UK Health News 11/04/2009
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New drug which ‘can kill leukaemia’ discovered – Daily Telegraph 3rd November 2009
“A new drug which scientists claim can kill leukaemia, called PBOX-15, has been discovered. “
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Oxford university student dies of meningitis – Daily Telegraph 3rd November 2009
“A student who had just begun her first year at Oxford University has died of meningitis. “
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Woman dies of swine flu days after giving birth – Daily Telegraph 3rd November 2009
“A woman who contracted swine flu died just weeks after giving birth to her first child. “
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Healthy people ’should not take aspirin to prevent heart attack” – Daily Telegraph 3rd November 2009
“Healthy people should not take aspirin to prevent a heart attack becuase routinely taking the drug does them more harm than good, experts have warned. “
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Baby RB faces ‘miserable sad and pitiful existence’ – Daily Telegraph 2nd November 2009
“A desperately ill baby who has been in intensive care since birth should be allowed to die in peace or he will end up living a “miserable, sad and pitiful existence”, a court heard. “
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“Scientists have discovered a new drug able to kill leukaemia cells which have become resistant to other treatments. “
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Genetic screening: the new tests – Daily Telegraph 2nd November 2009
“The conditions to be screened for:”
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New mothers most anxious after five months – Daily Telegraph 2nd November 2009
“Anxiety experienced by first-time mothers peaks around five months and one week after they give birth, according to new research. “
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“A British man has become the first person in the world to undergo heart surgery using radiation. “
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“A man who claims to be allergic to his wife says he comes out in a rash whenever he goes near her. “
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“Professor David Nutt, sacked as the Government’s top drugs adviser last week, has predicted more of his colleagues will resign in response to his treatment and warned that independent scientists will no longer want to work for the Home Secretary. “
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“A daughter has spoken out in defiance of a gagging order that was imposed after she won a £30,000 refund for care unfairly denied to her mother, an Alzheimer’s patient. “
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Newborns ‘could be screened for more rare genetic conditions’ – Daily Telegraph 2nd November 2009
“Newborn babies could be tested for greater numbers of rare genetic conditions under plans being considered by the national screening committee. “
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Gentle exercise can cut heart disease deaths by 60 per cent – Daily Telegraph 2nd November 2009
“Gentle exercise can cut the danger of early heart disease, Britain’s biggest killer, according to reports of a scientific study. “
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“Women who have an abortion can be at increased risk of anxiety and depression, according to the results of a new study. “
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Adults ’should be legally required to decide on organ donation’ – Daily Telegraph 2nd November 2009
“Every adult in Britain should be legally required to decide whether to donate their organs after death, according to the Royal College of Physicians. “
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Smoking while pregnant linked to behavioural problems in children – The Guardian 3rd November 2009
“Developing structure and function of the foetal brain at risk, research suggests”
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My brain abscess and me – The Guardian 3rd November 2009
“I had no idea I had a potentially fatal infection. Now, after my life-saving surgery, I will never take my health for granted again”
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Are doctors ever really off duty? – The Guardian 3rd November 2009
“Which potentially serious symptoms would prompt them to stop and advise a stranger on a bus?”
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Man faces charges over injured baby – The Guardian 3rd November 2009
“A man has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm after a baby suffered life threatening injuries.
Devon and Cornwall Police said the child suffered “non-accidental injuries” on Sunday which were initially described as life threatening.”
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Parents clash in court over taking child off life support – The Guardian 2nd November 2009
“A mother supporting a legal attempt to take her severely disabled baby boy off the ventilator that keeps him alive said today her son’s “intolerable suffering” had to outweigh her grief at his death.
The boy, known as RB for legal reasons, was born last year with a rare condition that severely limits the ability to breathe and move limbs.”
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Drugs: The 40-year failure – The Guardian 3rd November 2009
“Comparing the dangers of ecstasy and equestrianism was provocative, as indeed was Professor David Nutt’s more recent suggestion, which led to his sacking last week, that “politicised” drugs classifications concealed the reality that alcohol does more harm than LSD. To that extent – and to that extent only – the home secretary, Alan Johnson, had a point in suggesting that the top drugs adviser whom he dismissed on Friday had strained the limits of his scientific remit, and was effectively campaigning.”
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Government orders inquiry into role of drug advisers – The Guardian 2nd November 2009
“The government had already ordered an inquiry into the future operation of the panel of scientists advising the Home Office on drug policy before the controversial sacking of its chairman, Professor David Nutt, the Guardian has learned.”
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“The home secretary, Alan Johnson, is facing growing anger from scientists and government advisers over his decision to force the resignation of his senior drug adviser, David Nutt.”
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Alan Johnson is right to fire David Nutt – The Guardian 2nd November 2009
“Science is not united around the view that drugs are harmless, and the government has to take health dangers seriously”
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David Cameron: Tories would rename Department of Health – The Guardian 2nd November 2009
“Conservative leader promises NHS reforms to cut costs and extend ‘patient power’”
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NHS launches hard-hitting organ donation ad – The Guardian 2nd November 2009
“Television campaign highlights fact that three people die each day due to shortage of donors”
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What does your GP really think of his patients? – The Independent 3rd November 2009
“There is, says Phil Hammond, something missing from medicine. It is pleasure. Pleasure gets just two mentions in the Oxford Textbook of Medicine, and none whatever on the website of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE). Doctors rarely tell patients to pleasure themselves, for fear of getting struck off, but something a little less directive might actually improve all our lives.
“Our media are negative, our politics is”
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19 out of 20 young women ‘would change bodies’ – The Independent 3rd November 2009
“Girls as young as seven would like to change something about their appearance and half of 16 to 21-year-olds would consider surgery to achieve their perfect body, a study has revealed. “
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Child obesity ‘has peaked’ – The Independent 3rd November 2009
“The 30-year rise in child obesity may have peaked, researchers report. The increase in overweight and obesity among children which has continued without pause since the mid-1970s is now on a downward trajectory, according to latest figures.\n\nThe forecast number of overweight girls aged 2 to 11 in 2020 has dropped from 34 per cent to 17 per cent, and the proportion of obese girls from 14 per cent to 10 per cent.”
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Mother dies after catching swine flu – The Independent 3rd November 2009
“A woman who contracted swine flu died less than three weeks after giving birth to her first child, a health authority has confirmed.
Susan Ford, 31, from Wigan, Greater Manchester, fell ill with the virus when she was 31 weeks pregnant. Her daughter, Poppy, was delivered by Caesarean section. Ms Ford’s condition failed to improve and she died at the weekend, 18 days after giving birth.”
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Cosmetic surgery report shows depressing decline of self-esteem – The Times 3rd November 2009
“Any parent of a young girl reading the report on teenage girls’ attitude to cosmetic surgery would be well advised to equip themselves with a small glass of something fortifying beforehand.\n\nThere are large swaths of it that will make you want to take your precious daughters to the farthest-flung corner of northern Canada, thereafter to exist only in the company of moose. “
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“Almost half of all secondary school girls say they would undergo laser treatment, liposuction or some form of plastic surgery to change the way they look, according to a new study of social attitudes.”
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Cameron lays out plans to save millions in NHS reform – The Times 3rd November 2009
“David Cameron promised yesterday to cut the cost of running the NHS by a third while handing day-to-day management of the health service over to an independent body.
The Tory leader guaranteed that up to £1.5 billion of savings on bureaucracy would be reinvested elsewhere in the health service. He also pledged to extend “patient power” and to create a rebranded Department of Public Health if his party won the next election. “
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Cameron’s NHS board is all well and good; where will the buck stop? – The Times 3rd November 2009
“When things go wrong in a David Cameron and Andrew Lansley-led health service, who will carry the can?
Under David Cameron’s blueprint released yesterday, day-to-day responsibility will be removed from ministers and handed to a council of doctors and managers known as the NHS board. Elected Tory politicians will set “strategic objectives”, but it will be for this body, effectively a super-quango, to oversee its £100 billion budget and execute its powers in whatever way it sees fit.”
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Mother: why my baby should be allowed to die – The Times 2nd November 2009
“A mother at the centre of a legal wrangle over a gravely ill baby today told why she felt her son should be allowed to die.
Anthony Fairweather, a solicitor acting for the boy’s mother, said: “RB’s mother has sat by her son’s bedside every day since he was born. Every day she has seen the pain he experiences just to survive. “
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Top 20 most harmful drugs, according to Professor David Nutt – The Times 2nd November 2009
“Alternative list of most harmful drugs, as drawn up by sacked government adviser”
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“Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, has ordered a swift review of the body at the centre of a row over the Government’s drugs policy.
News that the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) will have its functions scrutinised emerged just three days after Mr Johnson sacked the panel’s chairman for comments critical of the Government’s policy on cannabis. “
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Cameron: sacking of drugs adviser David Nutt was ‘unseemly’ – The Times 2nd November 2009
“David Cameron called the sacking of the Government’s chief drugs adviser an “unseemly spat” today, but said that his party did not support any relaxation in the penalties for taking illegal drugs.
The Conservative leader said that scientists advising the Government should be able to give advice in a “clear and unvarnished way” but all people in the public eye had to think about the wider implications of what they said, he added. “
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“A heartbroken mother took centre stage on Monday as the High Court was asked to let her seriously disabled son die.
She is backing a hospital’s application for the year-old baby to be taken off life support.
The baby’s father, however, insists he must live and says a simple operation could even lead to him being cared for at home. “
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“Vicki Alex’s love of maths had helped her pass the time on many a long car journey. Little did she know it would one day save her life.
The 15-year-old was woken from a coma when her father began asking her simple sums. “
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“You lose most body heat through your head. Chewing gum stays in your stomach for seven years. Lifting something heavy can give you a hernia.
Every day you hear or read things about your body and health that are simply not true. In many cases they’ve been scientifically discredited, yet still these medical myths endure – even doctors believe some of them! “
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“Jules Knight, singer with the popular classical boy band Blake, dreads going to sleep. More than once a week, the 28-year-old finds himself sitting bolt upright in bed feeling absolutely terrified, although he has no idea why. “
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Ask the doctor: I’ve already had swine flu so why do I need the jab? – Daily Mail 3rd October 2009
“Three weeks ago, I was diagnosed with swine flu on the basis of my symptoms alone and was given Tamiflu.
As we all know, there is no way of determining if you have suffered from swine flu without lab tests, which are not offered here.
I then asked my GP if I should go ahead with a normal flu vaccination, which I did, then have the swine flu vaccination later.
He said I should, but is the latter really necessary if I have already had the infection? “
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“When Jenny Duffield told friends she was having surgery to reduce her risk of a deadly cancer, she was surprised when some of their reactions were lukewarm. “
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“Bloating is one of the last taboo subjects. At least one in five men and women suffer from it, but most people see it as largely a female problem – and men who do have it are far too embarrassed, or afraid, to seek help.
A typical case is Andrew McKenny, an IT engineer. He was alarmed when his abdomen swelled up like a balloon. “
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“In our health quiz this week, pop music mogul Pete Waterman, 62, talks about his love of chips, his own male menopause and the illness that could have caused him to go blind.”
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“All adults in the UK should be legally required to decide whether to donate their organs after death, according to the Royal College of Physicians.
The ethics committee at the RCP want to examine the possibility of ‘mandated choice’ to boost the number of organ donors in Britain.”
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“Gone are the days when the only milk available was full-fat or skimmed. Supermarket shelves are now heaving under the weight of everything from rice to soya to buffalo milk.
As a result, we’re all drinking less cow’s milk than we were a decade ago, amid fears about allergies and health scares such as BSE that have been linked to dairy foods. “
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“Mobile phones, just how did we live without them? At about 80 million, there are now more mobiles than people in the UK. But since the Nineties, when their use became more widespread, there have been nagging doubts about their safety. “
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“When Rebecca Stevens became pregnant, she was fully prepared for an ever-expanding waistband, swollen ankles and nausea. What she hadn’t banked on was losing the great complexion she’d enjoyed all her life. “
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“He is renowned for his withering put-downs and his ruthless streak, but X Factor judge Simon Cowell showed his more generous side today when he gave £100,000 to help save the life of a cancer-stricken youngster.
The pop Svengali donated the money for 18-month-old Sophie Atay – from Birtley, Gateshead – to fly to the US for pioneering treatment at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York. “
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“There are many joys in retirement. But one of the simplest may be being overlooked.
Researchers have found that most people sleep much better after giving up work.
The odds of suffering disturbed sleep in the seven years after retirement were 26 per cent lower than in the decade before, their study found. “
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New drug that ‘kills’ leukaemia even in worst affected adults created – Daily Mail 3rd October 2009
“Scientists have discovered a drug which they say can kill malignant leukaemia cells.
Tests show PBOX-15 can even destroy cancerous cells from adults whose health outlook is poor because of the disease’s resistance to existing treatments. “
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“Anxiety experienced by first-time mothers peaks around five months and one week after they give birth, according to new research.
The study for the Department of Health found this period was when new mothers had the most questions about their developing baby.”
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My cancer heartbreak: How do you tell your children mummy might die? – Daily Mail 3rd October 2009
“Can there be a conversation more difficult for a mother than the one where you have to tell your children you have cancer?
The one where you have to prepare them for the fact that you have an illness that might kill you. An illness that, at the very least, will rob you of your hair and your strength, and take you away from them for long periods, while you fight for your survival in hospital.”
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Teens can demand morning after pill by text – Daily Mail 3rd October 2009
“A health trust is to expand a controversial scheme to allow girls as young as 11 to demand the morning-after pill by text.
Girls at six secondary schools in Oxfordshire have been able to text requests for emergency contraception if they have had unprotected sex, or if they fear condoms have failed.”
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Mother dies of swine flu just days after giving birth to first child – Daily Mail 3rd October 2009
“A mother has died from swine flu after giving birth to her first child.
Susan Ford, 31, was 35 weeks pregnant when she was admitted to hospital with severe, flu-like symptoms.
Her condition deteriorated rapidly and she was given an emergency caesarean section early the following day.”
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