Crost et al, 2001a,b).
Zinc deficiency is associated with cancer in both humans and rodent models (Fong et al, 2005) ...
- Bruce N. Ames in EMBO reports 6:S20,2005 states that to maximize human health and lifespan, scientists must abandon outdated models of micronutrients. The optimal amount of vitamins, minerals and essential biochemicals and the amount that maximizes a healthy lifespan are likely to be higher than the amount needed to prevent acute deficiency diseases. …
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Sir Richard Doll - World Pioneer - Epidemiology
- "... one of the greatest epidemiologist ever ... his work prevented millions of deaths ... it will continue to do so".
Sir Richard Doll died at the age of 92. He was the Regius professor of medicine at Oxford, an appointment made by the prime minister. His pioneering studies demonstrated, among other important findings, that small doses of ionizing radiation are carcinogenic, that asbestos exposure is linked to lung cancer and mesothelioma, that cigarette smoking is linked to lung cancer, that the benefits of oral contraceptives outweigh the small associated risks, among many other landmark investigations.
Read More
- "... one of the greatest epidemiologist ever ... his work prevented millions of deaths ... it will continue to do so".
Newsletters (General Sources)
- Top of the Week - Birth Defects Epidemiology, Prevention and Public Health
- Advocacy Update - March of Dimes
- NBDPN Newsletters and Reports
- Genomics and Disease Prevention
- National Center for Health Statistics, Trends in Spina Bifida
- The Geneletter
- The Human Consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident: A Strategy for Recovery (Part A, Part B, Part C, Part D)
- "Revolutionary" treatment ... to treat diaphragmatic hernia, a life-threatening birth defect
- Folic Acid
- Birth Defects to be monitored in Ukraine
- Thalidomide is back - A Review
- AAP - Supports insurance coverage/reconstructive surgery
- Few are aware of vitamin defense against birth defects, poll reveals in Alabama
- Of Dreaming on Solid Grounds and Silent Triumphs of One Man
- Delayed Diagnosis of Fragile X Syndrome --- United States, 1990--1999
- F. Hoffmann-La Roche and BASF agree to pay record criminal fines for participating in international vitamin cartel
- Crowning Achievement. A story of a 27-year-old artist with cerebral palsy
- Researchers discover most common cause of genetic hearing loss
- Can the anthrax vaccine be taken by military members who are pregnant?
- Out of 5,208 children screened in Ukraine's northern oblasts of Rivne, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr and Volyn, 250 had nodules in their thyroid glands (4.8 percent) ...
- Dr. James V. Neel (1915-2000), pioneer in human genetic research: Obituary
