Working while pregnant can affect blood pressure.
High blood pressure during pregnancy can cause serious complications for both mother and child, a new study finds.
Australian researchers used a portable device to continuously monitor 100 women with normal blood pressure who were more than 30 weeks pregnant and were working full-time outside the home. The device measured their mean arterial pressure, or MAP, which is the average pressure on the arteries throughout a heartbeat.
On average, the women had significantly higher blood pressure during job time on workdays when they registered an MAP of 89.1 than on other days, when their average score was 86.2. This difference of 2.9 points was considered significant.
The bottom line: Pregnant women especially those with a history of pregnancy-related hypertension may wish to cut back on their work hours in the last trimester of pregnancy, above.
Spinal abnormalities surprisingly common
Here's a surprising statistic: As many as 40 percent of all Americans may have spina bifida occulta, an opening in one or more of the vertebrae, or bones, of the spinal column. However, because many spina bifida occulta patients experience few or no symptoms, most don't realize they have it.
It is the other two significantly more severe forms of spina bifida that are more well-known. Spina bifida meningocele and myelomeningocele, which are collectively known as spina bifida manifesta, occur in approximately one out of every 1,000 births. Spina bifida myelomeningocele accounts for 96 percent of the most severe cases. In these instances, the spinal cord itself protrudes through the back.
Organdonor.gov harvests the details
Each day, as many as 60 people in the United States receive lifesaving organ transplants, yet another 17 people on the wait list die, the result of too few organs becoming available in time to help.
There are 74,800 people on the national patient wait list for organ transplants, the majority of whom need kidneys (about 48,000) and livers (17,000).
Unfortunately, there are too few organ donors to help most of these patients. With a view toward easing this shortage, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has started a Web site on the issue www.organdonor.gov.
The site provides a list of more than 15 Web sites maintained by national organizations on the topics of organ donation and transplantation.
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