Teenage yobs have stunted brain growth in the areas that allow them to identify with their victims, claim researchers.
Brain scans show the emotional centres of the brain are poorly developed in boys convicted of antisocial behaviour ranging from thieving to violence.
Scientists at Cambridge University are uncertain if bad behaviour is actually caused by the difference in brain development compared with 'healthy' boys.
Puzzling: A model tries to use a home blood glucose test kit
Home tests for potentially life-threatening conditions could do more harm than good, it is claimed.
DIY health kits for conditions such as stomach ulcers, prostate problems, bowel cancer or diabetes can be misleading, according to Which?
Some could give false reassurance, while others can create alarm without good reason. The instructions and language used can also be difficult to decipher.
Experts assessed a range of kits available on the high street for their accuracy and ease of use.
Potential customers were also asked whether they understood the tests and the results.
Which? said:‘The results were hit and miss. In particular some consumers said the prostate test results could have led to them not seeking medical help.
‘In most cases doctors would have to carry out their own tests to confirm a diagnosis anyway, so people may be better off going straight to their GP.’
The research found gaps in the information provided. Some tests failed to mention factors that could affect the results and cause unnecessary worry.
For example, the£12.25 Boots blood glucose test, marketed as helping‘in the early detection of diabetes’, doesn’t point out that glucose levels can be raised after a meal.
The Boots bowel test kit, which costs£12.25, gave no guidance on collecting a sample and no dietary advice, such as avoiding red meat for three days before the test.
Experts and consumers alike were left puzzled over instructions such as draw blood from the‘hillside’ of the finger.
Other terms likely to cause confusion included‘separation membranes’,‘desiccant’ and‘in-vitro diagnostic device’.
'Poor advice': A home testing kit for cholesterol
The Selfcheck Health Test, priced at£15.99, tests for an antigen (PSA) linked to prostate problems including prostate cancer. However, the pack information fails to point out that factors such as recent sexual activity, a urine infection, or even vigorous exercise, can raise PSA levels.
Experts thought the Simplicity Stomach Ulcer Screening Test, priced at£12, was misleadingly named.
It tests for a particular bacteria, but only a minority of people with that bacteria are likely to develop a stomach ulcer.
Experts found the company’s website‘unduly alarming’. Which? chief executive, Peter Vicary-Smith, said:‘Self-test health kits could be a useful tool, but the lack of clear information about how to use them could do more harm than good.
‘As your GP may well have to carry out their own tests to confirm a positive diagnosis anyway, you may be better off saving your money and going straight to your GP.’
Which? will be contributing to the European review of self-testing devices.
Together with the Plain English Campaign, it will be passing its findings to the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Products Agency and self-testing kit manufacturers to help improve the quality of information supplied.
A woman told she would never have children was stunned when she went to the doctor suffering from a bad back only to be told she was pregnant - and about to give birth.
Rebecca Raynor, 26, and husband Martin, 36, had given up on having a family after she was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome two years ago.
But just a week after going to the doctors complaining of back ache and mood swings Rebecca gave birth to her daughter Sophie-Mae on March 8.
Toyah Willcox: 'I¿m an insomniac... I get by on about four hours sleep a night'
Actress and singer Toyah Wilcox, 52, talks plastic surgery, hip replacements and going to the gym.
YOU’RE 52 NOW— DO YOU FEEL IT?
I’m in really good shape considering what women have to go through to get to 52. I’m exactly the same weight— just under 8st— as I was in the Eighties, but I look bigger because I’ve shrunk an inch in height to 5ft 1in.
DO YOU REGRET HAVING PLASTIC SURGERY?
Plastic surgery is feminism’s revenge on sexism. I’m not interested in like gravity-defying breasts— for me it’s about looking vital and not artificially young. I had a mini facelift— my jowls and bags removed.
HAD ANY OTHER SURGERY?
I was born with shallow hip sockets and one leg 2in shorter than the other (I was also born with a twisted spine and clawed feet). In the past two years my right hip became a nightmare so I had a replacement. I had to use crutches and learn to walk again, but it transformed my life. I also had a mole lasered.
DO YOU WORK OUT?
I go to the gym three times a week, but don’t kill myself. I have a costume room on the fifth floor of my house, filled with my headdresses, outfits and shoes. I run up there four or five times a day.
EVER DIETED?
Not since my 20s. Diets work initially but then you get so hungry you end up eating more. But my mother has always been overweight and I’m prone to weight gain, too, so I limit myself to 1,500 calories a day. I always have huge pots of vegetable soup on the stove— cabbage or cauliflower or parsnip.
ANY VICES?
Crutches: Toyah's hip replacement transformed her life
I have a glass of champagne once a month, but don’t drink otherwise.
POP ANY PILLS?
Flaxseed oil— it makes your skin look wonderful— and also cod liver oil, Vitamin E and Neurozan, a supplement with lots of nutrients for brain function. I also practise homeopathy and take echinacea and Bach flower remedies to prevent myself getting ill.
EVER BEEN DEPRESSED?
Not clinical depression, but I do get incredibly frustrated, for example when deals fall through or people are nasty about me. When I feel like that I just go to the gym and kick the hell out of it.
WHAT KEEPS YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT?
I’m an insomniac so it takes very little. I get by on about four hours sleep a night, seven if I’m lucky.
BIGGEST PHOBIA?
Spiders. I can’t even go in a room if there’s one in there and I’ve been known to go out into the street and ask strangers to get rid of one.
FEEL-GOOD SECRET?
Work. I was a lazy teenager but once I got into showbusiness, work became part of my happiness. It’s fulfilling and fun, and keeps you moving.
LIKE TO LIVE FOR EVER?
I don’t see the point of being Toyah Willcox for ever— it’s been testing being her for 50 years. I’d like to come back as a man. They get away with more.
toyahwillcox.com
Rebecca Leach had ovary tissue implanted after chemotherapy (posed by model)
A British woman has had frozen ovary tissue inserted back into her by a robot in a pioneering operation - raising hopes for women left infertile.
Emma Leach, 39, was left infertile and went through the menopause after undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer.
She had pieces of her ovaries frozen five years ago following her diagnosis and they have now been put back into her body.
Professor Kutluk Oktay, a New York-based fertility pioneer, agreed to carry out the operation.
Ms Leach, from London, went under the knife in the U.S. after a series of consultations over the internet via Skype.
She had been searching for over a year before coming across obstetrics and gynecology expert Dr Oktay who agreed to carry out the procedure.
The former businesswoman was warned that the chances of success are low.
Pioneering: New York-based obstetrics and gynecology professor Kutluk Oktay carried out the procedure
Her ovary was cut open by the robot and the tissue which had been removed and frozen before her chemotherapy treatment was stitched inside.
More pieces of tissue which were too small to stitch in were then injected into the other ovary by the pioneering equipment.
She was discharged from hospital within hours of the procedure.
Professor Kutluk Oktay, who performed the procedure for the first time, told the Sunday Times: 'The robotic arms mimics the movement of the hand but there is much more precision.
'There is no hand tremor - this allows the surgeon to do fine suturing at microscopic levels without having to put patients through invasive surgery.'
The robot - named Da Vinci - has previously been used for carrying out heart operations and treating cancer.
There was some hormonal function after the operation - although it was short-lived.
It was thought the problems occurred because only a small amount of tissue had been frozen.
The news will give new hope to thousands of women around the world who are left infertile after going through chemotherapy.
At 6.39pm on July 5 last year, our little boy, Ethan Edward Minogue Smith, came into the world weighing 8lb 3oz.
My partner Kris and I were now, officially, Mummy and Daddy, and we were overjoyed.
But typically for me, nothing about the birth went according to plan.
Third time lucky: Patients have to endure two other failed treatments before being allowed Protelos
A drug considered a last resort in the fight against osteoporosis is 17 times more effective than the standard initial treatment, an international study has found.
Protelos is radically different from other therapies because it promotes the growth of fresh bone rather than just preventing deterioration.
But under NHS guidelines it is a 'third-line' treatment, meaning patients with bone thinning or a fracture are not allowed it until two other approaches have been tried.
In most cases, symptoms also have to worsen before they qualify.
The new research compared the effectiveness of Protelos with the 'standard'– but much cheaper– first-line treatment alendronate, from a class of drugs known as bisphosphonates.
Doctors found that samples from women taking Protelos for six months contained almost 14 times more new bone than those on alendronate– around 3 per cent compared with 0.2 per cent.
Following a year of treatment with Protelos, also known as strontium ranelate, the bone growth was 17 times greater.
Samples from 268 post-menopausal women with osteoporosis in several countries were analysed for the study, led by doctors at Hopital Edouard Herriot, Lyon.
Their results were presented at the European Congress on Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis in Valencia, Spain.
A two-year-old girl has emerged from a world of silence after becoming the first person in the country to have a pioneering digital hearing aid fitted.
Megan McCourt, from Middlesbrough, is among just a handful of people in the world to have the advanced inner ear implants.
The device works by directly stimulating the auditory nerve as it converts mechanical sound signals to electronic impulses.
Dr Laurence Buckman said paperwork and NHS reogranisations does not help GPs to get on with their jobs
Cancer patients face a lottery over how quickly their GP will send them to a specialist or whether they will be referred at all, a report warned yesterday.
It shows a 35-fold variation in referral rates nationwide, with some patients sent to hospital unnecessarily while others never get to see a consultant at all.
The study by The King’s Fund think-tank says most GPs refer patients within the two-week deadline for suspected cancer.
But it also found many late referrals, particularly for certain cancers.
One in three patients with stomach or oesophageal cancer requiring urgent investigation were given a non-urgent referral instead, delaying their treatment.
The report said:‘An important component of cancer referral relates to the assessment of urgency, and there is growing evidence questioning GPs’ ability to do this accurately.’
Britain has one of the lowest cancer survival rates in Europe, partly due to late diagnosis.
Evidence from cancer charities shows a quarter of cancer sufferers are being sent away by family doctors who dismiss their early warning signs as minor ailments. The King’s Fund report is based on the findings of an inquiry into general practice started by the think-tank in 2009.
An analysis of GP referral rates for suspected cancers from 51 practices in South London found wide variations. Referral rates for seeing a specialist within two weeks ranged from 0.7 to 25 per 1,000 patients, representing a 35-fold difference.
The percentage of diagnoses of cancer from these referrals also ranged from zero to 24 per cent.
Some patients are sent to hospital unnecessarily while others never see a consultant at all
The think-tank said that if the findings were replicated across England, practices that sent too many patients to see specialists– leading to a low rate of diagnosis because not many of them actually had the illness– risked creating anxiety and overburdening services.
On the other hand, GPs who did not refer enough suspected cases, which led to a high rate of diagnosis, could be leaving out patients with the disease who needed prompt specialist treatment.
Dr Laurence Buckman, of the British Medical Association’s GPs committee, said:‘Given the increased intensity and complexity of general practice work, GPs need time off the treadmill so they can look critically at what they do and make improvements.
‘Reducing bureaucracy would help them, as would stopping the constant reorganisations within the NHS. Where GPs fall short, they need to be helped to see where they can make their service better and given the time, resources and staff support to do this.’
Chris Ham, chief executive of The King’s Fund, said:‘Although general practice in this country remains the envy of the world, there is no room for complacency. Too many GPs remain unaware of significant variations in performance and do not give priority to improving quality.’
Health minister Lord Howe said:‘We have a very strong system of general practice, but there is too much variation in quality.’
An obsession with healthy eating can lead orthorexia sufferers to cut out whole food groups completely with little evidence that it will make them healthier
Extreme diets and fitness regimes are putting one in ten women at risk of malnutrition and even death, experts have warned.
The obsessive behaviour, which has been given the name orthorexia nervosa, is an eating disorder that has only recently been identified. It also affects one in 20 men.
Sufferers typically cut out entire food groups– often in the mistaken belief they are unhealthy or their bodies are intolerant to them– thereby depriving themselves of essential nutrition and vitamins.
At the same time many over-exercise, leaving themselves weak or even emaciated.
Orthorexia has become increasingly common among women in their 30s.
Many start off following celebrity fad diets such as the maple syrup detox diet, used by Naomi Campbell and Beyonce.
Cheryl Cole has championed the blood group diet, whose supporters believe different blood groups affect the body’s ability to break down certain foods.
Experts warned sticking to rigid rules was not just putting health at risk but can put a strain on relationships as people avoid eating at friends’ houses or restaurants.
The key difference between orthorexia and other common eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia is that sufferers do not necessarily set out to lose weight but end up doing so because of a misguided belief that they are leading healthier lifestyles.
They may always have a half-full view of life, but optimists are also more likely to be overweight
Can your personality really reveal anything about your health?
It sounds like the kind of psychobabble you would find in a teen magazine— along with how to choose the man, job and dress to best match your character type.
But, in fact, there is evidence to suggest that certain characteristics may influence your health.
‘Personalities are a result of both genes and the environment,’ explains Dr Martin Hagger, a health psychologist at the University of Nottingham and Curtin University, Australia.
‘Knowing you fall into one specific camp doesn’t immediately mean you’re going to develop heart disease, for instance, but it should wake you up to the risk and, as a result, give you the opportunity to recognise and target the less healthy aspects of your character— such as smoking or drinking.’
Here, we take a light-hearted look at common personality types and the health conditions associated with them.
Theymay always have a half-full view of life, but optimists are also more likely to be overweight. Researchers from Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan, and other centres, assessed obese men and women undergoing a six-month weight-loss programme involving counselling, nutrition and exercise.
The researchers found that those who were most positive lost the least weight. It’s thought that looking on the bright side led to patients not caring about their weight problem and always giving into temptation.
Similarly, their confidence about their ability to defeat life’s difficulties and willingness, therefore, to take more risks might explain why happy types are also more likely todie young, found a major University of California study.
Women can reduce their chances of having a‘colicky’, crying baby by boosting their own intake of a vitamin found in steak, eggs and chicken.
Scientists have shown that women with high levels of vitamin B12 in early pregnancy are three times more likely to have contented, quiet infants.
Meanwhile, those with the lowest levels are far more likely to have babies that cry for at least three hours a day.
When her husband wentinto hospital for a knee operation, Penny Belcuore hoped it might end thechronic pain that prevented him carrying their young daughters on hisshoulders.
But Luigi Belcuoredied on the operating table after surgeon Professor James Richardson failed tofollow guidance for using equipment.
As a result, theorthopaedic specialist injected Mr Belcuore, 43, with an air bubble thatstopped his heart, an inquest has heard.
Young mother: Stevie Caffrey with daughter Maisie who she couldn't remember after she awoke from a coma
Only ten days after giving birth, Stevie Caffrey collapsed. With her heart and kidneys failing, doctors put her into a medically induced coma– and saved her life.
But when she came round four weeks later, she couldn’t remember that she had a daughter.
Miss Caffrey, 20, had short-term memory loss as a result of being pumped full of drugs, and has had to learn to walk again.
As she came to, a nurse said her father would be in shortly with her baby Maisie. Miss Caffrey recalled yesterday:‘I said,“I haven’t got a baby’’.’
Her boyfriend Andy Stafford– who she had also forgotten– and father Lyndon Caffrey desperately tried to jog her memory.
After two days she remembered the baby girl, but the details of her pregnancy and the birth were just a haze.
It was another three months before she could finally return home and begin to bond with Maisie, who is now four months old.
She said:‘The last two months were horrible. I just wanted to come home. I was upset because I had not seen her for a long time.’
Maisie was born on November 5 last year but after just three days Lyndon, who works for Delta Taxis, and Andy became worried when Stevie started being sick.
When she collapsed at 2.30am on November 15, paramedics took her to Fazakerley Hospital.
After a blood test, she was rushed to Liverpool Women's hospital at 5am.
Andy said: 'They thought herappendix was ruptured. But then I was told to go out of the room because her heart had stopped. It did not seem real.'
Stevie was resuscitated, rushed to the Royal Liverpool Hospital and taken straight to the operating theatre.
Like thousands of mums-to-be up and down the country, Liz Neale was pretty anxious about her upcoming labour. Here she shares which techniques and gadgets she used to keep her calm and drug-free during the birth...
When I discovered I was pregnant one of the first questions I jumped to (after how would we name, look after and pay for our baby) was how much is labour going to hurt?
Antenatal classes help prepare you for the unexpected,but there are plenty of other things you can do before the big day to get ready for your new arrival.
Scientists have made a breakthrough that creates the possibility of a contraceptive pill not based on hormones.
They have tracked down the signal of‘fertile attraction’ between egg and sperm.
Laboratory experiments show a hormone released by an egg ready to be fertilised acts as a‘come hither’ message to sperm– which then reacts in less than a second.
The discovery, reported in the science journal Nature, means it may be possible to develop non-hormonal contraceptives to turn the signal off, thus replacing the Pill.
Wooing tactics: An egg attracts sperm by releasing the hormone progesterone that binds to a calcium channel. Non-hormonal birth control could take the form of a drug that prevents this process
Researcher Polina Lishko and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco, carried out experiments on mouse and human sperm to investigate how they detect an egg ready for fertilisation.
They measured the electrical currents that drive the wiggling movements of a sperm’s tail on its journey towards an egg newly released from the ovary.
They found that when the sperm gets a boost of progesterone– a hormone released by cells surrounding the egg– the electric current increases in strength and their tails move faster.
Although credited with giving women sexual freedom for the first time when it was developed in the 1960s the Pill can cause dangerous side effects such an increased risk of blood clots, high blood pressure and breast cancer.
It works in women by using hormones to suppress ovulation - therelease of an egg. As there is no egg to be fertilised, pregnancy cannot occur.
But now scientists believe they have discovered a chemical, CatSper, a calcium channel on the sperm that is attracted to the hormone progesterone which is released by eggs.
Scientists say it would be possible to create a non-hormonal drug that prevents the process and, as a result, stops sperm from swimming towards the egg.
The discovery came after lab tests on human sperm and mice showed for the first time how cells surrounding ovulated eggs release the hormone.
Two papers published online in Nature suggests a chemical called CatSper causes the process by instigating a rapid influx of calcium into the sperm.
The researchers say drugs that work in an entirely different way from controlling the woman's monthly cycle could be developed to block the action of CatSper.
This violent flicking of the sperm’s tail also gives it the ability to penetrate the egg, leading to fertilisation.
Biologists have known for decades that egg cells provide sperm with alittle chemical encouragement as part of the mating game, but the exactnature of the relationship has not been identified.
Dejian Ren, a physiologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said:‘This is one of the first times people have figured out at a molecular level how an egg signals to a sperm.’
And the discovery offers the chance to create non-hormonal birth control that prevents the egg wooing the sperm.
The Pill works in women by using hormones to suppress ovulation– therelease of an egg.
As there is no egg to be fertilised, pregnancy cannot occur.
Although current oral contraceptives are largely safe, they can raisethe risk of certain cancers and cardiovascular disease.
In previous research scientists have been investigating possible forms of male contraception using calcium channel blockers.
Without the influx of calcium ions, sperm lose energy and fail to penetrate an egg even when laid beside it.
The latest discovery could have potential for affecting the interaction between sperm and egg by modifying the calcium mechanism. This would not affect a man’s hormones– unlike forms of the male Pill.
Dr Lishko said:‘We’ve finally solved the question of what progesterone does to human sperm. It represents a promising target for the development of a new class of non- hormonal contraceptives.’
Success: Fiona Stonehouse with her daughter Summer Rose
Every year in the UK, around 20 per cent of pregnancies end in miscarriage and stillbirth— a tragic issue that was brought into the spotlight recently when Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden lost her second unborn baby.
Fiona Stonehouse, 36, an unemployment consultant from Liverpool, had suffered two miscarriages.
She then underwent a procedure that saved her next child.
Rushing to get ready for work one morning, I kept feeling I needed the loo. I went to the bathroom and suddenly there was blood everywhere. I was 20 weeks pregnant and knew it was the baby.
I screamed for my partner, Paul, who took one look at me and called for an ambulance.
Once we arrived at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, the labour pains started, so they transferred me to a delivery suite and midwives gave me painkillers.
We just couldn’t believe it— the day before, a scan had showed the baby was well and healthy.
The baby, who we called Melody Grace, was born with a pulse, but within 20 minutes she passed away.
I held her for a while, feeling absolutely devastated, and left hospital that afternoon with only photographs of my lovely baby.
I wondered if it was something I’d done. Fourteen years previously, my daughter Imogen was born healthy, though I went into labour eight weeks early. That time, the doctors managed to stop the labour with drugs until I was full term.
When I went back to hospital after the miscarriage, the consultant said I might have cervical weakness. This means the cervix— the neck of the womb— starts to open before the baby is due.
So, when I got pregnant again six months later, doctors placed a stitch in the cervix to prevent it dilating too early. This time they kept a close eye on me.
At 17 weeks, a scan showed the cervix was‘funnelling’— opening and closing so it formed an hourglass shape— which the doctors said could allow in bacteria, putting the baby at risk of infection. I was told to rest.
At 20 weeks, my waters broke at home. The stitch had failed to work. At hospital, the doctors had to take it out so I could give birth to baby Paul Joseph, who was born without a pulse.
Australian scientists have reported that it takes only half an hour for a salty meal to significantly impair the arteries’ ability to pump blood around the body.
But that’s not the only bad habit that can have immediate effects on your health. We look at how quickly your vices can damage your body:
‘The effects of inhaling cigarette smoke on the body are staggeringly quick,’ says Professor Robert West, Cancer Research UK’s director of tobacco studies.
A morning caffeine fix might do more than perk you up– it could save your life.
Women who drink more than a cup of coffee a day can lower their risk of having a stroke by 25 per cent, research shows.
Those with little or no coffee intake, however, are more likely to suffer from the condition.
The findings are the latest to challenge a common belief that coffee is bad for people’s health.
Daily injections of insulin for diabetics could soon be replaced by jabs needed only three times a week.
A longer-acting form of insulin, called degludec, works as well as once-a-day medication for patients with type 2 diabetes, a study found.
One in three patients with type 2 currently has to inject insulin at least once a day.
A US charity has paid 26 female drug addicts in Britain to have contraceptive coils or implants fitted, it was reported today.
Project Prevention said it had made initial payments of£60 and a UK-based charity is hoping to launch a similar scheme.
Barbara Harris, who founded the US charity, triggered an ethical storm in October after offering to pay British addicts£200 if they were sterilised.
Better together: Pouring lemon on your pancakes will help boost acidity in the gut
Squeeze lemon juice on today’s Pancake Day pancakes for stronger bones.
Pancakes are made with milk, a good source of bone-building calcium. If you produce too little stomach acid, however, the calcium remains insoluble and can’t be absorbed.
On average we only absorb about 30 to 50 per cent of calcium from our diet— this is particularly a problem as we get older because stomach acid production decreases with age.
Pouring acidic lemon juice over pancakes boosts the acidity in our gut, and so helps increase calcium absorption.
Lemon juice is also thought to stimulate enzymes and digestive juices in the stomach that can further enhance the absorption of calcium.
SIMONE CAVE
Exercise makes you eat MORE than you usually would
Studies show exercise often makes you eat more than you would normally. In a study at the University of Ottawa, women were invited to eat as much as they wanted after a gym session.
Those who’d done aerobics or running ate more than 90 per cent of the calories they’d just burnt in the post-workout meal.
In contrast, those who took leisurely exercise such as brisk walking replaced only about a third of the calories they’d used.
However, other research suggests it’s the type of exercise that determines how hungry you’ll feel. Aerobic exercise (anything that raises the heart rate) seems to keep hunger under control, while anaerobic exercise, which builds muscle, will leave you with an appetite.
In a Loughborough University study, participants who ran on a treadmill had raised levels of the hormone peptide YY, which suppresses appetite. But after weight-lifting, peptide YY levels stayed the same.
LOUISE ATKINSON
Sharing a bed can disrupt sleep— and it’s partly down to the mattress.
Dr Neil Stanley, an independent sleep expert, says:‘Women in particular need a mattress that will support their curvier bodies, so a mattress needs to be soft enough to do this.
‘Because men’s bodies are“straighter”, they are likely to get on better with a firmer mattress,’ Dr Stanley adds, who admits that he his wife have separate bedrooms.
A cheap blood test could boost survival for heart patients after they have been in hospital. The test warns doctors which patients are likely to relapse, and which are likely to recover, according to new research.
Doctors from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, tested 241 patients for levels of a protein called NT-proBNP, which is considered a marker for heart stress. In the study, reported in the American Journal Of Cardiology, levels of the protein were measured at admission and again when the patients were discharged.
If levels didn’t fall by more than half during this time, a patient was 57 per cent more likely to be re-admitted or die within a year.
They added that regularly checking patients with this inexpensive test could allow doctors to gauge which patients need to be closely monitored or kept in hospital for further treatment.
Heart failure affects around 900,000 people in the UK, with men at greater risk than women.
Cooking with oregano could help cut the cancer risk from eating meat that’s been barbecued, grilled or fried.Can oregano cut cancer risk from eating meat?
Research shows coating meat in a chemical found in the herb just before cooking seems to halt the process that leads to the formation of cancer-causing chemicals. Cooking meat at high temperatures triggers the release of compounds called heterocyclic amines. Animal studies suggest these compounds can trigger cancerous changes in the body’s cells.
Although there is limited evidence the same happens in humans, the U.S. National Cancer Institute recommends limiting intake of fried, grilled or barbecued meats.
Scientists at the University of Arizona have found oregano contains antioxidant carvacrol, which appears to block the development of heterocyclic amines. It’s also kills the food poisoning bacteria E.coli.
The pain of a tooth extraction could be soothed with a nicotine nose spray.
New research suggests that patients who were given the spray before undergoing surgery to remove their molars experienced less pain than those given a placebo.
Twenty patients were involved in the trial by dentists at Columbia University Dental School, New York— those given the real treatment had significantly less discomfort in the five days following surgery.
‘These results suggest that nicotine may be a beneficial analgesic (painkiller), particularly in patients who are expected to experience more severe pain,’ said the researchers.
The team were unsure of how exactly nicotine works to reduce pain, but they believe it may have an effect on a number of different brain chemicals.
One theory is that it triggers an increase in the production of endorphins— proteins which act as natural painkillers.
Heart disease is linked to just a few rogue genes as well as lifestyle choices, landmark research into Britain’s biggest killer has found.
The 18 genes that raise the risk of cardiac problems, from heart attacks to hardening of the arteries, have been pinpointed in three studies involving hundreds of scientists worldwide.
The breakthrough opens the door to ways of treating and even preventing heart disease, which is to blame for one in eight deaths around the world– including more than 90,000 a year in the UK.
Terrifying legacy: Michelle Heaton is coping with her cardiac condition
The attacks last less than a minute, yet they are utterly terrifying. Once a month, and sometimes more often, former Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton is gripped by 'a hollow feeling inside. Then I feel for my pulse in my neck, and there is nothing. My heart has stopped.
'I start to cough and splutter, and then after a few seconds it starts again. But now it's like someone with no rhythm is squeezing my heart.
'It's on the beat then off the beat, fast then slow. And then it calms down after about 20 seconds. Every time it happens, I think I am going to die.'
When Michelle was stretchered away after suffering one such episode on crossing the finish line at the London Marathon last year, it was revealed that she had been suffering from unexplained arrhythmia - a catch-all term for problems with the heart rhythm - for seven years.
Yet, until now, the true cause has been a mystery. Experts have now told her she may suffer from atrial fibrillation (AF), the same cardiac condition that Tony Blair was diagnosed with.
Michelle, 31, first shot to fame in the 2001 TV talent show Popstars. Liberty X was formed by the five runners-up but went on to outstrip the winning band Hear'Say both commercially and critically, winning two Brit Awards.
The star admits: 'Often when I have had an attack, I have been with friends who have called an ambulance. But when the paramedics arrive, I'm fine and it looks like I'm making a fuss about nothing.'
There are about two million arrhythmia sufferers in Britain, and the causes of these conditions are notoriously difficult to pinpoint - mainly because of their unpredictable nature.
'I've seen countless doctors over the years but they said I needed tohave my heart rate recorded on an ECG machine during an attack for themto pinpoint the cause of my arrhythmia. I have even worn a portable medical monitor for weeks at a time but, of course, I didn't have an attack.'
Recalling the London Marathon collapse, Michelle says: 'I had completed the New York Marathon the year before and felt fine.
'I'dasked my doctor if it was OK to take part and he had said,"You won't die doing it but you may feel something is not right at the end."As it turned out, I had no problems.
'In London I took it quite slowly, I was running next to Sir Richard Branson and we crossed the line at the same time after five-and-a-half hours.
'Richard seemed fine but I had to sit down on the pavement immediately because I felt so bad.'
Hike: The price of prescriptions will rise from£7.20 to £7.40; They last rose from £7.10 to £7.20 in April 2009
Prescription charges in England are to rise just days after Scotland scrapped them, prompting new claims of health apartheid in Britain.
From April 1, patients in England will have to pay£7.40 for each item prescribed by a doctor– an increase of 20p.
Doctors and patients’ groups reacted with fury, branding it a‘tax on the sick’. They warned the extra charges could cost lives for those who can’t afford their medication and called for the abolition of the charges.
England is the only part of the UK still charging for prescriptions. They are free in Wales and Northern Ireland and will be free in Scotland from April 1.
The latest move means English patients will be hit by higher payments while effectively subsidising free drugs for those elsewhere.
Personal care for the elderly, which forces thousands of English pensioners with assets of more than£23,000 to sell their homes every year to pay for residential care, is also free in Scotland.
The Scots also get free eye tests, which cost English patients around£19.
Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of British Medical Association Council, said:‘The Government should not be increasing prescription charges; it should be following the lead set by the three other nations in the UK and making plans to abolish them.’
He branded the plans‘a move that further exaggerates the absurd postcode lottery that exists in the UK’.
‘Most importantly, the principle of charging for prescriptions runs counter to the founding principle of an NHS that is free at the point of use,’ he said.
‘This is a tax on the sick that contributes only a modest amount to the NHS budget and does not offset the unfair disadvantage of asking the ill to pay for their medicine.’
The Department of Health announced that the cost of an annual pre-payment certificate will remain at£104, but will rise to £29.10 for a three-month certificate.
| Scotland | England | |
|---|---|---|
| Prescriptions | FREE | £7.20, rising to £7.40 |
| Hospital car parking | FREE | £1.09 per hour on average |
| Eye tests | FREE | FREE only for the young, elderly and those with certain health conditions or in receipt of qualifying benefits |
| Personal care | FREE for over 65s who live at home; those in care homes receive£156 from the council towards care | FREE to some, but means testing means provision varies according to 'postcode lottery' |
| Bus travel | FREE - including morning rush hour travel - for the over 60s | FREE off-peak travel only depending on State Pension age |
| University fees | FREE | £3,290 rising to as much as £9,000 |
Dental charges for a band one course of treatment, such as a check-up, will increase by 50p from£16.50 to £17. A band two course of treatment, including fillings, will increase by £1.40 to £47. The cost of dentures and bridge work will increase by £6 to £204.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said the Government put up the charges because‘abolishing prescription charges in England would leave the NHS with a funding gap of over£450 million each year’.
‘This is valuable income– equivalent to the salary costs of nearly 18,000 nurses, or 15,000 midwives, or over 3,500 hospital consultants.’
Officials pointed out that 90 per cent of prescription items are dispensed free of charge. A wide range of people do not pay, including schoolchildren, pensioners and the unemployed.
When the NHS was established by Labour in 1948, all prescriptions were free. Charging was introduced three years later to pay for defence spending.
Neil Churchill, chief executive of Asthma UK, said:‘For people in England with long-term conditions like asthma, this is a severe blow.
‘Even before the financial crisis, 34 per cent of people with asthma were forced to choose between medicine and other essential items due to cost, putting them at risk of asthma attacks. This increase is unfair and potentially life-threatening.’
Katherine Murphy, of the Patients’ Association, said:‘It is particularly unfair of the Department of Health to increase prescriptioncharges in England just as the Scottish Government has abolished them in Scotland.
‘Some patients are put off going to their doctor because they do not want to have to pay for their prescriptions.’
When photographer Mark Edwards' mother June was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, he decided to chart the effects of the illness to help him cope with his grief.
What emerged was a series of compelling portraits that revealed the toll the condition took on a once vibrant and outgoing woman.
June Edwards, 74, now lives in a care home in Essex. She is unaware her husband of 53 years died last April as her son fears she wouldn't be able to comprehend the upsetting
This was the first in a series of photographs that Mr Edwards has taken of his mother. It was taken on 7 March, 2010. He said it showed how his once lively and caring mother was now gripped by Alzheimer's
Prince William and Kate Middleton who met at St Andrew's University will be married on April 29th. But NHS workers in England want bonus pay
While millions are looking forward to the Royal Wedding this April, there will be little reason to cheer for NHS workers in England.
Not only will thousands be expected to work the public holiday - most have been told not to expect any extra pay.
The Royal College of Nursing has condemned the approach, which differs from the rest of the UK.
Administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have confirmed that they will pay staff enhanced rates.
However, NHS Employers on behalf of employers in England have reaffirmed their position that staff who work the public holiday - Friday, April 29 - will be expected to work for a normal rate.
Many private companies do not pay increased wages to staff who work bank holidays and simply give a day in lieu.
However Josie Irwin, head of employment relations at the RCN, described the move as‘very unfair.’
'Most people in England will have a day off and those who work will mostly be paid bank holiday rates,' she says.
'All the NHS trade unions regard the employers’ position as very mean-spirited and we will be preparing joint union advice with the other NHS trade unions.'
The day of the royal wedding was declared a public holiday by Prime Minister David Cameron.
Unison said health staff would normally get time plus 60 per cent and a day in lieu for bank holiday working.
However, the Department of Health said it was up to each local trust to decide whether to pay over time.
So while NHS Scotland has agreed to normal public holiday arrangements, many English hospitals including Solihull, Birmingham, Lancashire and Norfolk, plan to treat it as a normal working day.
Mike Jackson of Unison said: 'The governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and now some hospital trusts in England, have agreed to pay staff at bank holiday rates. We expect fairness across the whole of the NHS.
'NHS Employers are further hitting morale at a time when there is not much for staff to celebrate. They face a two-year pay freeze as well as swingeing job cuts– it is not much to ask that they be paid what they are entitled to.'
Unison met NHS Employers on February 25 for talks over royal wedding day payment rates but they could not reach a consensus.
Rehana Azam GMB National Officer said 'GMB’s 30,000 health service members in England will be disgusted that the NHS employers will not treat the Royal Wedding day as a public holiday for calculating the pay of the staff who have to keep our NHS running when most people will be enjoying the celebrations.
'Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and many NHS Trusts are already paying up in full but it seems the NHS employers in England want to spoil the great day by having hospital staff in on the cheap.'
'I don't get much exercise other than wandering round airports,' said Julian Lloyd
Well,my wife Jiaxin, 36, is expecting our first child this summer, so I’m obviously up to scratch in that department. The only real physical change, as far as I can tell, is that after 50 you have a tendency to put on weight.
Yes.At the moment I’m 13st 2lb, which is OK as I’m 6ft 2in, but last summer I hit 14st— and I didn’t like the feeling one bit. So I have since lost the best part of a stone, largely by cutting out bread — much to my regret, because I adore bread.
Thereis a history of cancer in my family. My mother died of breast cancer when she was 72, and my father died of cancer at 68. Then, 18 months ago, my brother Andrew was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Thankfully,Andrew has been given the all-clear after having surgery to have the prostate gland removed. I had a prostate cancer check-up after his diagnosis, but there was nothing to give cause for concern. I’m in pretty good shape and, strange as it may sound, it doesn’t particularly worry me.
Idon’t get much exercise other than wandering round airports. But havingsaid that, when I take the stairs to our fifth-floor London flat I don’t get out of breath.
I take a daily multi-vitamin pill and also Echinacea. I don’t seem to get many colds, so perhaps it works.
