news

A little girl has been left partially blind after visiting an Australian theme park.

We’ve rounded up all the latest stories from Australia and around the world so you don’t have to go searching.

1. A Perth family is prepared to sue over their daughter’s eye infection. 

Jannah Fawcett from Forrestfield, Perth, is preparing to take legal action over her daughter Chelsea’s eye infection, which developed after visiting the BHP Billiton water park.

The Fawcett’s attended the water park on the 29th of January, the day the complex opened.

ADVERTISEMENT

Ms Fawcett has argued that “They should have tested that water, and not opened it before they knew it was safe”.

Chelsea is now partially blind in one eye and it is unknown whether her sight will fully recover. Ms Fawcett said “It has been an awful experience with Chelsea in hospital and now she has to wear an eye patch and may never get her normal sight back.”

The law firm dealing with the case, Slater and Gordon, have asked anyone else who has experienced health problems as a result of the park to contact them.

2. Evidence suggests Alzheimer’s ‘lost memories’ may one day be recoverable.

ADVERTISEMENT

A paper published on Wednesday by MIT’s Susumu Tonegawa provides compelling evidence that future Alzheimer’s treatments will have the potential to reverse damage to memory. Tonegawa argued “Even if a memory seems to be gone, it is still there. It’s a matter of how to retrieve it.”

The research was conducted on two groups of mice. One group was genetically engineered to experience Alzheimer’s-like symptoms, and the other was controlled. All mice were given mild electric shocks. Predictably, the Alzheimer’s mice quickly forgot what had occurred, whereas the controlled mice exhibited fear when placed in the same environment where they had been shocked.

ADVERTISEMENT

Scientists then stimulated a particular region of their brains, the hippocampus, which is responsible for the encoding of short-term memory. When the mice were placed back into the box where they had formerly been shocked, they exhibited the same fear as the controlled mice.

Prior to this study, the assumption was that the memories themselves were not being stored properly. However, Tonegawa’s research suggests that the issue is simply in retrieval.

Rudy Tanzi, a Harvard professor said that this experiment has “shattered a 20-year paradigm of how we’re thinking about the disease.”

Although there is far more research to be conducted, this discovery is incredibly exciting. Early trials indicate that stimulation of the hippocampus in humans improves memory in some Alzheimer’s patients. This could be the first step in developing a treatment for the devastating disease.

3. Most-wanted Paris attacker captured in Brussels. 

ADVERTISEMENT


After a police raid in Brussels, the most-wanted suspect for November’s Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, has been arrested.

The fugitive was captured after a dramatic police raid in Brussels, which resulted in Abdeslam being shot in the leg. Abdeslam, 26, is believed to have been involved in the planning of the operation that took place on the 13th of November. An international search warrant had been issued for his arrest since the attack.

Belgium’s federal prosecutor confirmed that four other people had also been detained as a result of the police raid. Prior to the Paris terror attack, Abdeslam had been imprisoned for armed robbery. Those who knew the man said that he was normal and saw no signs that he had been radicalised.        

ADVERTISEMENT

4. A Sydney man has been shot dead while driving. 

Police have reported that two male pedestrians were approached at gun-point last night on Matthews Avenue in Heckenberg, Sydney. An altercation broke out between a motorist and the two men, which resulted in shots being fired.

A man who NSW Police say was sitting in a parked car, was shot by the stray bullet and killed. There is no evidence to suggest that he was at all involved in the incident.

ADVERTISEMENT

After being shot, the man’s car rolled forward and hit a pedestrian, before running into a fence. The 20-year-old pedestrian was taken to hospital, and is now in a stable condition.

The police do not know what started the conflict and are still looking for the gunman.

 

5. An eight-year-old girl was indecently assaulted by a man who broke into her home. 

ADVERTISEMENT

Early yesterday morning, a young girl was indecently assaulted by an intruder in her family home at Sanctuary Point in southern NSW.

The man, who was described as being approximately 175cm tall and wearing a black jumper, black tracksuit pants and a backwards cap, confronted the young girl before her mother awoke.

Her mother disturbed the attack, causing the perpetrator to flee. She then left the home before calling the police.

The police are currently investigating the incident and calling on public assistance to locate the man responsible.

6. Viagra is being administered to pregnant women with severely growth-restricted babies. 

A new trial is being conducted at The Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital to test if Viagra might promote growth for babies in utero.

Viagra, which is traditionally used to treat male impotence, is thought to stimulate blood flow to the placenta. Consequently, the drug could increase nutrients to the baby. Currently, the drug is being tested on women who are pregnant with growth-restricted babies who are considered to be at serious risk of disability, stillbirth or death.

Emma Kennedy is one of the women currently undergoing the trial. She insists that she would have lost her daughter if she did not take the drug.

She told Kidspot “The doctors were telling me that a termination may be my best choice as they were sure [my baby’s lack of growth] was due to a syndrome.”

ADVERTISEMENT
pregnant woman belly
She insists that she would have lost the baby if she did not take the drug. Image via iStock.

Emma will not know for sure if she was one of the women administered Viagra, or was in fact taking a placebo, but she says ““I feel that I was on the Viagra because they can’t find any medical explanation as to how [my daughter] was having big growth bursts. It was wonderful every time I found out she had grown more.”

Her daughter April was born at just 1.4 kilos and spent six weeks in hospital.

She is healthy, and Emma says that she feels “very blessed.”