How to comfort a child whose sibling has died

In 1971, when I was four years old, my brother died of a congenital heart condition. Writing about this experience has prompted more responses than anything else I’ve ever written or spoken about. Untold and unheard stories appear in comments sections, strangers tell me cross-culturally consistent tales in the soft corners of conference rooms and speak about the siblings they’ve […]

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Child protection investigations can silence children and offer impunity to abusers

The child protection investigation system in the UK is not fit for purpose. Despite high profile child abuse cases in Rochdale, Rotherham and Telford, lessons are not being learned and the failings of those investigations are being repeated. The Interim Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse found that two thirds of adults do not feel comfortable discussing […]

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Common heart condition linked to sudden death

A University of Adelaide-led team of researchers has found a link between sudden cardiac death (when the heart suddenly stops beating) and a common heart condition known as mitral valve prolapse that affects around 12 in every 1000 people worldwide. In a paper, published in Heart, researchers analysed more than 7600 studies and found that 12% of victims of sudden […]

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Study finds that enzymes ‘partner up’ to accelerate cancer, aging diseases

A new study from molecular biologists at Indiana University has identified cellular processes that appear to supercharge both the growth and shrinkage of the chemical “caps” on chromosomes associated with aging, called telomeres. The work, focused on two enzymes in yeast, could lead to new insights on stopping runaway cellular growth in cancer tumors, as well as the treatment of […]

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Cooking with wood or coal is linked to increased risk of respiratory illness and death

Burning wood or coal to cook food is associated with increased risk of hospitalization or dying from respiratory diseases, according to new research conducted in China and published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. About three billion people around the world live in households that regularly burn wood, coal or other solid […]

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Flu season forecasts could be more accurate with access to health care companies’ data

In an era when for-profit companies collect a wealth of data about us, new research from The University of Texas at Austin shows that data collected by health care companies could—if made available to researchers and public health agencies—enable more accurate forecasts of when the next flu season will peak, how long it will last and how many people will […]

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