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CHICAGO — American children take anti-psychotic medicines at about six times the rate of children in the United Kingdom, according to a comparison based on a new U.K. study.

Does it mean U.S. kids are being over-treated? Or that U.K. children are being under-treated?

Experts say that's almost beside the point, because use is rising on both sides of the Atlantic. And with scant long-term safety data, it's likely the drugs are being over-prescribed for both U.S. and U.K. children, research suggests.

Among the most commonly used drugs were those to treat autism and hyperactivity.

In the U.K. study, anti-psychotics were prescribed for 595 children at a rate of less than four per 10,000 children in 1992. By 2005, 2,917 children were prescribed the drugs at a rate of seven per 10,000 — a near-doubling, said lead author Fariz Rani, a researcher at the University of London's pharmacy school.

The study is being released Monday in the May edition of the journal Pediatrics.

By contrast, an earlier U.S. study found that nearly 45 American children out of 10,000 used the drugs in 2001 versus more than 23 per 10,000 in 1996.

There are big differences that could help explain the vastly higher U.S. rate.

A recent report in The Lancet suggested that the U.K.'s universal health care system limits prescribing practices there. The report also said direct-to-consumer ads are more common in the United States. These ads raise consumer awareness and demand for medication.

While drug company ties with doctors are common in both the U.S. and U.K., Vanderbilt University researcher Wayne Ray said U.K. physicians generally are more conservative about prescribing psychiatric drugs. Ray co-authored the U.S. study, published in 2004.

The new U.K. study, involving 1992-2005 health records of more than 16,000 children, is the first large examination of these drugs in U.K. children. It found the increase was mostly in medicines that haven't been officially approved for kids. They were most commonly prescribed for behavior and conduct disorders, which include attention deficit disorder.

Side effects including weight gain, nervous-system problems and heart trouble have been reported in children using these drugs and there's little long-term evidence about whether they're safe for them, the study authors said.

"This highlights the need for long-term safety investigations and ongoing clinical monitoring," they said, "particularly if the prescribing rate of these medicines continues to rise."

One of the most commonly used anti-psychotics in the U.K. study was Risperdal, a schizophrenia drug that is sometimes used to treat irritability and aggression in autism. Its side effects include drowsiness and weight gain.

Thioridazine, sometimes used to treat hyperactivity in attention deficit disorder, was frequently used early on. Its use decreased after 2000 when a U.K. safety committee warned of heart-related side effects, the authors said.

Reasons for the increases are uncertain but may be similar to those in the United States, such as an increase in autism cases and drug industry influence.

In both countries, the issue isn't simply how many children are getting these drugs, said Dr. David Fassler, a University of Vermont psychiatry professor. "The more important question is whether or not the right kids are getting the most appropriate and effective treatment possible," he said. Fassler wasn't involved in the study.

Dr. William Cooper, a Vanderbilt pediatrician, said the study shows the drugs are being used "without full understanding about the risks."

"I find it really interesting that we're now seeing increases in other countries besides the U.S., which suggests that the magnitude of this issue is global," said Cooper, also an author of the 2004 U.S. study.

OLPE, Germany — The bodies of three German infants have been found stuffed in a basement freezer and their mother has been arrested, a prosecutor's spokesman said Monday.

Johannes Daheim said police determined the three infants had not been stillborn but did not say how old they were or what the cause of death was. He said the bodies were found Sunday night after police received a tip and searched the home in Wenden in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The name of the woman was not released. Police said they planned to hold a news conference about the case later Monday.

There have been a number of similar cases in Germany.

In February, police were called to a home in northern Germany where a dead infant was discovered in the cellar.

In January, a 28-year-old German woman was charged with manslaughter after the remains of three babies were discovered in her house and the home of a relative. That woman has denied killing the three babies.

Another woman was convicted of manslaughter in 2006 for killing eight of her babies in eastern Germany.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — A 17-year-old girl gave birth secretly at home, then walked four blocks to a hospital with the baby still attached by its umbilical cord.

"I was just a little nervous" when the labor began, Xochitl Parra said Friday from St. Mary Medical Center as she cradled her 8-pound, 3-ounce son, Alejandro.

The boy was normal and "eating like a champ," said Dr. Jose Perez, director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The teenager said she was alone and taking a shower around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday to get ready for school. Then the contractions took over.

"I felt his head coming, so I sit down and pushed so he could come out," she said.

Parra did not call 911 because the home phone was disconnected, and she did not want to wake the neighbors because it was so early. Instead, she wrapped the baby, got dressed and went to the hospital on foot.

"I started walking and jogging to the hospital," she said.

The teen came into the hospital lobby and asked for help, Perez said.

"She still had the placenta and the baby was still attached, so of course everyone said, 'Don't move!"' he said.

Perez praised the girl for taking quick action.

"They could have bled to death; thank God that didn't happen," the doctor said. "She was very clever. She knew what to do. She wrapped the baby up and walked over here."

Parra, a sophomore at Long Beach Poly High, said she had kept her pregnancy a secret because she was afraid her mother would "kick me out of the house." Her mother has now accepted the situation and is going to help the teen care for the baby so she can continue attending school, Parra said.

Perez called the outcome "heartwarming."

"We hear so much negative with teenagers throwing their babies in the Dumpsters," he said. "This baby is fine, and hopefully there will be a happy ending with the extended family."

PORTLAND, Ore. — Six federally protected sea lions were apparently shot to death on the Columbia River as they lay in open traps put out to ensnare the animals, which eat endangered salmon. State and federal authorities are investigating.

The discovery came one day after three elephant seals were found shot to death at a breeding ground in central California.

Trapping will be suspended during the investigation, said Rick Hargrave, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife who was at the scene Sunday.

The carcasses of the four California sea lions and two Steller sea lions were found Sunday around noon below the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River on the border of Oregon and Washington.

The six animals appear to have been shot by somebody on the Washington side during the night, said Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Two open cages each contained the carcasses of two California sea lions and one Steller sea lion, he said.

Necropsies were planned for all the animals, and the area was being treated as a crime scene by state and federal agencies, Gorman said.

Investigators will try to determine whether there is any link between the animals killed Sunday on the Columbia and the elephant seals killed Saturday near San Simeon in California, Gorman said.

Seven California sea lions were trapped on the Columbia starting April 24 after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approved their capture. One died during a medical inspection before transfer to a Sea World park.

Washington and Oregon have been granted federal authorization to capture or kill as many as 85 sea lions a year for five years at the base of the dam, where they feed on endangered salmon headed upriver to spawn.

Fishermen and American Indian tribes have pushed to protect the salmon and remove the sea lions, by lethal force if necessary, forcing a delicate balancing act by the federal government.

The Humane Society of the United States has gone to court to challenge the authorization, with another hearing set for May 8. Until a judge rules, no animals may be legally killed.

"We're really shocked," said Sharon Young, a Humane Society spokeswoman, who learned about the sea lion deaths from a reporter.

"We're a nation of laws, and we should expect people to abide by them," Young said

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Police say two new parents left their baby alone in a car while they went to watch the Kentucky Derby at a Long Island off-track betting parlor.

Southampton Town police say the 2-month-old was left unattended for more than 20 minutes during Saturday's race.

Police say the mother later told officers she thought the infant was safe enough because the car's heat was on. The car was left running in a busy parking lot outside the Suffolk Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. branch in Southampton.

Parents Krystal Rose Downes and Jhimy Alban Vintimilla were arrested on misdemeanor child-endangerment charges. They have been released until a future court date.

No telephone number could be found for the couple, and police weren't sure whether the two had a lawyer.

CHINO HILLS, Calif. — A nanny pulled a 2-year-old girl from the jaws of a coyote when the animal attacked the toddler and tried to carry her away in its mouth, officials said.

The girl was playing Friday in a sandbox at Alterra Park in Chino Hills in San Bernardino County. Around 10:30 a.m., the caretaker heard screaming and saw a coyote trying to carry the child off in its mouth, officials said.

The babysitter grabbed the child and pulled her from the coyote's grasp, the sheriff's department said in a statement.

The coyote then ran off into nearby brush.

The child suffered wounds to her buttocks and was taken to Chino Valley Medical Center and was later released, director of nursing Anne Marie Robertson said. She was later transported to Loma Linda University Medical Center to receive the rabies vaccine.

San Bernardino County Animal Control and the State Department of Fish and Game were searching for the animal, Wiltshire said.

Miller said there was another attack in the area in October when a coyote bit a 3-year-old girl playing in a cul-de-sac. The girl needed treatment for puncture wounds to the head and thigh, Miller said.

Spooky Flying Character Has UFO Watchers in Mexico Buzzing
Saturday, May 03, 2008

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Sensational sightings of a flying human above the skies of Mexico could be genuine, says a paranormal expert.

The mysterious woman-like figure was caught on camera as it hovered above mountains in Nuevo Leon city.

UFO watchers said the figure appeared to be wearing a cape, leading to claims that it was a witch or wizard when it was first seen in 2006.

Now Mexico’s leading UFO expert Anna Luisa Cid says the sightings were true after carrying out her own investigations.

“I think that the possibility is there,” Cid said. “An imaginary object is not recorded on film, nor does it produce over 40 witnesses.”

Nuevo Leon UFO club managed to film the spooky flying character.

And policeman Leonardo Samaniego also claimed a floating person had dropped out of the sky.

“In conclusion, from my professional point of view, both cases are real,” Cid told the Ghosttheory.com Web site.

After viewing the UFO club’s video, Samaniego’s said, “I do not believe the entity to be a witch, but I do know that it is something that we cannot explain.”

A man in Australia working in a pet food processing plant contracted a syndrome that is usually associated with women who use tampons, according to a report in the May 5 issue of the Medical Journal of Australia.

The 41-year-old man developed the human form of toxic shock syndrome from the carcass of a pig while processing animals at a Melbourne plant in April 2007, according to the report.

Doctors investigating the case believe three other human infections have occurred elsewhere in Australia.

The man survived a weeklong bout of severe fever, headache, diarrhea, vomiting and dizziness, and has since changed jobs, his doctors at Royal Melbourne Hospital said in the journal.

Animal-to-human outbreaks of the disease are extremely rare, but have killed meat workers in Asia, most recently in China where 215 butchers and processors were infected in 2005, killing more than half, the journal report said.

Toxic shock can be fatal if not caught early. It can be contracted through cuts and burns, as well as through the vagina (via tampon), or pharynx. Approximately half the cases of staphylococcal TSS reported in the U.S. are associated with tampon use during menstruation.

A New York food company is recalling more than 286,000 pounds of meat and poultry because it might be contaminated with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes.

The possibly tainted items might be contaminated with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

The voluntary recall includes several different brands of fresh and frozen products made by Gourmet Boutique, the USDA said.

Included are some types of chicken salad and sandwiches sold under the name Gourmet Boutique, and several frozen wraps and burritos sold under the names ''Jan's'' and ``Archer Farms.'' Archer Farms products are carried by Target Corp.

In March, the same company recalled about 7,000 pounds of products due to listeria fears.

The problem was discovered through sampling by federal food safety inspectors and Florida agriculture officials, the USDA said.

There have been no reports of illnesses associated with the recalled foods so far, but the bacteria can potentially cause Listeriosis, an illness that can cause high fever, headache and nausea.

People with depressed immune systems could also suffer a fatal infection.

Gourmet Boutique said in a recorded phone message that it had made ''environmental changes'' at its plants to prevent a repeat of the problem.

Consumers with questions about the recall can contact Gourmet Boutique's recall hotline at 347-887-0083 .

SOUTH CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill. — Bill Bramanti will love Pabst Blue Ribbon eternally, and he's got the custom-made beer-can casket to prove it. "I actually fit, because I got in here," said Bramanti of South Chicago Heights.

The 67-year-old Glenwood village administrator doesn't plan on needing it anytime soon, though.

He threw a party Saturday for friends and filled his silver coffin — designed in Pabst's colors of red, white and blue — with ice and his favorite brew.

"Why put such a great novelty piece up on a shelf in storage when you could use it only the way Bill Bramanti would use it?" said Bramanti's daughter, Cathy Bramanti, 42.

Bramanti ordered the casket from Panozzo Bros. Funeral Home in Chicago Heights, and Scott Sign Co. of Chicago Heights designed the beer can.

We should test this theory... *gathers Shewho and Becca together....*

You should see me in the morning when I'm in the shower... all tired and bleary eyed... I have a hard enough time during my morning shower just shaving my legs...I don't think I could manage popping a kid out, too.

Crazy Kentucky Derby.. do you know Al had off from school for this?

I would totally charge extra for that.

It's either Wonderwoman or too much tequila.