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FROM CNN: The question is asked of almost every expecting parent, "do you want a boy or a girl"? Thanks to the miracle of modern science, a growing number of parents now have the ability to choose their child's gender.But should they?
Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg is a fertility specialist--- who has developed a niche. He allows couples to choose the sex of their child. Simon: how many of them want boys? and how many want girls? Steinberg: it's an interesting question and it really turns out to be 50-50.
Dr. Steinberg advertises to an international audience and indeed patients come from all over. Business is up literally 80 fold from seven years ago. Steinberg says his Asian clients overwhelmingly favor boys because of cultural pressures. Canadians favor girls, but he doesn't know why. He says his American patients mainly come for "family balancing." "I come from a family of four girls, so I thought it would be nice to have a son,"said Bob Harrison. Bob and Mindy Harrison of Utah had four daughters, but felt like their family wasn't complete. "I love playing with dolls but sometime trucks are fun too. So they went through an invitro fertilization procedure at Dr. Steinberg's office.
This is the lab in where the eggs are fertilized.Once you have viable embryo, a single cell is extracted and looked at a high powered fluorescent microscope to see if the embryo is a male or a female. Gender selection is considered controversial. Most countries have banned it. One of the fears is that it could manipulate the ratio of boys to girls. Though it's legal in the united states, the country's leading fertility organization discourages it. Some religious groups don't like doctors interfering with what they consider "God's plan."
Other critics worry about the future. "Designing babies based on societal preferences. We could be opening the door to a society where there are new kinds of inequality and new kinds of discrimination. A world that we really would not want to live in."
"I guess we don't see any issues with it. We feel that as technology advances we can take advantage to enhance our lives and lives of others,it's a good thing. A good thing because Mindy and Bob now have their boys, twins Trevor and Tristan are now eight months old. "If we hadn't gone through this procedure, these two little boys wouldn't be here.
Dr. Steinberg says the technology is happening so fast that in addition to choosing things like hair and eye color parents will one day be able to choose babies that are healthier taller, more athletic. And he has absolutely no qualms of giving those parents exactly what they want.
I probably shouldn't share my thoughts on this one because it is so controversial. The one thing I can say is I have several friends who did in vitro due to infertility. It is expensive. I am surprised people would pay those fees for gender selection.
What are your thoughts about gender selection?
-NewsAnchorMom Jen
Don't forget to check out the TOT SPOT's big sale! 30% New, 40% gently worn and 50% Christmas clothing! Sales ends this Saturday. 3420 North Willow Knolls Drive, Peoria, between Kohl's and Coldwell Banker Realty.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Do you agree with Gender Selection?
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Kids with Low Iron
"Is there anything you could do for kids having low iron? I have a family member who's child has low iron,they have given medication,which she can't take,cause it's awful. Is there anything from experts out there that could also help,without the medication.What effects there are if the child can't get the iron to come up to where its normal?
I have read where low iron,could cause ADHD.How true is this? And are there any other health issues,from having low iron?
Thank you,I read your column daily,Some really good topics,Keep up the good work.
Mom of 2 boys."
Here's the response from Dr. Jared Rogers at Methodist Medical Center:
A child having 'low iron' is usually diagnosed by checking for anemia.This is done by drawing blood for a complete blood count (CBC).However, the CBC will only tell if the blood count is low. ONE of the causes for a low blood count is low iron. This can be confirmed by further blood testing.
If it is determined that the cause is low iron,it is important to determine why the iron is low. Is it simply that the child has been deficient in iron intake over a prolonged period of time,or is the child loosing small amounts of blood frequently, such as from a silent ulcer in the stomach or intestine? If it is the former, then iron intake needs to be increased. The foods that are rich in iron are numerous including red meats and green leafy vegetables.
One can take prescription iron preparations, but many times these taste 'yucky,' and the child won't take them. Chewable vitamins with iron 2 per day are not quite as good as the prescription iron preparations for replacement,but are much more palatable.Low iron may be reflected in fatigue, exercise intolerance, learning disabilities and listlessness. Whatever is causing the low iron is important to be discovered and the problem should be closely followed by a physician until it is resolved.Hope that helps.
My kids don't eat red meat or anything green and leafy. I wouldn't be surprised if they are low in iron. I never really thought about it until now. They have both had blood work though and it came back normal. So maybe not!
-NewsAnchorMom Jen
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Peanut Butter: Criminal Charges!
This really irks me!! I love peanut butter!
From ABC: Georgia's top agriculture official is urging federal prosecutors to criminally investigate a peanut processing plant linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration says the Peanut Corporation of America plant in Georgia repeatedly shipped products it knew tested positive for salmonella.
The salmonella outbreak has sickened hundreds and may have contributed to eight deaths.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Foods Containing Mercury Revealed
You have got to read this post. There is most likely something your family eats on this list!
From Environmental Health: Mercury cell chlor-alkali products are used to produce thousands of other products including food ingredients such as citric acid, sodium benzoate, and high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup is used in food products to enhance shelf life. A pilot study was conducted to determine if high fructose corn syrup contains mercury, a toxic metal historically used as an anti-microbial. High fructose corn syrup samples were collected from three different manufacturers and analyzed for total mercury.
The samples were found to contain levels of mercury ranging from below a detection limit of 0.005 to 0.570 micrograms mercury per gram of high fructose corn syrup. Average daily consumption of high fructose corn syrup is about 50 grams per person in the United States. With respect to total mercury exposure, it may be necessary to account for this source of mercury in the diet of children and sensitive populations.
Product Name : Total Mercury Limit of Detection (ppt)
Quaker Oatmeal to Go 350 80
Jack Daniel’s Barbecue Sauce (Heinz) 300 100
Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup 257 50
Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce 200 100
Nutri-Grain Strawberry Cereal Bars 180 80
Manwich Bold Sloppy Joe 150 80
Market Pantry Grape Jelly 130 80
Smucker’s Strawberry Jelly 100 80
Pop-Tarts Frosted Blueberry 100 80
Hunt’s Tomato Ketchup 87 50
Wish-Bone Western Sweet & Smooth Dressing 72 50
Coca-Cola Classic 62 50
Yoplait Strawberry Yogurt 60 20
Minute Maid Berry Punch 40 30
Yoo-hoo Chocolate Drink 30 20
Nesquik Chocolate Milk 30 20
Kemps Fat Free Chocolate Milk 30 20
Hershey's chocolate syrup and Nutri-grain bars are staples at my house. Ugh!
-NewsAnchorMom Jen
Octuplets
From ABC: The octuplets born to a mother in Bellflower, California are doing very well and breathing on their own Tuesday.
Dr. Mandhir Gupta, a neonatologist at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center, says the eight babies were in stable condition and have all been taken off breathing tubes.
Two of the newborns - the second live octuplets born in U.S. history - were initially put on ventilators, but their breathing tubes have been removed. The mother, who was not identified, gave birth Monday to the six boys and two girls weighing between one pound, eight ounces, and three pounds, four ounces.
The eighth baby was a surprise to the parents and doctors who had been expecting only seven children.
Whoa! That is incredible. What an amazing blessing that those babies are still here with us today. I can't imagine having eight kids, especially if they were all the same age. Wow!
It sounds like the parents have decided not release any pictures of the eight littles ones just yet. Maybe they will later!
-NewsAnchorMom Jen
Monday, January 26, 2009
Moms having cardiac arrest increases
It's a medical mystery.. a type of heart failure that can kill a woman just after giving birth. This is really scary. The warning signs are so vague and there's no way to tell who might be at risk. The woman in the story below already had one labor and delivery with no problems. Why were things different with the second child? I am going to forward this story to friends and family! It's just not something you think about when you have a newborn at home.
From ABC: This heart attack that impacts women after giving birth strikes as many as 3,000 new mothers every year and perhaps most frightening: the symptoms, such as fatigue, are so common to new mothers, they are usually missed.
She had just given birth to her second child two months earlier, so Tanya Ginther thought it only natural to feel tired and out of breath. But packing the car in the garage, Tanya collapsed. She had gone into cardiac arrest. Her husband, Mike, called 9-1-1 and for next 16 minutes performed CPR on his wife.
(9-1-1 call) "Come on, god damn it! (Bleep) Come on! There you go! There you go, honey. Breathe, girl! Breathe!"
At the Bismarck, North Dakota hospital, her heart stopped again and again. And each time, doctors had to shock it back to life. Tanya was suffering from that mysterious condition called "peripartum cardiomyopathy".
(Dr. Sharonne Hayes) (Mayo Clinic) "The heart muscle weakens in the last months of pregnancy. We don't know what causes it. It could be inflammation, or a virus, or the changes in hormones ." Doctors predicted Tanya wouldn't not survive more than a day or two. Her only hope was to get to a major medical center hundreds of miles away to get a heart pump.
But inside this air ambulance, at 30-thousand feet her heart failed yet again. (Tim Alden) (Mayo Clinic air nurse) "She arrested and we had to shock her heart back into rhythm . But for about 45 minutes there in the flight we were holding our breath." By the time she reached the Mayo Clinic... her organs were shutting down from lack of blood. Doctors said was now too sick to have the heart pump surgery. (Mike Ginther) (husband) "They said, 'we're sorry, but she's going."
Surprisingly, Tanya's condition then improved ever so slightly enough at least to get that heart pump. And with each passing day, and the help of that pump, her heart gained strength. Within a month she was back home and the pump was soon disconnected. Doctors now say Tanya's story should be a warning to any new mother.
(Dr. Sharonne Hayes) (Mayo Clinic) "If you're really short of breath, or light-headed, or you continue to swell you need to see a doctor." (Tanya) "Don't feel like you're overreacting. When it comes to your heart and your life you can't overreact." Not with so much at stake.
-NewsAnchorMom Jen
Don't forget to check out the TOT SPOT's big sale! 30% New, 40% gently worn and 50% Christmas clothing! Sales ends this Saturday. 3420 North Willow Knolls Drive, Peoria, between Kohl's and Coldwell Banker Realty.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Lack of Vaccinncation= Death?
FROM CNN: A childhood illness that has mostly been curbed through vaccinations has killed one child and sickened four others in Minnesota, health officials said Friday. The five children were infected with a bacterial infection known as Hib: Haemophilus influenzae type b.
Three of the affected children had not received any vaccinations, including the 7-month-old who died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"The situation is of concern," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease at the CDC. "It could be happening elsewhere, and of course it's tragic that one of the children actually died from a preventable disease."
Hib primarily affects infants and children under 5 years of age. The vaccine prevents pneumonia, epiglottis (severe throat infection) and meningitis, which is an infection of the covering of the brain and spinal cord, caused by the bacteria.
One in 20 children infected with Hib dies, according to the CDC. And survivors of the disease can become deaf; 10 to 30 percent have permanent brain damage.
"Parents may not realize the importance of this vaccine," Schuchat said. "The disease is still around."
People tend to "think it's gone because it has not been seen for a while. Clearly, the bacteria is in the community in Minnesota, and babies that haven't gotten their vaccines are at risk," she said.
Before vaccines became widely used, about 20,000 Hib cases were reported each year in the country. After children began receiving the vaccinations in the early 1990s, CDC officials said, there was a 99 percent drop in cases.
A shortage of the Hib vaccine is also causing concern, officials said.
One of the two companies that produce the vaccine, Merck Inc., recalled more than a million doses in December 2007 because of contamination. The recall left a unit of Sanofi Aventis as the only vaccine supplier, creating a shortage.
Under normal circumstances, the first series of the Hib vaccine is administered to children when they are 2, 4 and 6 months old. A booster shot is administered between a child's 12th and 15th month.
Because of the vaccine shortage, the CDC recommended that the primary series for infants should get priority and that older children, who have stronger immune systems, should defer the booster shot until the supply situation improved. Officials said the supply should be back to normal by this summer.
The vaccine shortage did not cause the infection of the five Minnesota children, federal and state health officials said. Three of the children had not received any vaccination because of their parents' decisions, not because of a vaccine shortage, officials said.
One of the infected children, a 5-month old, had not completed the three-dose series of the vaccination, and a 15-month old child had received all doses but had an immune deficiency.
The cases are not related and were in different counties, said Dr. Ruth Lynfield, Minnesota state epidemiologist.
But the shortage may be having an effect in the community.
"When there are high immunization rates, there is herd immunity," Lynfield said. "It may be that because of the shortage, that herd immunity has dropped. That first manifests in unimmunized children."
Some parents don't vaccinate their children because of claims that childhood vaccinations cause autism. Health agencies say there is no evidence linking vaccines to autism.
"For parents that are wavering about whether they need the vaccine, they need to know it's an important vaccine to protect their child from serious infection," Schuchat said.
The Minnesota cases have alarmed health officials because "this is the highest number of cases that we have had since 1992, when vaccines became widely used," Lynfield said.
In 1987, the national rate of Hib meningitis was 41 cases per 100,000 children under the age of 5. After the Hib vaccine was introduced, the rate had fallen to 0.11 per 100,000 in 2007, according to the CDC.What are your thoughts on this?
-NewsAnchorMom Jen
Don't forget to check out the TOT SPOT's big sale! 30% New, 40% gently worn and 50% Christmas clothing! Sales ends this Saturday. 3420 North Willow Knolls Drive, Peoria, between Kohl's and Coldwell Banker Realty.
