Posted on 01/06/2005 3:16:36 PM PST by neverdem
FINDINGS
Nearly half of all infants born extremely premature have significant learning and physical disabilities by the time they reach school age, the largest such study has found.
Medical advances have allowed doctors to save earlier and smaller babies.
Normal pregnancy is 37 to 42 weeks. Neil Marlow, a neonatologist at the University of Nottingham in Britain, and colleagues looked at 241 children about 6 years old who had been born between 22 and 25 weeks. They found that 46 percent had severe or moderate disabilities such as cerebral palsy, vision or hearing loss and learning problems; 34 percent were mildly disabled; and 20 percent had no disabilities. They report the findings in today's New England Journal of Medicine.
Energy Burst May Have Been Spawned by Giant Black Hole
--snip--
In Study, Antibiotics Effective Against Lou Gehrig's Disease
Antibiotics could one day help patients suffering from neurological diseases, scientists said yesterday.
If a family of antibiotics produces the same effect in humans as it did in mice, researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore believe the drugs could help to prevent nerve damage and death in illnesses such as dementia, stroke and epilepsy.
In studies of mice genetically engineered to develop amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, researchers discovered that daily injections of the drug ceftriaxone improved survival and reduced symptoms of the disease that attacks nerve cells and causes paralysis and death.
They found that the drug turned on a gene that increased the number of transporters that remove the brain chemical glutamate from nerves. Glutamate usually helps electrical signals travel from one nerve to another, but too much of the chemical can kill nerves.
A team led by Jeffrey Rothstein, a professor of neurology and neuroscience, reported the findings in the journal Nature.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It's heartbreaking to see little fetuses struggling for life, and the outcome isn't always great. But it certainly does give one an appreciation for how precious life is.
It pays to read these things thoroughly. I went to the EPICure Study Group website and only then did I realize that the Washington Post was lumping the 22 percent with severe disabilities in with the 24 percent moderate disabilities to reach their "nearly half." I'm more convinced there is an agenda from the Washington Post. Read what the people who conducted the study had to say here: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/human-development/EPICure/041229%20EPICure%20Study%20and%20BLISS%20press%20release.htm
This study supports the info I found after we had PPROM at 17w. Just getting to 24 weeks seemed like a miracle at that point. IIRC, the survival rate at 24w is around 50% and conventional wisdom is that the significant disability rate of survivors is equal to the survival rate.
I see where you are coming from. But in the end the neo-natal costs or SS will be too high and abortion will be promoted. When the issue becomes money then the issue isn't pro-life.
I'm sure I've told you this before. My ob/gyn wanted us to get genetic counseling after our mid-term ultrasound showed "water on the kidneys" in our son. Apparently that is a "soft" sign of Down's. I chose to go to a hospital closer to our home. She wasn't happy because "they won't do abortions there after 24 weeks". Gee, who would I want to get the counseling from, the ones who would abort or those who had no stake in the thing? Anyway, our son was born perfectly healthy. The "water on the kidneys" is just how his kidney is formed. Like an innie versus an outie belly button. How many mom's have been scared into abortion over such a stupid thing!!!
Of course there is a hidden agenda. The WaPo distorts the real truth, and makes those who have had or are thinking about getting an abortion feel good about themselves.
Wow, then are you saying you are for fixing SS because I see all kinds of posts that are pro-life yet against the elderly for wanting SS. But then again I see the mood of many on this board representing pro-life yet turning on the elderly because of AARP and SS. I suppose because this is about 'the children' and when it comes to the children money is insignificant and we will figure out a way to pay for this welfare/health program. Sorry for the sarcasm but socialism is socialism. It only is different depending on who (which generation) is wearing the shoes.
"research on ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's disease"
This newsbit is potentially of huge importance. The whole issue of dementia and other neurological degeneration will only increase as the population ages. As octogenarians are becoming commonplace even now, the aging boomers will be facing these illnesses in great numbers beginning in the next decade or so.
My 2 pound 1 ounce preemie is perfect as 5 years old. We are so fortunate. We almost lost her in NICU, we avoided major surgery which had a very low chance of survival and we endured a bout of RSV when she was 11 months old. Look at her today, and you wouldn't know it. I love her so much, my FReename happens to be her initials. God has blessed us. It is awful that it doesn't come out for others like it did for us.
should be "at 5 years old"
Good for you. But there are those who would say that because that half have disabilities, we should have just let you die or aborted you 34 years ago. You would have been life unworthy of life. "We should recognize the limits of medicine" and let you "die with dignity" The fascist murderers, these sultans of death, are real worried about medical technology making the arguments in favor of the practice of abortion obsolete.
Then they can come and talk to me. I was also born 2 months early, 35 years ago. Aside from some nearsightedness (which didn't occur until late childhood), I am perfectly healthy.
All births are a crapshoot to some extent. Sure, these people have an agenda. They want to be God.
I like the way you think. A "problem" is only problematic if you let it be so. That is one of the major differences between children and adults. Oftentimes, children with "disabilities" will not let themselves be held back, yet an adult will think of themselves as disabled, and act accordingly.
As a related aside, I just started an excellent new book that is very inspirational: Neil Cavuto's More Than Money: True Stories of People Who Learned Life's Ultimate Lesson.
True, because I can remember as a child, I never wanted to be held back. I wanted to do the things my classmates did, and my parents tried to hold me back, not because they didn't want me to partcipate equally among my peers, but because they were just looking out for me. Many teens are rebellious. I spent most of my childhood being rebellious. LOL I stopped rebelling when I was old enough to understand the reasons why.
I sent you a private mail also. My parents and my husband's mom are no longer members of the AARP. It certainly isn't in their best interests to be. I think they only joined in the first place for those travel discounts. Whoopie do.
ProLife Ping!
If anyone wants on or off my ProLife Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.