Thursday, May 10, 2007

Another 15 Minutes...Health News from Fade



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National News

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Uptake of new cancer drugs is "low and slow" in the UK, according to a report published today, which claims that more patients survive in countries which spend more on drugs. The report, by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, and funded by Roche, which markets Herceptin, Avastin and other cancer drugs across Europe, is likely to be used as ammunition against the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, which acts as gatekeeper to the NHS, deciding which new drugs are worth their high cost. The report finds "great variations and inequities" between the 25 countries studied.


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Britain is sick man of Europe for providing cancer drugs - The Independent 10th May 2007


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Cancer survival rates worst in western Europe - The Telegraph 10th May 2007


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UK 'worst on cancer drug access' - BBC Health News 10th May 2007


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The health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, admitted yesterday that thousands of NHS patients were being caused "great distress" by the government's failure to honour its 1997 manifesto commitment to eliminate mixed-sex wards in England. An investigation by the health service's chief nurse found more than 16% of NHS acute hospital trusts were still struggling to provide single-sex accommodation.


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One in six hospitals treat in mixed wards - The Telegraph 10th May 2007


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NHS 'failing on mixed-sex wards' - BBC Health News 10th May 2007


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Hundreds of projects providing vital help to Britain's hidden army of young carers are under threat because the £334m government grants that fund them are due to end within months, charities warn.


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Thousands of young carers being robbed of childhood - Daily Mail 9th May 2007


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Child carers 'left to cope alone' - BBC Health News 9th May 2007


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Shop-bought soups contain on average more "hidden" salt per serving than three packets of crisps or a whole ready meal, a report warns today. A survey of 576 varieties by the Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) pressure group found that almost half (48%) had more than the recommended 0.6g of salt per 100g. The average salt content per soup serving was 1.6g, more than some ready meals, says Cash, making it of concern to nutritionists because soup usually forms only part of a meal, and bread raises salt intake.


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Grossman and Harriott exposed for salty soups - The Independent 10th May 2007


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Soups that smuggle salt into our diet - The Telegraph 10th May 2007


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The organic soups with a salt assault - Daily Mail 9th May 2007


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This is old news to anyone who bought Maurice Hanssen's book E for Additives published in 1984 (New fears over additives, May 8). Hanssen was chairman of the National Association for Health, which monitored all food and medicines legislation, and a member of the European Food Law Association. In the introduction to the book, the Hyperactive Children's Support Group (formed in 1977) recommends the following to be avoided: E102 - Tartrazine, E110- Sunset Yellow, E104 - Quinoline Yellow, E124 - Ponceau 4R, E122 - Carmoisine and E211 - Sodium Benzoate (all mentioned in your article), and goes on to list many others.


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Did you know - The Times 10th May 2007


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A drastic reshuffle of the NHS's top management team in England was announced by its chief executive last night to make the health service ready for any moves that Gordon Brown may take to give it independence from day-to-day political control. David Nicholson said he was creating "a distinct NHS leadership team" inside the Department of Health to strengthen the service's strategic, financial and clinical capabilities. It will include Chan Wheeler, a senior executive with the US healthcare giant United Health, who will become commercial director general of the NHS.


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The advertising watchdog has severely rebuked a shopping channel owned by the Daily Express's proprietor, Richard Desmond, for giving airtime to a TV evangelist selling so-called "miracle" spring water and soap that claimed to cure serious illnesses, including cancer and Aids.


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A devoted husband who killed his wife after she begged him to help her die was convicted of murder yesterday. Retired accountant Frank Lund, 58, admitted suffocating his wife Patricia, 65, with a plastic bag and a pillow at their home in New Brighton, Merseyside, in September.


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Many bosses have boasted that their staff would do anything for them. But few have a kidney to prove it. When Alma Caldwell, a charity chief executive from Whitley Bay, needed a kidney transplant, her deputy, Angela Dawson, stepped into the breach.


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My 18-year-old daughter, who is starting university in the autumn, recently had a bicycle accident that has left her chin with a disfiguring red scar. Her doctors assure her that it will fade, is not an excessive scar and doesn’t warrant further surgery. Meanwhile, what is she expected to do about it?


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MPs from all parties have criticised the Government's actions towards veterans suffering from illnesses following the first Gulf war. The Royal British Legion issued the results of a poll of 121 MPs, which showed that more than 70 per cent thought the Government's handling of the situation had been "very poor" or "inadequate".


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Many a spotty teenager has been told to lay off the chips and chocolate if they want clear skin. But research suggests they would do much better to cut down on drinking milk.


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Hundreds of stroke sufferers may be dying needlessly because of a postcode lottery for specialist care, new figures reveal. More than a third of those struck down do not receive treatment on a stroke unit where their prospects are considerably better, a national audit found.


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Specialist stroke care 'lottery' - BBC Health News 9th May 2007


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The number of Britons complaining of hay fever has doubled because of the unseasonably warm weather. Record temperatures in April, coupled with exceptionally low rainfall, have caused trees to produce as much pollen now as they usually do in June.


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Women who put off having children until after the age of 30 are twice as likely to develop hereditary breast cancer, experts have warned. A study of hundreds of English women with a family history of breast cancer showed that those who gave birth earlier were half as likely to develop the disease as those who delayed motherhood.


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Patients are wasting prescription medicines by not completing the course of treatment, doctors believe. Two fifths of 1,000 GPs polled thought their patients were wasting prescription medicine with young and old people the worst culprits.


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Belfast is home to the "biggest boozers" in the UK, according to new research. A survey says that people living in Northern Ireland's capital will, on average, spend £47,568 on alcohol in their lifetime.


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In a series focusing on medical specialties, the BBC News website meets Dr Anil Sharma, who talks about stroke management. In this branch of medicine doctors deal with the treatment and rehabilitation of patients who have had strokes.


UK researchers have developed a three-dimensional model of human breast cancer in the laboratory. The model, which includes normal cells and tumour cells, should help experts understand how breast cancer develops in the early stages.


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Trust refuses to fund cancer drug - BBC Health News 8th May 2007


A man with kidney cancer may have to sell his home to continue to pay for his medical treatment. Doctors believe 57-year-old John Quance's medication will prolong his life, but Cornwall Primary Care Trust (PCT) will not agree to fund it.

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International News

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A couple were sentenced to life in prison yesterday for the murder of their six-week-old son. Prosecutors argued that the parents, vegans who fed their son breast milk, soy milk and apple juice, did not make sure that he was properly nourished. A jury last week found the couple from Atlanta, Georgia, guilty of "malice murder", leaving a judge little option but to impose a life sentence.


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Strict vegans guilty of murder after their baby starves to death - The Times 10th May 2007


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A 17-year-old girl carrying a foetus that will not live more than three days outside the womb was yesterday given permission by an Irish court to travel to Britain for a termination. The ruling by the high court in Dublin averted a fresh constitutional crisis over abortion but reopened the acrimonious debate over the country's complex laws on the right to life of the unborn.


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Irish teen wins abortion battle - BBC Health News 9th May 2007


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Performing oral sex can increase the risk of throat cancer, scientists say. A new study, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that human papillomavirus (HPV) spread through sexual contact can trigger a specific type of throat cancer in men and women


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Germany launches obesity campaign - BBC Health News 9th May 2007


The German government is launching an action plan to cut obesity rates sharply by 2020. The initiative follows a study which revealed that Germany has the highest number of overweight people in Europe.


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Former US President Bill Clinton has unveiled a major deal with two Indian drugs companies to provide cheaper HIV/Aids drugs to developing nations. The Clinton Foundation's agreement will cut the cost of what are known as second line anti-retrovirals by 25-50%.


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Three years ago, Dr Jerome Groopman, a renowned Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, was "on rounds" in a large hospital, teaching doctors and medical students about the patients on the wards and their various ailments.

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Cheshire and Merseyside News

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NURSES today demanded protection at the region’s only hospitals without on-site security, Southport and Ormskirk. Southport and Ormskirk hospitals trust said there were not enough violent attacks to justify bringing in full-time security staff.


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A RETIRED accountant who helped his depressed wife die has been found guilty of murder. Frank Lund, 58, was unanimously convicted by a Liverpool crown court jury of murdering 65-year-old Patricia Lund.


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Man guilty of murdering wife in assisted euthanasia - The Independent 10th May 2007


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AN increasing number of health staff, including doctors, are not having Criminal Record Bureau checks, a public meeting heard last week. Bruce Rigby, a non-executive director of Warrington Primary Care Trust said he was worried that it is becoming the norm for people to come in without CRB checks.'

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Cumbria and Lancashire News

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Maternity services cannot be taken away - Carlisle News & Star 9th May 2007


IT IS time health bosses put an end to maternity doubts in west Cumbria as a result of growing medical evidence, says one local MP. The new call to health bosses came from Jamie Reed, who has been campaigning against the centralisation of consultant-led services in Carlisle.

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