Monday, June 29, 2015
Bowel surgery death rate 'too high'
Failure in care means bowel surgery patients are dying unnecessarily
An NHS–funded report has delivered a withering verdict on standards in hospitals before, during and after hugely risky surgical treatment
Seriously ill patients who have some of the riskiest surgery in medicine are dying unnecessarily because care at too many hospitals is not good enough, an NHS-funded inquiry has found.
More than one in 10 (11%) of those having emergency bowel surgery die within 30 days, according to an audit of the treatment received by 21,000 patients at 192 hospitals in England and Wales.
Continue reading...Dr. Manny: The Supreme Court decision on Texas abortions is dangerous
Parents, Stop Hovering: 'Risky' Play May Have Benefits for Kids
Mr Fluffy asbestos: NSW to set aside $280m for voluntary buyback scheme
Unlike ACT scheme, NSW will give homeowners the option to demolish homes with insulation containing loose-fill asbestos and rebuild
The New South Wales government will set aside nearly $280m for a voluntary buyback system of homes containing loose-fill asbestos.
There are believed to be 511 such homes in NSW built by the Mr Fluffy company, which used loose-fill asbestos roofing insulation in the 1960s and 70s. The fibre is the chief cause of the aggressive lung cancer mesothelioma.
Related: Asbestos-riddled Canberra homes to be bought and demolished
Continue reading...Kids need to cut sodium, salt from their diets, experts warn
Overuse Injuries More Common in High School Females
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Government launches anti-trolling website to help victims of online abuse
Site particularly aims to advise women and LGBT people after figures from Stonewall show 23% of LGBT pupils experienced cyberbullying
The government has launched an anti-trolling website offering practical tips to people who find themselves the victims of online abuse on how to report the offence and where to seek help.
The site is particularly aimed at women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, because they have suffered some of the most extreme online abuse since the explosion in use of social media. It explains how to identify abuse and get offensive content removed.
Related: What happened when I confronted my cruellest troll
Related: Don’t be a bystander in online abuse
Related: Sue Perkins, Zayn Malik, Tony Hall: how did death threats become so casual?
Continue reading...Simple tests may hint at Alzheimer's 18 years before diagnosis
Supreme Court's Nod to Gay Marriage a Psychological Boost to Couples: Experts
A letter to … The teenage mother I wish I’d defended in hospital
I don’t know exactly what is wrong with your son. He is older than our daughter, but not by much. He is just walking, not yet talking – somewhere around a year, I’d guess. You are much younger than I am, a teenage mum, perhaps 15 years old. I must be twice your age. I couldn’t have considered being a mum at your age. But you are a mum, like me. And you care about your son, who is unwell and in hospital. I see you you playing with him, cuddling him.
We’ve had a few talks since we’ve been on the ward. I teach girls your age. I enjoy talking to young people. I enjoy talking to other mums.
Continue reading...Some OCD patients see relief after partial removal of brain
Statins Might Reduce Complications After Major Lung Surgery
Doctors extract 5-foot-long hairball from girl’s stomach
Health Highlights: June 26, 2015
NHS patient data plans unachievable, review finds
Major Projects Authority says care.data and NHS Choices schemes have ‘major issues’ with schedule, budget and project definition
The government’s ambitious plans to provide online access to medical records and to suck up and store all patient data are unachievable, an official review has concluded.
In a damning assessment, the Major Projects Authority said both care.data – a plan to link and store all patient data in a single database – and NHS Choices – the website supposed to allow users to log in and access medical services – had “major issues with project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery, which at this stage do not appear to be manageable or resolvable”.
Continue reading...'Recycled' kidney donated to second recipient after first dies
School Coaches Often Ill-Equipped to Spot, Manage Concussions
Can Meryl Streep change the US Constitution to ban discrimination against women?
It has been a busy week in the battle for equality, as Meryl Streep channels Emmeline Pankhurst, the Wolf of Wall Street is set to get the all-female Ghostbusters treatment and feminist adverts have been given their just rewards
It appears Meryl Streep has gone full method for her latest role as Emmeline Pankhurst in upcoming movie Suffragette this week, deciding to write a letter to every single member of Congress – that’s 535 letters – imploring them to revive the Equal Rights Amendement (ERA), which would prohibit discrimination against women and girls under the law.
Related: Meryl Streep urges Congress to back equal rights amendment
I am writing to ask you to stand up for equality – for your mother, your daughter, your sister, your wife or yourself – by actively supporting the Equal Rights Amendment.”
The time is ripe to ratify the equal rights amendment. Seventy percent of people polled think that we already have an ERA in the constitution and they’re shocked to find we don’t have one.’
I would like to see the Glass Lion not need to exist in a few years’ time. I would like in a few years’ time for every Cannes-winning award to be doing what the Glass Lion is designed to celebrate.”
Continue reading...Some indoor tanning locations may attract 'high-risk' tanners
'We are hugging and crying': Americans on Obamacare breathe a sigh of relief
For 9 million people, Thursday’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act was a potentially life-saving decision: ‘We are celebrating. I am just so relieved’
Nine million people in 34 states woke up on Friday morning knowing that the health insurance plans many have come to rely on were safe.
In a landmark ruling in support of Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare law, the supreme court ruled that subsidies issued to people in states that did not set up their own healthcare exchanges were legal.
Related: King v Burwell: 'The Republicans and the supreme court might kill me rather than my cancer'
Related: Rate of uninsured Americans drops among poor and minority groups
Continue reading...Fat No Longer the Focus of New U.S. Dietary Guidelines
Mental health workers protest at move to integrate clinic with jobcentre
Critics say plans for London clinic come dangerously close to government proposal to give psychological treatments to the unemployed
Mental health workers and their clients marched on a jobcentre in south-west London in protest at a scheme they say frames unemployment as a psychological disorder.
The Department for Work and Pensions announced in March that Streatham’s jobcentre would be the first to have therapists giving mental health support to help unemployed people back into work.
Continue reading...Hazelwood mine fire: man faces court over 2014 toxic fire near Morwell
Fire in open-cut mine in La Trobe valley blanketed town of Morwell in toxic smoke and ash for 45 days, prompting many residents to flee
A young man has appeared in court charged with starting a bushfire that spread to a coalmine and sent toxic smoke over eastern Victoria in 2014.
The 20-year-old, who cannot be named, has been charged with arson and recklessly causing a bushfire over a blaze in the Latrobe Valley that spread to the Hazelwood open cut mine at Morwell.
I help deafblind people go on the holidays they've always wanted
Whether it’s horse riding or canoeing, supported holidays give people with complex disabilities the chance to get away from it all
I’m part of the holidays team at the deafblind charity Sense. We organise holidays and short breaks for people with multi-sensory impairments and other complex needs. Our short breaks give people the chance to get away from it all, try something new and have a lot of fun. They also give a much-needed break to families who support a deafblind person.
Related: Sport and safeguarding: keeping children safe on and off the pitch
Related: 'One person had her housing benefit stopped while in hospital giving birth'
Continue reading...Prospect of warmer winters does not mean fewer deaths, study finds
New scientific study pours cold water on the theory that mortality rates will drop in winter months as the climate warms, reports Climate News Network
Global warming is unlikely to mean that fewer people in northern latitudes will die from cold during the winter, according to a study by scientists in the US.
Despite arguments that an increase in death rates caused by global warming and increased summertime temperatures will be offset by a matching drop in mortality as winter temperatures also rise, the study cautions against assuming any such link as research suggests otherwise.
Continue reading...Why YA fiction needs to tell stories of mental illness
Books for younger readers that include painful subjects like OCD, bipolar disorder and depression may be painful, but they are also essential
Against a background of exam-related stress, parental anxiety, and under-resourced outside support for troubled teens, mental health issues, perhaps unsurprisingly, have featured in a lot of recent YA fiction. But how much does it help to read about what you suffer? To me, it depends on the writers’ research, how they deploy it, and their attitude to the conditions they describe.
Some big names are involved in this trend. Sophie Kinsella’s YA debut, Finding Audrey, has a teenage heroine, wry, dry, astute – and all-but-housebound, hiding behind dark glasses in a single, safe room at home. Following a traumatic act of bullying, Audrey has left school and cut contact with the outside world, imprisoned by devastating social anxiety. Her home life is made still worse by the drastic measures her Daily Mail-addicted mum takes to keep Audrey’s brother Frank offline, and by Frank’s friend Linus, determined to winkle Audrey out of her seclusion. The book offers a transporting, sensitive insight into an invisible but debilitating disorder. At times deeply uncomfortable to read, it refuses an easy “straight graph of progress” and a nice neat happy-ever-after. Instead, it reminds the reader that jagged lines are inevitable; every life has its share of pain and loss, whether there’s a mental health diagnosis involved or not. But with luck, support and time, Audrey can flourish again, despite her anxiety; and feel proud of herself for doing so.
Continue reading...As a music therapist I can give people back the power to communicate
Regular sessions can help reduce anxiety among people with mental health conditions such as depression and dementia
On a weekday, it’s normally an early start; responding to urgent emails before heading to my office at the music therapy research centre in Cambridge where I hold several roles as lecturer, researcher, supervisor, and passionate advocate for music therapy.
I practised as a full-time music therapist for 20 years, mainly in the field of adult mental health as part of a large NHS mental health trust. It was during this period that I began to combine my clinical role with supporting the development of the profession. Along with another colleague, we developed a new MA course at Anglia Ruskin. This course became the first masters course in music therapy in the UK. I continued to work as a music therapist and today, we have our own new state of the art music therapy centre at Anglia Ruskin, where we not only train students, but also deliver clinical work with local children and adults, as well as lead a pioneering research department.
Continue reading...Crocodile safety rap from NT aims to make people 'crocwise' – video
Saturday, June 27, 2015
NHS wants negligence legal costs capped
6 tips for outdoor fitness training
Following Water Safety Rules Saves Lives, Red Cross Says
Jobs, pensions, frozen sperm? Surely teens have enough worries? | Yvonne Roberts
Youth is fast morphing into an incubator for the worries of older age – and where’s the carefree fun in that? Twelfth, 14th, 16th birthday? Time to save for your mortgage, pension and the Everyman test for Alzheimer’s disease.
Last week, a new responsibility was added to the premature ageing of the adolescent. According to Dr Kevin Smith, a bioethicist, the instruction to young men who are coming of age ought to be, don’t just masturbate, bank that sperm! And freeze it free on the NHS. He argues that this might reduce the chances of having a disabled child later. The (slight) risk of conceiving a child with disorders such as autism and schizophrenia increases the older the father. The average age of fatherhood in England and Wales is now 33.
Continue reading...Drone flies abortion pills to Poland
How to treat 8 common injuries at home
Lab-grown blood, artificial organs – the science transforming our health
The news that scientists have developed blood that can be grown in the laboratory raised hope last week that a powerful weapon had been created to tackle disease. Ensuring that sufficient blood is donated to hospitals is a constant problem for medical services and any new source is to be welcomed, doctors acknowledged. In addition, the prospect that blood could be grown artificially from stem cells suggests a promising new approach could be taken in helping patients with thalassaemia and sickle cell anaemia and other blood disorders.
As Liverpool University’s Professor John Hunt – one of the developers of lab-grown blood – put it: “This will make a difference to an essential piece of healthcare in our lifetime.”
Related: Virotherapy: skin cancer successfully treated with herpes-based drug
Related: Hopes of vaccine for Parkinson’s sufferers
Related: Three-person embryos: how the mitochondrial donation battle was won
Related: Non-invasive Down's syndrome test could be made available on NHS
Continue reading...Could Brain Scans Help Guide Treatment for OCD?
Is cosmetic surgery the new acceptable face of womanhood?
Here is a confession: at 44 years of age, I have the face and body I deserve. My upper arms are fleshy and fulsome, bearing no resemblance to the sleek undulations of gym-honed muscle I paraded in my twenties. My post-caesarean belly protrudes over the waistband of my skinny jeans, pleading for the forgiving maternity styles I wore with pride eight years ago as I carried my then unborn daughter.
I have a bumpy nose that looks fine from the front, but makes me shudder if I see it in profile. I have a “well-defined jawline” – or a pointy chin, if you ask for my description. There are a few furrows on my brow, lines around my eyes, and the outsize bags beneath them would do Joan Collins proud checking in at Heathrow airport. My complexion reflects more than three decades of suffering from acne. In short, my face is, well, my face. It tells an honest story of a life lived. My life.
Continue reading...Online tools can help manage pain
New Rapid Ebola Test Shows Promise in African Clinics
Clampdown on lawyers overcharging NHS in clinical negligence cases
Government plans to save NHS £80m a year by capping legal fees that in some cases run as high as 10 times the amount paid in compensation to clients
Ministers are to clamp down on lawyers who overcharge the NHS in clinical negligence cases – earning in some cases 10 times the amount their client receives in compensation – by setting a cap on their fees.
As part of a Department of Health plan to save the NHS up to £80m a year, legal costs for claims up to £100,000 would be fixed. The lawyer’s fee would reflect a percentage of the compensation received by the patient.
Continue reading...Consumers unclear about risks or benefits of e-cigarettes
'Overwhelming' Evidence That Same-Sex Parenting Won't Harm Kids
Friday, June 26, 2015
Well: Sharing My Story With Patients
Guys should freeze sperm at 18, says bioethicist
Hippocrates review – oddly bloodless French hospital drama
While UK clinicians will recognise the shonky equipment and form-filling, Thomas Lilti’s film is also suffering from a lack of excitement
This oddly bloodless social-realist exercise finds French writer-director Thomas Lilti striving to redefine doctors as distinct from their superheroic small-screen equivalents; the corridors patrolled by boyish intern Thomas (Vincent Lacoste) house only report-fudging, short-staffing and shonky equipment.
Continue reading...Online game 'may control snacking'
Military veterans report limited use of sun protection while deployed, study finds
Labour says universal credit will take 495 years to roll out as costs rise £3bn
Cost of Iain Duncan Smith’s troubled plan for benefits rises to £15.8bn as Major Projects Authority report reveals HS2 also among schemes at high risk of failing
The overall cost of Iain Duncan Smith’s key welfare scheme appears to have risen by £3bn to £15.8bn in two years, according to an official report that shows several other significant government programmes are also in danger of collapsing.
Universal credit, the troubled programme that plans to roll six welfare benefits into one payment, has also suffered a further year’s delay and will not be fully implemented until 2020.
Continue reading...NHS to test 'lab-made blood'
Study focuses on slowing progression of Alzheimer’s
Stark rise in eating disorders blamed on overexposure to celebrities' bodies
Dr Colin Michie, a leading paediatrician, speaks out as figures show soaring numbers of young people are being admitted to hospital
Increased exposure to images of celebrities’ bodies is behind the large rise in the number of young girls being admitted to hospital with an eating disorder, a leading paediatrician has claimed.
Dr Colin Michie, the chairman of the nutrition committee at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, blamed the increase on children’s use of mobile phones and exposure to advertising, citing their ability to constantly look at images of celebrity bodies as a factor in eating disorder cases.
Supreme Court Upholds Subsidies for Obamacare
'Make work healthier' bosses told
FDA reviewing safety of Essure birth control implant
ADHD drugs are as dangerous as street meth - and Americans are getting hooked | Alexander Zaitchik
Sales for drugs like Vyvanse and Adderall are growing rapidly. To those who have experienced the dark-side of regular amphetamine use, that’s concerning
In 2014, the adult market for pharmaceutical stimulants in the US overtook the long-reigning children’s market. Thanks to the eagerness of many doctors to prescribe so-called ADHD drugs, every high school in the country is sloshing with enough amphetamine to keep five Panzer divisions awake during an extended Africa campaign. But now, for the first time, you are more likely to find drugs like Vyvanse and Adderall in a corporate office park than a classroom.
There is something unsettling about this continuing growth in prescription stimulants. Even though the pills are as strong as street meth – which in any case metabolizes quickly into dextroamphetamine, the main active ingredient in most ADHD drugs – nobody seems to call this class of drugs by its name: “speed.”
Continue reading...Virus Mutation Explains Poor Performance of Last Season's Flu Shot: Study
Ebola crisis 'harming malaria fight'
Many More Women Than Men Living to 100
Do no harm: the Wellcome Trust should not profit from the fossil fuel industry
Are you a health professional? Scroll to the bottom to add your name to the letter or to tell us why you are concerned about climate change as a health issue
Dear members of the Wellcome Trust Executive Board,
We write as concerned health professionals and academics in relation to the Guardian’s Keep It In the Ground campaign calling on the Wellcome Trust and Gates Foundation to divest from the world’s 200 largest fossil fuel companies over the next five years.
Related: Leading health experts call on Wellcome to divest from fossil fuels
Related: The argument for divesting from fossil fuels is becoming an overwhelming one | Alan Rusbridger
Related: Dear Wellcome Trust: the best of your letters on fossil fuel divestment
Continue reading...Mushroom 'helps keep fat off'
Sequence of Shots May Lead to Effective HIV Vaccine, Mouse Study Finds
Alcohol-related hospital admissions rise again
Number of patients with drink-related illnesses is up 5% in England, despite drop in number of Britons who binge-drink, or partake at all
The number of hospital admissions in England related to alcohol consumption rose by 5% from 2013 to 2014, continuing an upward trend that has seen drink-related cases more than double over the past decade.
There were an estimated 1,059,210 admissions attributed to an alcohol-related disease, injury or condition – up from 493,760 in 2003/04 – according to statistics published on Thursday by the Health and Social Care Information Centre. Almost half of admissions in 2013-14 were due to cardiovascular disease.
Continue reading...UK scientists create red blood cells using stem cells
Sleep Problems May Contribute to Health Disparities in America
Understand your insurance plan before getting pregnant
HIV epidemic will rebound dramatically without more funding, warn experts
Analysis by UNAids and Lancet Commission highlights ‘fragile window of opportunity’ to maintain progress on curbing deaths and infections
The world could see the HIV epidemic rebound dramatically if countries fail to increase funding and expand access to drugs in the next five years, according to a major report.
The analysis, by the UNAids and Lancet Commission, highlights a “fragile window of opportunity” for maintaining progress on curbing deaths and infections and suggests that progress made during the past decade could easily be reversed.
Continue reading...Care review – flying surgeons and floating patients in acrobatic NHS show
Watford Palace theatre
This ambitious attempt to examine the health service is at its best when it deals in striking images
The NHS takes care of us, but are we taking enough care of the NHS? It’s the question at the heart of Tangled Feet’s ambitious attempt to provide a theatrical metaphor for the health service and the pressures it faces by using a devised script and aerial performance. There is a terrific moment during an operation when the surgeon swings in to take over from his students during a life-threatening emergency, swooping to the rescue from on high, while the patient floats above the ground, as if having an out-of-body experience.
Related: Why devised theatre was right for our urgent response to the NHS
Continue reading...The ingenious Delhi slum that scrapes by without toilets – in pictures
At this year’s Glastonbury festival, WaterAid – one of the festival’s three main charity sponsors – will once again be handing out reusable water bottles and drumming up support for clean water programmes around the world. We take a look at its vital work in Safeda Basti, a Delhi slum whose 3,000 residents are cut off from the city’s water network
Continue reading...What evidence would convince me skinny jeans are bad for health?
Skinny jeans have been implicated in a woman losing feeling in her legs. But does this show that they’re harmful?
You’ve probably seen recent headlines decrying that staple of teens and hipsters everywhere (regardless of gender), the skinny jeans, as being bad for your health, after an article in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
The article was a case study of a woman who, after helping a relative move house, found that her legs and ankles were weak, to the point where she fell and couldn’t get up again. She had spent the day squatting for prolonged periods of time, whilst wearing skinny jeans. The doctors concluded she had compartment syndrome, where compressed muscles and nerves can cease to function properly. She was cut out of the offending trousers and had to spend four days in hospital recovering.
Related: Russell Brand and Kate Moss take note – skinny jeans are bad for your health
Continue reading...Climate change is killing us. We must use the law to fight it | Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett
How many deaths does climate change have to cause before someone takes responsibility? Our current use of fossil fuels has “potentially catastrophic effects for human health and human survival”, according to a major new report released on Tuesday by medical journal the Lancet and University College London. And it’s not as if we still have time before climate change starts to bite.
Related: Climate change threatens 50 years of progress in global health, study says
Related: The TTIP trade deal will throw equality before the law on the corporate bonfire | George Monbiot
Continue reading...Thursday, June 25, 2015
Insomnia, anxiety, break-ups … musicians on the dark side of touring
Long hours in vans and solitary hotel rooms. Screaming fans when you’re on stage, then back home to feed the cat. Musicians talk about the psychological dangers of life on tour
While many may envisage the life of a touring musician to be that of a glorified jetsetter, the reality is far from idyllic. A recent study by charity Help Musicians UK found that over 60% of musicians have suffered from depression or other psychological issues, with touring an issue for 71% of respondents.
Singer Alanna McArdle recently announced her departure from Cardiff punk band Joanna Gruesome for mental health reasons, her statement hinting that the strain of touring may have been a factor in her decision to quit.And when Zayn Malik broke the hearts of millions by pulling out of One Direction’s tour of Asia – leaving the boy band shortly after – a source close to the band told the tabloid press: “Zayn went because he’d had enough. Have you ever been on the road for four years? ”
It's easy to let your mind and body slip into decay. For those with anxiety, hotel rooms are like prison cells
Some people can't take themselves out of these situations. Then it's a manager's responsibility to say 'take a break'
Continue reading...Freeze young men's sperm to avoid genetic disorders, says scientist
Bioethicist says older men’s seminal fluid contains greater number of mutations that could pose a risk to future offspring
Younger men should consider freezing their sperm to avoid their children having genetic disorders if they choose to have them later in life, according to a bioethics expert.
Freezing eggs from women planning families when they are older is not unusual, but bioethicist Kevin Smith, of the School of Science, Engineering and Technology at Abertay University in Dundee, believes freezing should also be considered for sperm to avoid the risk of “gradually reducing human fitness in the long term”.
Continue reading...Black and minority ethnic people are shortchanged by mental health services
For many, long term care is denied in favour of sectioning and medication, and there is no support after they are released
Ramone is in his mid-20s and with his family emigrated to the UK around 10 years ago from eastern Europe. He developed a severe mental illness that requires long-term care, but is not eligible for treatment. This means that when he becomes extremely ill, he is sectioned (usually by the police) and admitted to a mental health unit where he is medicated to a point where he can be released, with no care afterwards. This pattern has repeated itself for six years.
Related: What 12 Years a Slave tells us about 21st century black mental health
Related: Black men face inequalities in cancer care
Continue reading...An uphill struggle could help you go from heartsick to fighting fit | Letters
Thank you for the article by Luisa Dillner (How do you mend a broken heart?, 8 June). I am grateful that some solutions of how to deal with heartache are shown. The one I like best is the suggestion of doing sports to get over your ex: “The endorphins released during exercise are nature’s own brand of pain relief.” I always feel better after a challenging workout, even without heartache. Most people experiencing serious heartache feel like never leaving their beds again. Instead, more of them should be made aware of the fact that sport can help them recover. Your mental health will benefit from the endorphin rush as well as your physical health.
Later in the article, Dillner presents the advice that “rapidly beginning a new relationship is actually good for your self-esteem and also weans you off your ex”. I find this outcome of the empirical study – which is done on students – interesting, but it has to be differentiated between starting a new relationship and dating someone for fun. Personally, although the attention of men might be charming, I do not agree with the suggestion that starting a new relationship could help to get over the last. My experience is that it takes half of the amount of time of your broken relationship to recover sufficiently.
Lisa Krause
Ingolstadt, Germany
Spanish victims of thalidomide meet Pope Francis
Only two dozen of the 3,000 Spaniards who suffered severe birth defects have received compensation
As they push forward in their struggle to obtain the kind of compensation given to other victims across Europe, Spanish victims of thalidomide have a powerful new ally: Pope Francis.
“We’re really happy,” said Alejandro Romero, one of the 100 or so Spanish victims who travelled to the Vatican on Wednesday to meet the pope. “He promised he would try to help. He’s the most important diplomat in the world, so maybe he can ring people that won’t speak to us on the phone.”
Continue reading...Sun cream labelling 'confuses buyers'
Easy to swallow: The simple remedy that has replaced my blood pressure pills
Sunscreen label confusion putting health at risk, say pharmacists
Society calls for introduction of one uniform measure for sun protection after survey shows misunderstanding of SPF ratings
Manufacturers of sunscreen products are being urged to introduce simpler labelling after a survey revealed confusion about the dual protection ratings currently in use.
Research by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) showed that many consumers are unaware that the SPF rating displayed on labels does not guarantee good all-round protection from potential sun damage.
Continue reading...Same-Sex Marriage Offers Couples Psychological Benefits, Experts Say
Cancer centres receive £15m boost
Kim Kardashian West did not opt for sex selection during IVF, rep says
Mandatory vaccination bill for public schools passes California legislature
- Parents’ personal or religious objections no longer grounds for opting out
- It is uncertain if Governor Jerry Brown will sign bill into law
Four months after a measles outbreak that began at Disneyland ran its cross-country course, the California general assembly on Thursday approved a bill that would require all children in public schools to be vaccinated.
The bill, which lays out what would be one of the strictest vaccination regimes in the country, would eliminate current exceptions that allow for students to go unvaccinated due to personal beliefs or on religious grounds.
Continue reading...As U.S. Smoking Rate Drops, Smokers More Likely to Quit: Study
Obesity – the ticking time bomb which starts young
Well: Fidgeting May Benefit Children With A.D.H.D.
Pee, not just chlorine, to blame for pool red-eye, says CDC
That Sugar Film review – Super Size Me-style documentary ends up toothless
Peppy visual effects and input from Hugh Jackman and Stephen Fry can’t elevate this glib and oversimplified film above high school teaching tool
With its director-protagonist Damon Garneau embarking on an experiment to see what a typically high-sugar Western diet does to his at-first healthy body, this documentary is a straight-up rehash of Morgan Spurlock’s adventure in junk food, Super Size Me, but filmed in Australia as well as the US.
Continue reading...Pancreatic cancer blood test hope
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Call for men to freeze sperm at 18
Doubts linger over Jeremy Hunt's pledge for 5,000 new GPs
Health secretary seemed hesitant to fully commit to Conservative’s pre-election promise in two recent speeches
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has been accused of preparing to make a U-turn over the government’s pledge to recruit 5,000 more GPs by 2020 to ease the chronic shortage of family doctors.
The status of the target, which was a key Conservative pledge during the election campaign, has come into question after Hunt appeared to cast doubt on it on two separate occasions.
Continue reading...Kim Kardashian opted for sex selection during IVF process, reports say
Oxygen Chamber Therapy May Ease Fibromyalgia, Study Suggests
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Suspend inspection regime, GPs urge
Fear of Ebola likely led to increased malaria deaths in West Africa outbreak, study says
Noisy roads linked to higher stroke risk
Study finds elevated hospital admission rate among patients who live where traffic noise exceeds world health standards by five decibels or more
Living in a neighbourhood with noisy road traffic may reduce life expectancy and increase the risk of stroke, doctors have reported in a study.
Researchers compared noise levels and data for deaths and hospital admissions across London, they said in a paper published in the European Heart Journal.
Continue reading...Labels on Edible Medical Marijuana Products Often Misleading: Study
Personal Health: Prudent Ways to Fight Childhood Obesity
Cancer strategy 'could save 5,000'
NHS cancer guide for GPs and patients could save 5,000 lives a year, says Nice
Guidance on symptoms and tests drawn up by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for doctors and patients could transform cancer care in UK
Thousand of lives will be saved every year if GPs and patients act on new NHS guidance, which details for the first time the symptoms that could indicate cancer.
There are 10,000 more deaths from cancer in the UK every year than the average in Europe as a result of diagnosis that may come too late for effective treatment.
Warning over drivers with dementia
Doctors propose tool to help gauge the value of cancer drugs
Only 1 in 5 Wants to See Subsidies for Health Insurance Eliminated: Poll
Climate change threatens 50 years of progress in global health, study says
But slashing fossil fuel use also presents greatest global opportunity to improve people’s health in 21st century, says Lancet and UCL commission
Climate change threatens to undermine half a century of progress in global health, according to a major new report.
But the analysis also concludes that the benefits to health resulting from slashing fossil fuel use are so large that tackling global warming also presents the greatest global opportunity to improve people’s health in the 21st century.
Related: Air pollution may cause more UK deaths than previously thought, say scientists
Related: Eight things we learned from the Pope's climate change encyclical
Continue reading...Skinny jeans given health warning
NC shark bite victim walks for first time since attack
HPV Vaccination Tied to Drop in Precancerous Cervical Lesions in U.S.
Young 'hostages to handheld devices'
Russell Brand and Kate Moss take note – skinny jeans are bad for your health
An Australian woman spent four days in hospital due to damaged nerve and muscle fibres in her legs. The reason? Her choice of tight trousers, say scientists
They have been the uniform of choice for more than a decade of indie pop stars, off-duty supermodels and Russell Brand, but if that wasn’t enough of a warning sign, scientists now have the evidence: skinny jeans can be bad for your health.
That, at least, was the case for one woman in Australia who collapsed and was hospitalised for four days after damaging her nerves and muscles by squatting while wearing tight jeans.
Continue reading...