Health

These are the winners of the International Association of Professional Birth Photographers' annual competition. The photos from the United States, Canada and Mexico capture everything - from water births to labor in the car; from crowning to holding the baby. Some show the spectators - an eyes-wide child peering as a man helps a woman deliver, or a midwife nonchalantly continuing as fluid sprays over him. One captures the moment a father, recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, holds his son in his arms for the very first time and speaks to him about the future.

Among celebrities, there were none who did more to advocate for diabetes research than Mary Tyler Moore. The actress was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 33 (pictured right). She became a a staunch champion who raised millions of dollars and lobbied several times before Congress for further funding (pictured left) before her untimely death.

Melissa Benoit (left), 32, had just hours to live when she was rushed to Toronto General Hospital with a severe infection in April. She was immediately placed on a ventilator to help her breathe as surgeons warned her only chance of survival was a transplant as her condition continued to worsen. Her organs began to fail after bacteria in her lungs became resistant to most antibiotics - causing her to go into septic shock. But in what is believed to be a world's first, doctors removed her lungs to try and eliminate the infection while waiting for donor organs to become available. And after just six days they found some, allowing for a successful transplant (right with her daughter Olivia).

Melyssa Delgado Braga (left), from Sao Paulo, Brazil, had what is believed to be one of the largest myxoma's ever recorded - weighing 5lbs. Doctors described the benign growth as 'almost like another head attached to her jaw'. It had displaced her tongue to the point that she was unable to eat and swallow - leaving her on the brink of being malnourished. However, surgeons warned that she would likely die because the treatment would be too much for her weakened immune system. But after becoming aware of her case thanks to a Facebook campaign, medics at the Louisiana State University donated their services for free (pictured right after surgery with her mother, Carol, 21).

Images released from Colblindor, a blog run by Daniel Flück from Zurich, give an idea what the four types of colour blindness people experience actually look like. Approximately one in 20 people suffer from colour blindness, a condition that makes the world a duller place. But if you have not got the condition, it might be difficult to imagine how the world looks through someone else's eyes. Pictured are how colours look for three different types of the condition. 'Normal vision' is shown top left as a reference.

From your hairbrush (right) to your toothbrush holder (inset), and even your tin openers and your phones, there are many things you should be cleaning in the home, but might be missing.

Sports science students Alex Rossetto, not pictured, and Luke Parkin, left, consumed double the lethal limit after volunteering to take part in the test at Northumbria University which aimed to measure the effect of caffeine on exercise. After a calculation error, the second year students were given 100 times the correct dosage, causing violent side-effects and them being admitted to hospital with 'life- threatening reactions' in March 2015. Prosecutor Adam Farrer told Newcastle Crown Court they should have been given 0.3g of caffeine, but were in fact given 30g. He said there is 0.1g in the average cup of coffee.

Victoria Bradley, 37, from Liverpool, was told that her daughter, Francesca Bradley-Curran (pictured together inset), would likely die after she weighed just 1lbs 6oz (main) when she was born in April. Nurses even provided keepsakes of her tiny footprints as they didn't expect her to survive following her delivery just two days after the 24 week cut-off. But nine months on, doctors say she is a 'miracle' after she battled meningitis, sepsis and two collapsed lungs while in hospital.

Ely Bowman, three, was diagnosed with Batten disease in 2015. Suffers are eventually robbed of their ability to walk, talk, and move, and usually die by age 12. His older brother Titus (pictured left, in chair) died of the same disorder last year at age 6. But a new clinical trial could save Ely from suffering the same fate.

Kruz, three, and Paizlee, one, Davenport, from Alabama, were diagnosed with a rare form of dwarfism - two of only five cases in the entire US. The condition will cause their kidneys to fail and likely kill them before they're 11 years old. Now their parents are working to fundraise for a cure before time runs out.

Jon Woollard, 30, from Buckinghamshire, was 16 stone at his heaviest (left, in 2012) and struggled through years of yo-yo dieting before overhauling his diet and becoming a personal trainer. On a daily basis Jon gets through a staggering seven meals, totting up an intake of around 4460kcal - but says he's never looked better. He added:  'People should try to think more about what they're eating and how often rather than how much. Try and treat your body like an engine; without the right fuel you won't perform at your best.'

Richard Hansbury (left), 65, from Wigan, died after it took North West Ambulance Service two hours and 42 minutes to take him to a hospital three-and-a-half miles away (right, a breakdown of the incident). By the time Mr Hansbury had reached the hospital, after suffering a serious gash to his head, his blood pressure had dropped to a dangerously low level due to severe blood loss. He suffered three heart attacks and died less than three hours later. According to a report, on the day of Mr Hansbury's death, the service was ‘extremely busy’ and as many as 15 ambulances were stuck in queues at hospitals across Greater Manchester.

Sean Spicer (pictured) loves chewing gum. The new White House press secretary is so hooked on Orbit Cinnamint sticks that he tears through two-and-a-half packs by noon. He swallows each piece whole. This all emerged in a profile of the then-political strategist in the Washington Post last year. Now that he is in the spotlight, the account of Spicer's peculiar habit has resurfaced. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, doctors wouldn't recommend it. 

Ballenie and Bellanie Camacho, 11-month-old conjoined twins, were born joined at the hip (pictured left) - an extremely rare form of attachment. The girls from the Dominican Republic were successfully separated (pictured right) after months of preparation, in a complex 22-hour procedure at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in New York.

Marlene Dominguez-Hicks, 33, a doctor from Houston, collapsed at her home at 38 weeks pregnant from an uncommon form of heart failure during the last month of pregnancy known as peripartum cardiomyopathy. There were no risk factors that she suffered from aside from multiple pregnancies.

A newborn has been diagnosed with an incurable disease that means even a cuddle could cause his skin to fall off. When Kahleel Clark-Smith was born on December 28, he already had some small blisters on his arm. Now at just three weeks old the little boy from Seattle, Washington, has lost 60 percent of his skin.

The unnamed 17-year-old (left), from New Delhi, India, is believed to be only the sixth ever recorded case of a juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma in his nasal septum (pictured in a CT scan inset) in the world. After it had impacted his ability to breathe, eat and speak, surgeons decided to remove it (right). It took doctors hours to remove the growth, which was made up of blood vessels, from his nasal cavity. They were forced to lower his blood pressure to prevent any life-threatening bleeding, as high pressure can cause vessels to rupture.

A first time mum is fighting for her life after postponing treatment on a tennis ball-sized brain tumour - because it grew back while she was six months pregnant. Stephanie Parr, 36, from Derby, had previously been diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2012 but had surgery to remove it. However last year, at six months pregnant (inset) she found out it was back. She and husband Neil (left) are now raising daughter Lily-Rose (right) but say they are living an 'emotional rollercoaster'

The Food Standards Agency said famous UK brands including Hovis and McVitie's have products that contain raised levels of a chemical linked to cancer. Products on the danger list include Kettle Chips, Burts crisps, Hovis, Fox’s biscuits, Kenco coffee, McVitie’s and products from Cow & Gate. According to the Food Standards Agency, 25 products have raised levels of acrylamide. Animal studies suggest the chemical can trigger DNA mutations and cancer.

Mila Makovek, 6, from Boulder, Colorado, grew up a happy, healthy child. But at age 3, she started to stutter. Other symptoms soon followed including being off balance and going blind. She was diagnosed with Batten disease - a rare, inherited neurodegenerative disorder. The disease will soon rob Mila of her speech and mobility, and could kill her before she's a teen, unless her parents can afford a new $4 million clinical trial.

The Channel 4 actress from Ealing developed carpal tunnel syndrome during her pregnancy. It made driving and coping with everyday life very painful, and she ended up needing wrist surgery. While it often occurs in pregnancy — 50 per cent of pregnant women develop it to some degree — it can also be caused by conditions such as diabetes or arthritis, and lifestyle factors such as being overweight and even drinking too much.