Steam cells discovered in breast milk

UWA discovers 'ethical' embryonic-like stem cells in breast milk
Courtney Trenwith October 18, 2011

UWA PhD student Foteini Hassiotou has discovered stem cells can be obtained from breast milk.

Serious and fatal diseases such as pancreatic cancer, Parkinson's disease and diabetes may eventually be treated using stem cells from breast milk following a remarkable discovery at the University of Western Australia.
UWA PhD student Foteini Hassiotou has potentially broken through the greatest hurdle in stem cell research - the ability to ethically obtain stem cells in a non-invasive manner.
Her finding that stem cells from breast milk can be directed to become other body cell types such as bone, fat, liver and brain cells, could reduce the need to use embryonic stem cells and therefore fast-track future therapies.

Why Is Average IQ Higher in Some Places?

Source: Scientific American

Being smart is the most expensive thing we do. Not in terms of money, but in a currency that is vital to all living things: energy.  One study found that newborn humans spend close to 90 percent of their calories on building and running their brains. (Even as adults, our brains consume as much as a quarter of our energy.) If, during childhood, when the brain is being built, some unexpected energy cost comes along, the brain will suffer. Infectious disease is a factor that may rob large amounts of energy away from a developing brain. This was our hypothesis, anyway, when my colleagues, Corey Fincher and Randy Thornhill, and I published a paper on the global diversity of human intelligence.

A great deal of research has shown that average IQ varies around the world, both across nations and within them. The cause of this variation has been of great interest to scientists for many years. At the heart of this debate is whether these differences are due to genetics, environment or both.

Breastfeeding is Associated with Improved Child Cognitive Development: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Source: Science Direct 

Maria A. Quigley BA, MSc^a, , , Christine Hockley BA^a, Claire Carson BSc, MSc, PhD^a, Yvonne Kelly BSc, PhD^b, Mary J. Renfrew RGN, SCM, DN, BSc, PhD^c, Amanda Sacker BSc, PhD^b

Purchase

a	National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

b	Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, Essex, United Kingdom

c	Mother and Infant Research Unit, University of York, York, United Kingdom

Received 12 February 2011; revised 31 May 2011; Accepted 23 June 2011. Available online 11 August 2011.

Objective

To assess the association between breastfeeding and child cognitive development in term and preterm children.

Study design

We analyzed data on white singleton children from the United Kingdom Millennium Cohort Study. Children were grouped according to breastfeeding duration. Results were stratified by gestational age at birth: 37 to 42 weeks (term, n = 11 101), and 28 to 36 weeks (preterm, n = 778). British Ability Scales tests were administered at age 5 years (naming vocabulary, pattern construction, and picture similarities subscales).

Results

The mean scores for all subscales increased with breastfeeding duration. After adjusting for confounders, there was a significant difference in mean score between children who were breastfed and children who were never breastfed: in term children, a two-point increase in score for picture similarities (when breastfed ≥4 months) and naming vocabulary (when breastfed ≥6 months); in preterm children, a 4-point increase for naming vocabulary (when breastfed ≥4 months) and picture similarities (when breastfed ≥2 months) and a 6-point increase for pattern construction (when breastfed ≥2 months). These differences suggest that breastfed children will be 1 to 6 months ahead of children who were never breastfed.

Conclusions

In white, singleton children in the United Kingdom, breastfeeding is associated with improved cognitive development, particularly in children born preterm.

New Moms Who Express Milk by Hand Breastfeed Longer, UCSF Study Finds

Source:
Juliana Bunim
juliana.bunim@ucsf.edu
415-502-6397

July 19, 2011

Dawn Reidy, coordinator of Lactation Services, right, visits with parents Anders and Aimee Persson and their newborn son Leonard at UCSF Medical Center.

New mothers who practice expressing their breast milk by hand during the first days following their child’s birth are more likely to still be nursing two months later than mothers who use an electric breast pump, according to findings from a new study led by researchers at UCSF.

The randomized trial, which focused on healthy, full-term newborns having trouble nursing, is the first to compare how the two methods of milk collection affect future breastfeeding.

“Until now, we didn’t know which technique was preferable in the early postpartum period. This study provides the first evidence in favor of hand expression,” said lead author Valerie Flaherman, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of pediatrics at UCSF and pediatrician at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. “Based on our findings, clinicians should consider recommending hand expression to new moms whose babies are feeding poorly.”

Study findings are published online by the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, and will appear in an upcoming print issue of the journal.

Breastfeeding is known to offer wide-ranging preventive health benefits for babies, reducing their risk for infections and chronic diseases including diabetes, asthma and obesity, and providing the perfect balance of nutrients to help infants grow into strong and healthy toddlers. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that women who do not have health problems exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of life to give maximum benefits to their child.

A Look at the Research: The Link Between Epidural Analgesia and Breastfeeding

Science & sensibility by Lamaze is bringing us a review of latest research on use of epidural analgesia with possible link to breastfeeding difficulties after the delivery. 

It’s probably fair to say that most women who decide to have an epidural during labor don’t consider its possible impact on breastfeeding. Perhaps this is because no thought is given generally to any possible links between drugs and breastfeeding success (or otherwise). Instead, both pregnant (or laboring) women and caregivers usually assume that breastfeeding is a separate issue. Evidence from early research certainly doesn’t seem to support that view and a little common sense would also lead us to challenge it further…

Stress-Defeating Effects of Exercise Traced to Emotional Brain Circuit

NIMH National Institute of Mental Health confirmed stress-defeating benefits of exercise .

Evidence in both humans and animals points to emotional benefits from exercise, both physical and mental. Now, in recent experiments with mice, scientists have traced the stress-buffering effect of activity to a brain circuit known to be involved in emotional regulation as well as mood disorders and medication effects. The finding is a clue to understanding the neurological roots of resilience, key to developing new means of prevention and treatment for stress-related illness.

Background

In ongoing research, NIMH scientists have used a mouse model that mirrors particularly well the impact of social stress on mood in humans. Male mice are intensely aggressive when housed together; if these mice are placed in conditions that result in defeat by another mouse, they will behave in a way that mimics depression, much like a human might. Previous research demonstrated that mice housed in an environment with plenty of opportunities for exercise and exploration are relatively unfazed by bullying; they are resilient compared to mice housed in more spartan surroundings. The benefits from activity and stimulation depend on the growth of new neurons in the brain in mice (Novel Model of Depression from Social Defeat Shows Restorative Power of Exercise). A next step was to pinpoint where in the brain changes were taking place in response to exercise that resulted in stress resilience.

Breastfeeding and Reduced Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: A Meta-analysis

American Academy of Pediatrics published results of the meta-analysis studying connection between breastfeeding and SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Results showed that breastfeeding lowers risk of postneonatal mortality ( death of newborn from any cause) including SIDS.

1. Fern R. Hauck, MD, MS, 
2. John M. D. Thompson, PhD,
3. Kawai O. Tanabe, MPH, 
4. Rachel Y. Moon, MD,
5. Mechtild M. Vennemann, MD, PhD

1. ABSTRACT

   Context: Benefits of breastfeeding include lower risk of postneonatal mortality. However, it is unclear whether breastfeeding specifically lowers sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) risk, because study results have been conflicting.

C-section not best option for breech birth (Research)

The Globe and mail informs us about a new guidelines for birthing breech positioned baby.

Physicians should no longer automatically opt to perform a cesarean section in the case of a breech birth, according to new guidelines by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada.

Released yesterday, the guidelines are a response to new evidence that shows many women are safely able to vaginally deliver babies who enter the birth canal with the buttocks or feet first. Normally, the infant descends head first.

New breastfeeding recommendations by American Academy of Pediatrics ( Research)

Fat and Energy Contents of Expressed Human Breast Milk in Prolonged Lactation

ABSTRACT

1. Dror Mandel, MD, MHA*‡, 
2. Ronit Lubetzky, MD*‡§, 
3. Shaul Dollberg, MD, FACN*‡, 
4. Shimon Barak, MD*, 
5. Francis B. Mimouni, MD, FAAP, FACN*‡

Objective. To estimate fat and energy contents of human milk during prolonged lactation.

Methods. Thirty-four mothers, of term, healthy, growing children, who had been lactating for >1 year (12–39 months) were recruited. Control subjects were 27 mothers, of term infants, who had been lactating for 2 to 6 months. Fat contents of the milk samples were estimated as creamatocrit (CMT) levels. Energy contents of the milk were measured with a bomb calorimeter.

Results. The groups did not differ in terms of maternal height and diet, infant birth weight, gestational age, or breastfeeding frequency. They differed significantly in terms of maternal age, maternal weight, and BMI. The mean CMT levels were 7.36 ± 2.65% in the short-duration group and 10.65 ± 5.07% in the long-lactation group. The mean energy contents were 3103.7 ± 863.2 kJ/L in the short-duration group and 3683.2 ± 1032.2 kJ/L in the long-duration group. The mean CMT levels and mean energy contents were correlated significantly with the duration of lactation (R² = 0.22 and R² = 0.23, respectively). In multivariate regression analysis, CMT levels (or energy contents) were not influenced by maternal age, diet, BMI, or number of daily feedings but remained significantly influenced by the duration of lactation.

Conclusions. Human milk expressed by mothers who have been lactating for >1 year has significantly increased fat and energy contents, compared with milk expressed by women who have been lactating for shorter periods. During prolonged lactation, the fat energy contribution of breast milk to the infant diet might be significant.