Health News

Oliver, eight, and Amelia Carroll, six, of Poynton, Cheshire (pictured left), suffer from fatal neuro-degenerative condition Batten disease. There is no cure for the condition, meaning Oliver and Amelia are unlikely to live past the age of 12. Their plight captured the hearts of the nation in 2016 after a striking image emerged of Oliver being cradled by Prince Harry in hospital (see right). Oliver and Amelia currently receive access to a specialist treatment as part of a trial, but the pharmaceutical company has said it cannot fund the drug indefinitely. Health regulators have decided that the drug cannot be used on the NHS, leaving mother, Lucy, and father, Mike, devastated.

The increasingly popular cosmetic surgery is a growing concern among experts due to an 'alarming' number of deaths, including Miami mother Danea Plasencia, 29, last week (pictured). By injecting the fat into the muscle - rather than just beneath the skin - the fat cells are able to enter the bloodstream, the study by Boston researchers found. They could cause a blockage to the arteries in the lungs, which is life-threatening due to reducing blood flow. Although they suggest there is a 'safe' way to administer the injections, British experts are not convinced.

Medics at King's College Hospital led the procedure to correct the defect in a baby being carried by a woman who was 27-weeks pregnant. Sherrie Sharp, 29, refused to abort her son, Jaxson, when she discovered he had the defect at her 20-week scan. Instead, she opted for the pioneering procedure, which took three hours to repair her unborn son's bulging spine. Ms Sharp told the BBC: 'I wanted to do the best for my baby, I wanted him to have a better life and there's nothing wrong with that.'

Sima Davarian thought she had piles when she saw bright red blood in the toilet while 35 weeks pregnant. But a hospital examination revealed a small lump in the then 34-year-old's rectum, with a biopsy confirming she had stage-three cancer. Just five days after her devastating diagnosis, Mrs Davarian, of Plymouth, gave birth to her daughter Mathilda on September 7 2015 via C-section. She was given a few weeks to recover before having chemo (seen right), radiotherapy and surgery to remove her colon, leaving the English teacher with a stoma bag. Although cancer-free, radiotherapy triggered an early menopause, leaving the mother-of-one unable to have any more children. Mrs Davarian is pictured left the day before her C-section, and in the inset with her now three-year-old daughter and husband Michael, 43, on their way to the Canary Islands.

The NHS advises parents to take children to the dentist as soon as a milk tooth appears. However, data analysis by the University of Birmingham found the majority are failing to do so. One of the lowest rates of dental attendance was in West Berkshire, where under one per cent of children aged one had seen the dentist. But deprivation in the area is ranked low, compared to South Tyneside, one of the most deprived local authorities in England. The authority recorded the highest rate of attendance in children aged under one - 12.3 per cent.

Erin Rollins, 33, of Chicago, was driving in November 2014 when she was involved in a collision that paramedics said she was lucky to survive (pictured inset, in hospital after). The shards cut holes into her bowel, causing internal bleeding which needed emergency surgery, and paralysis from the waist down. Over the next few years, she had to re-learn how to walk with the loving support of her husband, Dennis, 39, and endure a total of eight surgeries (pictured right, on their wedding day in October 2016). Despite her life and health being permanently damaged (pictured, left, with the assistance of a wheelchair), Mrs Rollins forgave the drunk driver on the day of her sentencing, hugging her in court.

US women's tennis star Nicole Gibbs, 26 (left and right), went to the dentist one month ago and he found a growth on the roof of her mouth. She said it had been there for years, but he encouraged her to get it biopsied. Results showed she had salivary gland cancer, a rare form of cancer that forms in the tissues of the glands that make saliva. Gibbs is undergoing surgery on Friday and will likely not need further treatment. She was forced to withdraw from the French Open but hopes to return to the court in June to compete in qualifiers for Wimbledon.

Blake Mompher, five, from Prospect, Ohio, was diagnosed with spina bifida before he was born. Spina bifida is a birth defect that occurs when the spinal cord doesn't form properly, which can cause walking and mobility problems. Blake was practicing walking in fall 2018 but had a setback after he was hospitalized with two separate infections in November and December. He began practicing again three weeks ago and used a walker at his preschool graduation ceremony on Saturday (left). None of his classmates or their parents knew and Blake received a standing ovation as he received his diploma.

Kaia Ettingoff, five (left and right), of Wayne, Pennsylvania, began getting rashes all over her body in summer 2016 at age two. After five months of doctors' visits and tests, she was diagnosed with juvenile dermatomyositis in January 2018. JDM is a rare autoimmune disorder that's triggered by the sun and leaves sufferers with skin rashes and muscle inflammation. Kaia currently receives high doses of steroids, a small dose of chemotherapy and a treatment made from donated blood that contains healthy antibodies.

When doctors at Kingston Hospital in London first treated the man, they didn't deem it necessary to remove the tiny bone and he was discharged. However, her returned two months later with sudden pains and a fever, when it was discovered that the same chicken bone had continued to injure his bowel. The patient underwent various surgeries while in hospital for 45 days, as the offending chicken bone caused a cascade of problems. (Pictured, the scans from the holes in the abdomen from the first hospital admission, left, and the second admission, right).

The maps lay bare how the virus could spread across entire cities if current jab rates dropped from 95 per cent to 80 per cent. The simulation, developed by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, projects the infection rate across every major city in the US over a six-month period. They begin with a single child contracting measles and show the possible spread of the disease. Red dots highlight infected people and blue dots represent recovered patients. The simulation includes two maps - one that assumes that 80 per cent of children six-months-old to 15 are vaccinated against measles. In the other, it is assumed that 95 per cent of children 6 months old to 15 years old are vaccinated against measles. In most cases, the difference between the 80 per cent coverage map and 95 per cent map is dramatic.

The youngster, who has not been named, was bluelighted to The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto with the pencil still lodged in the left side of her neck (seen left). A CT scan revealed the pencil was completing obstructing her left common carotid artery (pictured right) from providing blood to her brain. The girl was taken for surgery, where doctors managed to remove the pencil. After an 'uneventful recovery', she was discharged two days later and is doing well three years on.

English speaking countries led the way for how often their citizens get drunk, with the US, Canada and Australia closely following the UK at the top of the global rankings. The results go against a decade of major reports showing a steady fall in alcohol consumption in the UK. Researchers from the Global Drugs Survey, based in London, surveyed 5,400 people from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and more than 120,000 globally.

Simon Forman (inset, top right) and his protégé Richard Napier (inset, bottom right) paraded through Elizabethan England professing to be able to heal people of anything from witchcraft to 'bloody flux'. Consultation of the stars and a plethora of absurd treatments, including pigeon slippers, deer dung and boiled crab, were prescribed to patients. The pair left behind notes on every one of their 80,000 cases, but it was written in almost illegible writing (main) and has long remained a mystery. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have now deciphered the texts and placed some of the bizarre records online.

Grady Elwell, 42, of Orlando, Florida, was diagnosed with anaplastic astrocytoma - a grade III brain tumor - in March 2018. His wife, Beth Kassab, 40, made an appointment with an ear, nose and throat doctor around the same time due to persistent ringing and ear pain. Four months later, in July 2018, she was diagnosed with meningioma, a benign brain tumor. Last year, Kassab had radiotherapy to remove her tumor while Elwell underwent radiation and chemotherapy.

The 35-year-old woman, known only as Maju, had an incision where the vagina should be before surgeons from the Federal University of Ceará, Brazil, inserted a mould lined with tilapia skin. This is then absorbed into the body where it speeds up healing and is transformed into tissue similar to which lines the vaginal tract. Three weeks on, Maju, who works as a florist, is 'thrilled' with the results and finally feels like a 'real woman'. Surgeons even think she may be having sex in just a few months.

Vianey Rodriguez (pictured left before surgery) was morbidly obese after overindulging in pizzas, burgers and fizzy drinks. Deciding enough was enough, the 35-year-old and her husband Allen Lewis, 51, moved from Chicago to Houston to meet Dr Younan Nowzaradan, star of the hit TLC reality show My 600lb Life. Doctors were forced to resuscitate Ms Rodriguez (pictured right being wheeled to surgery) during the operation after her heart suddenly stopped. Thankfully she pulled through, with Mrs Rodriguez (pictured inset as a child) now weighing a healthier 369lbs (26st 5lbs) a year on.

John Sylvester, 44 (pictured, in green), of Minneapolis, Minnesota, met Tessie in 2001. They married in 2004 and had two children, Gus and Freddy. But, in 2012, John was diagnosed with ALS, a neurodegenerative disease in 2012. He died in June 2017 and Tessie received a call the same day from her doctor telling her she had cancer. She was diagnosed with stage 4 adenocarcinoma, a cancer of the glands that secrete mucus. Tessie, 38, began chemotherapy (inset) two weeks later, but passed away on May 1, 2019. Gus and Freddy are being adopted by Tessie's sister and her husband.

The changes occur during the second stage of labour, when the baby leaves the uterus and is pushed through the birth canal. But, until now, the details of foetal head moulding remained unclear, and only one previous study had captured images of the process. Now, MRI scans captured by French researchers reveal the huge stress that a baby's skull goes through. The baby's head changes shape as it is pushed out by the mother, or when it is delivered by C-section.

Madeyln Frederick, 20 (left and right), from Dallas, Texas, referred to herself as clumsy for years. At age 13, in December 2012, she was rushed to the hospital when her heart rate skyrocketed while running. Three months later, she was diagnosed with Friedreich's Ataxia. FA is a rare genetic disease that affects the nervous system and causes a progressive loss of movement. Frederick now uses a walker and wheelchair as she studies to become a teacher.

Around 56,000 British newborns weighed less than 5.5lbs in 2015, approximately seven per cent of all live births that year. The UK fell behind the likes of Albania, which saw 4.6 per cent of its babies born underweight, Cuba (5.3 per cent) and Turkmenistan (5.6 per cent). The average newborn weighs about 8lbs and anything under 5.8lbs is considered underweight. Older mothers face a higher risk of having a smaller baby.

Geraldine Chingosho, 22, was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease soon after meeting Aldo Cataldi in 2017 (pictured left, together after the operation). Ms Chingosho, a trainee nurse, told him they shouldn't pursue a relationship because she'd be in and out of hospital and 'didn't think it was fair to lumber him with a sick person'. But Mr Cataldi (top right, together in hospital before the transplant) stuck by her - and when relatives turned out to be incompatible donors, he came up as a perfect match. Ms Chingosho, from Leicester, said: 'I never would have ever asked or expected my fiance to give me his kidney. I was completely stunned to find that we were even a match. 'Aldo has saved my life and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him'. Pictured inset: Ms Chingosho's scars where doctors cut her open and connected the kidney to her blood vessels and bladder.

Emma Beckett is an expert in human nutrition at the University of Newcastle in Australia. She explained how much of each of the five foods is needed with an epidemiologist working for a council. It's true many foods contain 'bioactive compounds' – chemicals that act in the body in ways that might promote good health. These are being studied in the prevention of cancer, heart disease and other conditions. But the idea of food as medicine, although attractive, is easily oversold. The pair looked at red wine (left), cinnamon (top centre), turmeric (bottom centre), blueberries (top right) and chocolate (bottom right).

Mila Costa's identical two year olds, Benjamin and Enzo, from Brazil, suffer from the same deadly heart deformity, dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Doctors put the boys on the top of the transplant list, with their hearts failing rapidly, working at less than 20 per cent. After waiting an agonising 15 months in the transplant queue, everything changed for one of the twins in March this year. A new heart became available, and in a traumatic turn of events, Benjamin, who has the weaker heart, fell ill and was not able to undergo surgery. Instead, doctors gave Enzo a new heart on May 9, and Mrs Costa and her husband David, both 35, were ecstatic to see him bounce back to life almost immediately after the procedure. But the celebration has been bittersweet, as they watch Benjamin continue to deteriorate waiting for a compatible organ.(Pictured left, Mrs Costa when pregnant. Pictured right, the twins, Enzo on the left and Benjamin on the right).

NHS England has announced spinal muscular atrophy patients, like five-year-old Finley Newell (pictured left) will now be able to get access to Spinraza (pictured inset), which is already used in Scotland and the US and has been proven to improve muscle strength and reduce fatalities among children. Drug regulators had been in deadlock with Spinraza's manufacturer, Biogen, for more than a year, before the u-turn decision was announced today. The first year of treatment for one patient has a list price of £450,000, but the NHS will likely have negotiated a lower fee. The medicine could mean the difference between life and death for some children – Finley's mother, Rosie Davies (pictured right with Finley and his father, Joel Newell) said last October: 'We are just waiting for NICE to change their mind. We live day-by-day and just don't know what the future holds for our son.'

Research by Baylor College of Medicine in Texas trawled through more than 400 scientific studies on 21 ingredients contained in supplements which claim to reduce erectile dysfunction. The products studied were, clockwise from top left, Korean Panax Ginseng (by NutraChamps), Leyzene with Royal Jelly (Natural Subsistence), Horny Goat Weed Extract (Zhou Nutrition), Extra Strength L Arginine (Havasu Nutrition), IncrediBULL (eSupplements) and Boost Elite (Zhou Nutrition). The researchers said customers should be wary of buying unproven supplements when there are readily available drugs which definitely work.

The new report, a first-look at national birth records for 2018, shows last year saw the fewest number of births since 1987, with a little more than 3.7 million babies born, down 2 percent from 2017. The total fertility rate (i.e. how many babies the average female is expected to have based on trends) also hit a record low. Gretchen Livingstone, a fertility analyst at Pew Research Center, told DailyMail.com the figures are 'striking'. The fact that the rate keeps falling, Livingstone says, seems to reflect a general, enduring trend of men and women delaying parenthood until later, rather than a reaction to hard times.

Karen Scott, 51, from Hartfield, East Sussex, was born with debilitating disease Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic condition that affects the body’s connective tissue keeping everything - bones, organs, and skin - together. However, she wasn't diagnosed until June 2018, with doctors believing she had chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME. The condition left her spine so weak she could hardly hold her head up, feeling as though she had a 'bowling ball head on a paper straw neck' (see left, in a wheelchair). Thanks to £100,000 trip to Barcelona, Spain, for a pioneering eight hour operation (see inset, in hospital) in which doctors strengthened her spine using two titanium rods, Mrs Scott can walk again (see right).

The tabby has been visiting Southmead Hospital in Bristol from his nearby home for the past year (see right), cheering up children waiting to be seen and welcoming staff such as paramedics and police officers. The tabby, who is three this August, has a particular penchant for napping in filing baskets, on chairs (see inset), underneath wet floor signs and on the reception desk countertop. His owner, Vikki Gillies, said she is always seeing posts online from locals who are concerned the hospital cat is homeless. One mother, Leanne Pitt, was grateful the cat kept her ten-year-old son, Leo, who has ADHD, occupied during a long wait to be seen (see left).

Scientists from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, injected volunteers with either E.coli or a placebo before asking others how sick they looked two hours later. The infected patients were judged to look 'significantly worse', with people noticing their drooping eyelids and mouths. They also showed more negative facial expressions, which may be brought on by inflammation as the immune system fights off the infection. Researchers believe humans may have evolved the ability to pick up on subtle cues that suggest someone is contagious to avoid getting ill.

Hannah Robertson, 26, was diagnosed with twin-twin transfusion syndrome after she endured crippling back pain at 26 weeks pregnant. This occurs when abnormal blood vessel connections form in the twins' shared placenta, which prevents blood from flowing evenly between the babies. The day after she was diagnosed, a scan confirmed baby Felix's heart had stopped beating, while his twin Bowie was fighting for his life. Miss Robertson went into labour five days later, with Felix being delivered stillborn on June 11 last year and Bowie arriving one minute later weighing 1lb 12oz. Bowie spent the next three months in intensive care (pictured right) where he battled kidney failure, pneumonia and sepsis before finally being strong enough to go home to Rosyth in Fife. Miss Robertson is pictured left with the newborn and her partner Kenny Moyes, 33. Inset shows the ultrasound scan that revealed she was expecting twins.