A round up of this week's other news in brief
VISITING ACTION:As part of a strategy to address standards in nursing homes, Age Action Ireland has launched a campaign seeking funding from public and private sources to establish a national "dignity in care" programme.
This would involve establishing residents' councils in all homes and voluntary committees visiting nursing homes in their area.
The groups would visit residents regularly and would be trained to watch for any signs that minimum standards were not being met.
Among the issues that are listed in the latest batch of home inspection reports, published by the Health Service Executive (HSE), are inadequate wound care, rodent controls in bedrooms, insufficient staffing levels, residents being deliberately woken by staff to get them up as early as 5.30am, a table being used to restrain a patient, failure to regulate the hot water in taps and failure to keep medicine records in line with the regulations.
BOTOX SAFE FOR MUSCLE STIFFNESS:Shots of botulinum toxin A, or Botox, can be used safely as a treatment for muscle stiffness in children with cerebral palsy, according to a new study.
The muscles of people with cerebral palsy are often stiff, contract spontaneously and over-react to stimulation, a characteristic called spasticity. Injection of Botox helps to reduce spasticity and allows the person a greater degree of control over muscle movement.
Dr Kristie Bjornson, of Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle led a team which examined the effects of Botox shots versus placebo in 33 children with spastic diplegia.
Overall, results showed that the physiologic and mechanical effects of treatment with Botox are "genuine and measurable" in children with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy.
"However, these effects may not create enough change in the patients' function or the families' perception of function to register as a meaningful improvement in their societal participation," the authors note.
ORGANIC BENEFITS:Organic fruit and vegetables may be more beneficial than standard produce, US research suggests. A 10-year study comparing organic tomatoes with non-organic found almost double the levels of a type of antioxidant called flavonoids.
Flavonoids are associated with reducing high blood pressure, lowering the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Dr Alyson Mitchell, a food chemist at the University of California, and colleagues measured the amount of two flavonoids - quercetin and kaempferol - in dried tomato samples that had been collected as part of a long-term study on agricultural methods.
These findings also confirm recent European research, which showed that organic tomatoes, peaches and processed apples all have higher nutritional quality than non-organic.
New Scientist magazine reported that the different levels of flavonoids in tomatoes are probably due to the absence of fertilisers in organic farming.
Flavonoids are produced as a defence mechanism that can be triggered by nutrient deficiency, such as a lack of nitrogen in the soil.
NEW RCPI PRESIDENT:Dr John Donohoe has been elected as president of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI).
Dr Donohoe is a Consultant Nephrologist and Transplant Physician at the National Renal and Transplant Centre, Beaumont Hospital and the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin.
SPEAKING SOCIALLY:Later this month, the Lucena Foundation will hold an information session for parents of children with selective mutism.
Selective Mutism is the term given to children who do not speak in certain social situations; for example, at school or in community settings despite normal speech in more familiar settings such as in their own homes.
The session will take place on Wednesday, July 25 from 9.30 am to 1pm at the Lucena Clinic, 59 Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin, 6.
Admission is free but parents are asked to register by email to: marie.mccourt@sjog.ieor tel: (01) 4923596.