“Swine flu jab 'is safe in pregnancy' - The Guardian” plus 4 more

Swine flu jab 'is safe in pregnancy' - The Guardian
Learn about H1N1 flu risks for pregnant women, infants - Asheville Citizen-Times
The importance of Zzzzzzzz's - Abilene Reporter-News
Pro-life feminist to speak at fundraiser - Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
'Hipster grifter' gets nine months - Trentonian

Swine flu jab 'is safe in pregnancy' - The Guardian

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 05:42 PM PDT

Research nurse drawing swine flu vaccine into syringe. Photograph: John Amis/AP

The vaccine against swine flu is completely safe for pregnant women and could also help to protect their unborn child, the government's chief adviser on immunisation said yesterday.

Pregnant women have been identified as being particularly vulnerable to complications from the virus, but a poll last month said that almost half of expectant mothers could refuse a vaccination over fears about its safety.

Professor David Salisbury, director of immunisation at the Department of Health, said that such worries were "theoretical, with no evidence".

"The evidence is cumulating that it is worthwhile vaccinating pregnant women and that there is a benefit both to them and to their infant," he told a seminar of health professionals at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

A government leaflet giving advice to pregnant women who are considering the vaccine has been drawn up, he added.

The government's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, told the seminar that, in contrast, the risks of contracting the swine flu virus were very real: "We know that pregnant women are at a higher risk of miscarriage and they are at higher risk of stillbirth and they are at higher risk of serious illness themselves. The problem is that we haven't really got enough data to be able to put numbers on it. We can't say to somebody what their risk is."

Having a vaccine in the midst of a major outbreak was a unique opportunity, Donaldson said. "In all previous pandemics we've been chasing after the virus and it's been almost too late to give a vaccine. This is the first time ever that it has been possible to have a vaccine in place close to the main peak of the pandemic."

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Learn about H1N1 flu risks for pregnant women, infants - Asheville Citizen-Times

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 09:16 PM PDT

HENDERSONVILLE — Park Ridge Hospital will offer a free presentation, H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) in Pregnancy and Infants, 6 p.m. today at the Lelia Patterson Center in Fletcher.

The presentation by Drs. Krishna Das and Heather Krueger, will discuss the risks of the flu to pregnant women and infants, how to prevent the flu and distinguishing H1N1 flu from a typical flu or cold.

To register, call 687-3947.

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The importance of Zzzzzzzz's - Abilene Reporter-News

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 10:07 PM PDT

While spouses of rafter-rattling snorers may occasionally think murderous thoughts, snoring is seldom fatal.

But when snoring is a sign of sleep apnea, a condition that causes breathing to be interrupted repeatedly during the night due to airway obstructions, it can signal some dire consequences.

Researchers are certain that obesity is a major contributor to sleep apnea, but studies have also found that the condition leads to high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and diabetes, among other problems.

A report in the journal Diabetes Care in June noted that out of 306 obese patients with type 2 diabetes, testing found that 87 percent of them also had obstructive sleep apnea, although most of them did not know it.

More than half of those tested stopped breathing between 16 and 20 times per hour (moderate apnea) or more than 30 times an hour (severe).

But the sleep-obesity loop is even more complicated. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, studying more than 200 people with sleep-related breathing disorders, found that as their conditions worsened, they actually burned more calories when they were at rest.

This is not the way nature intended. We're supposed to burn fewer calories when resting. The findings, along with other research, support the notion that disrupted sleep patterns disrupt hormones and metabolism over time and contribute to obesity and diabetes.

It's estimated that some 12 million Americans have sleep apnea.

Even a temporary onset of apnea, which often occurs in pregnant women, can cause problems. Researchers at Northwestern University reported last summer that women who were frequent snorers during pregnancy were about four times more likely to develop gestational diabetes than those who did not snore.

About 4 percent of pregnant women develop gestational diabetes, in which a woman without previously diagnosed diabetes develops high blood-sugar levels during pregnancy. This often leads to larger-than-normal babies and birth complications, as well as a greater risk of the infant having low blood sugar, metabolic problems and obesity later in life. Gestational diabetes usually dissipates after the woman gives birth.

Of course, most doctors tell people with sleep apnea that the best treatment in the long run is to lose weight. But only recently did scientists at Temple University and six other centers put the advice to a rigidly controlled test, with results published earlier in September.

Half of nearly 300 participants with sleep apnea and diabetes went into a group behavioral weight-loss program that included portion-controlled diets and prescribed 175 minutes of exercise a week. The control group got three lectures on diabetes management, diet and physical activity over the yearlong study.

The first group lost an average of 24 pounds, and 13.6 percent of the group had complete remission of sleep-apnea symptoms, compared with about 3.5 percent of the second group, which lost an average of 1 pound.

Other research shows that sleep disruption can also set the brain up for disease. A mouse study reported last week by the Washington University School of Medicine found that chronic sleep deprivation makes the brain plaques that characterize Alzheimer's disease appear earlier and more often.

Medical professionals treating Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative illnesses have long noted that many patients experience disturbed sleep. But until recently, it was thought that sleep disruption was more a byproduct of disease than a contributor.

By some estimates, as many as 70 percent to 80 percent of dementia patients also suffer from sleep apnea.

And scientists at the University of California, San Diego, last year showed for the first time that treating sleep apnea in patients with Alzheimer's actually seemed to improve cognitive function.

Specifically, putting patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's and sleep apnea on a machine that delivers pressurized air into the lungs during sleep over the course of six weeks resulted in improved test scores for things like verbal learning and mental processing.

While the mouse study indicates that sleep disruption may actually accelerate the disease process, the California scientists said the improvements they registered could simply be the result of improved oxygen levels in the brain and a clearer mind as a result of getting a better night's sleep.

Earlier studies in adults with sleep apnea, but no dementia, have also shown improvements in mental function after receiving the pressurized air therapy.

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Pro-life feminist to speak at fundraiser - Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 08:05 PM PDT

Sally Winn doesn't think the right to choose does anything to empower women.

Abortion, she argues, offers society an easy way out of unplanned pregnancies that shouldn't hold women back.

"Instead of changing women to fit society, we need to change society to fit women," the 37-year-old mother of two teenagers said.

Winn, a speaker and former vice president of Washington D.C.'s Feminists for Life advocacy group, will speak at a Thursday fundraiser in Lubbock and give a presentation Friday at the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center on how her anti-abortion views complement her feminist philosophies.

Women's rights advocates should help pregnant women find resources to avoid an abortion rather than offering women a way out of unplanned pregnancies, Winn said.

"We should be asking, 'what does she need so she can have her baby and not be forced to choose abortion?'," Winn said.

Winn said her organization speaks to students and works with colleges to help women navigate pregnancy and parenthood while staying in school.

"Women in that age range are at the highest risk for abortion," Winn said.

Raised "politically liberal," Winn said she didn't think much about abortion until she became unexpectedly pregnant during her junior year in college.

"There was no housing available and a waiting list for child care," she said. "I remember being hugely pregnant and barely able to squeeze into those one-piece desks."

She began thinking about how abortion had become a solution that "lets society off the hook."

"Abortion meant that they didn't have to help us; that it wasn't their problem," she said.

Lawrence D'Souza, executive director of Lubbock's Nurturing Center sees similar problems every day. The center helps women who otherwise feel they have no choice but to abort their pregnancy, he said.

"We're very excited to have Sally," D'Souza said of an Oct. 15 fundraiser. "She presented to Congress a very profound testimony of why we feel life is so precious."

Winn joined Feminists for Life in 1996. Some feminists tout abortion as an equalizer of men and women, but the earliest activists in the American women's rights movement were "anti-abortion with no known exceptions," she said.

Winn will talk about those views at an Oct. 16 presentation at Texas Tech University's Health Sciences Center.

"We're thankful to have a speaker who will challenge the perspectives of both liberals and conservatives, pro-lifers and pro-choicers," said Dan Rhoads, a second year medical student and vice president for the school's "HSC for Life" group.

"We are trying to foster discussion and debate among the medical community about the issues of abortion and euthanasia," he said.

Since three-and-a-half decades have passed since Roe vs. Wade cemented U.S. abortion rights, Winn said it's more important than ever to reach out to people.

"I'm rolling out the red carpet for young women who have thought about abortion, but didn't think they could disagree with it because of their political ideals," she said. "This gives them a chance to rethink things."

To comment on this story:

sarah.nightingale@lubbockonline.com uE06C 766-8796

shelly.gonzales@lubbockonline.com uE06C 766-8747

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'Hipster grifter' gets nine months - Trentonian

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 09:45 PM PDT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The heavily tattooed 22-year-old sweetheart known for swindling stylish Brooklyn beaus with lies about cancer and pregnancy has been sentenced to nine months in jail.

Dubbed the "hipster grifter" by Internet writers, Kari Michelle Ferrell of Utah was arrested in May in Philadelphia.

Ferrell pleaded guilty in August to third-degree felony forgery, two misdemeanor counts of issuing a bad check or draft and one misdemeanor count each of attempted forgery, attempted identify fraud and attempted issuing a bad check or draft.

Ferrell on Friday was given credit for 132 days she already served behind bars. She also was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $4,194 in restitution.

Before surrendering to Philadelphia police, Ferrell posted an apology on a New York City Web site saying she had "made some pretty terrible decisions" and was "taking care of things."

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