Friday, May 12, 2006

Contents

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National News

Euthanasia bill set to split Lords - The Guardian 12/05/06

Supporters of legislation to legalise assisted suicide for terminally ill patients are set to clash with senior doctors and religious leaders in the House of Lords today.

Should doctors help patients to die? - The Telegraph 12/05/06
Lords divided over assisted dying - BBC Health News 12/05/06



Drug-addict inmates sue over 'cold turkey' detox - The Times 12/05/06

A GROUP of drug-addicted prisoners who said that they were forced to endure “cold turkey” withdrawal are to sue the Home Office in a test case that could prompt compensation claims from almost 200.

Addict prisoners to sue Government over drug withdrawal - The Telegraph 12/05/06


Reaction to drugs putting 250,000 in hospital a year - The Telegraph 12/05/06

Tens of thousands of patients are suffering adverse reactions to drugs with at least 250,000 needing to be admitted to hospital every year at a cost to the NHS of nearly £500,000.

Drug reactions 'must be reported' - BBC Health News 11/05/06


Doctors 'dash out to stop car clamps' - The Telegraph 12/05/06

The care of patients at two NHS hospitals is being disrupted because staff are having to rush out to stop their cars being clamped.


13 struck down by suspected E.coli - The Telegraph 12/05/06

A suspected E.coli outbreak at a Scottish nursery has spread, with 12 children and one adult now displaying syptoms of the deadly disease.


Youngest mother-to-be 'looking forward to birth' - The Telegraph 12/05/06

A schoolgirl who became pregnant at the age of 11 is set become Britain's youngest mother when she gives birth in a few weeks.

Child's pregnancy raises concerns - BBC Health News 12/05/06


MSPs join asbestos campaign fight - BBC Health News 12/05/06

More than 30 MSPs have joined a campaign calling on the Scottish Executive to help protect victims of asbestos-related disease.


Families 'hamper organ donation' - BBC Health News 12/05/06

The UK's organ donation rate is one of the lowest in western Europe because grieving relatives are reluctant to allow such procedures, a study says.


Hospital staff aged by 'old suit' - BBC Health News 12/05/06

Doctors and nurses at a Leicestershire hospital are learning what it feels like to be an elderly patient - by putting on specially designed suits.


Call to tackle therapist shortage - BBC Health News 11/05/06

Too little is being done to tackle the shortage of talking therapies for people with depression, mental health campaigners say.


Birth control call for methadone - BBC Health News 11/05/06

A Labour MSP has called for contraception to be added to methadone to prevent addicts having children.


Protest at medical fees increase - BBC Health News 11/05/06

Students have demonstrated outside the Scottish Parliament against the increased fees for medical students coming to Scotland from England.


GPs 'paid for surgery referrals' - BBC Health News 11/05/06

Doctors' leaders are concerned over a scheme where GPs are paid when patients have surgery at an independent centre.


NHS chief 'blase about job cuts' - BBC Health News 11/05/06

The outgoing head of personnel at the NHS has been accused of being "blase" about job cuts in hospitals.


Posts axed at another NHS trust - BBC Health News 11/05/06

At least 200 posts are to be axed at hospitals in Merseyside and Lancashire as part of an NHS trust's attempts to reduce its deficit.


New Treatment For Food Poisoning - Medical News Today 12/05/06

A team of researchers working at the University of Bristol has found a potential new treatment for listeriosis, a deadly form of food poisoning. Their work is reported in Nature Medicine.


New Dentistry Curriculum Will Produce Experienced, Problem-solving Team Players - Medical News Today 12/05/06

This September will see the launch of The Manchester Dental Programme at The University of Manchester's School of Dentistry, its new Batchelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) programme which has been two years on the drawing board.


Hospital Inputs Shipman Death Rates To See How Fast Audit System Would Raise The Alarm - Medical News Today 12/05/06

If convicted murderer Dr Harold Shipman had been working as a surgeon or anaesthetist at a specialist UK heart hospital in Cambridge, increased patient death rates would have alerted clinical audit staff after eight to ten months, according to research in the latest issue of Anaesthesia.


Bird flu vaccine trial encouraging: study - Reuters 12/05/06

A trial of an experimental vaccine against the H5N1 bird flu virus shows it produced a good immune response in healthy volunteers, scientists said on Thursday.


International News


Libyan HIV trial refuses defendants bail - The Guardian 12/05/06

Libyan judges retrying five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor on charges of deliberately infecting more than 400 children with the HIV virus today rejected their request to be released on bail.


S Korea scientist on fraud charge - BBC Health News 12/05/06

The South Korean cloning scientist who faked his stem cell research has been charged with fraud and embezzlement.


Young 'should get pandemic jab' - BBC Health News 11/05/06

The young should be prioritised for vaccination over the elderly, ill and disabled in the event of a flu pandemic, US researchers suggest.

Bird flu rationing proposal favors youth - Reuters 11/05/06


Rapid Return To Menses Once Oral Contraception Stopped, Study Shows - Medical News Today 12/05/06

A study by a Columbia University Medical Center researcher shows that 99 percent of participants experienced either a return to menstruation or became pregnant within 90 days after stopping an investigational, low-dose oral contraceptive taken every day without placebo.


New Treatment For Specific Type Of Leukemia - Medical News Today 12/05/06

Leukemia - or cancer of the bone marrow - strikes some 700 Belgians each year. Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia (CEL), a specific form of leukemia, is currently treated with Glivec. However, recent research has shown that prolonged usage can cause resistance to Glivec, rendering this chronic form of leukemia untreatable.


Parents In Favor Of Research On Children - Medical News Today 12/05/06

Many drugs are not tested on children because testing entails a risk -children are not just small but are also busy developing their bodies. A major interdisciplinary study at Uppsala University shows that Swedish parents-to-be think that children should be included in research.


Corticosteroid Therapy May Be Associated With Irregular Heartbeat - Medical News Today 12/05/06

High doses of medications known as corticosteroids may be linked to an increased risk for atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm disorder characterized by an irregular heartbeat, according to an article in the May issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.


Despite Drop In Syphilis Cases Among Certain Groups, Overall Incidence Increases Due To Rise In Cases Among MSM - Medical News Today 12/05/06

Although the number of syphilis cases in the U.S. decreased among infants, women and blacks between 1999 and 2004, the overall number of cases in that time has risen because of increasing cases among men who have sex with men, CDC said Monday, the Los Angeles Times reports (Chong, Los Angeles Times, 5/9).


Antiviral Drugs May Help Relieve Nerve Pain Related To Shingles - Medical News Today 12/05/06

A small trial suggests that treatment with intravenous and oral antiviral medications may reduce the nerve pain that occurs following shingles, according to a study posted online today that will appear in the July 2006 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.


Statins May Improve Circulation In The Retina - Medical News Today 12/05/06

The cholesterol-lowering medications known as statins may improve circulation in the eye, potentially reducing the risk of certain eye diseases, according to a study in the May issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.


Long-term Estrogen Therapy Linked To Breast Cancer Risk - Medical News Today 12/05/06

Long-term estrogen therapy may be related to a higher risk of breast cancer among postmenopausal women who have had a hysterectomy, according to an article in the May issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.


Academy Of Finland Develops Evaluation Procedures - Medical News Today 12/05/06

The Academy of Finland's Research Council for Health is organising a pilot project where research grant applications are reviewed by British scientists in London.


Mayo Clinic Study Finds Coma Grossly Misrepresented In The Movies - Medical News Today 12/05/06

A new study by a Mayo Clinic neurologist finds that, overall, motion pictures inaccurately represent the comatose state. Findings will appear in the May issue of the journal Neurology.


Mayo Clinic Finds Physical Proof Of Mild Cognitive Impairment - Medical News Today 12/05/06

A study led by Mayo Clinic demonstrates that mild cognitive impairment, a memory disorder considered a strong early predictor of Alzheimer's disease, not only results in behavioral symptoms, but also structural changes that can be identified in the brain. Findings will be published in the May issue of Archives of Neurology.


Smoking, obesity pose risks for 80 million Americans - Reuters 12/05/06

More than 80 million American adults are smokers, obese or both and face an increased risk of poor health and an early death, researchers said on Friday.


Asia urged to use less invasive heart bypass: experts - Reuters 12/05/06

Doctors in Asia should adopt minimally invasive techniques in harvesting blood vessels for heart bypasses because the traditional open method is exposing patients, many of them diabetics, to risks of infection, Hong Kong researchers say.


Study suggests no added risk after stopping Vioxx - Reuters 12/05/06

Merck & Co. said on Thursday that patients who stopped taking arthritis drug Vioxx for one year after taking it in an earlier trial had no greater risk of heart attacks and strokes than patients who took placebos during the same study.


Rapid, cheap test detects blinding eye disease - Reuters 12/05/06

Scientists said on Friday they have developed a rapid, inexpensive and easy-to-use diagnostic test to detect trachoma, an eye disease that is the world's leading cause of preventable blindness.


Health experts say cause for concern over "abortion pill" - Reuters 12/05/06

The cause of increasing rare but deadly bacterial infections, including a handful of cases in women who have taken the controversial RU-486 abortion pill, is still unclear and needs further study, U.S. health experts said on Thursday.


Scientists find genes linked to heart attack risk - Reuters 11/05/06

A study covering more than 2,000 patients has identified two genes that are associated with an increased risk of an early heart attack, researchers said on Thursday.


FDA approves Pfizer drug to help smokers quit - Reuters 11/05/06

U.S. health regulators on Thursday approved a smoking cessation pill by Pfizer Inc. that helped about one-fifth of cigarette smokers quit the habit for a year in trials.


Heart failure linked to dementia risk - Reuters 11/05/06

The results of a new study suggest that there is an association between heart failure and an increased risk of dementia or Alzheimer's disease in the elderly.


Larger breasts confer higher breast cancer risk - Reuters 11/05/06

Women with larger breasts have a greater risk of developing breast cancer before menopause than smaller-breasted women do, a new study shows.


Femara appears safe as fertility agent - Reuters 11/05/06

Findings from a new study should help reassure doctors and their female patients that Femara (letrozole), an inexpensive, easy-to-use fertility agent, is just as safe as clomiphene citrate, a drug that has been used for more than 40 years.


Prostate cancer therapy linked to bone loss - Reuters 11/05/06

Bone mineral density, a measure of bone thickness, decreases during the first 2 years of androgen deprivation therapy in men with prostate cancer, according to a report in The Journal of Urology.


Early drug therapy doesn't prevent asthma: studies - Reuters 11/05/06

Using inhaled steroids to treat asthma in young children does not alter the course of the disease and should not be used for that purpose, according to two studies in the New England Journal of Medicine.


Cheshire and Merseyside News


Hospitals to cut 200 jobs in NHS drive to save 10m - Daily Post 12/05/06

AT LEAST 200 jobs are to be cut at debt-ridden hospitals in Southport and Ormskirk, it was announced yesterday.

Posts axed at another NHS trust - BBC Health News 11/05/06


Attack ordeal of two nurses - Liverpool Echo 12/05/06

A TEENAGER who attacked two nurses in the street has been locked up for 18 months.


Cumbria and Lancashire News


Hospital Death Probe Welcomed - Blackpool Citizen 12/05/06

family of a Thornton woman who died during "routine surgery" at Blackpool's Victoria Hospital have welcomed a police probe into her death.


Fears Over Tb Jab End - Blackpool Citizen 12/05/06

Moves to drop the vaccine which protects people against TB are absolutely crazy' according to a Blackpool health worker.


Public Meeting On Hospitals - Lancashire Evening Telegraph 12/05/06

A public meeting on a controversial hospitals shake-up will be held at Clitheroe Council Chambers, Church Brow tonight.


Discharged Patient Died In Two Hours - Lancashire Evening Telegraph 12/05/06

AN ELDERLY man died within two hours of being sent home from hospital with instructions to carry on taking his tablets.

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