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News, Page 42

Ebola volunteers should be praised, not stigmatized: UK charities

By Liisa Tuhkanen LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Volunteer medics returning to Britain after fighting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa face unfounded stigma that can be made worse by official safety guidelines, charities said on Tuesday. “These people are putting their lives at risk and instead of being appreciated many of them are facing unfounded stigma on their return,” said Sarah Wilson, communication manager for Ebola response at World Vision. “They should be lauded when they come back home… not discouraged from volunteering. …

Fukushima rice passes radiation tests for first time since disaster: official

TOKYO (Reuters) – Fukushima rice passed Japan’s radiation checks for the first time since the 2011 nuclear disaster that prompted international alarm over the region’s produce, a prefectural official said. Fukushima official Tsuneaki Oonami said about 360,000 tonnes of rice, nearly all of last year’s harvest, had been checked and none had tested above the 100 becquerels per kilogram limit set by the government. …

UK nurse suffering from Ebola in critical condition: hospital

LONDON (Reuters) – The condition of a British nurse being treated for Ebola in a London hospital is critical after deteriorating over the last two days, the hospital said in a statement on Saturday. The Royal Free Hospital has been treating Pauline Cafferkey with blood plasma from an Ebola survivor and an experimental anti-viral drug. She was diagnosed with the disease last week after returning to Britain late on Dec. 28 from Sierra Leone, where she had been working. Cafferkey is the first person to have been diagnosed with Ebola in Britain. …

Cautious Doctors Use Telemedicine to Diagnose Flu

Some doctors in Tennessee are asking patients with flu-like symptoms not to come into their offices to avoid spreading the virus to other patients in their waiting room.Instead, these doctors are evaluating patients over the phone or on computers as part of something called “telemedicine.””If you're really feeling crummy and you have the symptoms of influenza, your chances of having influenza are very, very high — over 90 percent,” Dr. William Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. …

Want To Be Happy? Be Kind And Grateful

Above are two of my favorite viral photos. The one on the left is of Isaac Theil allowing college student Garvey Dutes to sleep on his shoulder in a New York subway car. The one on the right is of Gage Boucher, a grocery store employee, tying the shoes of an elderly customer. What I love about these photos is that they represent small gestures…

Guidance and research on mobile, interactive media for kids needed

By Reuters Staff (Reuters Health) – Mobile and interactive media offer a range of education and entertainment options for toddlers and parents, but more research on their impact is needed, according to a review of existing studies. “Mobile devices, because of their portability and interactive components, are introducing media into all aspects of children’s experience and deserve serious attention and research,” write Dr. Jenny Radesky and her colleagues from Boston Medical Center in the journal Pediatrics. …

Body of autistic New York boy found in South Carolina pond

(Reuters) – The body of a 4-year-old New York autistic boy who had gone missing two days earlier from his grandmother’s house in South Carolina was found in a nearby pond on Friday, police said. An autopsy performed on Jayden Morrison of White Plains is expected to show that he died of accidental drowning, and there is no indication of foul play, said Lieutenant Raul Denis, spokesman for the Horry County Police Department. The family, including the boy’s twin brother, who is also autistic, had traveled to the grandmother’s second home in South Carolina for the holidays, Denis said. …

Punishment can worsen bedwetting

By Shereen Lehman (Reuters) – Punishing children for bedwetting won’t solve the problem and may make it worse, researchers say. In a new study, children who were punished for wetting the bed at night were more likely to be depressed and had worse overall quality of life overall compared to bed-wetters who were not punished. Nighttime bedwetting, or “nocturnal enuresis,” affects about 15 percent of young children and is three times more common in boys than girls, according to the authors. Up to a third of parents punish their kids for bedwetting, they add. …

Jurors to see graphic images at Colorado cinema massacre trial

By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) – Jurors in the murder trial of Colorado cinema gunman James Holmes will see the majority of the gruesome photographs and video taken at the crime scene, but a handful of images will be barred, the judge overseeing the case ruled on Tuesday. Defense lawyers had argued the photos could prejudice the jury against Holmes, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to killing 12 people and wounding dozens more by opening fire in a Denver-area theater in July 2012 during a midnight screening of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises. …