A new study published Monday suggests that having a fan operating in a baby’s room may offer additional protection against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Each year, more than 4,500 babies die suddenly and unexpectedly, almost always when sleeping. Nationwide, about half of those deaths are classified as SIDS, a diagnosis that’s supposed to be made only when an autopsy, a death scene investigation and family medical history offer no other explanation for the death. It is the leading cause of infant death between 1 month and 1 year of age.
However, many experts say most babies who die suddenly without explanation are sleeping in circumstances that increased their risk of suffocation, whether the death is considered SIDS, undetermined or accidental smothering.
The new study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, found that infants who slept in a bedroom with a fan moving the air had 72 percent lower risk of SIDS compared with infants who slept in a bedroom without a fan.
California: Mother who drove teen son to a gang fight is convicted
A mother was convicted of second-degree murder Monday for driving her teenage son and his friends to a fatal fight with a rival gang. Eva Daley, 31, faces 15 years to life in prison when she is sentenced Nov. 4. Her co-defendant, Heriberto Garcia, was also convicted of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing 13-year-old Jose Cano near a Long Beach skate park in June 2007. Garcia, one of the passengers in Daley’s vehicle, is 17 but was tried as an adult.
@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no:Gay-pride harassment case mistrial
A mistrial was declared Monday after a jury could not decide whether to award damages to four San Diego firefighters who claimed they were sexually harassed after being forced to participate in a gay pride parade last year. The firefighters claimed they were humiliated by taunts and sexual gestures from parade watchers. A new trial was set for January.
D.C.: More Purple Hearts
An estimated 17,000 deceased U.S. prisoners of war could be awarded Purple Hearts under a new Pentagon policy announced Monday. Purple Hearts are awarded to soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines wounded by enemy action. But the awards have been denied in the past to POWs who died in captivity if it could not be proven they had been wounded or killed by the enemy. The revised policy, retroactive to Dec. 7, 1941, announced Monday by the Defense Department presumes such deaths were the result of enemy action unless compelling evidence is presented to the contrary.
Florida: Fairgoers catch dropped toddler
Fairgoers at a Port Orange carnival caught a 2-year-old girl whose mother was forced to drop her after they were both stranded 30 feet off the ground on a ride. The “Crazy Bus” kiddie ride, which rotates like a small Ferris wheel, began to move as passengers were trying to exit Saturday, forcing Sherri Pinkerton to dangle by one arm while holding her daughter, Gracie, in the other. She then dropped the girl, who was caught by fairgoers. “There was nothing I could do,” she said. “I couldn’t hold both of us. I held onto her for as long as I could.” No injuries were reported.
Canada: Suspect in beheading, cannibalism on bus fit to stand trial
A man accused of beheading and cannibalizing a fellow bus passenger in Manitoba has been declared fit to stand trial, his lawyer said Monday. A judge had ordered Vince Weiguang Li to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether the Chinese immigrant was competent to stand trial for the July slaying. Li, who has been charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of 22-year-old Tim McLean, has not entered a plea in the case.
Pakistan: Afghan refugee deportation
Pakistan ordered the deportation of about 50,000 Afghan refugees in the insurgency-wracked Bajur tribal region alleging many of them have links to militant groups. The order comes amid increased U.S. pressure on the government of President Asif Ali Zardari to crack down on militants in the border region, where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding.
Switzerland: Why collider broke down
A bad electrical connection likely caused the malfunction that sidelined the world’s largest atom smasher days after it was launched, a senior scientist said Monday. The fault was probably a poor soldering job on one of the particle collider’s 10,000 connections, said Lyn Evans, project leader of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European Nuclear Research Organization.
Somalia: Market mortars kill 17
Mortar rounds slammed into a market in Somalia’s capital on Monday, killing at least 17 people, after a failed insurgent attack on the presidential palace. The fighting began when insurgents fired mortars at the presidential palace but missed, according to a military spokesman.
From Herald news services
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