Monday, December 24, 2012

Ten Ideas on Creating Family Traditions for Christmas Eve

World Hot Topics Blog

Ten Ideas on Creating Family Traditions for Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve can be a seemingly magical night, especially for young children. You can create treasured memories by establishing family traditions that they can look forward to each Christmas season. Using any one of the ten suggestions below can help you make Christmas Eve one of the most eagerly anticipated nights of the year. World Hot Topics Blog

1. Get in the kitchen and bake cookies or other goodies together. Make some for your own family as well as some to deliver to neighbors that evening or on Christmas Day. Set a couple of treats out on a plate as a snack for Santa Claus.

2. Have the kids put on their pajamas, take cups and a thermos filled with hot chocolate, and drive through your neighborhood and surrounding areas looking at Christmas lights and displays.

3. Pop some popcorn, then gather in the family room and watch your favorite Christmas show or movie.

4. Have a special Christmas Eve dinner. Serve some of the same foods from year to year. Use your best china, glassware and linens and eat by candlelight, with Christmas music playing softly in the background. World Hot Topics Blog

5. Dress up in holiday dresses or other Christmas attire and attend a Christmas Eve church service.

6. Eat an early dinner at home, then go out to a nice restaurant for dessert. While many eateries may close early in the evening, some stay open a bit later and are generally not very crowded.

7. Allow everyone to open one present on Christmas Eve. This could be the same type of gift each year, such as an ornament to commemorate a milestone that your child has reached during the year or something simple like a pair of Christmas pajamas.

8. Read Christmas stories together at bedtime. Try a children's book that contains the story of Jesus' birth or the traditional 'Twas the Night before Christmas.

9. Set up a treasure hunt around the house or in the yard with Christmas-related clues that lead the children to a special treat or a small gift. World Hot Topics Blog

10. Find a charitable organization that needs volunteer help either for Christmas Eve or in preparation for Christmas Day activities.

Spending time doing something together on Christmas Eve is a great way not only to build family relationships, but also to relax and unwind after the busyness of the holiday season.

This World Hot Topics Blog is Originally from here :
http:// voices.yahoo.com/ten-ideas-creating-family-traditions-christmas-4999336.html

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Even moderate drinking in pregnancy may affect child's IQ



World Hot Topics Blog

Even moderate drinking in pregnancy may affect child's IQ

LONDON (Reuters) - Women who drink even moderate amounts of alcohol while pregnant may risk lowering child's intelligence levels, according to a study by British scientists.
Advice to pregnant women about drinking is contradictory, with some guidelines recommending no alcohol at all and others suggesting the odd drink now and then is safe. World Hot Topics Blog

But in a study described as "hugely important" by one expert, researchers using genetic analysis of more than 4,000 mothers and children found that drinking between one and six units of alcohol a week during pregnancy can lead to lower Intelligence Quotient (IQ) scores by the time a child is eight.

"Even at levels of alcohol consumption which are normally considered to be harmless, we can detect differences in childhood IQ which are dependent on the ability of the fetus to clear this alcohol," said Sarah Lewis of Bristol University, who led the study. "This is evidence that even at these moderate levels, alcohol is influencing fetal brain development." World Hot Topics Blog

This study used genetic data from women and children who were part of another study called the Children of the 90s study.

Since the individual genetic variations that people have in their DNA are not connected to lifestyle and social factors, this kind of study avoids potential complications.

Most previous studies have used observational evidence, but experts say this can be misleading because, for example, mothers who drink in moderation while pregnant are typically also well educated, have good diets and are unlikely to smoke - all factors linked to higher IQ in children and which could mask any negative effects of alcohol. World Hot Topics Blog

A U.S. study published in July found that older, educated women are more likely to drink while pregnant.
GENES AFFECT ALCOHOL METABOLISM
This study, published in the journal PLOS ONE on Wednesday, used a new technique analyzing the genetic variants which modify the effects of alcohol exposure levels.

When a person drinks alcohol, ethanol is converted to acetaldehyde by a group of enzymes, the researchers explained.

Variations in genes that 'encode' these enzymes lead to differences in a person's ability to metabolize ethanol, so in "slow metabolizes", alcohol levels may be higher for longer than in "fast metabolizes". Scientists think fast ethanol metabolism protects against abnormal brain development because less alcohol goes to the fetus.
The mothers were asked to record their alcohol consumption at various stages during pregnancy, and one drink was specified as one unit of alcohol.  World Hot Topics Blog

The results showed that four genetic variants in alcohol-metabolizing genes among the 4,167 children were strongly related to lower IQ at age eight. The child's IQ was on average almost two points lower per genetic variation they had.

The effect was only seen among children of women who were moderate drinkers and there was no effect evident in children of mothers who abstained during pregnancy. This strongly suggests it was exposure to alcohol in the womb that led to the difference in child IQ, the researchers said.

"This is a complex study but the message is simple: even moderate amounts of alcohol during pregnancy can have an effect on future child intelligence." said Ron Gray of Oxford University, who was part of Lewis's team.  World Hot Topics Blog

David Nutt, a professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London who was not involved in the research, said it was "a hugely important study from the best UK cohort that can study this question".
"Even though the IQ effects are small, if at all possible women should avoid ethanol in pregnancy as it's a known toxin," he said in an emailed comment.

This World Hot Topics Blog is Originally from here :
http:// news.yahoo.com/even-moderate-drinking-pregnancy-may-affect-childs-iq-220632636--sector.html