Pregnancy is an exciting time filled with hopeful anticipation, and most pregnancies are uneventful and result in healthy babies. Pregnancy, however, is not entirely without risk, leading some expectant parents to worry about birth defects and whether they’ll give birth to a healthy baby.
Many birth defects are minor and easily treated. But about one in every 33 babies is born with a major birth defect, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Major birth defects may have a serious impact on development, functional ability and overall health. Throughout January, which is Birth Defects Prevention Month, BeSmartBeWell.com highlights pregnancy risks and preventable birth defects. At BeSmartBeWell.com medical experts, and real-life expectant moms, like Sharon, share information to help lower the risk for birth defects.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/birthdefects/50829/
A year-long undercover investigation conducted by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) at the Cayman Turtle Farm, a popular tourist destination and the world’s last remaining facility that raises sea turtles for slaughter, has revealed disturbing animal cruelty and potential human health risks.
Video footage and photographs from the farm show thousands of endangered sea turtles being kept in dirty, packed touch tanks. Swimming in water filled with their own waste, the turtles fight for food, bite each other and even resort to cannibalism. Many suffer from disease and birth defects, such as injured fins or missing eyes.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/mnr/57968-world-society-protection-animals-wspa-cayman-turtle-farm-investigation
Eighteen years after opening its internationally prominent Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) celebrates 1,000 fetal surgeries – highly complex surgical interventions to repair birth defects in the womb. Approximately 4,000 fetal surgeries have been done worldwide, meaning a quarter of them have been performed at CHOP, the largest number of any hospital in the world.
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/mnr/62038-children-s-hospital-of-philadelphia-celebrates-1000-fetal-surgeries
Eighteen years after opening its internationally prominent Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) celebrates 1,000 fetal surgeries – highly complex surgical interventions to repair birth defects in the womb. Approximately 4,000 fetal surgeries have been done worldwide, meaning a quarter of them have been performed at CHOP, the largest number of any hospital in the world.
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/mnr/62038-children-s-hospital-of-philadelphia-celebrates-1000-fetal-surgeries
Hilary Duff, new mother to 22-month-old son Luca, is volunteering her time to help the March of Dimes raise funds to help give more babies a healthy start in life.
”As a mom, I'm proud to support the March of Dimes helping more women have full term pregnancies and healthy babies. That’s why I walk in March for Babies,” she says in a new public service advertisement. “The money we raise funds research and local programs that help babies overcome the challenges of premature birth and birth defects. Together we can help make healthier babies possible for thousands of families.”
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/players/English/65164-march-of-dimes-march-for-babies-2014/
Recent reports of fraudulent extra virgin olive oil in the marketplace have made finding truly authentic EVOO more important than ever. Consumers are seeking ways to identify the real from the fake. Bellucci and its parent company Certified Origins, headquartered in Grosseto, Italy, is offering a solution in the form of the Bellucci App, which traces any bottle of Bellucci EVOO back to the mill where it was produced and the area in which the olives for it were grown.
As EVOO consumption increases worldwide and many new competitors are entering the market to meet demand, Bellucci is committed to offering precise, detailed information to ensure the authenticity of their product at all levels of production and to empower customers in selecting truly authentic EVOO.
66% of Bellucci is owned by cooperatives of Italian growers, who work with agronomists to identify when their olives are at their peak flavor for oil production. Within hours of harvest, they press their olives in cooperative mills local to their groves. The oil is tested to confirm that it is without defects and that the standards for EVOO are not only met but also exceeded.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7716351-bellucci-olive-oil-trace-to-source-app/
More than 15 percent of reproductive-aged women have filled a prescription for an antidepressant medication during the years 2008–2013, according to a new analysis published today in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
January is National Birth Defects Prevention Month and the CDC is working with the March of Dimes to raise awareness about the use of antidepressant medications by women of reproductive age, and what women should know and do for their own health and that of their babies. There is conflicting evidence about the potential link between some antidepressants and certain birth defects. Some commonly used antidepressants are sertraline (Zoloft), bupropion (Wellbutrin, Zyban), and citalopram (Celexa).
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7709851-march-of-dimes-antidepressant-pregnancy-study/
Following the unprecedented Gore REDUCE Clinical Study conclusion that closure of patent foramen ovale (PFO) can prevent recurrent ischemic strokes, W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. (Gore) has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an expanded indication for its GORE® CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder. The device, already approved for closure of atrial septal defects (ASDs) up to 17 mm, is now also approved for the closure of PFO to reduce the risk of recurrent ischemic stroke in certain patients.*
To view the multimedia release go to:
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8301551-gore-cardioform-septal-occluder-fda-approval/
