Drugs used in IVF for older women may increase their risk of having a baby with Down’s syndrome, experts say.

Doctors already know that the chance of having a baby with the genetic condition goes up with the age of the mother, especially for those over 35.

Now UK researchers, who looked at 34 couples, think drugs used to kick-start ovaries for IVF in older women disturb the genetic material of the eggs.

Work is now needed to confirm their suspicions, a meeting in Sweden heard.

And they do not yet know the magnitude of risk, but say it could also cause many other genetic conditions, not just Down’s.

The findings, presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology’s annual conference, come from a UK study of 34 couples undergoing fertility treatment.

All of the women in the group were older than 31 and had been given drugs to make their ovaries release eggs ready for their IVF treatment.

When the researchers studied these now fertilised eggs they found some had genetic errors.

These errors could either cause the pregnancy to fail or mean the baby would be born with a genetic disease.

A closer look at 100 of the faulty eggs revealed that many of the errors involved a duplication of coiled genetic material, known as a chromosome.

Often, the error resulted in an extra copy of chromosome 21, which causes Down’s syndrome.

But unlike “classic” Down’s syndrome which is often seen in the babies of older women who conceive naturally, the pattern of genetic errors leading to Down’s in the IVF eggs was different and more complex.

And this led the researchers to believe that it was the fertility treatment that was to blame.

Lead researcher Professor Alan Handyside, director of the London Bridge Fertility, Gynaecology and Genetics Centre, said more research was now needed.

“This could mean that the stimulation of the ovaries is causing some of these errors. We already know that these fertility drugs can have a similar effect in laboratory studies. But we need more work to confirm our findings.”

If more tests back up their suspicions then it would mean that doctors should be more cautious about using these treatments, he said.

The researchers believe their work could also help identify which women might be better off using donor eggs for IVF instead.

Co-investigator Professor Joep Geraedts, of Bonn University in Germany, said: “This in itself is already a big step forward that will aid couples hoping for a healthy pregnancy and birth to be able to achieve one.”

UK fertility expert Mr Stuart Lavery said: “There’s a huge increase in the number of women undergoing IVF at later ages as people delay the age of starting a family.

“Previously we have always thought that these chromosomal abnormalities were related to the age of the egg.

“What this work shows is that a lot of the chromosomal abnormalities are not those that are conventionally age-related. It raises the concern that some of the abnormalities might be treatment-related.

“It’s a little unclear as to whether it’s the medication itself that is affecting the egg quality or whether it’s the medication that is just forcing the issue and allowing eggs that nature’s quality control system would have otherwise excluded, to arise.”

On June 29, 2011, the Progeria Research Foundation published encouraging results from a study that may lead to a treatment for this devastating genetic condition. Progeria, also known as Hutchinson–Gilford Progeria Syndrome, causes rapid aging in children. A study completed at the National Institutes of Health and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston has had encouraging results in using rapamycin to stall the effects of the disease.

Rapamycin, commonly used to thwart organ rejection in transplant patients, was shown to reduce the amount of the protein responsible for rapid aging by 50 percent and causes the cells to live longer. While the study was conducted on non-Progeria mice, the results are cause for optimism.

While Progeria is an incredibly rare disease with only 78 sufferers currently living in 30 countries throughout the globe, finding a treatment or cure would also benefit the rest of mankind. Understanding aging and finding ways to combat it is essential to increasing the human lifespan and improving health via combating age-related ailments such as arthritis.

It’s still too early to make grand statements about the possible efficacy of this new treatment, the medical community is optimistic. Understanding the drug’s effects on Progeria means that the human race is one step closer to understanding and treating the universal disease of aging.

More good news.

The head of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has said the number of people coming forward with concerns increased following the Winterbourne View film.

After BBC Panorama uncovered evidence of abuse at the private hospital in Bristol the CQC admitted it had not acted swiftly enough on the concerns.

Commission chairman Dame Jo Williams told MPs they had received more than 100 calls in the last two months.

This compares with 200 calls throughout 2010.

Dame Jo told the Commons Health Select Committee: “I imagine it was because of Winterbourne View and being in the public domain.

“It’s true to say we are still a relatively new organisation and so it may well have been for the first time people understood what the Care Quality Commission was, who we were and how to get hold of us.”

Patients at Winterbourne View were transferred after the programme showed residents being pinned down, slapped and taunted. The hospital closed last Friday.

Patients at the unit, which is run by the firm Castlebeck, were filmed by an undercover reporter.

Castlebeck subsequently apologised and launched an internal investigation.

A number of people have been questioned by police and released on bail following the programme.

The government said a serious case review had been set for July.

Dame Jo has previously called the CQC’s failure to follow up the reports of a whistleblower – a senior nurse at the home – an “unforgivable error of judgement”.

There is now great hope for people who have suffered spinal injuries, with the invention of ­a new wheelchair that can be steered by the tongue.

It may sound far-fetched but the prototypes work and paralysed patients like using them and find them easy to navigate.

We usually only hear of severe spinal injuries causing paralysis ­from the neck downwards when someone has a horse-riding accident, like Superman actor Christopher Reeve, or when a rugby star suffers a broken neck in the boiler house of a rugby scrum.

In the UK, 10 to 15 people in every million have severe spinal cord injuries and it is estimated there are about two to three new injuries per year.

In addition, millions more have some form of paralysis brought on by conditions including motor neurone disease, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and stroke.

There have been various options for paralysed wheelchair users, such as the sip and puff technology used by Christopher Reeve.

This allowed him to steer his chair by breathing through a straw.

Bioengineers at the Georgia Institute ­of Technology in America wanted to ­find a technique that would be more aesthetically pleasing and more intuitive, with better control and greater flexibility.

After five years’ work, they have come up with the tongue-drive system.

It is a magnetic stud fitted into the tongue – just like a tongue piercing – to steer a wheelchair.

To operate the system, users wear a headset with sensors that pick up magnetic forces from the tongue. So, for instance, moving the tongue to the mouth’s upper left corner moves the wheelchair forward.

The use of the tongue is ingenious. First of all, it does not tire easily. It is packed with strong muscle. Secondly, it is usually spared when the neck is broken because the nerves to the tongue are supplied from the brain, not from the spine, meaning that the tongue is nearly always spared after a spinal injury.

Next time you see somebody wearing a tongue stud – a symbol ­of rebellion and non-conformism ­– remember that exactly the same device can be used for therapeutic reasons, with huge benefits.

Read the letter that started a campaign and is helping to make Bolton a better place.

When Kate Allatt woke up and saw it was 10 minutes to three in the afternoon, she worried about who was picking the kids up from school.

Then she wondered why there was a tube connected to her mouth.

And then, in state of panic and pain, she discovered she could not move a muscle.

“The only thing was my eyelids – I cried tears, but no noise.”

Kate, now 40, had been in a medically induced coma for three days. The tube was attached to a life-support machine, and her lack of movement was the result of one of life’s most terrifying conditions: locked-in syndrome.

After suffering a stroke, she was left cognitively sound – fully aware of what was going on around her – but no longer had the ability to move any part of her body.

“Everything hurt. The thing with locked-in syndrome is you have all the symptoms of paralysis, but all the pain of feeling everything.”

She could not see how her life could possibly continue. To make matters worse, those around did not at first realise she was mentally aware.

“I wanted a pillow over the head. I hated it.

“My life was nothing like it was, and I was going to be for ever an observer in my kids’ life. I just wanted to be put out of my misery.”

Another migraine

Her ordeal started with a fairly innocuous headache complaint just weeks before.

Mark, a husband fed-up with his wife’s complaints of constant migraines, took Kate to see a doctor.

Upon arrival, the clues about the seriousness of Kate’s condition were starting to become apparent – symptoms that would eventually lead to a massive stroke caused by a blood clot to her brain stem.

“As he parked the car, I checked into the nurse and started slurring. She immediately sent me to A&E.

“They sent me home with the migraine pills and then five hours later from resting in my bed, I went downstairs – I said to my husband, ‘What’s happening to me?’, of which he heard gobbledygook.

“And then I collapsed on the floor.”

Until her stroke, Kate ran her own digital marketing company, and was gearing up for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

Doctors now said the mother-of-three, a keen runner, had a 50-50 chance of surviving.

Even if she did make it through, she had little chance of regaining any part of her life.

Yet soon the first breakthrough came – thanks to husband Mark and best friend Alison.

“A week after my stroke, they were conscious I was very bored. They wanted me to watch some TV.

“They put something on and I blinked very ferociously as if to say ‘I don’t want to watch this’.

“Then, they asked me a question that required a yes/no answer, i.e one blink no, two blinks yes.”

By week eight, Kate had another glimmer of hope.

“I got a tiny flicker – less than half a millimetre – in my right thumb.”

‘Say my name!’

Other than her eyelids, it was the first movement of any kind Kate had experienced since her stroke.

But she didn’t let it excite her too much – after all, unknown to her, Mark had been told she would almost certainly never walk again.

But as Kate’s movement slowly came back to her, she found she was able to write, and began using Facebook to communicate with her friends and the wider world.

To be able to communicate again by using the internet was liberating, and soon, egged on by her son Woody and in defiance of all medical assessments of her condition, Kate regained the ability to speak.

“I was in the middle of writing some words down for him to read because I couldn’t talk.

“He said to me ‘Mummy, don’t write my name, say my name. Say my name’!”

“I just said, ‘Oody!’ It was an incredible moment for them because they all cried. They went away, I practised all weekend in the way I did with all my exercises.”

Her weekend of speech practice paid off, to the delight of her favourite nurse, Oliver.

“On Monday morning Oliver came into my room with a box.

“He said, ‘Morning Kate!’, and I shouted back, ‘Morning Oliver!’ – not as clear as that, but nevertheless it was there. He dropped his box, he cried, and he said, ‘It’s moments like this I came into nursing for’.”

Walking away

Kate’s relationship with Oliver strengthened, and she confided in him that she intended to walk her way out of the ward that had been her home for so many weeks.

Not only that, she told him that a year on from her stroke, she wanted to be able to do again what she had always loved – running.

“He rolled his eyes as if to say, ‘Of course you will Kate, yeah right, whatever’.

“On 29 September, I walked off the ward. On 6 Feburary this year, a year after my stroke, I ran 20 metres. They’re both on YouTube.”

After leaving hospital, she and husband Mark decided to renew their wedding vows in front of more than 200 family members and friends.

“I cried like a baby coming down the aisle.”

Now, never shy of a challenge, Kate wants to run a full mile by Christmas.

Her friends, never wavering in their support, have nominated her to be a torch-bearer for London 2012 in her home city of Sheffield – an experience that even the old Kate would never have even dreamed of.

Two schools for pupils with special needs in Herefordshire will receive £7m to improve their buildings.

Herefordshire Council has decided to use a grant from the government for capital projects at two schools.

The plans will fund an extension and remodelling of Blackmarston Special School in Hereford.

They will also replace a temporary Language and Communication Centre at Hampton Dene Primary School with a permanent building.

After the Building Schools for the Future programme was aborted by the government, local authorities were given a capital grant to spend on improving buildings for 14 to 19-year-olds and for children with special educational needs.

In Herefordshire, this amounted to £7.34m.

Following consultation with schools and colleges, it was agreed that Blackmarston Special School and Hampton Dene Primary School were a priority and should go ahead as soon as possible.

The investment at Blackmarston School will extend the school’s accommodation so that it can meet a “growing increase” in demand for specialist provision for children with complex needs, largely in the South Wye area.

It is anticipated that the extended facilities will increase the number of pupil places available from 60 to 80.

‘Very poor condition’

The county’s Language and Communication Centre based at Hampton Dene Primary School, in Tupsley, caters for about 20 children with very specific needs that the council said could not be met well elsewhere.

A council spokesman said the current accommodation was in “very poor” condition and needed to be replaced.

Councillor Philip Price, cabinet member for education, said: “The number of children with special educational needs is growing and we need to make sure we are able to meet this demand.

“In Herefordshire our mainstream schools are fully inclusive, but some children need specialist support only available at dedicated schools or centres.”

The two schools will receive funding of £4.75m each.

In addition a sum of £1m has been earmarked for new facilities at Leominster Primary School and £1.25m has been allocated to Barrs Court Sixth Form and Adult Social Care hub.

The policeman blinded by gunman Raoul Moat has made the first award from a charity he set up to help injured emergency service personnel.

Pc David Rathband, 43, launched his Blue Lamp Foundation after being shot in the face by Moat a year ago.

The charity, which has raised about £130,000, awarded £2,500 to paramedic John Eames, whose legs were shattered when a lorry hit his ambulance.

Mr Eames, 38, has been unable to walk since the incident in February.

Mr Eames cannot return to the home he shares with wife Sarah in Burton, Staffordshire, because it is not suitable for his wheelchair. The award will help him adapt the house.

‘Living proof’

His ambulance was hit by a Polish lorry driver who was driving on the wrong side of the road.

Mr Eames said: “It’s a privilege to be the first recipient of the charity. It will finally let me go home and make my life so much easier.

“There have been a lot of lows and highs since I was injured and this is definitely one of the highs.”

PC Rathband said: “I’m absolutely elated that we have made our first award.

“This is the culmination of what we set out to do. John is living proof that my foundation is here to help.”

As well as Pc Rathband, Moat also shot his ex-girlfriend and killed her new boyfriend before shooting himself after a manhunt.

An international team co-led by scientists at Queen’s University, Belfast, has developed a new drug for Cystic Fibrosis sufferers.

The drug specifically targets the so-called Celtic gene which is common in Ireland.

But the researchers believe the breakthrough will have significant implications for all CF sufferers.

The drug should be available to patients next year. Patients take two tablets a day.

Less than a year ago, scientists were awarded £1.7m to research and develop the drug. Specialists from Europe, America and Australia were involved in the project.

They found significant improvement in lung function, quality of life and a reduction in disease flare ups for those receiving the new treatment.

Stuart Elborn from Queen’s University, Belfast, co-led the team.

“The development of this drug is significant because it is the first to show that treating the underlying cause of Cystic Fibrosis may have profound effects on the disease, even among people who have been living with it for decades.

“The remarkable reductions in sweat chloride observed in this study support the idea that VX-770 improves protein function thereby addressing the fundamental defect that leads to CF.”

Dr Judy Bradley, from the University of Ulster said: “This is a ground breaking treatment because it treats the basic defect caused by the gene mutation in patients.

“Correcting the cells with this mutation shows that treatments aimed at the basic mutation can work leading to improvements in lung function and symptoms.”

Dr Damien Downey, from the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust said: “The success of this study illustrates the benefits that come from collaborative work here in Northern Ireland.

“Not only will this breakthrough help patients in Ireland and the UK but it has the potential to change the lives for those with Cystic Fibrosis around the world.”

As a result of the recent work researchers from Queen’s University, University of Ulster and clinicians from Belfast Health and Social Care Trust have been selected to join the European Cystic Fibrosis Society Clinical Trials Network.

This means Cystic Fibrosis researchers in Northern Ireland will be collaborating with their European counterparts to work toward improved treatments for Cystic Fibrosis on a global level. “

The new drug will be submitted for licensing in the Autumn of this year and is expected to be available to patients by as early as next year.

An optician in Scotland has developed what is claimed to be the first-ever effective treatment for face-blindness.

Ian Jordan, who is based in Ayr, has been invited to address a major conference in London.

Face-blindness, known technically as prosopagnosia, is an inability to recognize faces or facial expressions.

About one person in 40 is affected by the condition, which is particularly common among people on the autistic spectrum.

It can also occur after brain trauma, the result of an accident or stroke.

Mr Jordan discovered the method he uses to treat face-blindness by accident, while treating someone for another sensory processing condition.

Facial recognition

Speaking about the treatment, he said: “This is a real breakthrough and will be life-changing for those with prosopagnosia.

“Until now, there hasn’t been any way to treat it – just techniques and strategies to deal with the consequences.

“Some people are able to piece together a person’s identity by recognising the way they walk or the sound of their voice, but the prospect of meeting and having to identify new people, either socially, at work or at school, can be very distressing.”

Patient Alan Mandelson said: “It gave me more confidence to go out and actually try to socialise.

“Before I started going for (this treatment) I was kind of a social recluse, staying around the house. I didn’t really want to try to make friends.

“Every time I tried, next time I saw them I even remember who they were.”

Looking at the world with certain colours filtered out and other colours enhanced makes it possible for the brain to receive all the information it needs to distinguish one face from another.

Coloured lenses

Patients are prescribed tailor-made lenses in the colour most suited to their condition.

Isabelle Thorald, who has received the treatment, said: “When I put the glasses on, everything looks a hundred times better.

“I know people joke about the world looking better through rose-tinted spectacles, but it’s actually kind of true.

“I can see a whole face at once when I put my glasses on.”

Ian Jordan has been invited to outline his treatment at the Treating Autism 7th Biomedical Conference and Exhibition in London.

What a miracle. I’m smiling my face off after reading this!

A man in the US, who was blinded in one eye 55 years ago, has had his sight restored, according to the Journal of Medical Case Reports.

The patient was eight when his retina was detached after he was hit in the right eye with a stone.

When the retina is detached for a long time it be permanently damaged, so re-attaching it might not restore vision.

Doctors said restoring sight after this length of time was a medical first.

The man was 63 when he went to the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, saying he had pain and redness in his eye.

There was swelling, bleeding and a high fluid pressure in his right eye.

Light sight

After washing the eye out and treatment with a drug which stopped new blood vessels forming – the eye went from completely blind to being able to detect the source of a bright light.

Doctors thought this was encouraging enough to try re-attaching the retina.

After surgery he was able to see again.

Surgeons believe it was successful because of the low “height” of the retinal detachment.

Dr Olusola Olawoye said: “To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of visual recovery in a patient with long-standing traumatic retinal detachment.

“This is not only a great result for our patient but has implications for restoring eyesight in other patients, especially in the context of stem cell research into retinal progenitor cells which may be able to be transplanted into diseased retinas to restore vision.”

Genetic faults that cause diseases such as cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and some cancers could be repaired in a new technique described as a “miracle of modern medicine”

A woman whose leg is bent permanently to her chest says she is positive ahead of an operation which could transform her life.

Jo Day, 37, from Weston-under-Lizard, Staffordshire, will have surgery to straighten her leg at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham on Wednesday.

Risks could mean her body becoming stuck in another position.

Miss Day, whose leg is bent due to a neurological condition called dystonia, said there was no point “being angry”.

Brain stimulator

Her dystonia was triggered by a fall when she was a teenager, in which she broke her elbow while roller skating.

Miss Day has a deep brain stimulator in her head with wires going down the side of her body to help control her condition.

A leg has been fixed in the same position for four years.

She said: “They could get my leg down, but then I could get a spasm somewhere else.

“So instead of my leg being bent, a knee [problem] could go to the ankle, so that the foot bends up or bends back or it could go to the other leg or my back.

“But touch wood, none of that’s going to happen, because [of] positive vibes.”

Her assistance dog, Kaiser, who completes tasks such as fetching drinks and medicine, will be allowed to visit her every day in hospital.

Miss Day added: “I think it takes so much energy to be down than it does to be happy.

“Just because I had this, it isn’t anyone’s fault, so there’s no point being angry with the world or anyone else.”