A round-up of other health stories in brief
OBESE MATERNITY: Overweight mothers-to-be are risking the health of their unborn child, scientists said yesterday. However, the scientists stressed that overweight or obese pregnant mothers should not embark on crash dieting.
They began their research after being repeatedly contacted by midwives and other maternity unit staff across the northeast of England who were concerned about the apparent increase in the number of women who were obese at the start of their pregnancy.
Researchers at the University of Teesside said that, nationally, there was no clear policy for dealing with obese women and said this needed to be addressed by the department of health, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, and the relevant royal colleges.
Their initial findings reveal that obese mothers should be discouraged from having a home birth or using birthing pools.
The researchers said there were other implications for maternity services, including the need for stronger medical equipment such as delivery beds to support heavyweight mothers and that obese mothers should be referred to a consultant rather than a midwife.
INTERNET SUICIDE: The number of Japanese people killing themselves in online death-pacts rose alarmingly again last year, despite government efforts to monitor websites where suicidal people meet.
The National Police Agency said 91 people died in group suicides arranged over the internet - up from 55 in 2004. The number of internet suicide-pacts has almost tripled since police began keeping records in 2003.
New figures showed that 32,552 Japanese killed themselves in 2005 - up 0.7 per cent from the previous year. Poor health was cited in suicide notes as the most common reason, accounting for 40 per cent of the total.
More than half of all those who killed themselves last year were unemployed. Men aged over 40 comprised the biggest single group - 73 per cent. The number of children rose by almost 10 per cent to 861.
WOMEN'S DESIRES: Almost two-thirds of women would take Viagra or a natural equivalent if it was readily available, new research suggests.
Nearly half of women also have a lower sex-drive than they would like - mostly due to exhaustion at the end of the day, they said.
A health study of 3,000 women for Red magazine also discovered 60 per cent of women think they are fat.
Their top body wishes are to have more energy, to be a size 10 forever and, in third place, to look 10 years younger.
When asked what they were most concerned about, anxiety and depression was top (34 per cent), followed by breast cancer (20 per cent ), dementia (14 per cent ) and fertility problems (12 per cent).
DRUG PAY-OFF: Switzerland's liberal policy of offering heroin addicts substitute drugs appears to be paying off.
The result has been a decline in the number of new heroin users in Zurich, researchers reported in the Lancet medical journal.
In Switzerland, it is common for heroin addicts to be given substitution treatment with two other opiate drugs, methadone or buprenorphine.
Researchers looked at 7,250 addicts treated with the drugs over 13 years.
FEMALE CIRCUMCISION: This procedure, performed on as many as three million girls each year, complicates childbirth later in life and causes higher mortality among their babies, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
In a new report, the United Nations agency said women who had undergone the practice (also known as female genital mutilation) were up to 70 per cent more vulnerable to potentially fatal haemorrhage after delivery than those who had not.
About 100 million women worldwide are estimated to have undergone genital mutilation, which can involve cutting away the clitoris and external genitalia and stitching the vaginal opening in order to reduce women's sexual appetite. The WHO said relatively inelastic scar tissue formed around the wounds could cause obstruction and prolonged labour "which increases the risk of Caesarean section, heavy bleeding, distress in the infant and stillbirth".
CONSOLE CONCERT: A fundraising concert for Console, the bereaved-by-suicide foundation, goes ahead in the National Concert Hall, Dublin on Saturday, June 24th.
Musicians including Frances Black, Moya Brennan, Mary Coughlan, the Café Orchestra, Acabella and Charlie McGettigan will perform free for the counselling, support and helpline services of Console.
Tickets cost €€25 and can be booked at 01-6102638 or via the National Concert Hall, at 01-4170000. Console's national helpline is 1800-201890. See also www.console.ie