NAPC News 8 February 2010

Hospital Charities Can Keep Their Donations

A change in the accounting rules that would have forced hospitals to put all charitable donations in a general NHS budget has been dropped by the government amid concerns that it may make it easier to slash health budgets.

Saffron May Save Sight

A new study has revealed that people could be saved from incurable blindness by the yellow spice, saffron. It has been hailed as a weapon in the fight against one of the commonest causes of sight loss, age related macular degeneration. It is Britain's leading cause of blindness.

The Business That Made A Killing Out Of Swine Flu

In the press over the weekend there as a feature on swine flu which accused the pharmaceutical industry of exaggerating the epidemic's severity deliberately to cash in on a world desperate for their drugs. The British government spent £1 billion stockpiling antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu and ordered enough vaccines to give two doses to every man, woman and child.

Critics now claim that the drug companies manipulate the World Health Organisation into downgrading the criteria for a pandemic so they would benefit financially from the outbreak.

Separately, the Department of Health has announced that its 24 hour flu helpline will close this week.

Fewer than 5,000 new cases of swine flu have been recorded every week for the past six weeks, down from a high of 100,000 during the summer.

Women With Fibroids More Likely to Have Stillbirth

Fibroids can double the chances of stillbirth, scientists have warned. Research being presented at a conference in Chicago found that women who had the non-cancerous lumps in the womb or surrounding area were almost twice as likely to have a stillborn child.

In the study, 1.6 per cent of women with fibroids had a stillbirth compared to 0.7 per cent of those without.

Doctors Failing To Spot Autism In Girls

Autism and related conditions are being under diagnosed in women and teenage girls, with many cases being confused with eating disorders and other problems, researchers say. With symptoms such as social isolation, communication difficulties or a fanatical interest in categorising objects or obscured mathematical problems, autisms has been previously seen as a male preserve.

Trauma Patients Dying Due To Lack Of Out Of Hours Staff

Car crash victims and other trauma patients are more likely to die if they are injured at evenings or weekends because of poor care in hospitals, a highly critical report has warned.

Hospitals Kept Samples Illegally

Hospitals kept samples of brain tissue, blood and bone from post mortem examinations, which it should have disposed of, a watchdog has disclosed. Inspections by the Human Tissue Authority in July found that samples, which were taken lawfully, were stored at the mortuary at University Hospital in Wales, in Cardiff, without the supporting documentation.

The hospital said it had rectified the problem raised by the findings.

Scientists Find Sperm Accelerator

An ‘accelerator' that controls the speed of sperm has been discovered, and could be used to boost male fertility or create a new form of contraception. Researchers have found that a chemical switch not only sets sperm swimming but also controls its speed as it races towards fertilising an egg. The process is crucial to successful conception because if a sperm starts off too early or travels too quickly, it will die before reaching the egg. If it starts too late or too slowly it will miss its opportunity.

Artificial Pancreas Will Aid Diabetes

The development of an ‘artificial pancreas' could make it far easier for diabetes sufferers to control insulin levels, a Cambridge University study has found. The device, which is used in conjunction with insulin pumps that are already in common used, monitors the levels of sugar in the blood, calculates the correct dose of insulin and pumps the drug into the body overnight.

Football Could Hold Key To Longer Life

Playing football is better for health than going for a run or lifting weights, researchers have said. The intensity and range of movements involved in the game, including kicks, twists, turns and sprints, provide better overall exercise, according to a series of studies. It helps lessen the risk of heart disease by reducing blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and is a good way to lose weight according to 50 researchers in seven countries.

Mountain Air Could Hold Key To Fighting Obesity

Mountain air might help people to lose weight and remain slim, scientist have suggested. The lack of oxygen helps the body burn more calories, they said. At the end of the study involving 20 obese men at a laboratory near the top of Germany's highest mountain, the 10,000 ft Zugspitze, their body weight, food intake and blood pressure dropped dramatically.

Public Sector Could Make Savings If Politicians Let It

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the think tank Reform's director, Andrew Haldenby, said many public sector servants could cut costs by 20 per cent while improving services at the same time. He said that if public sector workers took the same amount of sick leave and worked as many hours as their counterparts in the private sector, large savings could be made. However, it would be politicians who stopped public sector managers making some of the cuts that were needed because of wanting to appease the militant public sector unions rather than achieve fairness for the taxpayers.

Sisters In Kidney Transplant Breakthrough

A British woman has undergone a life saving kidney transplant after having her blood plasma frozen and filtered to ensure that the organ was not rejected. Maxine Bath, aged 41, who had been on dialysis for 15 years after kidney failure, is the first person in the world to have the groundbreaking operation, which allowed her to receive an ‘incompatible' donor kidney from her sister despite having dangerously low blood pressure.

Patient Dies In Hospital After Do Not Resuscitate Form Error

A patient who suffered a heart attack on a hospital ward died after clerical staff mistakenly inserted a ‘Do Not Attempt Resuscitation' form into his medical notes. Peter Clarke was not treated by doctors after going into cardiac arrest as a nurse had spotted the form in his files, even though it was blank and had not been filled in, and told other ward staff he should not be revived.

The mistake emerged at an inquest into the incident at Derby Hospitals NHS Trust.

Cancer Patients To Get Home Care

All 1.6 million people who have, or have had, cancer will be offered free one to one care in their homes by a personal nurse, under plans announced today by Gordon Brown. The proposals will form a centrepiece of Labour's general election manifesto, as the party tries to shift from a focus on NHS target to delivering personalised care tailored to the needs of individuals.

Vaccines Kill Two Children Every Year

Two children a year die after routine vaccinations, research has shown. The figures compiled b vaccine damage support group, Jabs, come in the wake of last month's decision by the General Medical Council that Dr Andrew Wakefield, who sparked the MMR controversy, acted ‘dishonestly and irresponsibly'. The research also found that it has become more difficult to get compensation for vaccine damage, despite no drop in the number of children being affected.

Crackdown On Killer Tranquilisers

A range of powerful tranquilisers could be put under strict controls after being linked to a series of high profile deaths. Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, has asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to investigate the harm caused by drugs, which have been linked to the deaths of celebrities, Michael Jackson, Brittany Murphy and Gold heiress, Robyn Whitehead.

Are Birth Defects Caused By IVF

Scientists are to begin taking blood from IVF teenagers to find out if they are more likely to be suffering genetic disorders than other children, according to the Sunday press. The researchers will launch a major study this week to test the theory, shown in laboratory studies, that test tube babies are more likely to suffer genetic abnormalities, putting them at higher risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease in later life.