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Patricia Hewitt wrote to Gordon Brown on her final day as health secretary last week, criticising the NHS but advising against any changes in policy. Leaked correspondence revealed yesterday that she said the NHS remained a "paternalistic" service which too often served the "tribal" interests of doctors and managers instead of patients' needs.
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Why do you ride? It's great to forget about work and money and just escape into the countryside around London. How do you fit it in around work? I'm self-employed, so when I'm working from home I'll often go riding first thing in the morning, plus for a couple of hours at the weekend. I ride about four times a week.
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Cats can trigger allergic reactions in 25% of people, say researchers - The Guardian 2nd July 2007
Household cats can trigger allergic reactions in more than a quarter of the population, suggesting the pets have a far greater impact on human health than doctors had previously believed, scientists warned yesterday. A study of nearly 2,000 volunteers across Europe found that cats could cause breathing difficulties in people with some of the most common allergies.
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Another reason for you to put the cat out - The Times 2nd July 2007
Diana Furchtgott-Roth's argument about the value of income inequality is full of holes (Comment, June 29). First, British inequality accompanies lower not greater social mobility. Second, British labour is actually less productive than that of many European countries where workers are better cared for by the law.
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Benefits of smoke ban will be felt 'at once ' - The Observer 1st July 2007
Improvements in people's health will begin to filter through the population almost as soon as England's smoking ban takes effect today. This is the key implication of a series of studies based on research into existing tobacco bans, as highlighted in Nature last week.
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A last gasp of defiance - and now the ban - The Guardian 2nd July 2007
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Smokers choke on 'injustice' as ban starts - The Independent 2nd July 2007
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Some defy the law, the rest just grin and bear it - The Times 2nd July 2007
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Thousands defy smoking ban in mass protest - The Telegraph 2nd July 2007
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Next, a ban on smoking in our parks and open spaces - Daily Mail 1st July 2007
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The way the British smoke - BBC Health News 29th June 2007
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Thousands defy smoking ban in mass protest - The Telegraph 2nd July 2007
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Next, a ban on smoking in our parks and open spaces - Daily Mail 1st July 2007
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Consigned to the ashtray of history - The Observer 1st July 2007
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England's smokiest zone faces up to ban - The Guardian 30th June 2007
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Smoking ban catches the public mood - The Guardian 30th June 2007
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Real work: Smoking ban loophole leaves many fuming - The Guardian 30th June 2007
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Going for smoke: Today's ban is just the start. Could your home be next? - The Independent on Sunday 1st July 2007
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Half a million lives could be saved by the smoking ban, say experts - The Independent 30th June 2007
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Yes to hypnotists, no to shelters - The Sunday Times 1st July 2007
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‘Don’t do as I do, do as I say’ - The Times 30th June 2007
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Now you can make a packet - The Times 30th June 2007
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Children urged to pressure parents on smoking - The Sunday Telegraph 1st July 2007
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Revealed: worst places to be a smoker - The Telegraph 30th June 2007
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England smoking ban takes effect - BBC Health News 1st July 2007
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Legal challenge to ban on smoking - BBC Health News 29th June 2007
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England's smokiest zone faces up to ban - The Guardian 30th June 2007
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Smoking ban catches the public mood - The Guardian 30th June 2007
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Real work: Smoking ban loophole leaves many fuming - The Guardian 30th June 2007
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Going for smoke: Today's ban is just the start. Could your home be next? - The Independent on Sunday 1st July 2007
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Half a million lives could be saved by the smoking ban, say experts - The Independent 30th June 2007
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Councils extend smoke ban to public parks - The Sunday Times 1st July 2007
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There’s no obligation to help staff - The Sunday Times 21st June 2007
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There’s no obligation to help staff - The Sunday Times 21st June 2007
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‘Don’t do as I do, do as I say’ - The Times 30th June 2007
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Children urged to pressure parents on smoking - The Sunday Telegraph 1st July 2007
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England smoking ban takes effect - BBC Health News 1st July 2007
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Legal challenge to ban on smoking - BBC Health News 29th June 2007
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A drive to slash the rates of MRSA and other hospital infections is being masterminded by Gordon Brown, who is convinced that the public's perception of the NHS has been swayed by concerns over cleanliness on the wards. Brown has told close colleagues that they will never win 'hearts and minds' over the health service reforms until they can demonstrate that the wards really are cleaner, and that they are cutting the numbers of patients being infected.
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Many vulnerable people now face eligibility tests for basic services as councils tighten budgets Councils have made it harder for the elderly to stay in their own homes by increasing charges for basic support services such as shopping and laundry.
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Sleepless nights leave many too tired for their work, friends or sex, says new research. Whether it's due to partners snoring, nagging consciences or the stresses and anxieties of modern life, new research has revealed that women are almost 20 per cent more likely to suffer insomnia than men.
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Women find it harder to reach the land of Nod - Daily Mail 2nd July 2007
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Drug plague that knows no boundaries - The Observer 1st July 2007Additional Story
Women find it harder to reach the land of Nod - Daily Mail 2nd July 2007
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Leap in crack deaths in north-east of Scotland. In an area where drugs are a fact of life, the discovery of two bodies in a squalid harbourside flat would probably have been regarded as little more than yet another tragic sign of the times. However, one of the victims was a former beauty queen from a respectable family, and the reality of a growing problem permeating all levels of society was brought home with a vengeance.
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In health, Mr Brown has appointed the surgeon Sir Ara Darzi as parliamentary under secretary at the Department of Health. He will work three days a week with Alan Johnson to improve patient care, increase the convenience and accessibility of health services and build a new partnership with NHS staff and patients.
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Why do my young children have hardly any moles? Is it inevitable they'll get more as they age? To misquote Shakespeare, some people are born with 'moles' and some have 'moleness' thrust upon them. Moles (pigmented naevi) are small areas of skin in which deposits of pigment (melanin) make them darker than the skin around them. In raised moles, the outer layer doesn't 'shed' like the surrounding skin, so they are 'lumpy'. A few babies have them when they are born, but for most they appear in the first few years. Why this should be isn't clear. It may be to do with the skin cells becoming more mature. Many have a crop of moles, and some have several hundred. Don't worry, because there's nothing we can do to stop children developing them.
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Three years ago, preparing for the most serious suicide attempt of her life, Lauren Shear had to work through a psychological routine. Previous endeavours - slit wrists, overdoses, self-immolation - had all ended in failure, either because she couldn't bear the pain or, she says, just because she was a "ninny" who was unable to complete anything. A leap from a high London bridge, however, would be final. All she needed was a technique to surmount her terror of heights.
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Middle-aged women twice as likely to have a stroke as men - The Independent on Sunday 1st July 2007
Middle-aged women are now more than twice as likely to have a stroke as men of the same age, a study reveals. Scientists suspect stress and weight gain are the main reasons why the number of women being struck down by these brain attacks suddenly rockets after the age of 45. Until then a woman is no more at risk than a man. But rates of high blood pressure - the biggest cause of strokes - start to rise dramatically in the decade leading to a woman's 45th birthday, the study found. And in the decade after that women are 2.4 times more likely than men to have a stroke.
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Middle-aged women twice as likely to have a stroke as men - The Independent on Sunday 1st July 2007
Middle-aged women are now more than twice as likely to have a stroke as men of the same age, a study reveals. Scientists suspect stress and weight gain are the main reasons why the number of women being struck down by these brain attacks suddenly rockets after the age of 45. Until then a woman is no more at risk than a man. But rates of high blood pressure - the biggest cause of strokes - start to rise dramatically in the decade leading to a woman's 45th birthday, the study found. And in the decade after that women are 2.4 times more likely than men to have a stroke.
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Sorrow and pity are natural responses to disability in children - but they are misplaced, researchers say. There is no need to feel sad about youngsters with cerebral palsy because they experience life much as other children do - with all its joys and sadnesses, successes and failures.
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Treatments that focus on the mind may ease irritable bowel syndrome. Of all the lifestyle illnesses peculiar to a generation that is stressed-out, tired-out and flaked-out, one has persistently remained an enigma to the medical profession: irritable bowel syndrome.
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Can you help me to help my daughter? Two years ago her son, a beautiful and popular 20-year-old, was killed in a traffic accident. This left my daughter with a desperately grieving 12-year-old daughter. In the first year my daughter stormed through her distress: I understand that anger can be — and in our case was — a predominant emotion.
Treatments that focus on the mind may ease irritable bowel syndrome. Of all the lifestyle illnesses peculiar to a generation that is stressed-out, tired-out and flaked-out, one has persistently remained an enigma to the medical profession: irritable bowel syndrome.
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Take the NHS. It is remarkable just how well it works, given that it is, as Patricia Hewitt, the former Health Secretary, said recently, even more centralised than the Cuban economy. Why does it do so well? Because doctors, nurses and (yes) managers are partly driven by what the LSE’s Julian Le Grand calls “knightly motives”.
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In one of his last acts as chancellor, Gordon Brown apparently slashed the NHS hospital building and equipment budget in England by almost a third, from £6.2 billion to £4.2 billion. That’s quite a big cut, isn’t it? He did not feel it either prudent or necessary to tell anyone about this at the time, the Financial Times reported yesterday.
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For the 8m people in Britain who suffer from them, migraines are more than just a headache. Migraine attacks, which often develop as a pulsating pain affecting one side of the head, can last for days, causing nausea, lethargy and sensitivity to light and sound.
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What we eat, what we wear, how we raise our children – these days, we can’t do anything without consulting an ‘expert’. When did we lose faith in ourselves?
I am a recent convert to green tea, and have seen details of a Japanese version, matcha, on the internet. It is said to be a superfood. Could you explain its relative merits in comparison with conventional green tea?
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The main purpose of keeping detailed medical records will always be to improve patient care, but that is not their only value. Such information has also made critical contributions to medical research. It has enabled scientists to establish that smoking causes lung cancer and that statin drugs protect against cardiovascular disease, and it is poised to become more important still. Genetic research that seeks to unlock the inherited roots of disease will require vast amounts of data about individuals’ health.
A visitor from another planet, beamed on to these shores to report recent developments in British politics, would have stood before our newsstands, radios and television sets this past week as one prime minister yielded to another, in a state of puzzlement. Yesterday’s unexploded bomb in London would only have deepened it. Everywhere he would have encountered the word “change”. Frequently it would have been conjoined with the word “radical”. As often as not, words and phrases such as “reform”, “battle to reform”, “transform” and “struggle to transform”, “rescue” and “save” would have struck him too.
Vivienne Parry, who worked closely with the Princess for 12 years, examines her huge impact on health charities With the charity concert in Hyde Park tomorrow, and Tina Brown’s controversialDiana Chronicles published last week, the question of legacy of Diana, Princess of Wales, is once more in the air. The area where she had her greatest impact and which is often overlooked is, in fact, health. She championed difficult issues, especially where those affected were marginalised or stigmatised. HIV/Aids, mental health, the elderly, leprosy and care of the dying are those that most readily come to mind. Quite simply, she changed people’s views, and in doing so reshaped services, priorities and lives.
The news this week that scientific studies show that the herb echinacea really does fight colds came as no surprise to Jayney Goddard, the editor of Complementary and Alternative Health. This remedy bible examines the scientific evidence behind every alternative treatment. But what sets it apart is that it draws only on double-blind placebo-controlled trials, one of the most rigorous types of study, though some, admittedly, are small.
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11. Male fertility is falling Who says? The media, who seem to think we’ll have to start cloning soon. And, possibly, private health clinics trying to drum up business. How wrong is it? It’s uncertain, but it’s not the universal truth most people believe it to be.
People in top jobs often live long lives; if they retain their status TONY BLAIR can expect to enjoy a long retirement. Despite a heart scare in office, he has proved himself one of the more health-conscious PMs, arguably the only one who’s had the problem of getting a home gym out of Downing Street and into a removal van.
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In the first of a new series assessing the impact of the junior doctor jobs debacle, Dr Sara McNally tells Bryony Gordon how the system has failed thousands Patricia Hewitt's resignation as Health Secretary last week - she jumped before she was pushed - merited few headlines. It was, after all, the same day that Gordon Brown became Prime Minister.
Statins have been credited with life-prolonging... and life-threatening... properties. Tea, toast, marmalade, Daily Telegraph... and statin. For many Britons, breakfast wouldn't be breakfast without these ingredients. And for some 3.4 million, the most important is that little pill.
Max Pemberton on the trials of Alzheimer's medication Mrs Doherty leans across to put her hand on her husband's knee as she quietly sobs into her handkerchief. She pats his leg gently and he moves his hand to take hold of hers and begins to stroke it. ''Don't cry love, it will be ok,'' he says, smiling benignly. She laughs as she dabs her eyes.
Dr James LeFanu ponders Patricia Hewitt, the tooth fairy and toilet tricks Patricia Hewitt was a terrible Health Secretary - and her exit last week was more than welcomed by the thousands who campaigned to save their local hospitals. "I can't pretend I'm sorry to see her go," commented Dr Barry Monk of the Save Bedford Hospital party. "Her period in office has been a catastrophe for staff and patients." Quite so.
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Youngsters 'ignoring danger of loud music' - The Telegraph 2nd July 2007
Nine out of 10 young revellers experience the signs of ear damage from loud music after a night out yet do nothing to prevent it, according to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People. The charity's Like it Loud? report also shows that 70 per cent of clubbers, 68 per cent of concert goers and 44 per cent of bar drinkers suffer symptoms of damage such as dullness of hearing or ringing in the ears, known as tinnitus.
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Nights out 'harm hearing of many' - BBC Health News 1st July 2007
Doctors have accused the Government of needlessly stoking anxiety among the "worried well" by launching a website that predicts which illnesses people are likely to fall victim to. The new NHS Choices website features a "health profile", based on an individual's age, sex and postcode, which calculates the five serious conditions most likely to lead to him or her being hospitalised.
Campaigners are to renew an attempt to open up the proceedings of family courts, after figures showed that the number of babies aged less than one week being removed from their mothers has risen almost three-fold in a decade. More than 900 are now being taken and put up for adoption every
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Councils making millions in incentives after snatching record numbers of babies for adoption - Daily Mail 1st July 2007
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Doctors who suspect that Asian girls are being forced into marriage have been ordered to intervene under new guidance from the Foreign Office. Its Forced Marriage Unit wants GPs and nurses to look out for signs of depression and self-harm among Asian girls and women, alerting police if they believe there is a risk of a crime such as rape or kidnap being committed.
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Nish Joshi's Q&A - The Sunday Telegraph 1st July 2007
I am 32 and have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). I used to suffer from irregular periods, weight gain and adult acne, so was prescribed the type-two-diabetes drug metformin, during which time I lost 2st as it made me feel very sick. With the weight loss my periods gradually returned. Since then I have been on a low-GI diet and, 14 months on, have put back on nearly all the weight, plus my periods are becoming less regular. What should I do?
Victims of a mild form of Alzheimer's disease are to be given access to anti-dementia drugs on the NHS. Aricept: Alzheimer's drugs to be available on NHS Aricept could be prescribed in some circumstances Campaigners yesterday hailed the "dramatic concession", which came after a five-day legal hearing. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) triggered a High Court action when it decided the drugs were not cost effective in relation to the benefits they offered to sufferers in the early stages of the disease.
Thousands of Royal Ulster Constabulary officers have won the right to fight for compensation from the Government for the trauma they endured during Northern Ireland's Troubles. A landmark court ruling yesterday opened the door for policemen and women to claim payments, which may run into many millions of pounds, for the severe psychological illnesses they suffered while fighting terrorism.
I managed to write an entire book about relationships - intimate ones, no less - without once mentioning lust. I can promise you it's a really romantic book, with lots of fun things for couples to do together and still no mention of sex at all. My husband and I worked through the entire book testing the "recipes" and felt much closer at the end of it, but still I did not feel the need to suggest anything lustful.
Thousands of Britain's 6m carers - people who look after disabled or frail relatives or friends - are failing to claim their share of £740m benefits because the welfare system is too complicated. The shocking figure, calculated by the charity Carers UK, is the result of carers either not knowing they are entitled to benefits, or finding the system too baffling.
The Government set out this week to abolish the "postcode lottery" which means people who need long-term care are subject to different rules about who gets help with fees, depending on where they live. But there was no attempt to make State benefits for long term care fees in England and Wales as generous as those in Scotland and charities forecast many older people and their families will continue to be denied help to which they are entitled.
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One million women are 'suffering unnecessarily' after turning their backs on HRT because of health scares, say doctors. The number of prescriptions for Hormone Replacement Therapy has fallen by almost half in the last six years, despite evidence that research into the supposed heart risks of treatment was flawed.
Paul Robinson has much to be thankful for. She lives in a £500,000 house, drives a Mercedes and has two beautiful children - Ryan, nine, and Tara, five. She is also glowing, for beneath her fashionable smock Paula, 40, is pregnant for the third time with a healthy new baby.
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Parents win right to keep fourth child - but vow to fight for the other three - Daily Mail 30th June 2007
Norfolk couple Mark and Nicky Webster last week finally won their landmark legal fight to keep their fourth child, Brandon, after a false allegation of child abuse robbed them of their three older children. In what has been described as a "gross miscarriage of justice", the Websters' children were taken away by Social Services and forcibly adopted after a family court hearing that lasted just one day.
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He lies in hospital with an oxygen mask strapped to his face, hovering between life and death. Jack Strom, who is just 13, is barely breathing after drinking a litre bottle of vodka in a park in the latest shocking example of Britain's growing bingedrinking epidemic among the young.
One million women are 'suffering unnecessarily' after turning their backs on HRT because of health scares, say doctors. The number of prescriptions for Hormone Replacement Therapy has fallen by almost half in the last six years, despite evidence that research into the supposed heart risks of treatment was flawed.
Paul Robinson has much to be thankful for. She lives in a £500,000 house, drives a Mercedes and has two beautiful children - Ryan, nine, and Tara, five. She is also glowing, for beneath her fashionable smock Paula, 40, is pregnant for the third time with a healthy new baby.
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Parents win right to keep fourth child - but vow to fight for the other three - Daily Mail 30th June 2007
Norfolk couple Mark and Nicky Webster last week finally won their landmark legal fight to keep their fourth child, Brandon, after a false allegation of child abuse robbed them of their three older children. In what has been described as a "gross miscarriage of justice", the Websters' children were taken away by Social Services and forcibly adopted after a family court hearing that lasted just one day.
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A breathing technique developed more than 40 years ago could offer relief for asthma sufferers. The method, based on slow, deep inhalation, has fallen out of favour as victims rely increasingly on medication.
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Every Tuesday, Britain's leading nutritionist, Jane Clarke, explains how to eat your way to health. This week she discusses weak teeth and nails and eating red meat: I have been told by my dentist that I have weak teeth. They're a little discoloured and I wondered if I could have a calcium deficiency. My nails also seem weak and have white spots on them.
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The conventional treatment for tumours near the spine is surgery, but it carries the risk of ending up in a wheelchair. Gillian Clamp, 62, had a pioneering procedure to "cook" her tumour cells. Here, Gillian, a former nurse from Stevenage, Herts, talks to GRAHAM KEAL, while her surgeon explains the treatment
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Stressed-out African naked mole-rats may provide clues about infertility in humans, researchers believe. Dr Chris Faulkes of the University of London found stress blocked ovulation in female rodents and lowered the sperm count of males.
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A synthetic molecule based on one found in frog egg cells could potentially be used to treat brain tumours. Amphinase is a version of a molecule isolated from the egg cells of the Northern Leopard frog (Rana pipiens).
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Folic acid 'reduces depression' - BBC Health News 30th June 2007New Story
Adding folic acid to bread could help prevent depression, a new study shows. York University researchers said there was a link between mental health issues and low levels of folate.
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Proteins which cause mad cow disease may also protect against Alzheimer's disease, UK researchers say. Prions naturally present in the brain appear to prevent the build up of a key protein associated with the condition. In laboratory tests, beta amyloid, the building block of Alzheimer's "plaques", did not accumulate if high levels of the prions were present.
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Most children at some point will experience vomiting and diarrhoea, but while it is unpleasant it is seldom serious. Others are not so lucky, however, and for them the gastric infection rotavirus can be very serious and prove fatal.
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Interactive whiteboards have been heralded as devices that will enhance education and be a major plank in the government's drive for new technology in schools. But the BBC has learnt that while millions of pounds have been spent on them, very little attention has been paid to a potential threat to the eyesight of teachers and children.
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The first medical students on a special course for bright pupils from deprived areas have qualified as doctors. The King's College London course gives a chance to students with the potential but not the high school exam grades usually needed to study medicine.
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International News
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The whole of sub-Saharan Africa - the poorest region of the world - will fail to meet the goals set seven years ago for eradicating global poverty by 2015 - the United Nations warned today. In a progress report at the halfway point to the target date for hitting the Milllennium Development Goals (MDGs), the UN said the world was failing in the battle to combat hunger, cut infant mortality and put every child in school.
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Five-year-old's frozen eggs give fertility hope to child cancer victims - The Guardian 2nd July 2007New Story
Fertility doctors have extracted eggs from girls as young as five and frozen them so they can be used later to start a family. The breakthrough raises hopes for thousands of girls who survive childhood cancer each year but are left infertile by chemotherapy. Until now, fertility specialists had thought it impossible to retrieve usable eggs from girls so young, but a team of Israeli doctors managed to extract early-stage eggs and mature them in a laboratory before storing them in deep freeze.
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Doctors freeze eggs of cancer girls aged five - Daily Mail 1st July 2007
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IVF hope for child cancer cases - BBC Health News 2nd July 2007
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Doctors thought MacKinzie Kline would die of a heart defect before she was five. Now the 15-year-old, who breathes oxygen from a tube while on the course, is one of America's outstanding young golfers and a crusading fundraiser for medical research. Gaby Wood in New Jersey meets the teenage phenomenon and her family
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Public outcry over the death of a 12-year-old girl at the hands of a doctor performing female circumcision has forced health authorities in Egypt to ban the practice. Badour Shaker died this month while undergoing the procedure in an illegal clinic in the southern Egyptian town of Maghagh. Her mother, Zeniab Abdel Ghani, said she had paid 50 Egyptian pounds (£5) to a female physician to perform the procedure.
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Egypt forbids female circumcision - BBC Health News 28th June 2007
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Stone Age diet may aid diabetics - The Independent 2nd July 2007
People with diabetes could improve their condition by forgoing modern foods for a "Stone-Age" diet, a study suggests. Scientists at Lund University in Sweden found a prehistoric choice of fruit, nuts, vegetables and lean meat better controlled poor blood sugar than recognised contemporary alternatives such as the Mediterranean diet.
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Stone-age diet 'could prevent diabetes' - The Times 2nd July 2007
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Universal European regulations for fertility treatment are needed to reduce legal differences between countries that are encouraging “reproductive tourism”, one of the Continent’s most senior IVF specialists said yesterday. National laws banning infertility therapies that are available elsewhere in the European Union are denying couples the chance to start a family and driving others to seek expensive treatment abroad, according to Professor Paul Devroey, of Brussels Free University.
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Scientists have developed an chemical injection that can remove unwanted fat without the use of surgery. The technique could help to prevent the onset of obesity-linked illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, as well as offer plastic surgeons a new tool for enhancing body parts.
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Europe puts plans to grow GM crops on hold - The Telegraph 2nd July 2007
Plans to allow genetically modified crops to be grown throughout Europe have been shelved amid fears of a public backlash against "Frankenstein foods". The European Commission has failed to find enough support for its plans to lift a nine-year-old freeze on GM crops being grown on a commercial basis.
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Master of creation? - The Sunday Times 1st July 2007Additional Story
Egypt forbids female circumcision - BBC Health News 28th June 2007
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Stone Age diet may aid diabetics - The Independent 2nd July 2007
People with diabetes could improve their condition by forgoing modern foods for a "Stone-Age" diet, a study suggests. Scientists at Lund University in Sweden found a prehistoric choice of fruit, nuts, vegetables and lean meat better controlled poor blood sugar than recognised contemporary alternatives such as the Mediterranean diet.
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Stone-age diet 'could prevent diabetes' - The Times 2nd July 2007
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Universal European regulations for fertility treatment are needed to reduce legal differences between countries that are encouraging “reproductive tourism”, one of the Continent’s most senior IVF specialists said yesterday. National laws banning infertility therapies that are available elsewhere in the European Union are denying couples the chance to start a family and driving others to seek expensive treatment abroad, according to Professor Paul Devroey, of Brussels Free University.
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Scientists have developed an chemical injection that can remove unwanted fat without the use of surgery. The technique could help to prevent the onset of obesity-linked illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, as well as offer plastic surgeons a new tool for enhancing body parts.
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Europe puts plans to grow GM crops on hold - The Telegraph 2nd July 2007
Plans to allow genetically modified crops to be grown throughout Europe have been shelved amid fears of a public backlash against "Frankenstein foods". The European Commission has failed to find enough support for its plans to lift a nine-year-old freeze on GM crops being grown on a commercial basis.
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A Nobel prize-winning scientist says he has discovered how human souls are made. It is an epic story of struggle and triumph in the womb - and it could end the worldwide rift over human-embryo experiments
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India is struggling to prevent millions of condoms from being made into toys or sold as balloons. The contraceptives were distributed free to control the country's population and restrict the Aids virus.
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A tiny pill that swells to the size of a tennis ball in the stomach is being touted as a cure for obesity. The pill contains an absorbent substance which expands by more than 1,000 times when combined with water - making dieters feel full.
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Pill to make dieters 'feel full' - BBC Health News 29th June 2007
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Food allergy molecule discovered - BBC Health News 1st July 2007
A molecule which may protect against food allergy has been identified. Interleukin-12 has been shown to be "missing" in mice which were bred to be allergic to peanuts.
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Pill to make dieters 'feel full' - BBC Health News 29th June 2007
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Food allergy molecule discovered - BBC Health News 1st July 2007
A molecule which may protect against food allergy has been identified. Interleukin-12 has been shown to be "missing" in mice which were bred to be allergic to peanuts.
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Scientists have discovered "silent" brittle bone genes passed unwittingly by parents to their children. Classic osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is caused by a dominant gene, meaning anyone who inherits a copy will suffer from fragile bones - often fatally.
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Products claiming to be superfoods will be banned under new EU rules coming into effect on Sunday - unless the claim can be proved. Blueberries, salmon, spinach and soy have all been hailed as so-called superfoods - foods rich in nutrients.
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The risk of developing dangerous blood clots doubles after travel lasting four hours or more, research shows. The risk applies to plane, train, bus or automobile passengers who remain seated and immobile, the World Health Organization found.
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Team claims synthetic life feat - BBC Health News 28th June 2007
Scientists in the US say they have taken a major step towards producing life from scratch in the laboratory. Dr Craig Venter says in the Science journal that his team successfully transplanted an entire genome from one bacterium cell to another.
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Cheshire and Merseyside News
A DOCTOR who snorted cocaine in his surgery has escaped with a fine. Traces of the class-A drug were found on Fabrizio Equizi’s desk at Claremont medical centre in Maghull. Liverpool crown court heard police also recovered a CS gas canister from a locked drawer.
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A LIVERPOOL woman today spoke of her horror after her son’s head became trapped in baby equipment now condemned as dangerous. Jenny Mushrow left baby Oliver in his swing for minutes, but returned to find the four-month-old screaming in pain after becoming stuck between two metal bars.
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SMOKERS will be taking their last puff in public places todaybefore the smoking ban. To ensure the air in public places remains smoke-free, council hit squads are planning to visit more than 1,700 pubs, clubs and bars across Merseyside.
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Welcome to the smokeless zone - Liverpool Daily Post 1st July 2007
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Brave foster mum named woman of the year - Liverpool Daily Post 30th June 2007
A SELFLESS mother who brought light to so many people was remembered with a posthumous award yesterday. Jackie Culshaw, a mum-of-nine and a foster parent, nursed two of her children through their battles with cystic fibrosis despite suffering from the disease herself.
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A SELFLESS mother who brought light to so many people was remembered with a posthumous award yesterday. Jackie Culshaw, a mum-of-nine and a foster parent, nursed two of her children through their battles with cystic fibrosis despite suffering from the disease herself.
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WIRRAL hospital trust – made up of Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge – has become a University teaching hospital on the same day it was announced it will also become a foundation trust. In a “proud day” for health services in the borough, the trust was one of just three granted foundation status across the country, along with Wirral and Cheshire Partnership Trust.
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A SOUTHPORT nurse will finally get answers from the care home which left her aunt with a fractured hip for 12 hours before calling an ambulance. Joan Young, 79, who previously suffered a stroke and had cancer, died in hospital on Tuesday, January 30, four weeks after she fell out of bed at Ravenswood care home, Westcliffe Road, Birkdale.
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Hospital's debts 'will take long time to clear' - Warrington Guardian 28th June 2007
WE still have a long way to go to clear our debts, said the head of the hospital's trust. Alan Massey told Monday's board meeting: "We are reducing the amount of money we owed but we are not debt free yet. Until our schemes work their way through the system we will still be in that position.
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Cumbria and Lancashire News
Smokers in Cumbria have lit up at work and in the pub for the last time legally as a ban on smoking in enclosed public places began today.
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The final drag - Carlisle News & Star 29th June 2007
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Smoking ban in Charter Walk - Lancashire Telegraph 29th June 2007
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Smoking ban in Charter Walk - Lancashire Telegraph 29th June 2007
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Brother loses cancer fight after transplant - Carlisle News & Star 29th June 2007
BRAVE Rebecca Williamson has told how she donated her bone marrow to try to save her brother’s life. When David Williamson was diagnosed with leukaemia aged 29, doctors said a transplant was his only chance of survival.
HEALTH chiefs will meet with education bosses next week in a bid to forge links between their hospitals and the new University of Cumbria. It is hoped the university – of which hospitals’ chief executive Marie Burnham will now be a director – will act as a catalyst in transforming both the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle and Whitehaven’s West Cumberland Hospital into official teaching centres.
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A WOMAN died because her immune system had been compromised by chemotherapy treatment she had received 18 months earlier. An inquest heard that Frances Livesey, 79, of Altham Street, Burnley, was admitted to the Royal Blackburn Hospital because of chronic diarrhoea, but doctors did not diagnose the cause before she died.
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999 - 'I need to peel some potatoes!' - Lancashire Telegraph 29th June 2007
IT celebrates its 70th birthday tomorrow - but you wouldn't believe some the "emergencies" operators from the 999 telephone service have to deal with! Life and death scenarios are all in a day's work for staff at the service's East Lancashire exchange - one of only five in the country which deal with emergency calls.
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Greater Manchester News
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ANYONE thinking of flaunting the smoking ban in Oldham should beware - rugby player Geno Costin is part of an enforcement team poised to pounce on rogue smokers. Standing at 6ft 2in and weighing more than 15-stone, prop-forward Geno (pictured) is the council's not-so-secret weapon as they bid to make the town's pubs and clubs smoke-free.
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Smoking police to hit city - Manchester Evening News 30th June 2007
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Smoking ban: How has Day One gone for you? - Bury Times 30th June 2007
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Smoking ban: How has Day One gone for you? - Bury Times 30th June 2007
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AN NHS trust is being sued over a disabled girl of five, who will need constant care for the rest of her life. A High Court action has been launched on behalf of Summer Phoenix, left severely disabled from birth. Lawyers for Summer, from Ashton under Lyne, are claiming damages from Tameside and Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust , blaming her condition on medical negligence.
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PATIENTS with irritable bowel syndrome can get advice from a new self-help book available at GP surgeries. Bury Primary Care Trust hopes the launch of the new book will reduce the number of visits patients need to make to their doctor.
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New mixed wards row - The Bolton News 29th June 2007
FRESH calls for mixed wards to be scrapped at the Royal Bolton Hospital have been made after a senior Labour minister warned patients receiving specialist care that they should not expect to be treated in single-sex wards. Health spokesman Lord Hunt has admitted that while most hospitals have eradicated mixed wards, it was not practical to do so in emergency or critical care units, such as intensive care, high dependency and medical assessment units.
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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