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A marker that could help identify babies at a higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has been discovered by Sydney researchers.
The study conducted by The Children's Hospital Westmead confirmed what had long been suspected — that SIDS victims were unable to wake themselves up — but it went one step further by providing the why.
The enzyme butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) plays a major role in the "brain's arousal pathway" and was found at "significantly lower" levels in babies who die of SIDS.
[...] "Usually, if a baby is confronted with a life-threatening situation, such as difficulty breathing during sleep because they're on their tummies, they will arouse and cry out.
"What this research shows is that some babies don't have this same robust arousal response.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday May 10 2022, @07:47PM (8 children)
In the above, I'm not being specific about SIDS. Your baby can die of neglect in the following ways:
There are literally millions of ways to "just have a short lapse of attention" and end up with a dead baby. There may not be criminal intent, there may not be malice, there may or may not be ignorance involved, but nothing changes the fact that we're fragile beings very dependent on our caregivers for several years after birth.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 10 2022, @08:12PM
Yes, around here the building code specifies a maximum opening to prevent much of that. But anything predating the change of not permitted could still carry that risk. Then there's all the used baby gear that might have been recalled, but not sent back for repair it replacement.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 10 2022, @08:24PM (2 children)
>> nothing changes the fact that we're fragile beings very dependent on our caregivers for several years after birth.
Darwin survived childhood and went on to become a very productive adult and had many children, none of whom died of SIDS. He was just doing his part to improve the gene pool.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 10 2022, @11:22PM (1 child)
Two of his children died in infancy.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday May 11 2022, @01:55AM
As did many others. 19th century medicine and public health weren't nearly what they are today.
Of course, the U.S. seems determined to return to that era.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Kell on Tuesday May 10 2022, @11:07PM (1 child)
For a long time I too had considered SIDS to truly mean "Socially Inconvenient Death Syndrome", and that it was a neat reporting name for incompetent parents or attention-seekers who had accidentally or purposefully brought about their child's death (see also, "fan death" in South Korea). However, this result that there is actually a meaningful biomarker strongly suggests that there might actually be an additional mechanism at play in addition to the mechanisms you've already identified. It can be both: there legit can be parents whose infant unexpectedly dies and which is heartbreaking, and there can be useless or malevolent parents who use SIDS as a cover for their behaviour. This result helps both those things: it can prevent 'true' SIDS deaths and make it harder for assholes to pretend that their infants death was congenital.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 11 2022, @02:29AM
The Munchausen deaths in the NICHD study were not prosecuted nor proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but the likelihood was extremely high and the parents were referred to counseling.
The more we learn, the more we know, and things do improve; at least as long as we continue to pay attention to the data and ignore the rest of the noise.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday May 11 2022, @03:18PM (1 child)
Being out of sight in the kitchen and having fallen from the top of the refrigerator was one that I'd never heard, but one that I suddenly was very acutely aware of. When my wife told me that our 18 month old had climbed on top of the fridge. At that point, I was a bit less worried about it. Probably due to the chronic lack of sleep that a child brings and not having actually witnessed it myself.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 11 2022, @05:58PM
They survive some amazingly scary looking things, and sadly occasionally die for stuff that seems near impossible.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/