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An expensive new drug that could prevent thousands of people from going blind is today approved for use on the NHS after more than two years of deliberations. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) says that primary care trusts should foot the bill for Lucentis, which costs £761 for each injection, to prevent people with age-related wet macular degeneration from losing their sight.
A pregnant woman is suing her health trust after she was forced to conceive using a donated egg because of delays in treating her. Greta Mason, 42, claims a barrage of unnecessary fertility tests followed by a six-year wait for treatment meant her eggs were too old to be used and she could only conceive using a donor.
Contracts are being negotiated - bids are going in. The much fought over super surgeries in England are becoming a reality. But who will run them and why are GPs still so angry? Grimsby is one of the most deprived parts of England.
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A robotic suit is helping people paralysed from the waist down do what was previously considered impossible - stand, walk and climb stairs. ReWalk users wear a backpack device and braces on their legs and select the activity they want from a remote control wrist band.
Distributing anti-retroviral drugs in Malawi has led to a huge fall in Aids-related deaths, an official says. Mary Shawa told the Reuters news agency that 67% of those taking the ARV drugs are still alive.
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Articles relating to mass media Health news about the Cheshire and Merseyside patch of the NHS in the North West of England.
YOUTHS are being bombarded with texts to their mobile phones in a crackdown on underage drinking. Knowsley council is using a Bluetooth transmitter to target a generation obsessed with the latest mobile phone gadgets.]
MORE than 100 people were left stranded on a Liverpool-bound plane after a meningitis scare. Bank holiday travellers returning to Liverpool John Lennon airport from Geneva yesterday were told to remain on a plane for two hours.
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Articles relating to mass media Health Stories about the Cumbria and Lancashire patch of the NHS in the North West of England.
MORE than 150 people across Cumbria were admitted to hospital for drug-related problems in just 12 months, new figures have revealed. According to information released by the NHS Information Centre, there were 152 admissions across Cumbria Primary Care Trust where the main diagnosis was drug poisoning. A further 33 people were admitted for drug-related mental health and behavioural disorders.
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Articles relating to mass media Health Stories about the Greater Manchester patch of the NHS in the North West of England.
MANCHESTER has the highest rate of self-harm in Europe, according to a medical study. Researchers from the Network for International Collaboration on Evidence in Suicide Prevention compared hospital admissions for self-harm from eight European countries between 1989 and 2003.
A mother detected symptoms of cancer in a photograph of a baby girl she had never met. Madeleine Robb, 32, was chatting online with Megan Santos, 32, from Tampa, Florida, who sent a picture of her one-year-old daughter, Rowan.
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The Conservatives yesterday charged the Labour government with creating a "teenage timebomb", presiding over a deterioration of teenage health that has seen the number of young people admitted to hospital annually rise by 23% since 2000. Using government statistics, the Tories issued a dossier showing that on six counts teenage health had got "steadily worse" since 2000, with the deterioration even more marked among early teens.
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Gold injections can treat arthritis and silver coating fights hospital infections. Peta Bee reveals the surprisingly practical uses of precious metals in medicine
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From church choirs to karaoke bars, singing has always lifted people's spirits. But could it be good for their physical health too? Alice Wignall finds out.
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The confirmation this weekend that Baroness Thatcher suffers from dementia is only really surprising in its particulars - but they are moving particulars, nonetheless. The woman who, as her daughter Carol writes in her new memoir, A Swim-On Part in the Goldfish Bowl, "had a memory like a website", and was capable, during Prime Minister's Questions, of "not only reading and analysing briefs but also virtually knowing them off by heart," now often forgets the beginning of sentence by the time she has got to the end. She also thinks her home is in Grantham (her birthplace in Lincolnshire) when it is in London, and has had to be told that her husband Denis is dead.
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Early diagnosis helps patients to plan for the future - The Times 25th Augst 2008
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Thatcher's struggle with dementia - The Sunday Telegraph 24th August 2008
Once again the relationship between doctors and the pharmaceutical industry is presented as a moral mire into which doctors are sinking (Drug giants accused over doctors' perks, August 23).
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Government has failed to tackle the epidemic of chronic illness and early deaths among the most disadvantaged in society, says a new report
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My headmaster once carpeted me for truanting. Golf before grades was our teenage version of guns before butter. He aspired to be Yoda, this pedagogue, but with better word order. 'By absconding from school, you have this afternoon missed Dr Roy's excellent annual lecture on astronomy. I consider that punishment enough. Run along.' Twit. It briefly occurred to me to say that missing double maths the following morning would pain me to the soul, but too briefly and not quickly enough.
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From offensive road signs to bad jokes about silver surfers, age discrimination is one of the besetting problems of our times
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What I particularly enjoy is the spectacle of fat people - ideally drinking beer - watching television, while somewhere on the other side of the world citizens of all nations are getting some nice exercise in the Olympics (throwing javelins, jumping over metal bars, climbing lamp-posts with banners, and running away from the water cannon).
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When Marc Weide's mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she chose euthanasia. Here, we publish his shockingly frank diary of her final days
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NHS dentists in England are extracting more teeth and providing patients with fewer x-rays, fillings and crowns, official figures revealed yesterday. The NHS Information Centre said treatments involving the fitting or repairing of false teeth accounted for 38% of complex dental activity in 2003-04. This rose to 48% in 2007-08. At the same time, extractions increased from 7% to 8% of dentists' workload, but the proportion of time spent on preparing and fitting crowns fell from 48% to 35% and fillings from 28% to 26%.
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Dentists 'pull out more teeth' - BBC Health News 21st August 2008
For the first time, the UK has more people of pensionable age than children under 16, the Office for National Statistics revealed yesterday. Confirmation of the ageing nature of Britain's population comes as the improvement in mortality rates seen in the second half of the 20th century is shown to have accelerated during this decade.
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You know how I hate to repeat myself, but I repeat: if you are not pregnant for the first time, right now, go and read something else. You'll just be bored if you stay here. Right, where were we? Weight gain in pregnancy. As C said, while I was standing at a mirror bitching and moaning at my horrible arse in my disgusting trousers: "Did you expect to do a whole pregnancy without putting on any weight?" NoofcourseIdidn'tstupid. But I thought it would be more mysterious. I didn't think it would be as workaday as just eating all the time and ergo getting fat. But we established last week, if that's how you are, physiologically, that's how you are. Surrender to it!
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After years of campaigns and controversy, school meals are now healthier than before - but there is some way to go before all menus change
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Parents are keen for children to adopt healthier habits - such as walking to school - but safety concerns often clash with best intentions
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Some have dared hope that Britain's haul of Olympic cycling medals will prompt a cycling revival and solve the nation's obesity crisis ('Put cycling on school curriculum', August 21). This may happen, but only if we invest significantly more in cycle-friendly infrastructure. Cycling is recognised - along with walking - as the physical activity most accessible to the two-thirds of Britons who do not presently reach even minimum recommended levels of activity. But few will try cycling while our streets are so traffic-dominated and hostile. So while 47% of children would like to cycle to school, for example, only 3% do.
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The NHS should offer infertile couples more and wider treatment to help end the IVF postcode lottery, government advisers said today. NHS trusts in England should make IVF (in-vitro fertilisation) a higher priority when drawing up spending plans by considering the often unseen effects of infertility on mental health and general wellbeing, the Expert Group on Commissioning NHS Infertility Provision said.
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Infertile couples to be priority for NHS IVF treatment - The Times 22nd August 2008
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Case study: a long wait for IVF treatment - or go private - The Times 22nd August 2008
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Three-quarters of IVF couples forced to go private because of lack of NHS provision - Daily Mail 23rd August 2008
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Couples to get more IVF treatment - BBC Health News 22nd August 2008
A judge yesterday criticised the government's "target-driven culture" as he jailed a no-smoking adviser for 18 months for pocketing £90,000 from the NHS for claims based on bogus clients. Judge John Hillen said the health scheme, designed to convince addicts to stop smoking, relied on members of the public with little training and was distinctly amateurish and cavalier.
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Stop smoking adviser Harry Singer pocketed £90,000 with bogus quitters - The Times 21st August 2008
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Conman jailed after milking £90,000 from NHS with bogus 'quit smoking' scam - Daily Mail 20th August 2008
Should crack be available to everyone? If not, there'll always be a thriving black market, says Ian Oliver According to Julian Critchley, the former civil servant responsible for coordinating the government's anti-drug policy, the legalisation of drugs would be less harmful than the current strategy - and an "overwhelming majority" of professionals share his view (Ex-drugs policy director calls for legalisation, August 13).
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The first national report on survival rates shows an 11% increase since 1979, but tailored treatment could drive rates higher.
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More teens surviving with cancer - BBC Health News 20th August 2008
Is using celebrities to front government campaigns the best way to help cut crime and boost public health? The government is certainly keen to give it a try. England footballers David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand and David James are backing a campaign urging people not to carry knives. Earlier this summer, Blur bassist Alex James was on hand to lend his support when the government launched a crackdown on teen cocaine use.
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Adrian Sudbury, the 27-year-old journalist turned blogger who chronicled his battle against leukaemia, lost his battle against the disease early today. The Nottingham journalist's Baldy Blogger website has already been flooded with tributes.
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The battle against hospital superbugs has encountered an unexpected enemy - street drinkers and homeless people are stealing the 70%-proof alcohol hand sanitiser from hospital wards in London to make potentially lethal cocktails.
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Store in Essex allows customers to order a prescription from one window and collect it from another within minutes
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All women aged up to 24 could be offered a vaccine against one of the most common causes of cervical cancer in an extension to a multimillion-pound immunisation programme.
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More than 7,000 patients had an NHS operation cancelled more than once in the past year, figures from the Conservatives reveal today. One patient had an operation cancelled 21 times and around a third (34 per cent) of trusts cancelled an operation for the same patient three times or more.
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Thousands of NHS operations cancelled - The Times 21st August 2008
Doctors are deciding against telling cancer patients about expensive new treatments to avoid causing distress when they find out that the NHS is unwilling to pay for them. A quarter of specialists questioned in a survey admitted to hiding the facts about new drugs for bone marrow cancer that may be difficult to obtain on the NHS.
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Doctors keep quiet about about cancer drugs to avoid upsetting patients if NICE refuses funding - Daily Mail 26th August 2008
Babies delivered by Caesarean section have a significantly higher risk of developing diabetes in childhood than those born naturally, a study suggests. A review of 20 studies on children with type 1 diabetes found those delivered by Caesarean section had a 20 per cent increased risk of developing the condition.
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Caesarean babies' 'diabetes risk' - BBC Health News 25th August 2008
The Priory chain of clinics, Britain's leading provider of private psychiatric care, famous as a retreat for overwrought celebrities, is being threatened with legal action after cutting sick pay for its staff. Unions say that they have been inundated with complaints from upset and angry nurses after attempts by managers at the Priory Group to cut costs. Philip Scott, the group's chief executive, wants to cut nurses' employment rights from next month after accusing them of absence levels of “epidemic proportions”. He argues that the Priory's “generous” sick-pay scheme gives no incentive for healthcare workers to come to work.
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Face transplants could be provided on the NHS after regulators confirmed this weekend that they were in early talks to authorise state funding. With a team of British surgeons planning to carry out the world’s first full face transplants on four patients, the body that decides whether to fund highly specialised treatments said it was preparing to make an assessment for the NHS.
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Face transplants: a better life beats a longer life - The Sunday Times 24th August 2008
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Surgeons prepare for world’s first full-face transplant - The Times 22nd August 2008
Britain's top cancer consultants have accused the government’s drugs rationing body of ignoring the plight of patients forced to sell their cars and remortgage their houses to pay for cancer treatments freely available in Europe. Twenty-six professors blame the severe restrictions imposed by the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) on its failure to “get its sums right”.
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Senior doctor accuses Government of destroying NHS - The Telegraph 25th August 2008
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Labour obsession with political correctness and red tape means dire care for patients says senior doctor - Daily Mail 25th August 2008
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Cancer victims 'forced into debt' to pay for medicines freely available elsewhere in Europe - Daily Mail 25th August 2008
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Experts in drug 'ration' warning - BBC Health News 24th August 2008
Women who take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) gain benefits in sleep and reduced joint pain. A study looked at the benefits in older women of taking HRT, and concluded that they were significant.
Some popular tests for food allergies are a waste of time and money and could even end up damaging the health of those who undergo them, according to Which?. Four researchers took “alternative” tests ranging in price from £48 to £275. The tests routinely failed to detect a severe peanut allergy in one researcher and an intolerance to lactose in another but suggested a total of 183 intolerances. Medical tests confirmed the correct diagnoses.
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Food allergy diagnosis firms 'may be risking clients' health' - The Telegraph 20th August 2008
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The £275 allergy tests that 'feed on fear and could be a health hazard' - Daily Mail 21st August 2008
A former engineer left disabled and living on benefits has turned his life around after a stroke rewired his brain and turned him into an artist. Ken Walters, 51, suffered multiple spine fractures and severe internal injuries when he was crushed against a wall by a fork-lift truck when a driver lost control in 1986. The accident left him wheelchair-bound and jobless, and triggered a 19-year depression as he scraped a living on disability benefits. Two serious heart attacks deepened his gloom.
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An alternative therapy used to improve posture and to help women to cope with labour pain can be more effective at treating backache than conventional treatments, a study suggests. Combining exercise with practising the Alexander Technique could significantly reduce back pain and improve mobility, researchers found.
A 13-year-old identical twin who died of cancer last month wanted to help others live, her mother tells Cassandra Jardine Six weeks after the death of her 13-year-old daughter Jodie, Michelle Hudson, 43, struggles to maintain a cheery smile.
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Disrespect towards older people is endemic in our society, says Max Pemberton Last week, it was revealed that for the first time there are now more pensioners than children in Britain: 11.58 million men over 65 and women over 60 compared to 11.52 million under 16s. This has prompted much discussion about "grey power". Yet older people are some of the most voiceless and marginalised in our society. Their interests are ignored politically, they are economically vulnerable and the contributions they could make to society are largely untapped.
James Le Fanu on the latest health stories hitting the headlines Life is, for the most part, ambidextrous, with the exception of us humans, 90 per cent of whom are right-handed. This goes back to that extraordinary moment a million-plus years ago when the brains of our ancestors not only tripled in size, but the functions of the two cerebral hemispheres became specialised. The left was given over to the novel faculty of language; the right to manual dexterity.
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London Fashion Week should have its public funding withdrawn because of the fashion industry’s failure to tackle the "size zero" culture, a leading model agent has said.
Thousands of computer records containing personal information about members of the public are being lost every month – with the rate of loss increasing, new figures reveal.
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British doctors have carried out the world's first operation using a robot to repair a condition that kills 7,000 people a year.
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The NHS still 'has a mountain to climb' in the treatment and prevention of diabetes despite Goverment boasts of good progress, experts have said.
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Eating two eggs a day could help you lose weight and cut cholesterol levels, say researchers. Previously, there was thought to be a direct link between consuming cholesterol-rich foods such as eggs and an increase in blood cholesterol levels, which raises the risk of heart disease.
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As a child safety measure in the car, its importance could never be underplayed. Researchers, however, yesterday warned that the convenience of the portable car baby seat is having some far less desirable effects.
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More than 1,000 premature births could be avoided every year if women were screened for infections early in pregnancy, a British expert in early births said on Monday. Dr Ronnie Lamont, a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology, said bacteria and fungi are responsible for just under half of all babies born before 37 weeks.
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Children could be taught sex education from the age of four, under plans by MPs. They are calling on the Government to ensure that advice on relationships, contraception and sexually transmitted diseases is compulsory in all primary and secondary schools.
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For most people, the Victorian era evokes Dickensian scenes of wool mills, orphanages, and workhouses full of malnourished, overworked children, and adults living short, harsh lives. But research, published next month in the Journal Of The Royal Society Of Medicine, has found that not only did many of our Victorian forebears live longer than we do today - but they were also healthier and had stronger immune systems.
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The traditional English breakfast has long suffered a reputation for being a 'heart attack on a plate' with its high fat and calorie content. Now those who still regularly enjoy tucking into a fry-up have something else to worry about - a 63 per cent higher risk of bowel cancer.
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Dying at home - rather than in a hospital - is something many of us say we would prefer, according to a recent YouGov survey. But although the Government has said it will try to make it easier, it's still an option denied to many people. Here, in a moving and ultimately uplifting account, writer NICK MAES describes his mother Marjorie's death, and why it was so important for her whole family that it happened in the place she loved best...
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So-called 'smug marrieds' may actually have a scientific basis for extolling the benefits of stepping down the aisle. New research shows that not only does having a good marriage keep you healthy, it can also prolong life by up to five years.
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Dr Martin Scurr has been treating patients for more than 30 years and is one of the country's leading GPs. Here he tackles kidneys and hives...
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Most men over 50 have an enlarged prostate, and every year 40,000 have surgery to relieve a blockage which can lead to a long stay in hospital. Roger Vause, 65, a computer engineer from Wellingborough, Northants, underwent a new technique so he could go home the same day. He tells CAROL DAVIS his story, and his surgeon explains the procedure.
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Earlier this month, the Royal College of Midwives warned the Government that problems in Britain's delivery wards were reaching a crisis point as staffing levels were not keeping pace with our increasing birth rate. Here, newly-qualified midwife Sarah Cameron, 35, who works in a busy London maternity unit, shares her work diary with ADELE WATERS.
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For some multiple sclerosis sufferers, just getting out of bed is tough. For 43-year-old father-of-three Jon Salisbury, getting up took up to an hour and involved the help of his wife or his children.
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Claire Young strutted to television fame as a finalist on this year’s The Apprentice wearing her trademark four-inch high-heeled shoes. A fast-talking, tough businesswoman, it appeared that nothing could floor her — she threatened that if she won the hit show, she’d ‘shake-up’ the formidible Sir Alan Sugar’s businesses.
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Middle aged people should take a daily aspirin to prevent heart attacks and strokes, doctors say. A major study of nearly 12,000 people found that the majority of healthy men over the age of 48, and women over 57, would benefit from the drug.
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Daily aspirin in middle-age call - BBC Health News 24th August 2008
One of Britain's leading hospitals has made more than £4million by giving livers from UK donors to private foreign patients. Over the past five years, surgeons from King's College Hospital in South London have performed 50 liver transplants, with each patient paying around £80,000. Of these, 22 came from the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
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Five-year-old Harry is on the verge of meltdown over misplaced trainers. Louis, seven, is demolishing biscuits, and a series of complex arrangements are being made to collect four-yearold Charlotte from a birthday party. It is a comfortably chaotic scene, familiar to thousands run ragged at the tail end of summer holidays.
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Answer: They've both suffered from hernias - and that's no joke for anyone. One in ten of us will suffer from a hernia at some point - making hernia repair the most common surgical procedure in the world. About 100,000 of these operations are performed in British hospitals every year.
The Government wants 40 per cent of England's water supply to be fluoridated to reduce high levels of tooth decay. But its critics say it has been linked to conditions such as hypothyrodism (underactive thyroid gland). Here we explain what you should know.
The family of a student who died after waiting 42 minutes for an ambulance blamed the 'disgraceful' delay for her death. Rebecca Wedd, 23, was hit by a silver BMW as she walked with a group of college friends to her summer ball.
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Fed up with being fat? Desperate to lose your love handles before that late summer holiday? Forget doing the sensible thing of eating less and moving more, all you need to do is pop down to your nearest slimming clinic, hand over around £60 for a supply of appetite-suppressing pills and the weight will fall off in days... Or so the glossy magazines would have you believe.
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A simple test that could save the lives of thousands of bowel cancer victims is in development. The test, which could be on the market in as little as five years, would allow doctors to work out which patients have the most lethal tumours soon after diagnosis. Caught early, the cancer could be more effectively treated, increasing survival chances.
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People with epilepsy are up to 19 times more likely to drown than those in the general population, research suggests. A University College London review of 51 studies from around the world showed 88 deaths where five would be expected, adding many could have been prevented.
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Elderly people are going hungry in hospital because staff fail to ensure they are fed, a charity has said. An Age Concern study of 110 English and Welsh NHS trusts found 43% did not run protected mealtimes - where non-urgent work stops to make sure patients eat.
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In a series focusing on medical specialties, BBC News meets physiotherapist Hubert van Griensven. Physiotherapy is the branch of medicine which helps improve movements in the body, which have been lost following illness, accident or ageing.
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Flo Harmsworth is a good example of the old adage, "It's never too late to get fit." At the age of 90 her doctor prescribed exercise classes to help combat the painful effects of peripheral vascular disease - narrowing of the arteries.
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A controversial pill is boosting the success of smokers in England in kicking the habit, NHS figures suggest. One in seven people trying to quit are using Champix, according to the first figures published since the stop smoking drug was licensed in 2006.
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A national plan to improve palliative care provision has been promised by the Scottish Government after concerns over treatment for the terminally ill. The pledge came after a report from Audit Scotland highlighted "inconsistencies" in care for different illnesses and access to services.
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You could call him the Indiana Jones of surgery. Steve Mannion, an orthopaedic surgeon, has devoted his life to working in far-flung and under-resourced corners of the world. "Part of my reason for going into medicine was to work overseas. I was a bit of an adventurer. As a student, I did an elective on the Afghan-Pakistan border."
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Diabetes care is improving, but there is still a long way to go before the NHS is providing top quality services, according to a government report. The Department of Health study analysed progress made since its diabetes plan was published five years ago.
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A "remote nurse" system which allows patients to monitor their own health at home is being tested in Cornwall. Participants enter their data into the equipment using a touch screen. The information is then sent to community nurses to be analysed.
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Percentages might make news stories stand out, but without a connection to the human experience, can become meaningless. Wouldn't it be good to have the mental agility to separate the wheat from the chaff? In his third lesson of a weekly series, author Michael Blastland gives some hints for percentages.
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The number of prescription items dispensed in Wales rose by 2.9m in the first year of free prescriptions, official figures show. The number of dispensed items rose 5% from 59.1m in 2006/7 to 62m in 2007/8, the equivalent to 20 items per person.
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Also available as RSS (What is RSS?), the easiest way to keep up to date with new material on web pages without any effort.
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Scientists have discovered a potential new treatment for diabetes by isolating and killing defective cells which prevent the natural production of insulin. Researchers at Massachusetts general hospital said last night that they had found a way to isolate and eradicate immune system cells known as "killer" cells that are responsible for wiping out insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.
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Doctors in future will use genetic data to give patients "personalised" treatments, claim researchers at the institute sponsored by the genome pioneer Craig Venter. The researchers, whose study appears in the Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics journal, say genetic data will be more accurate than referring to a person's race in order to prescribe certain drugs.
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Women experience more severe pain, more often and for longer than men but are less likely to get the right treatment, researchers have discovered. Different hormones, body composition and central nervous systems means women are more susceptible to a range of painful conditions, according to the International Association for the Study of Pain.
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Women DON'T have a higher pain threshold than men and don't get the right treatment - Daily Mail 25th August 2008
Philip Morris and others failed to publish internal studies into lethal substance Tobacco firms researched the lethal radioactive substance polonium – present in cigarettes – over a 40-year period but never published the results, according to a new scientific article.
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Vials of human blood have been grown from embryonic stem cells for the first time during research that promises to provide an almost limitless supply suitable for transfusion into any patient. The achievement by scientists in the United States could lead to trials of the blood within two years, and ultimately to an alternative to donations that would transform medicine.
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Vital uses on the battlefield - The Times 20th August 2008
Anyone taking medication should beware of drinking fruit juice, Canadian researchers have found. Grapefruit, orange and apple juice can all have a significant effect on the uptake of drugs — either lowering or increasing their effectiveness.
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Children who suffer ear infections are at increased risk of becoming overweight later in life according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Florida, noted that chronic, repeated ear infections can damage a nerve in the middle ear that controls taste sensations.
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Taking vitamin B or folic acid supplements does not prevent death in patients with heart disease, a study has shown. The research is the latest to demonstrate that money spent on vitamins is often wasted. But it also suggests that fortifying bread with folic acid — a measure under consideration in Britain to prevent birth defects — would not have the additional advantage of protecting the nation's hearts.
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All still-born foetuses can be registered as French citizens, according to two official decrees published by the country's Justice Ministry today.
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A recipe for super-healthy tomato toppings that fight cancer, such as family favourite spaghetti bolognese, has been cooked up by scientists.
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Reheated spaghetti bolognese 'prevents cancer' - Daily Mail 20th August 2008
Fat can be directly converted into muscle, scientists have discovered, raising new hope for overweight people. The promise of turning a beer gut into a six-pack has been raised from two studies into the link between fat and muscle. But they say only the body's 'good' fat which we are born with can be transformed, and not the 'bad' fat created by over-eating and not exercising enough.
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A child who grows up alongside a pet dog has an increased chance of growing up to become a snoring adult. The infectious bacteria spread around the home by dogs are believed to simulate the lymphatic systems of newborn infants, leading to enlargement of the tonsils.
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Childhood pets linked to snoring - BBC Health News 21st August 2008
Having a positive outlook on life could cut the risk of breast cancer by 25 per cent, research shows. A study found women who were happy were less likely to have developed the disease.
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A 'cloaking' device that stops computer hackers maliciously hijacking pacemakers' radio signals could save lives, say scientists. Doctors are increasingly using wireless pacemakers to monitor the regulation of patients' heartbeats, and can even adjust the settings remotely.
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A simple scan could save millions from the crippling pain of arthritis. The test, a form of the MRI scan used in hospitals every day, could catch osteoarthritis when it is still in the early stages, preventing or reducing damage to the joints.
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An epilepsy drug being touted as a possible tool to fight obesity could also pose a threat to patients' sight. Vigabatrin is currently being tested on humans as a possible treatment for addiction, and U.S. scientists have said it could also treat the binge-eating that often lies behind obesity.
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Red grapes are more than just the source for the world’s finest wine - the fruits themselves are a wonder cure against heart attacks, according to new research. And while a glass of wine is a recognised part of a healthy Mediterranean-style diet, it seems the bits of the grape thrown away to make the tipple could be even healthier.
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Drinking fruit juice dramatically reduces the effectiveness of drugs used to treat cancer, heart conditions and high blood pressure, scientists say. Research has shown that orange, apple and grapefruit juice can also wipe out the benefits of some antibiotics and hay-fever pills.
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Fruit juice 'could affect drugs' - BBC Health News 20th August 2008
First-time mothers-to-be will accept greater risks than clinicians for a natural birth, research suggests. A Sydney, Australia study also found the women prepared to accept higher pain levels, reports the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
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Staff at a clinic in the coastal slum of Kroo Bay, in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, are keeping a diary of their working lives for the BBC News website. Here, Adama Gondor, who runs the clinic, talks about the challenges of its malnutrition programme and renovation works on the clinic building.
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Tuberculosis which is resistant to many current treatments can be overcome with aggressive therapy, research suggests. Extensively drug-resistant TB is associated with high rates of mortality and is thought to account for at least 7% of cases of the infection worldwide.
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A French cosmetic surgeon accused of having mutilated or endangered the lives of dozens of patients has been arrested in Spain. Michel Maure had gone missing after standing trial in Marseille in June, accused of false advertising, deception and causing involuntary injury.
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Doctors will be told to inform the police whenever somebody arrives in hospital with a wound inflicted in a knife attack, under draft guidance drawn up by the General Medical Council and the Department of Health. But accident and emergency doctors will not have to breach confidentiality by disclosing identifying details such as the patient's name and address when they first make contact.
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GMC: Doctors must inform police of knife injuries - The Times 19th August 2008
As the 21st century arrived, two distinguished psychiatrists offered mankind proof, written proof - in a study called A Preliminary Survey of Rhinotillexomania in an Adolescent Sample - that most teenagers pick their noses.
Every time Kay Underwood finds something funny her muscles become paralysed and she collapses. She tells Kate Hilpern about living with cataplexy
In the summers after my father's death, while the rest of my family was eating sticky buns and quietly imploding inside a rented beach hut in Frinton, I was collecting crabs in a bucket and swimming. Mainly swimming. Aged six, I would float for hours, not a thought in my head except the occasional notion that a great white shark might be submerged in the gloom behind me, which would make me splash wildly to shore - only to head straight back out. Paddling around, my skin turning brown in the afternoon sun, I was as calm as I have ever been.
We all think we need to drink a lot when we exercise, but it can be just as harmful to drink too much as too little. It all depends how much you sweat, says Peta Bee
It is great to run in the early morning, but I just don't have the energy for it any more. Why has prising myself from under the duvet become so difficult? A friend told me that hypnotherapy had given her the motivation to give up smoking. Could it help me?
A gold medal to Jackie Ashley for her positive thinking, enthusiasm and optimism about the 2012 Olympics and its potential beneficial effect on the nation's health (These Olympian feats can inspire our obese nation, August 18).
Even if the dangers to mental health are slight, how can anyone object to women being counselled about them? It's probably true to say that there is no such thing as entirely objective, unloaded research on abortion. Each successive academic study (and there have been quite a few) about whether abortion carries risks to the women who have them is instantly seized on by people seeking to tighten the law or trying to liberalise it. Value-free abortion research may be a nice idea, but there's no such thing as value-free researchers, however good their methodology.
Tens of thousands of young people in Britain are to be screened for a genetic defect that can kill them in their twenties. Under proposals to be announced next week by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), nationwide testing is to begin to detect those with genes that increase their blood cholesterol — and hence their risk of heart disease. The tests, which could cover children as young as 10, will be focused on those whose fathers or mothers are known to have high cholesterol levels.
The chairman of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) was never likely to win a popularity contest. Set up in an attempt to end the bizarre "postcode lottery" - which saw patients in certain NHS trusts refused treatment that was available in others areas - Nice advises on what drugs the NHS should and shouldn't prescribe.
Binge drinking is increasingly making Britain's towns and cities 'like the Wild West', David Cameron has warned. The Tory leader said a culture of excess was 'taking over our streets' and he claimed many areas were now 'uninhabitable'. 'I've seen some terrible things,' he said. 'You have to ask yourself, what is it about our culture that encourages and allows this?
Avoid oily fish, cut out all dairy foods, use more supplements: it's the kind of advice that flies in the face of conventional thinking on healthy eating. Yet, amazingly, this is what I was told to do to improve my health by so-called 'dietary experts' on the internet. Type 'dietary advice' into Google and you are offered 110,000 sites in the UK alone.
A bracing beach walk has long been believed to be a tonic. The Lincolnshire seaside resort of Skegness attracted many visitors in the first half of the century thanks to a 1908 poster celebrating the quality of its sea air. But scientists have warned that a coastal stroll could mean breathing in noxious chemicals.
A Check-up six months ago revealed Denis Vaughan's prostate cancer was becoming more active. Vaughan, an orchestral conductor and one of the driving forces behind the creation of the National Lottery, has had prostate cancer for 12 years.
Gina Loxam was feeling a bit low, so she went to see her GP and was prescribed the anti-depressant, Seroxat. Ten years later, she is still on the drug because the severe mood swings, headaches, fatigue and weight gain she suffers when she tries to come off are unbearable.
Porcelain veneers are the quick-fix route to a perfect Hollywood smile, we're told - they'll fit over your own teeth like false fingernails, hiding all manner of imperfections and giving your mouth the equivalent of a face-lift. And with the advent of swish walk-in dental clinics offering 'lunchtime smile lifts' it's not surprising so many people are having it done.
A father killed his baby daughter while babysitting her as her devoted mother was on her first night out since the child was born, a court heard today. Mark Howe is alleged to have either punched, kicked or stamped on the 18-month-old girl.
A year ago, Jessica Lindsay's life revolved around little other than the concerns of most 18-year-olds: boys, clothes and plans to go to college to study dance and beauty therapy. Looking back now, Jessica says this carefree existence could almost have belonged to someone else. Last May, a small mole on Jessica's left temple was found to be malignant melanoma, and while its removal was a fairly routine process, in February this year, Jessica discovered a lump on her neck. Subsequent tests revealed the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes.
My eight-year-old daughter suffers from terrible snoring and is acutely embarrassed about it - her friends commented on it during a recent Brownie camp. Our GP has told us that her tonsils are extremely large, but nothing can be done until she is 12 or over. She also finds it difficult to breathe through her nose, but her mouth breathing tends to exacerbate her snoring. We have tried countless nose sprays as prescribed, but nothing helps.
Thousands of Britons limp as a result of a dropped foot caused by conditions such as stroke or head injuries. Brandon Chambers, 38, a painter from Bristol, has benefited from a new implant. He tells CAROL DAVIS about his experience, and his surgeon explains the procedure.
A bandage that helps new skin grow, then dissolves safely into the body, could be a major breakthrough in the treatment of burns and ulcers. The high-tech dressing acts as a type of scaffolding for skin cells to latch on to and grow.
Chewing gum aids recovery from bowel surgery, mounting evidence suggests. The latest work published in Archives of Surgery reviews data from five recent trials involving 158 patients.
Twenty-eight year old Kathryn Proctor, a florist, had been having epileptic fits for about four years. "It started off with eye spasms - they were actually seizures and they developed into full fits.
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A new weapon has been developed in the war against drug-resistant diseases and it promises to result in more effective treatments for many of the most intractable illnesses, ranging from superbug infections to tuberculosis and cancer.
Humans have an in-built ability to do mathematics even if they do not have the language to express it, a research team has suggested. A study in Australian Aboriginal children, whose languages lack number words, found they did just as well as English-speaking children in numeracy.
People on anti-depressants may have impaired driving skills, a small US study suggests. Researchers put 60 people through a driving simulation to test steering, concentration and reactions.
Students who are bravest are least likely to cheat, say US researchers. Two studies of more than 400 students at Ohio State University found those who did not cheat scored highest in tests of courage and empathy.
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Articles relating to mass media Health news about the Cheshire and Merseyside patch of the NHS in the North West of England.
HUNDREDS of anaesthetists from across the country will flock to Liverpool for a special conference. Between 400 and 600 medical professionals are expected to attend the Difficult Airway Society event, from Wednesday, November 12 to Friday, November 14, at The Adelphi Hotel.
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Articles relating to mass media Health Stories about the Cumbria and Lancashire patch of the NHS in the North West of England.
A WHITEHAVEN woman who is suffering from cancer fears she is about to be evicted from her home as she prepares to go into hospital for life-saving surgery.
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