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The most significant advance in the understanding of breast cancer for a decade was announced last night with the identification of a new group of common genetic markers for the disease. Scientists have discovered four genes which, if faulty, can increase a woman's chance of developing breast cancer - by up to 60% in the case of two of the genes. This helps explain why women with a close relative with breast cancer are twice as likely to develop the disease, and offers the hope of a test in the near future. The scientists also believe the techniques used will help them unravel other cancers.
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Ministers should be stripped of the power to approve or reject NHS hospital closures, a leading thinktank with close links to the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, says in a report today. The Institute for Public Policy Research says such "reconfiguation" decisions should be referred to an independent panel by local authorities. Since 2003, local authority scrutiny committees have protested to the Department of Health about 23 NHS reconfiguration proposals. Ms Hewitt and her predecessors referred only four cases to an independent reconfiguration panel set up to review the merits of change.
Gordon Brown must put improving relations with health service staff at the top of his agenda as prime minister, Labour deputy leadership candidate Hazel Blears says today. Ms Blears, the party chair, said the premier-elect was right to identify the health service as his most important immediate challenge. The number one priority was "first and foremost a better dialogue with the people that work in the NHS", Ms Blears said in an interview with the Guardian.
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Hain calls for an end to NHS 'permanent revolution' - The Independent 28th May 2007
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We got it wrong on NHS reform, Labour’s leadership rivals admit - The Times 28th May 2007
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Hain says Labour 'like reserves' - BBC Health News 27th May 2007
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We got it wrong on NHS reform, Labour’s leadership rivals admit - The Times 28th May 2007
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Hain says Labour 'like reserves' - BBC Health News 27th May 2007
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Rampton patient fights smoking ban at high security hospital - The Guardian 28th May 2007
Patients at Rampton high security psychiatric hospital, which houses some of the country's most dangerous criminals, are challenging a smoking ban in a test case which claims the refusal to permit cigarettes in the hospital's buildings or grounds violates their human rights. The case, due for hearing in September, is being brought by Terrence Grimwood, a patient who has been given legal aid to contest the no-smoking policy, imposed at the end of March.
All alcoholic drinks will carry new warning labels by the end of next year under a government scheme announced yesterday. The labels, the result of a voluntary agreement between ministers and the drinks industry, will give the number of units of alcohol per glass or bottle and the recommended safe drinking levels. They will be accompanied by a new campaign to raise awareness of unit measurements.
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Plan for alcohol health warnings - BBC Health News 28th May 2007
Britain's lowest-paid workers have enjoyed a bigger improvement in their standard of living since 2003 than those in any other European country, according to research by the European Trade Union Confederation. It shows that Gordon Brown and Tony Blair's decision to introduce a minimum wage has transformed the country from a laggard to a leader in the EU in combating poverty wages.
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A decade of Blair has left society more segregated, fearful and divided - The Guardian 28th May 2007
Just a few days before Labour swept to power in 1997, Tony Blair was visiting a health centre in Brentford when a Sikh man approached him and asked: "What about us Asians?" Had Blair stopped to listen, as my colleague Jonathan Freedland did, he would have learned that the man was concerned about a possible EU directive that would have stopped him from wearing his turban under his motorbike helmet. If ever there was an ideal opportunity to triangulate, this was it. So long as the turban did not violate British safety laws, why should the EU interfere? With racial sensitivity he nods to the left, with a well-placed jab at Europe he nods to the right. But Blair had an entirely different audience in mind. "You're part of Britain," he snapped. "We'll treat you the same as everyone else."
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Sarah Burnell was 43 when breast cancer was diagnosed in November 2005. Despite having had the all-clear after a mammogram a year earlier, she had developed 11 tumours and had to have a mastectomy and chemotherapy. Because of a family history of breast cancer – her mother had the diagnosis at 51 – she had insisted on annual mammograms from the age of 38. They probably saved her life.
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Batches of fresh basil sold at Asda, Sainsbury’s and Somerfield have been contaminated with salmonella. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) alert came after a survey found that samples from two Asda stores, two Sainsbury’s branches and one Somerfield shop had tested positive for the bug, which can cause diarrhoea and sickness.
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Salmonella alert issued over supermarket basil - Daily Mail 28th May 2007
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The Government has secretly set up a VIP “stalker” squad to identify and detain terrorists and other individuals who pose a threat to prominent people. The unit, staffed by police and psychiatrists, will have the power to detain suspects indefinitely, using mental health laws.
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Stalker squad to keep VIPs from harm - The Telegraph 28th May 2007
Mr Justice Goldring has declared the process of junior doctor appointments to be disastrous and flawed. Yet no one in authority will admit responsibility or offer a remedy, least of all the Chief Medical Officer (CMO). The medical royal colleges and the new postgraduate medical training board (PMETB) should have acted, but most have been silent, or worse. We salute, then, the courage of RemedyUK, a Prague Spring among junior doctors. Our report (letter, May 14) of a democratic ballot among 3,500 doctors showed 80-95 per cent votes of no confidence in the new appointments and training schemes, and in those responsible for them.
The Government has failed to collect up to £200 million in tax from Britain’s dentists after the botched introduction of a change to their contracts with the NHS last year, The Times has learnt. Andrew Murrison, a Conservative health spokesman, called the new dental contracts a “catastrophe” yesterday. He has written to Dawn Primarolo, the Paymaster-General, demanding answers about what he said was a simple failure by Britain’s tax authorities to enforce the law.
The Department of Health does its best to encourage the public, and especially youngsters, to play more sport of the type that used to be known as “games”. There are campaigns to persuade people to make better use of playing fields, tennis and squash courts, swimming pools, bicycle tracks and gyms. This is excellent advice, but if the general aim is to improve the nation’s health then there are better ways of taking exercise that would help to protect the hearts and arteries of middle-aged and older citizens. Such exercise might help them to avoid both atherosclerosis (furring up of the arteries) and the metabolic syndrome with its attendant complications of obesity, high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks and heart failure.
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Binge drinking can more than double the risk of breast cancer, a study has shown. Women who consume between 16 and 21 alcoholic units over a weekend - the equivalent of two bottles of wine - increase their risk of developing the disease by 151 per cent, while the danger still grows by 55 per cent for those who drink excessively on just one day each week.
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NHS dentists are refusing to treat patients with poor teeth because they do not get paid enough to carry out the work, it was claimed yesterday. Surgeries say they are being forced to turn people away because they are not given extra money for those who require extensive treatment.
The secret of the No Diet Diet lies in breaking the old habits that keep you fat. Our scientific research - we've spent over 20 years studying behavioural flexibility in British universities and for the Medical Research Council - has discovered that overweight people have certain habits in common and, surprising as it seems, it's not overeating.
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Reducing the waistline and toning the abdominal region are Herculean tasks at the best of times, but with summer fast approaching - and the annual squeeze into beachwear not far behind - most of us can no longer afford to ignore this area of the body.
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Parents were warned to limit their children's consumption of soft drinks amid fears over the safety of a commonly-used preservative. Research shows that E211 - found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max - can switch off vital parts of DNA, causing serious damage to cells.
A teenage musician hanged himself in his bedroom after viewing websites showing how to commit suicide. Christopher Gray, 15, strangled himself with a belt after his parents told him to stop watching TV and do his homework.
Children face years of ill-health because they are not active enough, researchers say. Scientists claim there is an epidemic of 'mini-couch potatoes' at risk of chronic health problems in later life.
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Nearly 200 MPs, including the leaders of both main opposition parties, have backed calls for nurses to get a full 2.5% pay increase this year. Nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have been offered a 1.5% rise followed by another 1% in November.
Could Snack the dog, Professor Foodsmart and the Great Grub Club Gang be the answers to helping cut childhood obesity? The World Cancer Research Fund hopes that by using the health conscious characters on its new website it can encourage better eating and a more active lifestyle among its target audience of four to seven-year-olds.
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Officials investigating two possible cases of bird flu in north Wales have now traced 36 people who may have been in contact with the disease. The figure has risen from 26, and 11 have shown flu-like symptoms, but none is said to have been seriously ill.
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It has been the fantasy of science-fiction writers for decades. Now researchers claim they are close to the breakthrough that will enable them to put astronauts into a state of suspended animation to make deep space voyages to faraway planets. Human trials are planned this year to chill volunteers so they go into 'induced hibernation' and sleep safely, possibly for months.
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'Brainy' mice may hold key to Alzheimer's - Daily Mail 27th May 2007
Scienstists have bred 'bright mice' in a breakthrough which could lead to new treatments for illnesses such as Alzheimer's. The mice were genetically engineered to lack the enzyme Cdk5, which is blamed for the death of brain cells in Alzheimer's patients.
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TWO Merseysiders who tested positive for bird flu have been released from hospital. The pair, from St Helens, were given the all-clear by health officials after an outbreak of the virus in North Wales last week.
ARTISTS and designers are being enlisted in the countdown to Liverpool going smoke-free. Campaigners are looking for an image which will be turned into a new smoke-free sign for city organisations to display.
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Yoko’s Alder Hey visitmarks a ‘homecoming’marks a ‘homecoming’ - Liverpool Echo 26th May 2007
YOKO Ono toured Liverpool yesterday and declared: “This is my home.” Wearing John Lennon’s Quarry Bank school tie, she visited Alder Hey Children’s Hospital then launched the city’s first regular flight to New York.
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Greater Manchester News
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Bird Flu found 'near Macc' - Manchester Evening News 27th May 2007
THE chickens at the centre of a bird flu outbreak in North Wales were bought at a market in Cheshire, it was confirmed today. Four people have tested positive for the disease after the virus was found on a farm in Corwen, and five other people are being treated as having had the disease.
Full links to the articles detailed can be found at www(dot) fade the blog 2 (dot)blogspot (dot)com, This has been a Podcast of Another 15 Minutes ... Health News from the Fade Library.
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