Cannabis, Even Medical Cannabis Could Be Much Worse Than Thalidomide - Medical Journal

Medical cannabis on the NHS

This article from a prestigious medical journal is written for medical professionals with terms that most of us

will not understand. I have highlighted a several points so you don't have to read every word.

BMJ - British Medical Journal
doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k335

Known Cannabis Teratogenicity (Birth Defects) Needs to be Carefully Considered

It is no accident that in almost the same week both Australia and UK have decided that cannabis is to be recommended for a host of medical disorders mostly in advance of gold standard clinical trials. This is a direct product of the organized transnational global drug liberalization movement orchestrated from New York 1.

I wish to most respectfully disagree with the points made by BMJ editor Dr. Godlee. Diarrhoea and colic occur in cannabis withdrawal; Crohn’s disease has a prominent immune aspect, and cannabinoids are likely acting partly as immune modulators. Statements from patients are uninterpretable without understanding the treatments tried, their withdrawal symptomatology and their personal preferences.

Most importantly, as Dr Godlee states, cannabis is a mixture of 104 cannabinoids. The tide cannot be both out and in at the same time. Medicines in western nations are universally pure substances. This comprises a fundamental difficulty.

Medical research has confirmed that the body’s endocannabinoid system is a finely regulated and highly complex system which is involved in the detailed regulation of essentially all body systems including the brain and cardiovascular systems and stem cell niches.

Studies have shown that the rate of use of cannabis by expecting mothers closely parallels that in the wider community. In fact given the long half-life of cannabis in tissues even were a maternal habitual smoker to stop when she discovered her pregnancy, her infant would continue to be exposed to her on-board cannabinoid load for several months afterwards during critical periods of organogenesis. And other studies show that the father’s cannabis use is even more damaging than the mothers’ 2.

Studies show that the father’s cannabis use

is even more damaging than the mothers’

Whilst much research has focussed on the effects of endocannabinoids in the adult brain relatively little research has looked at the impact of these same effects in the developing brain of the foetus and neonate. Whilst the brain stem is almost devoid of type 1 cannabinoid receptors (CB1Rs) they are in high concentration in many parts of the midbrain, limbic system, subcortical regions and cerebral and cerebellar cortices 3. Foetal CB1Rs have been shown to play key roles in virtually all aspects of brain development including neural stem cell function, determining the ratio of glial v neuronal differentiation, brain inflammation, axonal growth cone guidance, stem cell niche function and signalling, blood flow signalling, white matter and CNS tract formation, glial cell differentiation, myelination, dendrite formation, neural migration into the developing cortex, synapse formation and integration of newly formed neurons into the neural network. They are also found in high density on endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria from which latter they indirectly control major issues including cognition, DNA maintenance and repair systems both by supplying energy and by metabolite shuttle and RNA signalling 4 5.

Hence it is not surprising that gestational cannabis has been linked with a clear continuum of defects, including in protracted longitudinal studies from Pittsburgh, Ottawa and Netherlands impaired cortical and executive functioning; reduced spatial judgement; the need to recruit more brain to perform similar computational tasks 6; microcephaly 7; lifelong smaller heads and smaller brains 6; anencephaly (in two CDC studies 8), and increased foetal death. This progression clearly reflects a spectrum of congenital neurological impairment which is quite consistent with the known distribution of CB1Rs mainly across the foetal and adult forebrain and midbrain and its derivatives 3.

Consistent with a recent explosion of autism

It is also consistent with a recent explosion of autism in Colorado, California, New Jersey and many other sites in USA and internationally in recent years 9. Moreover cannabis induced synpatopathy closely mimics that seen in autism 10 11, as do similar white matter disconnection endophenotypes 3 12.

A similar scenario plays out in the cardiovasculature. The American Heart Association and American Academy of Pediatrics issued a joint statement as long ago as 2007 noting that foetal cannabis exposure was linked with increased rates of ventricular septal defect and Ebstein's anomaly (complex tricuspid valvopathy) 13. This is consistent with recent Colorado experience where ventricular septal defect has risen from 43.9 to 59.4 / 10,000 live births, or 35.3% 2000-2013. Both of these structures are derivatives of the endocardial cushions which are rich in CB1Rs. Concerningly Colorado has also seen a 262% rise in atrial septal defects over the same period. Exposure to other drugs does not explain this change as they were falling across this period. It has also been reported that the father’s use of cannabis is the strongest environmental factor implicated in cardiovascular defects, here involving transposition of the great arteries 2, which is a derivative of the conoventricular ridges immediately distal and continuous with embryonic endocardial cushions, and also rich in CB1Rs.

Similar findings play out in gastroschisis (a birth defect of the abdominal (belly) wall. The baby's intestines are found outside of the baby's body, exiting through a hole beside the belly button). There is an impressive concordance amongst the larger studies of the relationship of gastroschisis and congenital cannabis exposure where senior Canadian authors concluded that cannabis caused a three-fold rise in gastroschisis 14, consistent with a high density of CB1Rs on the umbilical vessels 15.

A 3-fold increase in babies born

with their intestines outside of their bellies.

And cannabis has also been implicated as an indirect chromosomal clastogen and indirect genotoxin through its effect to disrupt the mitotic spindle by microtubule inhibition 16, and likely DNA maintenance and repair 17 by its effect on nuclear actin filaments 18.

Moreover cannabidiol has been shown to alter the epigenome, to be genotoxic, and to bind to CB1Rs at high doses, so the simplistic case that “Cannabidiol is good” – fails.

The simplistic case that “Cannabidiol is good” – fails

These considerations imply that if clinical trials continue to show efficacy for additional indications for cannabinoids, their genotoxic and teratogenic potential, from both mother and father, will need to be carefully balanced with their clinical utility. They also imply that these issues will need to be more widely canvassed and discussed in order to introduce more balance into the heavily biased present global media coverage of the highly misleading misnomer “medical cannabis”.

Only once before has a known teratogen been marketed globally: 

thalidomide

Only once before has a known teratogen been marketed globally: the thalidomide disaster is the proximate reason for modern pharmaceutical laws. With its widespread uptake, rising concentrations, asymptotic genotoxic dose-response curves and actions through the paternal line cannabis could be much worse.

References

1. Open Society Foundations. Open Society Foundations New York: Open Society Foundations; 2018 [cited 2018 4th August 2018]. Available from: https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/ accessed 4th August 2018 2018.

2. Wilson PD, Loffredo CA, Correa-Villasenor A, et al. Attributable fraction for cardiac malformations. Am J Epidemiol 1998;148(5):414-23.

3. Yang Q, Huang P, Li C, et al. Mapping alterations of gray matter volume and white matter integrity in children with autism spectrum disorder: evidence from fMRI findings. Neuroreport 2018 doi: 10.1097/WNR.0000000000001094

4. Hebert-Chatelain E, Desprez T, Serrat R, et al. A cannabinoid link between mitochondria and memory. Nature 2016;539(7630):555-59. doi: 10.1038/nature20127

5. Yates D. Learning and memory: The cannabinoid connection. Nat Rev Neurosci 2016;18(1):4. doi: 10.1038/nrn.2016.171

6. Brents L. Correlates and consequences of Prenatal Cannabis Exposure (PCE): Identifying and Characterizing Vulnerable Maternal Populations and Determining Outcomes in Exposed Offspring In: Preedy V.R., ed. Handbook of Cannabis and Related Pathologies: Biology, Pharmacology, Diagnosis and Treatment. London: Academic Press 2017:160-70.

7. Forrester MB, Merz RD. Risk of selected birth defects with prenatal illicit drug use, Hawaii, 1986-2002. Journal of toxicology and environmental health 2007;70(1):7-18.

8. Van Gelder MMHJ, Donders ART, Devine O, et al. Using bayesian models to assess the effects of under-reporting of cannabis use on the association with birth defects, national birth defects prevention study, 1997-2005. Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology 2014;28(5):424-33. doi: 10.1111/ppe.12140

9. Christensen DL, Baio J, Van Naarden Braun K, et al. Prevalence and Characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 8 Years--Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 Sites, United States, 2012. MMWR Surveill Summ 2016;65(3):1-23. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.ss6503a1

10. Anderson GR, Aoto J, Tabuchi K, et al. beta-Neurexins Control Neural Circuits by Regulating Synaptic Endocannabinoid Signaling. Cell 2015;162(3):593-606. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.06.056

11. Won H, Mah W, Kim E. Autism spectrum disorder causes, mechanisms, and treatments: focus on neuronal synapses. Front Mol Neurosci 2013;6:19. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2013.00019

12. Zalesky A, Solowij N, Yucel M, et al. Effect of long-term cannabis use on axonal fibre connectivity. Brain 2012;135(Pt 7):2245-55. doi: aws136 [pii]

10.1093/brain/aws136 [published Online First: 2012/06/07]

13. Jenkins KJ, Correa A, Feinstein JA, et al. Noninherited risk factors and congenital cardiovascular defects: current knowledge: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young: endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Circulation 2007;115(23):2995-3014. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.106.183216

14. Moore A., Roulean J., Skarsgard E. Congenital Anomalies in Canada, 2013. A Perinatal Health Surveillance Report. Chapter 7. Gastroschisis.

. In: Public Health Agency of Canada HC, ed. Ottawa: Health Canada, 2013:57-63.

15. Pacher P, Steffens S, Hasko G, et al. Cardiovascular effects of marijuana and synthetic cannabinoids: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Nat Rev Cardiol 2018;15(3):151-66. doi: 10.1038/nrcardio.2017.130

16. Reece AS, Hulse GK. Chromothripsis and epigenomics complete causality criteria for cannabis- and addiction-connected carcinogenicity, congenital toxicity and heritable genotoxicity. Mutat Res 2016;789:15-25. doi: 10.1016/j.mrfmmm.2016.05.002

17. Caridi CP, D'Agostino C, Ryu T, et al. Nuclear F-actin and myosins drive relocalization of heterochromatic breaks. Nature 2018;559(7712):54-60. doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0242-8

18. Wang J, Yuan W, Li MD. Genes and pathways co-associated with the exposure to multiple drugs of abuse, including alcohol, amphetamine/methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, morphine, and/or nicotine: a review of proteomics analyses. Molecular neurobiology 2011;44(3):269-86. doi: 10.1007/s12035-011-8202-4

Neanderthals - Incest, Interbreeding and Possibly Pedophilia

Neanderthals liked to keep it in the family with DNA sequencing of an ancient toe revealing long-term inbreeding amongst a Siberian-based population.

The sequencing results, published today in the journal Nature, also reveal Neanderthals, early modern humans and a sister group to Neanderthals, Denisovans, met and reproduced in the Late Pleistocene between 12,000 and 126,000 years ago.

Alan Cooper, a professor at the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at the University of Adelaide, says the study "completely rewrites what we know about human evolutionary history". I know it's not just me, but almost every real find in paleontology completely rewrites evolutionary history. That means that evolutionary history, as we know it, has always been wrong. Consequently, there is no good reason for us to believe that they've got it right now; the next discovery will rewrite it again and again.

"We now have a reasonably definitive picture of the mixing and matching of [hominin] groups through time," he says.

And according to Cooper, the research reveals that "everyone is bonking everyone else … it's quite impressive". Impressive is a curious word to use hear, but maybe I don't want to know why he used it.

First author of the paper Kay Prufer, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany says the findings are based on DNA extracted from a toe bone found in the Siberian cave where the first Denisovan fossils were discovered in 2008.

The toe bone belonged to a Neanderthal woman who they estimate lived about 50,000 years ago, he says, adding that DNA analysis shows the woman's parents were very closely related.

"We conclude the parents of this Neanderthal individual were either half-siblings who had a mother in common, double first cousins, an uncle and a niece, an aunt and a nephew, a grandfather and a granddaughter, or a grandmother and a grandson," the researchers write.

Reason for extinction?

Prufer says the analysis shows this inbreeding was not a rare event.

"The parents were very closely related, but even if you ignore that [DNA analysis shows] … the past parents of the parents were related," he says.

Prufer says the inbreeding suggests the Neanderthal population was quite small or fragmented and this may have played into their demise.

"Of course if you have a small population size you begin to move into the danger zone [for extinction]," says Prufer.

Cooper, who was not involved in the study, agrees: "If you are breeding with your uncle, your population is on the way out. The fact this group has been doing it for a while suggests it was in decline."

Or, maybe they evolved into gays and lesbians. That would bring a quick end to a civilization.

Reconstruction of Denisovan face

Interbreeding across species

As part of the study, the international team also compared genomes of Neanderthals, Denisovans and modern-day humans.

Previous research has shown that while Neanderthals contributed to the genetic heritage of all modern populations outside Africa, Denisovans contributed exclusively to populations in Southeast Asia and Oceania.

However Prufer says the analysis reveals the picture may be more complex.

Their study shows gene flow from Neanderthals to Denisovans indicating interbreeding between the two groups.

The Denisovan DNA also contained genetic material from an "unknown archaic human that lived a million years ago", says Prufer. Oh, yes, I remember him. He was Archie the Archaic! (No, I haven't been drinking!)

He says this "unknown archaic human" could be Homo erectus, but further analysis is needed to determine its origins.

Ancient human relative's DNA puzzles scientists

Prufer says by comparing the genome of the various hominin groups, researchers will also be able to pinpoint the "defining changes" in genome that genetically make modern humans.

Their work suggests the proportion of Neanderthal-derived DNA in all people outside Africa is about 1.5 to 2.5 per cent.

I know some people that definitely have more than 2.5% Neanderthal in them.

Modern day New Guinea man with Denisovan facial characteristics

'Complicated and messy'

Cooper says the findings show evolution works in a "complicated and messy fashion".

"And when you try and reconstruct evolutionary history by looking at modern genetic data you get it completely wrong," he says.

Now that's a startling statement from a scientist. Sounds like a Creationist talking. Is the interpretation of genetic data wrong, or is evolutionary history as we think we know it completely wrong. Well, we have just proven above that evolutionary history has been and undoubtedly still is completely wrong.

While the work is "very convincing" Cooper says it is unlikely to be the final version of evolution. Ya think?

"Five years ago we didn't even know of the existence of the Denisovans," he says.

"It is an incremental process [but] these discoveries are really changing how we think about human evolution."

Cooper says the sequencing of the genomes also opens up the possibility to "identify what bits of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA survive in us and what they might be doing".

"If You Are Reading This, It Means I Have Committed Suicide"

"If you are reading this, it means I have committed suicide and obviously failed to delete this post from my queue."

So starts a suicide note written by Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year-old transgender teenager who died this week in the US state of Ohio. Alcorn scheduled the note to be published several hours after her death.

In the letter posted on Tumblr, she said she killed herself after years of struggling with her strict Christian parents' refusal to acknowledge her true identity as a female.

"There's no winning. There's no way out... People say 'it gets better' but that isn't true in my case. It gets worse. Each day I get worse," Alcorn wrote in the post which has since been reblogged more than 196,000 times. The hashtag #LeelahAlcorn also went viral, with more than 243,000 mentions over two days.

Alcorn ended her note with a plea: "The only way I will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren't treated the way I was... My death needs to mean something. Fix society. Please."

Many saw the public suicide note as a way to both provide awareness of trans issues and provide Alcorn a final measure of dignity.

"By scheduling tumblr posts, #LeelahAlcorn defeated measures by her parents to defame her legacy, her life, herself," wrote Twitter user @Unit0053.

User @RozeWithaZee tweeted, "Just had an epiphany that #Tumblr saved #LeelahAlcorn's life from being misrepresented entirely. She was able to tell her actual story."

But experts say there are risks to a message of this nature going viral.

"In a way, it's a double-edged sword," said Christine Moutier, chief medical officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Moultier explained that stories like Alcorn's can be used to raise awareness about suicide, transgender issues and mental illness - but that high-profile suicides sometimes come with tragic, unintended consequences.

"It's sensationalised in and of itself," Moultier said of the post, noting that the phenomenon of suicide contagion, where one suicide leads to the death of others, is especially high among troubled teens.

Moultier also notes that while Alcorn's note focuses on the external circumstances that led her to kill herself - what she felt was a lack of acceptance by her religious parents - it only touches on the mental health problems that underlie more than 90% of suicides.

Tumblr could not comment on Leelah Alcorn's post, but the sharing platform's community guidelines seem to reflect the grey area between using social media as a forum to help those who feel alienated and alone, and the danger of providing a place where disturbing messages can be shared globally.

The policy states "don't post content that actively promotes or glorifies self harm," but recognises that the internet is a place where people dealing with suicidal thoughts, eating disorders and cutting look for support.

"Dialogue about these behavours is incredibly important and online communities can be extraordinarily helpful to people struggling with these difficult conditions. We aim for Tumblr to be a place that facilitates awareness, support and recovery, and we will remove only those posts or blogs that cross the line into active promotion or glorification of self-harm."

Whether Alcorn's note is seen as a springboard for change or a trigger for other at-risk youths remains up for debate - but either way, her note has sparked a global conversation.

And it's a conversation I would like to continue here. As a born-again, fairly conservative Christian, I have great difficulty with people who appear to be born gay or transgender as Leelah's parents did. Christians tend to believe that all life is created by God and so God would not create someone with the emotional characteristics of a girl and the physical characteristics of a boy. Yet, it happens!

We can blame it on spiritual attack or invasion but is that realistic? Not that I don't believe in spiritual attacks and invasions, I certainly do, but why would God allow such a thing to happen to an unborn or newborn baby?

Our own adopted daughter was born with Spina Bifida, hydrocephalus; through several surgeries contracted meningitis and lost most of the use of her right hand, and is mentally restricted to the level of a 6 year old. She also has fatal food allergies. Was that God's plan for her? Was she demonized because of her parent's eastern religion?

She's 26 now, knows Jesus, and is personal friends with Christian singer/songwriter Brian Doerksen. She knows the words to every song he ever wrote. Is this a case of "What the devil meant for ill, God turned to good?" Gen 50:20.

I do not believe that God creates sick or broken or sexually confused children; but I do believe such children are born, whether it is a spiritual cause or just the consequences of man's free will and God's unwillingness to usurp that will, as with the sexual abuse of billions of children in the 21st century.

In any case, we as Christians have to respond with more compassion and allow God to do whatever He will do in that child's life. Driving your child to suicide is never right! There is no love in legalism!

Pulmonary Hypertension - The Monster Claims Another

Another Facebook PHriend gone! And 2 little girls fighting for their lives. They need your prayers and they need a cure.

Patricia McFarland-Myers

I don't mean to go all PH on you today. But we've just lost another beautiful phriend to this monster. RIP Lori Rodriguez. Lord we need a cure!

Lori Sobrowski Rodriguez - beautiful, happy, young woman passed away yesterday from PH-related heart failure. This photo is stunning in that it was taken Christmas Day, 2014.



Right - the last photo that she posted. How poignant an you get?


Breathe For Riley
Yesterday at 13:57 ·

Had to call Dr Hanna today. Always glad when he is the one that answers the pulmonary hypertension emergency cell phone for CHOP families.

Riley looked funny (extremely pale, dark nails) this morning so I put her monitor on and her oxygen level was only 65% on 4 liters. He told me to give her extra lasix and keep him posted.

I ran out and bought a scale and she put on over a pound since coming home (all fluid). She then got her dose of steroids and came up to about 80% on 5 liters.

She hasn't really left the couch since coming home. Most of her toys haven't even been taken out of boxes because she hasn't had much interest in anything but laying down.

We have tickets tomorrow for Disney on Ice, and I'm hoping we can have her stable enough to go because she is really looking forward to it.

Riley Buchanan is 6 years old and awaiting a lung transplant at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

http://www.gofundme.com/rileysnewlungs


Hope PHor Aubrie Starr

Sunday morning Prayers for Aubrey please.
Aubrie still has a fever, no word on her test. She still will not eat and sleeping a lot :-(


Hope PHor Aubrie Starr
Yesterday at 04:47 ·

Aubrie is back in the hospital again. Fever was up to 103.5 last night so we brought her to the ER. Aubrie has an infection in her lungs, they are testing to find out why. It could possibly be the Flu, if that comes back negative then it's on to the next test. We are also waiting on blood cultures taken last night. Fever was down last night but back up this morning.

Hope PHor Aubrie Starr
18 December at 20:10 · Edited ·

Today I received a call, Aubrie's case was denied by the specialty center at Chapel Hill. Now I will begin working with her team to find her a good out of state lung transplant specialty center.

Then we will have to send them her case and pray we find someone experienced enough to agree to guide us in her care.

We will begin trying to setup fund raisers to help pay for traveling and extended stay expenses soon. Once we are with a specialty center and she is listed for transplant it is possible we may have to completely relocate until she has her transplant and completes all recovery. Please continue to keep us in your prayers!


Hope PHor Aubrie Starr
2 December at 20:01 ·
Update: Aubrie's breathing has been so much better!!! She is playing again and happy as ever. So glad that tomorrow on my day off I will be able to spend some time with her having fun and not at any appts or with her feeling bad, tomorrow's mommy and me time is going to be great!!

Hope and Pray PHor Aubrie Starr

It's that time of the year, Aubrie has needed her first breathing treatment of the year tonight. She fell asleep so I had to hold her head as far upright as I could. Thankfully the machine didn't wake her up. 

Hopefully putting her back on allergy meds and breathing treatment will help. 

Looks like I am going to start next week limiting Aubries activities again. No visitors and avoiding public places. Some people don't understand how deadly a simple cold could be for a child with pulmonary hypertension. It's my job to protect her every way possible. 

Let my nightly bleaching and sanitizing frenzy begin!

And let us remember to keep this precious little girl in our prayers, and her mother too. Find out more about Aubrie here.

A Delightful Visit with Meriam Ibrahim and Family

The Christian mother put on death row for refusing to become a Muslim has revealed that her baby girl has not been damaged after she gave birth whilst shackled to the floor.

Meriam Ibrahim said that two-month-old Maya will undergo an ultrasound in the coming weeks to confirm that she will be able to walk.

It had been feared that, like her father Daniel Wani, a US citizen who has muscular dystrophy, she could be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

Meriam and Maya

Waiting: Meriam Ibrahim, her husband Daniel Wani and baby Maya are pictured inside the US embassy in Khartoum where Meriam is waiting to hear when she can leave Sudan

Meriam, 27, a doctor, spoke to Italian journalist and activist Antonella Napoli who visited her and her family in the library of the US embassy in the capital Khartoum which has become their makeshift home while they wait to leave Sudan.

Four camp beds have been put down on the floor and the family are being attended to by embassy staff in the cramped building.

Writing exclusively for MailOnline, Miss Napoli said that Meriam and Daniel wanted to thank the public for all their support which played a huge part in getting her out of jail.

That would include your prayers and mine. Thank You, Lord. Please keep praying for this family until they are safely in America.

Miss Napoli is one of the few journalists to speak to Meriam in person since she was freed on June 30 after spending eight months behind bars in a women's prison in Khartoum.

Meriam had been sentenced to death and 100 lashes for apostasy and adultery for marrying Daniel as they are both Christian and a court wanted her to convert to Islam.

Daniel Wani and Maya

During her time in jail Meriam gave birth to Maya - and her son Martin, 21 months, was with her during the entire ordeal.

Miss Napoli said that on her visit she found Meriam in ‘good physical and mental condition, although she’s naturally been tested by this experience’.

She describes Meriam as a ‘shy girl, slight in build with perfect skin, like porcelain’ who does not speak English so Daniel, a biochemist, translates.

Miss Napoli writes: ‘When I started to talk to her she was keeping her eyes down.

‘It was difficult for her to meet my gaze. Her hands were folded in her lap as if to protect herself. Her experience in the prison was shocking. 

‘She knows that her and her family will be safe only when they will be very far from away from Sudan.’

Miss Napoli describes the room where the family are staying as ‘full of shelves and books’ with a large plasma screen TV to keep them entertained.

Reporter Antonella Napoli

They are being looked after by an embassy worker called Patricia.

Secrets: The family were seized by the National Intelligence Security Services, dubbed the 'Agents of Fear' by Amnesty International, which accused them of a catalog of abuses

Miss Napoli writes: ‘Patricia tells me that Meriam is in the bathroom with Martin. Daniel is sitting in the wheelchair. For years he has been suffering from muscular dystrophy.

'I hold his hand. His eyes tell me much more than his words. His eyes are full of gratitude. I hear a cry. On the bed, behind my back, there is Maya.

'I ask Daniel if I can take his daughter in my arms. She is small, wearing a yellow and blue dress with the words ' I love ocean'. 

'She has a lot of black hair, and her eyes are bright and alive. She's so beautiful. I lose myself in her eyes. In that moment Meriam comes in. 

'Martin is in her arms, naked. He has just had a bath. He is smaller than I imagined. She looks lovely in her flowered dress and her long braided hair.'

On her visit Miss Napoli brought gifts for the children - a teddy bear for Martin and a little white dress with blue ribbons for Maya and a silk scarf for her.

Miss Napoli writes: ‘She likes it, she is happy and excited like a child.

'I ask if she is more quiet now that the doctor who visited Maya in the embassy said that she is fine and that in a few weeks Maya will have an ultrasound exam which will be able to confirm that Maya will not have problems in walking in the future. 

'Meriam feared that giving birth in chains, without being able to open her legs, could have caused damage to the child. She is a doctor, remember.

US 'working with Sudan' to get death-row mom out of country

Daniel, Meriam and Maya

'All the family is well, now. Daniel repeats it many times. Looking at his wife and children with a loving gaze. And that love, I said to them, has allowed them to overcome this absurd story. 

'Their love and the love of hundreds of thousands of people that have rallied for her freedom across the world.

'Daniel will not let me leave before thanking again for the commitment of people and media that pressed for her released.'

Meriam’s journey has been a hellish roller coaster.

The day after her sentence was overturned she and her family tried to fly to South Sudan en route to the US but was accused of using false papers to make the trip.

What happens next is unclear; Meriam could face an entirely new trial for the forgery allegations or the government may dismiss the case.

Khartoum Airport

Meriam, her husband and children were detained by 40 agents from the National Intelligence Security Services, dubbed the 'Agents of Fear' by Amnesty International, which accused them of a catalog of abuses.

Their lawyer told MailOnline at the time he didn't  know what charges they were being held on.

Now adding to her woes is her half brother (from Hell) Al Samani Al Hadi has filed a new case against her even though he has publicly stated he wants to execute her.

Meriam’s case has attracted international attention; it has been highlighted by human rights campaigners and people such as Bill and Hillary Clinton and human rights campaigner Mia Farrow.

The governments of the UK, Canada and the Netherlands all called for her to be freed and US Secretary of State said he was concerned about her treatment.

Miss Napoli revealed behind the scenes the Italian government has been working hard to get Meriam out of the Sudan having been deeply moved by her plight. Italians are so emotional - God bless them.

She writes: 'Last week Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Lapo Pistelli was in Khartoum and during his visit – the highest-level visit by a member of the Italian Government and European Union to Sudan for nearly 3 years – he raised the question of Meriam’s release in all of his meetings with representatives of the Sudanese institutions.

'He discussed her case with the First Vice President, Bakri Hassan Saleh, Foreign Minister Ali Karti, and the assistant to the President, Ibrahim Ghandour.

'They all said they were willing to cooperate to reach a positive and speedy solution to the case.'

Miss Napoli said that according to diplomatic sources, and in line with the Italian government’s actions over the last two months, Mr Pistelli’s visit should play a decisive part in reaching a positive outcome for Meriam.

Miss Napoli added that she believes that Meriam will be on her way to the US ‘very soon’, although the Sudanese government is unpredictable (and so is her half-brother from Hell) and could delay her departure again.

Czech Government Advisor Proposes Euthanasia for Children Born with Birth Defects

A senior university lecturer and Czech government adviser has been forced to resign for proposing to legalize euthanasia for children born with birth defects.

In his recent article published in the Journal of Medical Law and Bioethics, Miroslav Mitloehner argued that "it makes no sense to prolong the life of a baby born as a monster."

Mitloehner called children with disabilities "freaks" and questioned whether they are human beings. He said doctors should be allowed to terminate their life without parents' consent.

Vaclav Krasa, the chairman of a major organization of the disabled, called the views unacceptable, comparing them to "Nazi thinking."

Officials said Friday Mitloehner was fired from the post of director of the Institute of Social Work at Hradec Kralove University and from the Labor Ministry's scientific council.

Well, I think we know who the 'monster' is, and it's not children born with disabilities. I praise the good and quick reaction by the university and the government, but I wonder why the Journal of Medical Law and Bioethics would publish such an article in the first place?

I wonder how many people actually agree with him? I wonder if the idea will rise again in a few years and find support? Then they will decide that old people are useless to society and euthanize them.