Morning sickness is a common problem in pregnancy
More needs to be done to establish which are safe and effective ways to relieve morning sickness, experts say.
There is reluctance to use pharmaceutical products in pregnancy due to Thalidomide, the 1960s anti-nausea drug which led to birth defects.
But there is little evidence to suggest that alternative therapies have any real impact, the international group of researchers Cochrane found.
Campaigners say women who suffer receive a “Cinderella service”.
Despite its name, the vomiting and nausea of morning sickness can occur at any time of the day and affect about half of pregnant women.
About two in 100 will experience it so badly they need to be hospitalised.
Ginger biscuits
Cochrane researchers looked at nearly 30 strictly controlled trials involving more than 4,000 women who were up to 20 weeks pregnant.
They examined six studies of acupressure and two of acupuncture, and found these methods offered no significant benefit.
One study of acustimulation – the mild electrical stimulation of acupuncture points – did document some improvement.
“It is not possible currently to identify with confidence any safe and effective interventions for nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy”
Dr Anne Matthews, Dublin City University
There was limited evidence for ginger, which is used in various forms from biscuits to tablets, or for vitamin B6.
There was also little evidence on the efficacy of antihistamines and anti-vomiting drugs including Debendox, which was withdrawn from the market in the UK but is routinely prescribed in Canada.
That does not mean these methods do not work, but that women – and health professionals – do not have any reliable evidence on which to make their judgements about the best treatments.
In the UK, there are currently no pharmaceutical products specifically licensed for use with pregnant women, but doctors who do prescribe for severe sickness tend to offer the antihistamines promethazine and cyclizines.
“Despite the wealth of different treatments available, it is not possible currently to identify with confidence any safe and effective interventions for nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy,” said lead researcher Dr Anne Matthews, of the School of Nursing at Dublin City University.
“The difficulties in interpreting the results of the studies highlight the need for further, more rigorous trials in this area.”
Dr Brian Swallow, a health psychologist and member of Pregnancy Sickness Support, said: “At present treatment varies according to the woman’s geographical location.
“Some areas are very good, whereas others have not developed appropriate treatment protocols. There is very little research that that aims to help women with nausea and vomiting in pregnancy.
“In terms of treatments, the most effective appear to be anti-nausea medication. GPs are often reluctant to administer them because they are fearful that they may have harmful effects on the foetus – although there is no evidence to suggest that they have.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
There are some sectors with job shortages, according to Rec
Job appointments grew at their slowest rate in 10 months in August, raising further questions about the strength of the UK job market, a survey suggests.
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (Rec) said both permanent and temporary placements rose at the weakest rate since October 2009.
Growth in pay also continued to slow, Rec said.
“Growth [in the UK’s jobs market] is rapidly slowing as public sector job freezes start to bite,” it added.
The body did, however, find that there were opportunities in some sectors, such as chefs, nurses, engineers and internet developers, where there were a shortage of skilled workers.
“A priority for government is to ramp up the support and guidance for job-seekers and to raise awareness of these growth areas within our labour market,” said Rec’s chief executive Kevin Green.
The latest figures show that the number of unemployed people in the UK fell by 49,000 in the three months to the end of June, to 2.46 million.
However, a number of analysts expect that number to rise in the coming months as a result of public sector job losses that will result from government spending cuts designed to reduce the country’s budget deficit.
“Whereas demand for staff is growing in the private sector, many public sector organisations have started redundancy programmes,” said Bernard Brown at KPMG, which produced the survey with Rec.
“In the months ahead we will see a substantial reduction in public sector headcount as the cuts begin to bite.
“The big question is whether the private sector can create new jobs in sufficient numbers and quickly enough to offset the downturn in the public sector.”
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Mr Soros said that HRW was one of the most effective organisations he supported
George Soros is to donate $100m (£65m) to Human Rights Watch (HRW) over the next 10 years, the investor and philanthropist has announced.
“Human Rights Watch is one of the most effective organisations I support,” Mr Soros said.
The gift from Soros’s Open Society Foundations is the largest the billionaire has made to a non-governmental organisation, HRW said.
It is given under the condition that HRW raises another $100m.
Related stories
The gift is the first in a series of large donations he plans to make, Mr Soros said in an interview with the New York Times.
“This is partly due to age,” the 80-year-old added.
“Originally I wanted to distribute all of the money during my lifetime, but I have abandoned that plan.”
HRW is to use the money to hire more staff and expand its work internationally, the group said in a statement.
The plan requires HRW to increase its annual budget from $48m to $80m within five years, the organisation added.
HRW, which is based in New York, currently has a staff of almost 300 and a presence in nearly 90 countries.
In October, Forbes Magazine estimated Mr Soros’s fortune at $14bn (£9.1bn).
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Fewer students will study on campus, vice-chancellors warn.
The traditional residential university experience could become the preserve of an elite, vice-chancellors are warning.
As universities struggle to cope with outdated funding models, more students will end up learning remotely and part-time, a Universities UK report says.
This may lead to a clear social divide between those receiving two different forms of higher education, it says.
It also warns ministers against decisions that will hurt long-term.
In a report for the vice-chancellors’ body, UUK, published ahead of its conference, Prof Geoffrey Crossick says the current model for delivering higher education has been “inherited from the past when it was available to the very few”.
And the University of London vice-chancellor argues the system is not financially sustainable and in need of radical reform.
“If mass higher education is too costly for it all to be delivered in traditional ways and with traditional funding, and if the changing demands of the economy require far more flexibility, then a much more diverse system will emerge,” he says.
He predicts the range of alternatives will “explode” and that the variety of providers will grow too.
“There will remain a core of comprehensive, primarily residential and (most of them) research-based universities, but for the rest new markets and new business models will make them seem increasingly different.”
He adds: “Higher education as a life-course stage will narrow to just one part of the population who experience it.”
The rest would get their learning in a range of new ways including distance learning, studying in small modules and from a myriad of providers.
But he says there have to be real concerns about the consequences of these changes for social mobility.
Prof Crossick says: “The division may no longer be between those who get a higher education and those who don’t, but between those who get a higher education in a comprehensive traditional university and those who access it through a myriad of providers in often small learning modules.
“Both will be needed by the economy and society, both will be of major benefit to the student and graduate.
“But unless we think about the issues now as we imagine the new system, we might end up with a clear social dividing line between the two forms of receiving higher education.”
He acknowledges that universities have to be less costly, but warns against doing things because they are cheap.
If cost is the determining factor, he warns “we may well in 10 years’ time deeply regret the wasted opportunity to produce the higher education system” that is required for the future.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
No more raised hands to answer questions, and a short, sharp burst of PE first thing every day. It’s school – with a difference.
The more usual scenario is repeated in classrooms everywhere. Teacher asks a question. A few hands shoot up – always the same hands. The hands that aren’t raised instead prop up drooping heads, or twiddle pens.
Those who raise their hands listen in class, engage with the topic and so achieve more highly. The others, often, let their attention drift. “They’re foregoing the opportunity to get smarter,” says education expert Dylan Wiliam.
And so he banned hands-up when he took over a Year 8 class of 12 and 13-year-olds at Hertswood School, a Hertfordshire comprehensive, for the summer term. The pupils were guinea pigs, testing methods for grabbing – and holding – the attention of the whole class, not just the usual suspects.
Boys in particular can lag behind, so in another experiment for the BBC, choirmaster Gareth Malone turned teacher for a term at Pear Tree Mead Primary in Essex, to try to re-engage boys who don’t like school. He taught the nine- to 11-year-olds outdoors, with running around and role-play in a clearing in the school grounds.
So what did they do – and why?
NO HANDS-UP – EXCEPT TO ASK A QUESTION
Slates – in hi-tech form – worked well
“When teachers ask questions, it’s always the same few pupils who put up their hands. The others can slip below the teacher’s radar, and therefore tune out,” says Professor Wiliam.
So instead of a show of hands, the teacher would ask pupils at random to answer any questions. There was resistance at first.
“Those who didn’t usually raise their hands were shocked that they had to pay attention. Those used to volunteering an answer were nonplussed by their removal from the spotlight,” he says.
Teachers found they had to plan their lessons in more detail, formulating questions to draw out pupils who’d fallen out of the habit of responding in class.
A compromise was for the teacher to randomly pick two pupils to answer, then ask if anyone had anything to add, giving habitual answerers a chance to pitch in.
By far the most successful way to engage the whole class was to issue mini-whiteboards on which each pupil wrote their answer – an innovation being rolled out school-wide this term.
“Mini-whiteboards are standard issue in many schools, but are usually left in a cupboard.
“It’s the return of the slate. Two hundred years ago, the best teachers were getting every child to write their answers on slates,” says Professor William.
PE TO START THE DAY
It can take as long to get in and out of PE kit
Children can veer from lethargy to fizzing with energy in the blink of an eye. So how about a burst of activity first thing to wake everyone up?
Physical education is part of the national curriculum, but many schools struggle to make time for it.
“Pupils spend a lot of time writing, and very little time getting out of breath. But research shows increasing oxygen levels in the brain can boost alertness,” says Professor Wiliam.
To shoehorn in 10 minutes of PE first thing, his pupils had to start school earlier to allow time for changing in and out of sports gear.
“Pupils spend a lot of time writing, and very little time getting out of breath”
Dylan William
This proved unpopular.
“It was only 10 minutes earlier, which they thought was a big deal and an impingement on their personal freedom. But some felt it made them more alert in morning lessons.”
Exercises before school or work were popular early last century, with exponents including the Bauhaus arts and design group.
At Hertswood School, the extra PE took the form of curcuit training, with pupils rotating through activities such as sprinting, skipping and bench steps. Particularly successful were the sessions supervised by older pupils taking sport as an elective.
“Often this would be quite an athletic boy. The boys would compete against his time, and the girls would try harder to impress him.”
TAKE IT OUTSIDE
Gareth and the boys in their woodland classroom
Gareth Malone also introduced more movement into the school day at Pear Tree Mead Primary, by setting up an outdoor classroom.
With the hesitant blessing of the head teacher, he and the boys cleared a space in an overgrown wooded corner of the school grounds.
As well as lessons in this den, he encouraged rivalry and running around to see if their minds responded to being free-range.
The boys bellowed The Highwayman in the open air before chasing down Malone, dressed in breeches and cape, to put him on trial for robbery.
The aim was to improve their verbal skills – important for literacy – with the added incentive of a boys v girls debate.
Exercises before an open-air lesson in 1929
After years of non-competitive activities in which all must have prizes, is competition due a comeback in schools? Professor Wiliam says yes – if handled carefully.
“You’ve got to pitch it at just above their level.
“That’s why the rivalry between Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe was genuniely healthy – they were so close in ability, they pushed each other to do better. If it was me racing against one of them, I wouldn’t compete, I’d give up.”
Competition works best when pupils are in groups, he says, to encourage collaboration within the team and competition against their rivals.
NO GRADES GIVEN
Are we hooked on scores?
A. B+. B-. C. F. What did you get?
“The first thing pupils do is look at their score. Do you know what the second thing is? Look at what the others got. Any feedback from the teacher is ignored,” says Professor Wiliam. “As soon as you grade them, learning stops.”
So in his experimental classroom, projects were returned with no grades, just feedback. In an art lesson, for instance, pupils made gecko sculptures and were given written feedback on how to improve on their creation. Only once it had been reworked did their gecko get graded.
“They didn’t like it. Pupils are like drug addicts, they’re addicted to grades and we’ve got them hooked. They expect grades. Parents expect grades.”
So did the pupils eventually respond to this, and other methods tried by Professor Wiliam?
“I was genuinely surprised that we managed to have a noticable impact on their achievement – and at how much more confident they were.”
Gareth Malone will also be interviewed on BBC Two’s Newsnight on Thursday 9 September at 2230 BST
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson was not involved in the G20 protests 
