
News: August 2005
Artificial intelligence to help intensive care doctors
Wales takes Action on 'Health Tourism'
Health News : Wales takes action on health tourism. From 1 August 2005 only patients using Welsh prescriptions (issued by medical practices in Wales) will be able to benefit from reduced prescripti...
Better Training for Scottish Doctors
Health News : Better Training for Scottish Doctors. The Scottish Executive has announced a comprehensive overhaul of postgraduate medical training. Two-year Foundation Programmes for all medical gr...
UK Government consults for World-Class Health Research Strategy
The UK Department of Health has launched a consultation on proposals for a new modernised National Health Research Strategy. The views of research professionals, organisations, patients and the pub...
US shortage of researchers trained in Geriatric Mental Health
Health News : USA shortage of researchers trained in Geriatric Mental Health. The needs of the elderly are as varied as those of any other group. However, a key consideration that distinguishes sen...
Review of Recent Echinacea Trial
Review of Echinacea Trial: Although this study concluded that the echinacea preparations did not prevent or help treat symptoms of a specific virus applied to test subjects,the American Botanical C...
New UK Screening Programme for Bowel Cancer
Health News : New UK Screening Programme for Bowel Cancer. From April 2006 the NHS will begin inviting men and women aged 60-69 to be screened for bowel cancer in some parts of the country. The scr...
Edinburgh Scientists help prevent spread of human form of
Beach pollution and associated health-concerns greatest during new and full moon
Health News : Beach pollution worst during new and full moon. Coastal water quality is controlled by a number of complex physical and biological factors, including tidal cycles and seasonal rainfal...
Creativity tested using MRI scanner
How to promote creativity tested using MRI scanner: Researchers scanned the brains of drama students as they created stories from sets of words. This study provides about the way the brain works.
Old-fashioned head lice treatment beats chemicals
Old-fashioned head lice treatment beats chemicals according research at LSHTM. Researchers compared the effectiveness of use of chemical treatments compared with use of a traditional fine toothed c...
Is your tap water leaded or unleaded ?
Lead in leads to a re-consideration of safety standards in the USA. Lead softens alloys and is therefore an important component in many plumbing metals. Without adding small quantities of lead, man...
Concern about high child and maternal mortality rates in Afghanistan
UNICEF calls for more breastfeeding in the Arab world
Daffodils may hold the key for Alzheimers disease
Daffodils may hold the key for Alzheimers : Certain species of daffodil, which thrive in the Black Mountains of South Powys, produce galanthamine, a leading drug in the alleviation of memory loss s...
Monastic Medicine in Scotland during the Middle Ages
Evidence found at the ancient Soutra Hospital site in Scotland, suggests that medieval Augustine monks knew about anaesthetics, disinfectants, and how to amputate limbs, fashion surgical instrument...
Cocaine residue in Italian water supply
Investigation into Drug Related Deaths in Scotland
Investigation into Drug Related Deaths in Scotland - The National Investigation into Drug Related Deaths, 2003 was ordered by Deputy Justice Minister (for Scotland) Hugh Henry and follows the publi...
Scientists exploit HIV's noisy genetics to force virus into latency
The HIV virus can taking-over control T cells and making copies, or the HIV virus going into hibernation in the chromosomes are not decided by a factor or protein in HIV or the host, but are random...
How fungal microbes alter the appearance of their cell surfaces to pass immune system defences
Chemotherapy and organ transplantation not only take a huge toll on patients, but they can compromise the immune system and leave patients vulnerable to infections from microbes such as pathogenic ...
UK Concerns about Healthcare in A&E Departments
In a report on 200 A&E departments in England, the watchdog recommends that hospital trusts should systematically measure care quality as well as waiting times. This report indicates the majority o...
Hara Shiatsu Therapy now recognised by a UK Shiatsu Society
Hara Shiatsu Therapy was first introduced to the West by the Taoist Master Mantak Chia under the name of Chi Nei Tsang and evolved into its present form at the Zen School of Shiatsu. Master of th...
Reading recall of healthy adults similar for healthy 18 and 70 year-olds
70 year olds can recall as well as 18 year olds: While some research seems to confirm that older people have more problems with what is known as prospective memory - that is, remembering to do some...
Major re-organization of UK Medical Training
For the first time ever, all junior doctors in the UK who start their first year after medical school (previously known as the pre-registration house officer or PRHO year) will have to demonstrate ...
UK Department of Health Nutritional Information Campaign
5 A DAY partners have commented that use of the 5 A DAY logo has formed a key element of their marketing activity, encouraging consumers to eat more healthily by increasing their consumption of fru...
Patient's genes may be used to predict response to chemotherapy for breast cancer
Psychiatric Disorders Delay Cancer Diagnosis (US Research)
Patients with psychiatric disorders are diagnosed with esophageal cancer much later and at a more advanced stage than patients with no psychiatric diagnosis, according to a study conducted by resea...
Demonstration of x-ray phase-based imaging
Medical Imaging Latest: Researchers have demonstrated a practical x-ray device that provides 2- and 3-dimensional images of soft biological tissue with detail that is usually difficult to discern w...
Coping with Death in Victorian Britain
It has been suggested that in times of extreme poverty, people felt less grief on the death of loved ones, perhaps because deaths were more common. Recent research at Manchester University dispels ...
Queensland University Scientist wins award for Cervical Cancer Vaccine
Professor Ian Frazer has received the 2005 CSIRO Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science in recognition of pioneering research which has led to the development of a vaccine to prevent cervical cance...
Infants born at night have higher mortality rate in first month
Lifestyle and Diet May Stop or Reverse Prostate Cancer Progression
Irish Family Planning Association campaign for safe & legal abortions in Ireland
The Irish Family Planning Association has launched a major campaign for the introduction of legal abortion services in Ireland. This campaign will include a range of activities including a legal in...
Folates more effective in limiting Alzheimer's disease risk than antioxidants
Major observational study points to importance of healthy diet for long-term brain health. Adults who eat the daily recommended allowance of folates, which are B-vitamin nutrients (specifically vit...
Cash to modernise Scotland's health service
News of An investment of £65 million to modernize the health service in Scotland. The investment will be allocated through NHS Boards bidding to the Executive in two phases over the next two years.
Astrocytes may have role in epilepsy
Scientists have found that astrocytes (also known as astroglial cells) can trigger a harmful cascade of electrical activity in the brain by releasing a chemical that triggers other brain cells to f...
Leeds Scientists investigate effectiveness of treatments for shoulder pain
Physiotherapists and other health professionals are playing an increasing role in treating musculoskeletal conditions in primary care. Arthritis Research Campaign (arc) is funding more non-medics t...
Brightly-coloured fruit and veg may protect against arthritis
Researchers have found that eating more brightly-coloured fruits and vegetables such as oranges, carrots and sweetcorn might help reduce the risk of developing inflammatory disorders such as rheuma...
UK Health: Moves towards better care of people with long-term health conditions care
According to the UK's Chief Nursing Officer, innovation and new skills will be at the centre of improvements to the UK National Health Service (NHS), especially concerning the treatment of millions...
New Maternity Record for Scotland
A project to produce a national, standardized maternity record for women and NHS staff has been launched in Scotland. The record includes a pregnancy record, inserts for labour and birth, postnatal...
UK Doctors warn patients against unregulated screening tests
BMA proposes specific training posts for overseas doctors working in the UK
BMA proposes specific training posts for overseas doctors working in the UK. This would reduce the hardships suffered by overseas doctors in the UK by reducing the expense of visa renewals and the ...
Benefits, Risks, and Potential Side Effects of Cancer Screening
The benefits, risks, and potential side effects of cancer screening. Prof Barratt talks to experts in cancer screening and suggests that some screen detected cancers are different from cancers that...
Singapore's Annual National Healthy Lifestyle Campaign
The annual National Healthy Lifestyle Campaign (NHLC) is back this year with a bigger reach, and packed with fun-filled activities with mass appeal to get all Singaporeans to get up and get fit.
Boots the Chemist to provide free chlamydia screening for 16-24 year olds across London
Data about clostridium difficile and glycopeptide resistant enterococci
UK Department of Health publishes data about clostridium difficile and glycopeptide resistant enterococci. Clostridium difficile is the major cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea and colitis, a...
Research into what happens when a virus enters the body
A new model called the - danger model - suggests that the immune system is more concerned with damage detected on the death of biological cells than with the introduction of foreign invaders such a...
Bowel Cancer Screening to be offered to all residents in Scotland
Bowel Cancer Screening to be offered to all residents in Scotland. The screening programme will start in 2007 and will be phased in gradually over a three year period giving Health Boards time to p...