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"The British nation abhors absolute power. We prefer to take our chances with cholera and the rest than to be bullied into good health." So said a Times leader in 1854. It is a cherished article of faith that the bloody-minded British will do as they please, even if it kills them. Yet the government has this week finally banned smoking in enclosed public spaces in England - and where is the outrage? The pockets of hardened resistance? The insurgents holding their gaspers aloft? So far: nowhere.
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Goodbye to smoking - The Times 3rd July 2007
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Goodbye to smoking - The Times 3rd July 2007
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In the professional press - The Times 3rd July 2007
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Letters to The Daily Telegraph - The Telegraph 3rd July 2007
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Letters to The Daily Telegraph - The Telegraph 3rd July 2007
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Dr Majid Katme misleads the public when he writes that abortion has been found to be harmful to women's psychological and physical health (Letters, June 29). The comprehensive Evidence-based Clinical Guideline No 7 of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Abortion, induced: care of women, rcog.org.uk) finds that short- and long-term complications are uncommon. In particular, "induced abortion is not associated with an increase in breast cancer risk". In relation to psychological health, almost all women cope easily with their abortion experience - the post-abortion-syndrome is not evidence-based - but several studies have reported a small increase in the risk of self-harm, probably because mental health problems preceded the pregnancy and were among the factors that led to the abortion decision.
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Constipation affects about a quarter of the population at some point, and is most common in children, older people and women (because of hormonal changes, it can happen before a period, during pregnancy and after childbirth). Sometimes it can be a sign of more serious health problems, so talk to your GP if your bowel habits change or persist. Otherwise, try these simple measures to get things moving:
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Sometimes I see old ladies shuffling along the pavement with their sticks, Zimmer frames and swollen ankles, backs bent, arthritic old fingers clutching at the measly bag of shopping for one, and I think: "There goes my future." But perhaps it need not be like that. Instead of bankrupting oneself or the state with the increasingly extortionate cost of home care or an old people's home, why not try a health spa instead?
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One in five adults uses herbal remedies such as St John's wort or arnica - but products in the UK are not assessed for quality or safety. Now, says Alice Wignall, the situation is set to change
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The first adult "live donor" liver transplant performed on the NHS will lead to many lives being saved, doctors said today. Consultants at St James's Hospital, in Leeds, were speaking as Stephen Lomas, 51, was recovering from the eight-hour operation during which his son David donated more than half of his healthy liver.
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First NHS live liver transplant - BBC Health News 2nd July 2007
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First NHS live liver transplant - BBC Health News 2nd July 2007
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Few women venture back into pregnancy if, as was the case with the Countess of Wessex, their previous one was so near to disaster. Although it is becoming more common for women to have children later in life, the trend has its dangers. If the general medical assumption is correct and the Countess’s serious haemorrhage was the result of premature separation of the placenta from the wall of the uterus, known as placenta praevia, age may well be a factor. Her first pregnancy was ectopic, and required urgent surgery. In some cases the placenta may subsequently become lodged near the junction of the uterus and the remaining Fallopian tube. This can lead to haemorrhage.
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GPs are about to get their wrists slapped and wallets raided up in the North. East Riding of Yorkshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) plans to fine GPs who fail to meet local prescribing targets, says Doctor (June 26). GP leaders say that the plans to chastise practices that do not prescribe enough generic drugs and cheaper statins are illegal. Dr Peter Fellows, chairman of the prescribing subcommittee for the British Medical Association’s GP committee, says: “There’s no capacity within the [General Medical Services] contract for the PCT to fine the doctor on the basis of what is prescribed.”
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When Liz Penny’s elderly father had a fall and her mother developed dementia, it was the beginning of a nightmare journey through hospitals, care homes and red tape that took her and her close-knit family to the brink of despair
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Grand words will not solve the looming demographic crisis Stephen Pollard I don’t think I’d make a good casting agent. Somehow the idea of Ricardo Montalban as Gordon Brown doesn’t really convince. As for Hervé Villechaize as David Cameron: let’s not.
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WHAT gets you excited? If it’s the integration of the planning and commissioning functions of health and local government you must be Phil Woolas. The former local government minister tells The MJ (June 28) that he “punched the air with delight” when he heard that Herefordshire council was to create the Herefordshire Public Service Trust, which will combine health and local government functions. The council is in the process of recruiting a chief executive for the trust ( see page 11), a post that The MJ calls “the UK’s first ever combined health and local government top job”. It will be the first time a chief executive runs both a primary care trust (PCT) and a council, although there have been combined PCT and social care heads. A single integrated management team will also be appointed, with the aim of saving money that can be reinvested in services.
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SIR IAN KENNEDY states that the lessons of Bristol have not been learnt (Interview, June 26) , but fails to mention an elephant in the centre of the room. In the US, Australia and New Zealand there is legislation that protects medical incident investigation from legal inquiry. In contrast, in the UK the incident report forms, staff interviews and other documents are accessible to a complaining patient’s solicitor. Here the IR1 process allows “fair blame”, which allows doctors to be suspended from duty after completing an incident form, pending investigation.
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A million women are "suffering unnecessarily" because they refuse to take hormone replacement therapy after repeated safety warnings, an HRT expert claimed yesterday. Figures show that the number of HRT prescriptions has fallen by almost 50 per cent in the past six years. The treatment has been linked to an increased risk of life-threatening conditions.
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More than 100 people a day are admitted to hospital for liver damage caused by excessive drinking, official figures have shown. Alcoholic liver disease claimed the lives of 4,160 people in England in 2005, up almost 700 from 2001, according to the Department of Health statistics.
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Liver problems put more than 100 drinkers in hospital a day - Daily Mail 2nd July 2007
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Liver problems put more than 100 drinkers in hospital a day - Daily Mail 2nd July 2007
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Keeping a cat can trigger allergic reactions in more than a quarter of the population, scientists have discovered. British scientists found cats could cause breathing difficulties in people with some of the most common allergies. The team from Imperial College, London, took samples from the mattresses of almost 2,000 European volunteers with common allergies, including dust mites and timothy grass. They found those exposed to cat allergen had a greater respiratory sensitivity and were more likely to cough and wheeze.
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More than a quarter of people in the UK do not use contraception when they lose their virginity, a survey has claimed. The poll by condom makers Durex of more than 26,000 people in 26 countries puts the UK in the bottom half of the table for practising safe sex.
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Poorer sports clubs are less likely to carry out full health checks on players, a study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests. Sixty-five clubs from the football premiership and championship, rugby union and rugby league, as well as county cricket, were examined.
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Is it possible to become addicted to the online auction site eBay? Dr Kimberly Young certainly thinks so, and she says increasing numbers of people are showing signs of developing a problem.
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BBC Radio Five Live - Five Live Breakfast - BBC Health News 2nd July 2007
Alan Johnson is the new secretary of state for Health, one of the key roles in Gordon Brown's new-look government. Within a couple of days of him taking up his new job, new laws are being enforced to ban smoking in most enclosed spaces in England bringing it into line with the rest of the UK.
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International News
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Women undergoing fertility treatment may soon be able to have their embryos screened to reduce their chances of giving birth to twins, doctors said yesterday. The breakthrough follows research which allows doctors to spot early signs of embryos likely to divide into two, forming identical twins in the womb. Multiple pregnancy can lead to babies being born prematurely and with a greater chance of having cerebral palsy and heart and lung problems.
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A medical condition caused by the lining of the womb growing elsewhere in the body raises the risk of women developing a range of different cancers, doctors reported yesterday. Endometriosis affects up to 15% of women of reproductive age, and in severe cases, can leave them infertile. The cells of the womb lining often grow on the outside of the uterus and form painful scar tissue, which can only be removed by surgery.
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Womb disease 'could raise the risk of cancers' - Daily Mail 3rd July 2007
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Womb disease 'could raise the risk of cancers' - Daily Mail 3rd July 2007
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The first baby born from a pioneering fertility treatment was announced by doctors yesterday, raising hopes for thousands of women who are unable to have conventional IVF for medical reasons. The mother was infertile because of abnormalities in her ovaries caused by a syndrome that affects the fertility of up to one in five women in Britain.
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Breakthrough for cancer victims hoping to give birth - The Independent 3rd July 2007
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Breakthrough for cancer victims hoping to give birth - The Independent 3rd July 2007
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People with epilepsy are three times more likely to commit suicide than the general population, according to research published today. It also found women with epilepsy were more likely to commit suicide than men with the condition.
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Women who live near busy roads have a significantly higher risk of having low-birthweight babies, says a Franco-German study published online last week in Environmental Health Perspectives. Investigators followed 1,016 mothers who gave birth in Munich between 1998 and 1999, and found that the greater their exposure to fine particles from traffic exhaust while pregnant, the greater their chances of having an underweight child.
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A regular glass of wine helps prevent tooth decay, gum disease and sore throats, say researchers. Both red and white varieties have powerful germ-killing ingredients, claim the Italian scientists.
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People are dying unnecessarily from flu as too many restrictions are placed on key drugs, a leading expert says. Australian scientist Dr Graeme Laver said anti-viral drug Tamiflu is effective against seasonal flu and should be available over-the-counter.
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Call for EU-wide fertility rules - BBC Health News 2nd July 2007
Laws on fertility treatment should be standardised across the European Union to deter 'fertility tourism', a leading expert has said. Professor Paul Devroey said current disparities in rules meant infertile couples often had to travel to get the fertility treatment they wanted.
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Cheshire and Merseyside News
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ANTI-SMOKING campaigners celebrated winning their three-year battle to make the city smoke-free. SmokeFree Liverpool supporters gathered at St George’s Hall yesterday to mark the first day of the national smoking ban.
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Welcome to city's SMOKE FREE zone - Liverpool Echo 2nd July 2007
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No smoking - and no complaints either - Liverpool Daily Post 2nd July 2007
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No smoking - and no complaints either - Liverpool Daily Post 2nd July 2007
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A LIVERPOOL business is using technology to help smokers quit as the nationwide ban came into force over the weekend. Renewu, in Rodney Street, offers customers a treatment called bioresonance, which is claimed can stop you smoking in under one hour. The non-invasive and drug- free therapy claims to rid the body of nicotine and thus eliminate the cravings.
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Sight loss service - Liverpool Daily Post 2nd July 2007
A PIONEERING sight loss service is set to visit Liverpool and St Helens. Action for Blind People’s mobile information service will be outside the Playhouse, Williamson Square, on Tuesday July 17, between 10am and 4pm. On Wednesday July 18, it will be at the car park adjacent to Chester Lane Centre and Library, Four Acre Lane, Sutton. And the day after it will be at the Bradbury Centre, Youens Way, Liverpool.
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Cumbria and Lancashire News
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SMOKERS across Cumbria have sparked up for the last time in pubs, clubs and other enclosed public places as a national ban came into effect yesterday. Clubbers were told to stub out their cigarettes for the final time in the early hours as a 6am deadline ushered in a breath of fresh air in bars and nightclubs.
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Spelling out smoking issue - Chorley Citizen 2nd July 2007
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I don’t smoke, but the ban could backfire - Lancashire Telegraph 2nd July 2007
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Spelling out smoking issue - Chorley Citizen 2nd July 2007
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I don’t smoke, but the ban could backfire - Lancashire Telegraph 2nd July 2007
CARLISLE mayor Liz Mallinson was among those donning her shades to warn people of the dangers of UV rays. She wore her sunglasses on Friday to support the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association’s annual Shades Day.
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A BABY who doctors said would die in the womb or be severely handicapped has defied medical experts by being born perfectly healthy. Little Elijah Brown has mystified consultants after a massive, potentially fatal cyst - a cystic hygroma - on the back of his neck disappeared, four weeks after a scan confirmed doctors' fears that it was growing.
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Greater Manchester News
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GREATER Manchester's anti-smoking `tsar' today vowed to try to close a pub whose landlord is leading a rebellion against the smoking ban. Coun Pat Karney, NHS director of Smoke Free Greater Manchester, branded a `mass light up' held at The Swan in Bolton yesterday a `flagrant breach of the law'.
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Protests over smoking ban in Bolton - The Bolton News 2nd July 2007
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Protests over smoking ban in Bolton - The Bolton News 2nd July 2007
"I FEEL like a different person experienced it all now. I can remember the feelings of terror and confusion and not understanding why this was happening. "I didn't understand what I'd done to make it happen, when all I'd wanted to do was be a good wife and a good mother."
HOSPITAL managers have complained to internet search engine Google after hundreds of patients were given the wrong number for its switchboard. Up to 25 patients a day have been mistakenly calling the Royal Bolton Hospital's day unit, which carries out minor operations, after being given its number online by searching Google for "Bolton hospital".
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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