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BIRTH

French surgeons operate on foetus in womb

In what’s been hailed as a first in France, surgeons have successfully operated on a foetus in the mother’s womb to correct the birth defect, spina bifida.

French surgeons operate on foetus in womb
Surgeons in France carry out first operation on a feotus to correct spina bifida. Photo: Shutterstock

The complicated two-hour operation was carried out on a five-month-old foetus at the Necker hospital in Paris.

Details of the procedure, which was carried out earlier in the summer, have only just been revealed after the birth of the baby through a caesarean ten days ago

Following the operation, doctors saw a "normalisation of the brain abnormalities" in the foetus, with the hospital saying both mother and baby were in fine health.

“Ten days after the surgery, the brain anomalies [in the foetus] that were caused by the disorder had disappeared,” Dr Jean-Marie Jouannic, who led the procedure, told the AFP news agency. “It’s incredible to be able to protect this little girl’s brain to enable future learning.”

If left untreated, the spina bifida can lead to partial or total paralysis of the lower limbs as well as a build up of fluid inside the brain.

After discovering the foetus had the defect, a disabling congenital disorder which leaves a gap in the spine, doctors offered the mother the option of the operation, which comes with a risk of causing a premature birth.

The surgery involves cutting through the mother’s abdomen, her womb and the amniotic sac surrounding the baby. The baby has to be kept face down in the fluid to ensure it doesn’t start to breathe on its own.

There was the added concern that the surgery had never before been carried out in France, with only around a dozen hospitals offering it worldwide.

“In France we have been considering this surgery for around ten years. Many were asking whether there was a place for this type of intervention in our country,” Jouannic told Le Parisien newspaper.

“In reality the pre-natal methods of diagnosis in France are among the best in the world. The majority of couples choose to terminate their pregnancy when they find out [that there is a problem of this nature],” he added.

“Today there is a demand from couples who want to undergo this surgery. It would almost be unethical not to offer it to them.”

Dr Jouannic points out that the baby will not be cured of the birth defect but the consequences of it will be reduced as a result of the surgery.

The mother and baby are expected to leave hospital in the next few days.

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BIRTH

These are Germany’s most popular baby names for 2020

New research revealed on Wednesday what the top names for both boys and girls in Germany are - and which names are growing (or falling) in popularity.

These are Germany's most popular baby names for 2020
Photo: DPA

Ben is no longer the most popular first name among newborn boys in Germany.

Noah has overtaken the top spot for the first time in nine years  – but just barely, according to new statistics from name researcher Knud Bielefeld published on Wednesday in Ahrensburg, Schleswig-Holstein.

Trailing only closely behind Noah and Ben, the second place name, is Matteo.

It was a similarly close race with girls' names, Bielefeld told DPA. There, Mia, Emilia and Hannah ranked in first through third place, overtaking Emma – long the favourite girl's name in Germany.

“For me, it was extremely exciting. That was a head-on-head race until the last second,” said Bielefeld.

Bielefeld evaluated the names of about 23 percent of all children born in Germany in 2020.

READ ALSO: IN NUMBERS: German birth rate falls as more women have children later

“If my sample had looked a little different, the name that is now maybe in second or third place would now be in first place,” he said. “There are only minimal differences between them.”

Bielefeld said that several of the top names, such as Emilia and Matteo, had climbed steadily higher in the list of most popular first names in recent years.

“If you want me to predict: I expect Matteo and Emilia to be at number one next year if the upward trend continues like this,” he said.

Emma, Sophia, Lina, Ella, Mila, Clara and Lea landed among the top ten names for girls. Among the boys, Finn, Leon, Elias, Paul, Henry, Luis and Felix made it onto the list.

The most popular middle names in 2020 were Sophia, Marie and Maria, as well as Alexander, Elias and Maximilian.

There were several regional differences in top baby names, though, depicted state by state in the map below using a sample size of 23 percent of all children born in 2020. (Credit: DPA)

International names – above all those from the English-speaking world and Scandinavia – as well as older German names, also ranked highly.

“Emil, Anton, Paul, Emma and Anna – these are older names that we’ve known for a long time,” said Bielefeld.

Gerda has climbed higher every year, and in Saxony in particular, the name Kurt has now also become more and more popular.” 

There was also a large decline in the popularity of the first name Greta. The name, also borne by the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, fell from 30th to 130th place between 2019 and 2020.

“That's really the most remarkable observation I've ever made since these statistics. Such a steep drop,” said Bielefeld.

Of course, parents again gave their children unusual names in 2020. For example, girls were graced with names such as Amore, Divora and Marvelous, while boys were handed over creative choices such as Archibald, Hotte, Rhett and Denver.

According to Bielefeld, these names were all given at least twice in Germany. 

One name, however, did not appear at all: Corona.

Bielefeld and his assistants usually evaluate both the official reports of a city, as well as the photo galleries of birth clinics. Due to the pandemic, however, photographers were less frequent there in 2020.

Instead, significantly more registry offices gave him data related to first names this year, said the expert.

For the statistics, Bielefeld evaluated data from 465 locations, corresponding to about 23 percent of all children born in 2020.

A similar statistic is released each year from the Society for the German Language, which says it uses 90 percent of all data from the registry offices.

In a forecast in mid-December, it had seen Emil and Lena as having the best chances of coming out on top nationwide.

READ ALSO: REVEALED: Germany's most popular baby names

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