NAPC News 12 April 2012

Women Risk Illness By Failing To Exercise

Women are at greater risk of depression and illness because they get half as much exercise as men, researchers have found.

Women on average get 18 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise a day, compared with 30 minutes for men.
The study, now online, in the journal, Preventive Medicine, was conducted in Oregon State University by Paul Loprinzi and Bradley Cardinal.

Disease Linked To Cancer Treatment

Huntington’s Disease could hold the key to cancer treatment, say researchers from Lund University in Sweden.
Research conducted there shows that people with the disease and similar disorders are much less likely to develop cancer.

Scientists say discovering the mechanism that protects against tumours could provide a vital breakthrough.

Insect Bite Remedies Do Not Work

Remedies for insect bites sold over the counter are not proven to work and in most cases the reaction is so mild that no treatment is needed, experts have concluded.

While medication is needed when bites cause infection, severe allergic reactions, or make eczema flare up, in most cases the symptoms are self-limiting according to a review by the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin, part of the British Medical Journal series.

Drug Data Should Not Be Confidential

A research group has discovered that a majority of clinical trial data for the anti-influenza drug, Tamiflu, data that proved, according to the manufacturer, that the drug reduced the risk of hospitalisation, serious complications and transmission, were missing, unpublished and inaccessible in the research community.

Union Asks Queen To Help In Jubilee Pay Row

The Queen has been asked to intervene in a dispute over the pay of NHS staff who have to work during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June.

The Unite union said many NHS employers in England were treating June 5 as a normal day, even though the Government had declared it a Bank holiday.

Transplant For Boy Kept Alive By Artificial Heart

A boy of three who broke medical records after being kept alive for 251 days by an artificial heart has had a successful transplant.

Joe Skerratt from Gillingham has made remarkable recovery since the operation at Great Ormond Street Hospital last year.

Bright Ideas From The NHS Can Earn Hospitals Billions

Much of the debate and emotion which surrounded the Health and Social Care Act focused on the extent to which the private sector should be allowed to compete to provide services to the NHS.

The NHS, the press suggests needs a strategy to commercialise some of its services and products to deliver the benefits to the rest of the healthcare sector as well.

Antidepressants Pose Risk For Expectant Mothers

Taking antidepressants during pregnancy raises the risk of high blood pressure in expectant mothers, according to a new study.

Dangers Of A Generation Turning To ‘Smart Drugs’

The popularity of ‘smart drugs’ that claim to boost intelligence, aid weight loss, improve mood or increase fitness has led experts to warn that the products often contain harmful banned substances that can cause serious side effects.

Tumour Risk Of Dental Xrays

Frequent dental X-rays may significantly increase the risk of non-malignant brain tumours, say researchers. 
In one case, involving X-rays on children, a five-fold increase in risk was seen.

Disabled People Get Substandard Care In Hospital

Most doctors think that patients with learning disabilities receive poorer care than the rest of the population, according to a poll commissioned by the General Medical Council.

Scientific Research Should Be Free To All

The Wellcome Trust has said it intends to launch a free-to-view journal to directly compete with leading paid-for publication such as Nature and Science, and has already signed up 9,000 researchers to a boycott of journals that restrict free sharing as part of a campaign dubbed the ‘academic spring’

Sir Mark Walport, the director of the Wellcome Trust, said his organisation intended to take a robust approach towards scientists it funded, ensuring that all their research was made available to the public within six months.

Young Asthma Victims Are Risking Lives

People who suffer from asthma are putting their lives at risk by failing to manage it properly, according to experts, as a survey found that third of sufferers ended up in accident and emergency departments because of their condition.

Almost one in five (18 per cent) had not visited their doctor for a check-up on their asthma in the past year, according to a poll of more than 1,000 people by Lloyds Pharmacy.

In 2009 there were 1,131 deaths from asthma of which all but 12 were among those agedf 15 or older.
Asthma UK estimated that up to 90 per cent of deaths were preventable.

Diabetics Left At Risk With High Blood Pressure

Diabetes UK has warned that half of all diabetics have high blood pressure and not enough is being done to reduce the risk of them suffering heart disease, kidney failure, or a stroke.

The charity said that an audit of more than two million people with the condition showed that 50.7 per cent of diabetics have healthy blood pressure.  The organisation expressed concern that not enough is being done once a diabetes sufferer has been diagnosed with high blood pressure.

Scientists Rewrite Rules Of Human Reproduction

Scientists might be able to fertilise an egg produced from stem cells in the UK as early as this year.
Fertility researchers at Edinburgh University are set to request a license to carry out the tests, which could lead to the production of an ‘unlimited’ supply of eggs.

Now Harvard researchers are working with the Edinburgh team and could be the first in the world to get the go-ahead to fertilise such eggs.  The procedure is currently illegal.

The scientists want to fertilise eggs with human sperm to show they can develop into full embryos, which will be studied to ensure they are ‘normal’.

Evelyn Telfer, a biologist at Edinburgh University, has already informally approached the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority with a view to submitting a formal license application within the next few weeks.

The Importance Of Eating Breakfast For Men

Men who regularly skip breakfast are more at risk of developing diabetes, researchers have found.

The study discovered that missing out on a meal first thing in the morning increased a man’s chances of getting the disease by more than 20 per cent, compared to men who routinely ate when they got up.  The findings emerged as part of a wide-ranging study being carried out into male health by researchers at Harvard School of Public Medicine in the United States. 

Hospitals Urged To Screen All Patients For Signs of Malnutrition

All patients should be weighed and measured when they are admitted to hospital, the British Association of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition has advised.

Scandal Of Patients Thrown Out In the Dark

Hundreds of thousands of patients are being sent home from hospital in the middle of the night to relieve pressure on NHS beds, research by the Times revealed.