An international team, led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, has discovered that «random» mutations in the genome are not quite so random after all. Their study, to be published in the journal Cell on December 21, shows that the DNA sequence in some regions of the human genome is quite volatile and can mutate ten times more frequently than the rest of the genome. Genes that are linked to autism and a variety of other disorders have a particularly strong tendency to mutate.

Clusters of mutations or «hotspots» are not unique to the autism genome bu...

If your last name’s Hilton or Marriott, you undoubtedly have enough spare rooms to accommodate all of your out-of-town holiday guests. But for the rest of us, figuring out where friends and family should crash can be more complicated. One dilemma many parents face is whether to displace kids from their rooms in order to make space for familial lodgers.

In National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation,” a young Juliette Lewis memorably whined to her mom about having to share a bed with her brother in order to make room for all of the grandparents, asking, “Would it be indecent to ask the grandparent...

Jim Shelley is a journalist and a member of Grazia’s fashion jury

Personally, I’m amazed that 10-year-old Romeo Beckham’s appearance in the new Burberry ads has caused so much fuss. What did people think he was going to be? A plumber, perhaps? A dustman? Or, even worse (and even more unlikely, with his parentage), a journalist? No doubt a lot of readers, particularly parents, will criticise the Beckhams for allowing their son to feature in such a high-profile campaign at such a tender age...

Children whose mothers were exposed to secondhand smoke while they were pregnant may be at greater risk for behavioral problems, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing found that prenatal exposure to secondhand smoke, or environmental tobacco smoke, was linked to attention problems and aggression. They added that children exposed to secondhand smoke in the womb also fared worse on language, speech and intelligence tests.
«Such findings could inform public health efforts to reduce public smoking and underscores the need for including [environ...

If your due date is December 25th then you might be worrying about having a baby born on one very inconvenient day! Is it really bad news to be born on Christmas day? Are there compensations for a Christmas Day birthday and how hard should you try to hold on until a more acceptable date (if that is at all in your power)?

Most of us are pretty happy to be receiving a baby let alone worrying about the due date but when it comes to Christmas I bet you can name a few people who have a birthday on the 25th of December and if you’ve known them since you were little I bet you’ve always felt a bit sor...

Parental Guidance marks one of those movies aimed at an oddly narrow demographic: grandparents.

Not their kids or their grandkids, a common marketing strategy to lure both ends of the age spectrum with time to kill over the holidays.

No, Guidance aims a sweet-if-silly bead squarely at the AARP-qualified generation. And while its senior stars do a terrific job capturing aging in a youth-crazed culture, Guidance drops the ball, in all departments, in its portrayal of anyone younger than 55.

Billy Crystal plays Artie Decker, a quick-witted minor league baseball announcer who dreams of broadc...

Discover the differences between a humidifier and vaporizer and why humidity can help with colds.

Every parent wants what’s best for their baby, and this is especially true when baby is sick.At some point, most parents have to make a decision about what type of humidifier to buy.At first, the task seems simple, but then the questions begin.What’s the difference between a humidifier and a vaporizer?How do these machines add moisture to the air?Which one is best for my child?Relax.The answers are here.
When a person has a cold or allergies, humidity helps alleviate the symptoms...

Having the family sit down together for dinner every night may make children more likely to eat their fruits and vegetables, researchers found.

Schoolchildren whose families ate dinner together every night ate 1.6 more servings of fruits and vegetables each day compared with those whose families never ate together (P<0.001), according to Meaghan Christian, of the University of Leeds School of Food Science and Nutrition in England, and colleagues.

In addition, parents who ate fruits and vegetables every day and who cut them up for their children had kids who ate more of them (P=0...

«Meningitis link to smoking in pregnancy: Cigarettes can treble child’s chance of developing the disease,» the Daily Mail reports.

The headlines follow the publication of a review that has looked at whether children exposed to secondhand smoke (passive smoking) could be at increased risk of meningococcal meningitis. Meningococcal meningitis (caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis) is the most common type of bacterial meningitis in the UK. If it progresses to a blood infection (septicaemia), the condition can be fatal.

The 18 studies included in the review found that children and adoles...