HEALTH NOTES
INFANT DEATH PUTS DADS AND PARTNERS UNDER PRESSURE
FATHERS and partners are under pressure to “stay strong” when a baby dies during pregnancy or shortly after birth, according to a poll.
Almost three-quarters
(73%) of people surveyed by the charity Tommy’s said dads and partners felt they had to be the strong one, with more than half (52%) saying they wanted them to be given mental health advice.
Some 1,159 people responded to the poll, of which 248 were dads or partners, and 989 had personal experience of baby loss.
More than half (58%) of dads and partners reported feeling helpless and lost after their baby died, with 64% of all respondents saying dads and partners who experienced loss needed help to open up.
DIABETES BREAKTHROUGH
THERE could be a cure for diabetes, according to a breakthrough study.
Canadian researchers have managed to cure the disease in mice, giving hope that the therapy could work in humans too.
The technique involves converting stem cells into insulin-producing cells and injecting them back into the body. It cured mice with severe type 1 and type 2 diabetes in a University of Alberta study.
“We are putting these cells into diabetic mice and reversing diabetes to the point where essentially their diabetes is cured,” says lead researcher Dr James Shapiro.
RISE IN HOME DEATHS
DEATHS at home are a third higher than the five-year average since the coronavirus crisis began in late March, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Fatalities from heart attacks were 25.9% higher than normal and Alzheimer’s deaths were up 79.3%.
During the same period, non-covid deaths in hospitals declined, so it seems likely the increase is due to people not going to hospital when they normally would.