sir winston churchill showed signs of hyperactivity, poor attention and, later, manic depression. at school he failed dismally in the subjects that bored him but excelled when they excited his interest. the behaviour of overexcitable, sometimes aggressive, easily bored but often hugely entertaining and bright children is easily tipped over the edge.

research on hyperactive children with adhd at great ormond street hospital in 1993 showed that some responded to dietary restrictions. controlled studies on children in the isle of wight in 2002 showed that behaviour improved in some children when they avoided drinks with certain E additives.

the old advice was that E numbers 100 to 150 and preservatives E200 and 297 were probably responsible. the current rumour is that the list of those to be avoided has been narrowed to E102, 124, 110, 122, 129, 104 and the preservative E211. opinion has it that as additives have no nutritional value some children would be better off without them.

if you want to look at other areas (other than the wirral) then click here and search.

shortly after the link between thalidomide and birth defects was proven it was banned from use world-wide.

now thalidomide has what is known as a racemic structure – that is it contains both left and right-handed versions of the same molecule in equal amounts. can you see the difference? one is the mirror image of the other. one version is effective against morning sickness, the other causes birth defects. whether you were successful in not suffering from morning sickness or had a sadly deformed child was merely the luck of the draw.

hydrogels are a network of polymer chains that are water-soluble, sometimes found as a colloidal* gel in which water is the dispersion medium. hydrogels are super-absorbent (they can contain over 99% water) natural or synthetic polymers.

common uses for hydrogels are:
disposable nappies where they “capture” urine, or in sanitary towels
contact lenses (silicone hydrogels, polyacrylamides)
breast implants
granules for holding soil moisture in arid or dry areas
dressings for healing of burn or other hard-to-heal wounds and
beauty treatments (see this additional video – scroll down to locate and hit play).

common ingredients are e.g. polyvinyl alcohol, sodium polyacrylate, acrylate polymers and copolymers with an abundance of hydrophilic* groups.

glossary:
colloidal = mixture of two phases like liquid/solid, liquid/gas, other examples include butter, ink, smoke, tarmac (read more here)
hydrophilic = water-loving (read more here)

below are some of todays x-rays and ct scans showing the vertebrae damage. each of the vertebrae should be roughly rectangular in shape (not squashed and triangular!). the ct scans (both vertical and horizontal), and although a bit small, show some fragmental damage around the edges.