Day: 18 May 2006

Caffeine Helps Infants Inhale

It seems that caffeine is proven to harm something, then another study proclaims that caffeine is actually good. Well chalk another mark for caffeine the good: caffeine helps babies breath.

“Caffeine therapy helps protect the lungs of premature infants from damage.

That’s an early finding from an international, multi-center trial designed to assess the safety of caffeine therapy for the treatment of apnea of prematurity.

Apnea of prematurity is very common in preterm infants, because their lungs are underdeveloped and the central nervous system, which automatically directs the body to breathe, is immature and often not functioning properly. It’s not known exactly how caffeine therapy helps these tiny babies breathe better, but its major benefits are believed to come from its stimulant effect on the respiratory system”

Mobile Phones Used to Help Poor

Farmers in Africa are using mobile phones to better their lives and business careers. The phones allow them to gain direct access to their respective markets and keep informed about global trends about their industry.

“One of Mashva’s neighbors said he had quadrupled his monthly income since using the phone, as he was now able to cut out a middle man who paid him far less than the market price for his cotton crop.

“Last year was really a disaster, I made around 800 rand ($120) a month and was having trouble feeding my family,” Jeremiah Chauke told reporters. “But last month I made around 4,000 rand — that’s a lot of bucks.”

Chauke has invested some of that extra cash into growing vegetables on a small plot of land near his house, which he also sells using his phone”