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Ten children aged 1.5 to 12 years in Athens had their perimembranous ventricular septal defects closed using a catheter-delivered occluder (Heart Job: 1 Div: ht 02553). Nine had no residual shunt and the tenth had a very small residual shunt which was no longer present at the 3-month follow up. There were no other complications
In the first 3 years after the death of a child, the risk of unnatural death (from motor vehicle accident, suicide, or other accident or violence) is increased almost fourfold in mothers and by 57% in fathers. This was one of the main findings of a case control study in Denmark (
) that showed that the rate remained increased in mothers throughout up to 18 years of follow up but did not stay increased in fathers. Deaths from cancer and other natural causes (but not from circulatory or digestive diseases) were increased in mothers after 10 years.
Parents are the strongest influence on children’s behaviour, so can parents who smoke teach their children not to smoke? A randomised study in North Carolina (
) suggests that they might. Six hundred and seventy one 7–8 year old child/smoking parent pairs were randomised to intervention or control groups. Intervention consisted of a 5 module programme designed …