WOMEN - Alarming rise in depression cases DURING pregnancy 'because of mounting pressure to juggle career and financial burdens'

Alarming rise in depression cases DURING pregnancy 'because of mounting pressure to juggle career and financial burdens'

• 20,000 women observed to have some form of mental health complaint
• Midwives say women are trying to juggle career, and be a perfect mother
• Women said to be 'ashamed' to admit they are depressed when they are expected to be enjoying a period of happiness and anticipation
• 
  

By SOPHIE BORLAND FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 22:32 GMT, 31 December 2014 | UPDATED: 23:19 GMT, 31 December 2014

+2

Rising numbers of women are developing depression while they are pregnant due to the growing expectations of motherhood

Rising numbers of women are developing depression while they are pregnant due to the growing expectations of motherhood, experts have claimed.

Around 20,000 women were observed to have some form of mental health complaint before they gave birth last year, more than three times the number detected four years ago.

Midwives and academics blame the sharp increase on the mounting pressures faced by women who try to juggle a career, cope with financial burdens and still be a perfect mother.

The rise is also thought to be caused by the fact that doctors are now better at detecting mental health problems. 

However, the condition is still not as widely recognised by doctors and midwives as postnatal depression. 

Experts also think many women are ashamed to admit they are depressed when they are expected to be enjoying a period of happiness and anticipation.

Research has shown that up to one in seven women develop prenatal depression, which can range from mild anxiety through to compulsive behaviours such as excessive hand-washing.

The condition is thought to be partly triggered by the surge of hormones women have to deal with during pregnancy, and partly caused by the emotional strain of the change which is about to occur in their lives.

The latest figures from the Department of Health have revealed that in 2012/3, around 20,000 women had been diagnosed with a mental illness when they gave birth compared to just 6,700 in 2008/9.

Elizabeth Duff, senior policy advisor at the NCT – formerly known as the National Childbirth Trust – said: ‘There are a lot of pressures.

‘Women are having to plan their maternity leave and when they go back to work.

‘Not all employers are very sympathetic and we are aware women delay telling colleagues and their managers that they are pregnant and struggle through when they are not feeling well.

 'They go on working until the last minute, which can just leave them not having enough time to rest and make emotional preparations.’ 

She added: ‘Depression can be triggered by financial problems and any woman is going to have to face a loss of household income, on top of the cost of a new baby.’

FAMILIES SPEND AN AVERAGE OF £100 A WEEK TO PAY FOR CHILDCARE 

Families are spending an average of more than £100 a week to pay for childcare in many parts of the country, figures have revealed.

The average gross weekly pay in England is currently £421.60. But out of the 132 local authorities which replied to a Labour childcare survey, 100 said that the cost of putting a child in nursery for 25 hours a week is now more than £100.

This means that the average cost of part-time childcare is now more than £100 in 76 per cent of areas polled.

In Bexley, South-East London, parents were paying an average of £195 a week for 25 hours of nursery care for a child under two – the equivalent of 46.5 per cent of the area’s average weekly income. In Thurrock, Essex, a place for a child older than two cost £185 a week for 25 hours of care, more than 47 per cent of the average weekly income.

MP Alison McGovern, Labour’s childcare spokesman, said: ‘Labour gets that increased help with childcare is good for families and good for the economy.

‘However families are facing a cost-of-living crisis under David Cameron, coming under increasing pressure from soaring childcare costs, falling childcare places and reduced support from this Tory-led Government.’

She added: ‘We would extend free childcare for three and four-year-olds with parents in work from 15 to 25 hours, worth £1,500 per child per year.’

Louise Silverton, director for midwifery at the Royal College of Midwives, said members of the College had found they were increasingly recording that women were developing depression and anxiety during pregnancy.

She believes this is partly due to the deluge of health advice given to pregnant women – on things like cutting back on alcohol and avoiding unpasteurised milk – which only serve to make them more anxious.

She also said women undergo many more scans compared to 30 years ago, and suggested that this makes them nervous far earlier on in the pregnancy.

She went on to say: ‘There are growing stresses on women to be perfect. Pregnancy is a time of very mixed emotions. I wouldn’t say that 35 years ago they used to sail through but they 

didn’t particularly worry.

+2

Midwives and academics blame the sharp increase on the mounting pressures faced by women who try to juggle a career, cope with financial burdens and still be a perfect mother

‘They didn’t have so many expectations about what sort of mother they were going to be. 

There was far less pressure. We didn’t tell women too much about what they should eat or drink, but now everybody worries.’ Previous research has shown that between 10 and 15 

per cent of women suffer from some form of antenatal depression, making it as common as postnatal depression.

Professor Ian Jones, chairman of the campaign group Maternal Mental Health Alliance, believes there are several explanations for the rise in cases.

He said: ‘The first is that it reflects a real increase in the number of women developing 

prenatal mental illness – a wide range of conditions ranging from extremely severe cases to mild depression and anxiety.

‘However the second explanation is that we are getting better at recognising these 

conditions. Women before who were developing illnesses weren’t being picked up, referred 

or recognised.

‘But it’s clear that many women suffer from mental health problems during pregnancy and 

some still don’t get the help they need.’

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2893012/Alarming-rise-depression-cases-pregnancy-mounting-pressure-juggle-career-financial-burdens.html#ixzz3NYyDStIu 

BREAKING NEWS: Qatar Airways flight from New York to Doha forced to divert to Manchester Airport due to 'disruptive passenger'

• Flight from New York to Doha has been forced to divert to Manchester 
• Officials said it diverted because of a 'disruptive passenger' on board
• Boeing 777 has already completed more than half of its journey to Doha
• Police and airport officials met the Qatar Airways plane on the tarmac 
• 
  

By CLAIRE CARTER FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 09:06 GMT, 1 January 2015 | UPDATED: 09:50 GMT, 1 January 2015

A plane was forced to make an unscheduled landing at Manchester Airport this morning because of a 'disruptive passenger' on board.

The New York to Doha flight had already completed about half of its journey but will now be delayed after being forced to land.

Officials at Manchester Airport were notified of the problem about half an hour before the 

plane landed at about 9am today and met the Boeing 777 on the tarmac with police.

+2

A Qatar Airways flight from New York to Doha has been forced to land at Manchester Airport this morning because of a disruptive 

passenger on board. Police and officials are preparing to meet the plane 

A spokesman for the airport said: 'There is a disruptive passenger on board this flight and because of this the plane is making a stop at Manchester.

'As well as handling agents Greater Manchester Police will also be there to meet the plane before it sets off again.' 

The spokesman said pilots of the QR702 flight had not declared an emergency but had said they needed to land with the passenger. 

The flight took off from New York at around 9.45pm local time last night (around 2.45am BST) and was due to land in Doha at around 5pm (2pm BST) - but will now be significantly delayed.

Passengers on board have already completed more than half of their 13 hour journey.

+2

The Qatar airways flight was forced to make an unscheduled landing at Manchester Airport this morning

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2893335/Qatar-Airways-flight-New-York-Doha-forced-divert-Manchester-Airport-disruptive-passenger.html#ixzz3NYwQciZ8 

EBOLA NEWS - Canada rejects 176 visitors from Ebola-affected countries

Canada rejects 176 visitors from Ebola-affected countries

An estimated 176 people were turned away from Canada after the imposition of a partial travel ban involving Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

MELISSA MARAJ / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO

A passenger arriving from Sierra Leone is screened for the Ebola virus at a Chicago airport last autumn, around the time Ottawa announced it would stop processing visa applications from the country.

By: Stephanie Levitz The Canadian Press, Published on Wed Dec 31 2014

OTTAWA—Newly released figures show an estimated 176 people were turned away from Canada after the imposition of a partial travel ban from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa.

The federal government put the controversial measures in place at the end of October, barring people from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone from receiving visas to come to Canada.

At the same time, the government announced it would also stop processing visa and visitor applications in the queue.

In newly published information, the immigration department says an estimated 176 applications have been affected, resulting in a return of approximately $20,000 in fees.

The World Health Organization had asked countries not to close their borders due to the Ebola outbreak and Canada’s move drew widespread condemnation.

But the government said the ban was only partial as it did not apply to Canadians coming from the affected region nor people who already had visas, and thus did not contravene international health regulations.

According to the most recently available data from Statistics Canada, 904 people from the three countries came to Canada between January and October of this year.

The applications returned were for temporary resident visas, and work and study permits, with the majority coming from Guinea.

The latest data from the WHO says there have been nearly 20,000 reported cases of the virus since the outbreak began last year and 7,588 reported deaths.

There are currently 37 Canadian Armed Forces doctors, medics, nurses and support staff working at a British-run Ebola treatment clinic in Sierra Leone.

Canada is also running two mobile laboratories in that country.

Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/12/31/canada_rejects_176_visitors_from_ebolaaffected_countries.html

AIRASIA QZ8501 PLANE CRASH - Divers prepare to enter wreck of AirAsia QZ8501

Divers prepare to enter wreck of AirAsia QZ8501

January 1, 2015 - 12:57PM

Michael Bachelard

Indonesia correspondent for Fairfax Media

Indonesian search and rescue unload the body of an AirAsia passenger at Pangkalanbun on the island of Borneo. Photo: Reuters

Surabaya: Search and rescue crews hope to take their first look at the fuselage of downed AirAsia jet QZ8501 early on New Year's Day as weather has eased enough to allow divers to swim down to the wreck site.

Suyatno, a search and rescue chief based at Kumai port on Borneo, told Fairfax Media that more than 50 divers from the Indonesian navy and search and rescue organisation Basarnas were preparing to go down.

It will be the first chance they have had to check how many bodies are still inside the wreckage.

Indonesian navy divers prepare to take part in the search of the crash site. Photo: AP

The seven bodies recovered so far have been plucked from different parts of the ocean by five different ships. They were swept away from the main wreck site by currents, leading to concerns that the recovery of the rest of the victims may be a long and haphazard process.

If most of the rest are still located inside the aircraft, it will radically speed up the recovery process, which the airline, search and rescue officials and Indonesian President Joko Widodo have all promised will be the priority.

After two of the bodies already found — a young man and an adult woman —  arrived late yesterday in coffins marked 001 and 002, two more were delivered to from ship to shore overnight at Pangkalanbun, Borneo.

Indonesian women pray for the victims of the AirAsia tragedy at Pangkalanbun. Photo: AP

They were seen in coffins marked 003 and 004.

All the bodies will also be sent to the police hospital in Surabaya, where 15 autopsy tables have been set up in a tent to allow doctors and forensic experts begin the identification process.

The families of the missing people have been moved from a room at the airport to a tent in the carpark of the local police headquarters, Polda Jatim.

Divers should be able to begin answering lingering questions: where are the 155 passengers and crew members so far unrecovered; is the plane in one piece or many; are the wings and tail still intact; is the "black box" flight recorder able to be recovered.

Local media reports said two black box recovery experts were being flown from Britain to help with the latter task. One British citizen was on board the flight.

Police disaster victims identification chief Budiyono said the two bodies delivered to Surabaya so far were intact and in good enough condition for the doctors to conduct the identification. 

Dr Budiyono has seen the  bodies himself and he can verify that  one is a female adult, and one what looks like a young male.

He was confident that they could be positively identified within two or three days.

AirAsia pilot and spokesman Captain Siregar said AirAsia would cover any cost incurred by the families from the moment the body was identified to the funeral.

"Whatever the family wants, we will cover the cost," he said.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/divers-prepare-to-enter-wreck-of-airasia-qz8501-20150101-12gepo.html

AIRASIA QZ8501 PLANE CRASH - AirAsia Chief Tony Fernandes Takes Lead on Crash Response

AirAsia Chief Tony Fernandes Takes Lead on Crash Response

Carrier to Make Good on Commitments to Families of Those on Flight 8501, CEO Says

By 

JAKE MAXWELL WATTS,

 

ANITA RACHMAN and 

ENDA CURRAN

Updated Dec. 31, 2014 5:22 a.m. ET

SURABAYA, Indonesia—For years, AirAsia traded on its reputation as a fun airline, the carrier that anyone could fly.

Founder and Chief Executive Tony Fernandes sometimes worked flights himself, offering drinks and snacks to passengers. The carrier sponsored sports teams such as English soccer club Queens Park Rangers and an NFL team, the Oakland Raiders.

But for the past three days, Mr. Fernandes has shown a weightier side to his character as the search for the airline’s missing Flight 8501 continued. He has personally briefed families of passengers and crew on the Airbus 320, which disappeared Sunday morning en route to Singapore. He took toTwitter to brief the media and the airline’s large, multinational customer base.

When confirmation came from Indonesian authorities Tuesday that the plane had crashed, Mr. Fernandes’s message was clear: He isn’t going anywhere, and the carrier will make good on all its commitments to its passengers’ relatives, including compensation payments.

ENLARGE

AirAsia Chief Executive Tony Fernandes attends a press conference on search efforts for missing AirAsia Flight 8501. GETTY IMAGES

“We are prepared, and we will not be running away from any of our obligations,” a grim-faced Mr. Fernandes told reporters after meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo and the waiting families at the airport in Surabaya.

Mr. Fernandes, a 50-year-old former music-industry executive from Malaysia, has taken plaudits from crisis-management experts for the way he has gotten out in front of the story.

His approach has been compared favorably with that of Malaysia Airlines in the immediate aftermath of the loss of Flight 370 in March. Airline executives and Malaysian government officials were criticized by some family members and even foreign governments for their sometimes conflicting statements.

Mr. Fernandes, in contrast, has been clear and direct. His tweets, often promising information updates at set times, have been one of the leading sources of information on the progress of the investigation into what happened to Flight 8501.

They also reflect some of the resolve he has shown in negotiating lower landing fees in various countries.

Mr. Fernandes’s budget airline model has mushroomed across much of Asia since he relaunched its moribund predecessor in 2001. AirAsia now operates subsidiaries in India, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. In 2015, Mr. Fernandes aims to start a fresh venture in Japan.

“He is a master communicator,” said Shukor Yusof, an aviation analyst at Malaysia-based Endau Analytics who has followed AirAsia for years.

There appeared to be more than rhetoric behind Mr. Fernandes’s words.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Fernandes said the company wouldn’t “hide behind any convention,” a possible reference to the Montreal Convention, a pact that guarantees a minimum level of compensation to the families of air-crash victim but which hasn’t been signed by Indonesia.

This pact provides for total liability of around $170,000 per passenger and also covers advance payments for accommodation and transport costs for families of victims. Carriers based in countries that have signed the 2003 treaty are liable for these compensation payments.

Indonesia, however, observes an older aviation agreement that has a lower liability limit per victim of around $8,300 and doesn’t require advance payments to passengers’ families. Because Flight 8501 was flown by AirAsia’s Indonesian affiliate, the carrier could technically have claimed it was covered by the older treaty.

Mr. Fernandes said AirAsia would move ahead with providing financial assistance straight away. “I am the leader of this company; I take responsibility,” he said. “The passengers were on my aircraft, and I have to take responsibility for that.”

Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/airasia-chief-tony-fernandes-takes-lead-on-crash-response-1419989212

AIRCRAFT STORIES - 737 Stall - Deep stall

AIRCRAFT STORIES - Stall (flight)

Stall (flight)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A stall is what happens when an aerofoil can not make enough lift to keep the aircraft in level flight. Stalling is risky and can be dangerous during low-level flying.

Causes

The stall is most likely to happen because of low air speed. To make up for low speed, a pilot will raise the nose of the aircraft to increase angle of attack, increase Lift Coefficient and keep the same lift. However, after a critical angle of attack is passed (often around 16 degrees) the lift stops increasing and actually collapses, causing a stall.

The critical angle of attack will always stall the aircraft. It does not matter whether the aircraft is going fast or slow.

Signs of the stall

The signs of the developing stall are:

low air speed, high nose position, less effective controls, and light buffet (shaking) in the stick and rudder pedals.

The signs of a full stall are:

heavy buffet in the controls, nose drops, the aircraft descends (falls).

There is the chance of entering a spin if the wings are not level.

Recovery from a Stall

To recover from a stall, the pilot must push the nose down. Then he must increase the engine power using the throttle. When air speed increases again, the pilot can level his wings and pull up to return to his assigned flight level.

Deep Stall

An aircraft with a T tail is at risk from deep stall, because the turbulent air coming back off the stalled wings covers the elevators and makes it very difficult to push the nose down and recover.

Stall Turn

A Stall Turn is an aerobatic manoeuvre also known as a hammerhead. The pilot lowers the aircraft's nose to increase speed, then pulls up sharply to the vertical. The aircraft slows to a low airspeed, then the pilot applies rudder to yaw to the left or right through 180 degrees. The pilot then recovers from the subsequent dive once the aircraft has sufficient airspeed. If executed correctly the wing is not stalled at any point, hence the preferred name of "hammerhead" for this manoeuvre.

Source: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stall_%28flight%29

AIRASIA QZ8501 PLANE CRASH - Indonesia Learns Lessons From MH370 in AirAsia Plane Disaster

Indonesia Learns Lessons From MH370 in AirAsia Plane Disaster

By Chris Blake  Dec 31, 2014 2:19 PM GMT+0800

An Indonesian Navy Pilot looks out the cockpit window during a search of the waters near Bangka Island
for debris from AirAsia Flight QZ8501 in a navy fixed wing patrol craft near Bangka Island, Indonesia,
on Dec. 30, 2014.

Indonesia’s search for a downed AirAsia Bhd. plane avoided the missteps that plagued the still fruitless hunt for a Malaysian jet that disappeared almost 10 months ago.

“The Indonesian government and AirAsia have responded more rapidly and with more accuracy to their customers, family members, and the media in general in comparison to the Malaysian accidents,” said Curt Lewis, president of Curt Lewis & Associates in Arlington,Texas, an airline safety and accident investigation consultant. “Perhaps a learned lesson of what not to do.”

Indonesian search crews have recovered debris and six bodies floating in the sea from the AirAsia plane that went missing on Sunday with 162 people on board. By contrast, not a single piece of wreckage has been found from Malaysian Airline System Bhd. (MAS) Flight 370, which vanished March 8 on the way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

The airline and the Malaysian government’s handling of the crisis were criticized for a lack of urgency in the initial hours, transparency in releasing information and coordination on where to search. The hunt for MH370 is the longest in the history of modern aviation.

“There was a reluctance to admit that they had a problem, a reluctance to admit they had screwed up because they didn’t do anything for about the first four or five hours, a reluctance to admit they didn’t have the necessary resources and the capability to resolve this problem, which just kept getting bigger and bigger,” Desmond Ross, principal of DRA Professional Aviation Services in Sydney, Australia, said of Malaysia’s search. “They dug a hole for themselves that was so deep they couldn’t climb out.”

MH370 Mystery

The disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing Co. 777-200 jet has baffled authorities as contact was lost less than an hour into the journey with no emergency warnings. A search continues across 60,000 square kilometers (23,000 square miles) of the southern Indian Ocean, an area about twice the size of Belgium. The company’s hunt was further hampered by the July loss of Flight 17, a casualty of the conflict in eastern Ukraine with the plane shot down en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. MH17 was carrying 298 passengers and crew.

Indonesia and AirAsia avoided the pitfalls that hindered the response to the MH370 disaster and were open about asking for help, Ross said. The search teams have now used sonar to detect a larger part of QZ8501 under water.

“This whole AirAsia thing has been handled in a better way,” he said. “They just leaped straight in, all hands to the pump and have sort of gone for it, which is a much better scenario.”

Easier Search

There were other factors making the search for AirAsia easier than the one for Flight 370, including the shallow depth and smaller area of the search zone, and a more accurate assessment of the plane’s last know position, John Goglia, a former member of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, told Bloomberg Television.

“We have a lot more information with this plane than we have with the others,” he said.

Malaysia Airlines offered assistance to AirAsia after its plane disappeared off the coast of Borneo, a company spokeswoman said. It was unclear if that offer was taken up.

Prime Minister Najib Razak’s office referred queries to Hishammuddin Hussein, who was acting Transport Minister when MH370 was lost. There was no response to two text messages sent to Hishammuddin’s mobile phone.

Malaysia Criticism

The Malaysia Airlines plane vanished in March after a system that transmits a jet’s location was shut off. The way the plane then turned off course toward Malaysia and out into the ocean convinced investigators someone sought to cloak its path, according to Najib. Officials estimated MH370’s likely final location by analyzing hourly pings between the plane and an Inmarsat Plc (ISAT) satellite. That method forced searchers to initially spread out over 217,000 square kilometers of open water.

Malaysia came under fire from families of those on board Flight 370 and foreign governments.Vietnam, which took part in the search, expressed concern about early coordination efforts and said Malaysian officials weren’t responsive to requests for information. China, which had 154 nationals on board, noted the lack of progress in the search and called for greater transparency. Some family members accused the government of a cover-up when it announced the plane was lost in the Indian Ocean with no survivors.

‘More Zeal’

Malaysia’s government, which has been led for more than 50 years by the same political coalition, appeared caught off guard by the criticism. Indonesia’s government, which took office in October, is led by Joko Widodo, whose rapid rise to the presidency was built on a reputation for being a man of the people known to take unscheduled walks to chat with the public.

“The Indonesians seem to have reacted much quicker, with more zeal, and have been more welcoming of international support, than the Malaysians,” said Richard Bitzinger, coordinator of the military transformations program at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “The Indonesians haven’t been as secretive or defensive, or as hostile toward outside criticism.”

Since the disappearance of Flight 370 Malaysia Airlines has delisted, unveiled a 6 billion-ringgit ($1.7 billion) restructuring package aimed at restoring profitability in three years, and hired a new chief executive officer, former Aer Lingus Group Plc chief Christoph Mueller. The airline, which traces its beginnings to the 1930s, will cut its workforce to 14,000 from 20,000.

‘Sad Time’

AirAsia Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes, a Malaysian, has taken a hands-on approach to the disaster at his airline, shuttling back and forth between the airport at Surabaya where the plane took off and Jakarta, and engaging the public on social media. “We will go through this terrible ordeal together,” he said in a Twitter post the day the plane disappeared.

Once debris was discovered and bodies found he offered his condolences to the families of passengers, tweeting: “Words cannot express how sorry I am.”

Malaysia Airlines in a statement yesterday sent its condolences to those affected by the AirAsia disaster.

“As an airline that has recently experienced such great sadness, we stand in solidarity to offer our thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by this tragedy and with the team at AirAsia,” it said. “This is indeed a sad time for everyone working in aviation and for all guests who fly.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Blake in Bangkok at cblake28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rosalind Mathieson at rmathieson3@bloomberg.net Tony Jordan

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-31/indonesia-learns-lessons-from-mh370-in-airasia-plane-disaster.html