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Crystal meth, predicted by some to become Britain's deadliest drug, has so far failed to take off in the UK because cocaine remains so cheap and popular, according to senior police officers. The latest official assessment of the impact of the powerful stimulant in Britain says that it is a "slowly fermenting problem" and that there are no signs of the crystal meth epidemic predicted by some newspapers.
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Many asthma sufferers would like to reduce their dependence on their inhalers. Vicky Frost looks at the 'natural' options - from herbs to breathing exercises. There are 5.2 million people in the UK currently receiving treatment for asthma - which makes for a lot of inhalers lurking in bathroom cabinets. Inhalers, the most common treatment for asthma, come in two types: preventers, which are taken daily to control inflammation in the airways long-term and usually contain low-dose steroids; and reliever inhalers, which instantly relax the muscles if something triggers symptoms. Most asthmatics agree it's no big deal having to take them. And yes, it's great that they work.
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The Conservative party's social justice policy group has recommended that taxation should be used to curb binge drinking (Report, July 9). They are to be congratulated for raising an inconvenient truth. A series of reports from government advisers, medical and scientific authorities have drawn attention to the fact that controlling the availability of alcohol is essential in order to reduce heavy drinking.
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Alistair Darling last night hinted that he might use his first budget to rein in the tax breaks enjoyed by Britain's rapidly expanding private equity sector. He also warned public sector workers that they would have to accept a below-inflation pay rise this year as part of a Treasury clampdown on public spending.
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IN THE murky world of patients attacking health staff lie disparate views on how to deal with the problem. “Lock them up” is one solution. GP (July 6) says that 73 per cent of GPs want patients who assault them to receive mandatory jail sentences - except where patients have a history of mental illness.
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The NHS needs a morale boost, not capitulation The new Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, has, unlike his predecessor, an excellent bedside manner. Our times2 interviews today with NHS staff suggest that he will need every gram of his charm if he is to soothe the clinicians, nurses and managers whose morale seems to have hit yet another all-time low. The Royal College of Nursing will ballot its members on industrial action this month, and Unison, the public sector union, plans to ballot its health members in September. It is, of course, the way of these unions to exaggerate the gloom and to trade on a pessimism that is more anomie than anatomy.
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Condition: critical - The Times 10th July 2007
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We are not supermarkets - The Times 10th July 2007
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Speaking from the heart - The Times 10th July 2007
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Speaking from the heart - The Times 10th July 2007
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They can’t understand each other - The Times 10th July 2007
UH OH. The biggest threat to the success of public private partnerships is “lack of understanding between government and business”, according to a poll by Ipsos MORI, Public Private Finance (July/August) reports. Less than 10 per cent of executives believe that their departments have the partnership skills to make projects a success. Meanwhile, using the private finance initiative to build shiny new hospitals could be a waste of money, according to the NHS Confederation. Firms and healthcare trusts should focus more on refurbishing existing buildings rather than constructing “gigantic” new hospitals.
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WE KNOW that things in Iraq aren’t good, but what is life like for those trying to save wounded service personnel? Nursing Standard (July 4) spends some time with a perioperative nurse at a tented hospital at Basra International Airport, and MASH it isn’t. “Last night I was in a four-hour operation and the siren went off twice,” leading naval nurse Cheryl Lindup explains. “Each time that happens the operating table is lowered to the floor and the patient covered with body armour. The surgeons and I put on our helmets and body armour and go to the ground.” By comparison a shift in a hospital back home sounds like a picnic.
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The heartrending final moments of two terminally ill babies were described yesterday by the doctor accused of hastening their death. Michael Munro, 41, a consultant neonatologist, said he “felt in his heart” that the two infants were suffering as they endured violent body spasms shortly before their death.
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Doctor felt babies were suffering - BBC Health News 9th June 2007
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Doctor felt babies were suffering - BBC Health News 9th June 2007
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Teamwork will lead to better outcomes THE relationship between GPs and pharmacists is referred to as being one of “war” and “fighting” (White coat wars over patients, July 3). This should not be the case. As healthcare professionals we all work to achieve the same goal: focusing on improved services for patients.
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Corpulent men are, funnier, less dominated by foppish styles and better in bed. So says Tobsha Learner. And she should know – she’s sleeping with one As I am an avid connoisseur of male beauty, it has surprised some of my friends that the great love of my life has turned out to be curvaceous – at least as curvaceous as me. That’s not to say that he isn’t handsome – he is – but he is probably about 2st (12kg) to 3st above svelte. He boasts an undulating belly and resembles a somewhat overripe rugby full back.
Breakthrough: scientists have discovered that the “five-second rule” – the notion that food recovered within five seconds of being dropped on the floor poses no health risks – is a load of baloney. Food dropped on test surfaces contaminated with salmonella became dangerously dirty in just a few seconds. “It will gather bacteria faster that you can say ‘intestinal distress’,” said Paul Dawson, who conducted the study at Clemson University in South Carolina.
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Trying too hard to cater for the conflicting demands of elderly parents and young children is exhausting and can be destructive,
The man behind the Health Service's crisis-hit computer project has admitted that he was "ashamed" of some of the IT systems being installed in hospitals. Richard Granger, who recently announced he is to step down as chief executive of the NHS scheme, said he was "appalled" by some of the work done by contractors.
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What would you suggest for helping with low mood? I find myself waking up dreading going into work, and my appetite is a little off, which is just not like me. But I'm definitely not depressed. Any advice?
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Young diabetic reveals why she's prepared to risk death to lose weight - Daily Mail 10th July 2007
When Caroline McGovern was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 12, she was appalled by the restrictive diet that the condition forced upon her. But Caroline, now 27, soon realised that by not taking the insulin shots vital for stabilising her blood sugar levels, she could actually lose weight while eating exactly what she wanted. While the drastic measures she took gave her the body she desired, the horrifying legacy of her behaviour only fully dawned upon her last year, when she was told that she needed a double pancreatic and kidney transplant.
Jan Millington's right arm hangs useless and completely numb by her side. She often cuts herself without realising it. Recently, she broke her wrist but found out only after she spotted the massive bruising. While there is no feeling in her arm, her right shoulder is agonisingly painful. The bone in the joint has been weakened and distorted.
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A mother killed herself and her young son while suffering from psychotic delusions caused by her regular use of cannabis. Anjun Cavanagh, who smoked two or three joints every night, locked herself and five-year-old Dylan in a sealed bedroom where she lit a disposable barbecue.
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A charity has described a decision not to approve a kidney cancer drug for use in the NHS in Scotland as a "death sentence" to hundreds of patients. The Scottish Medicines Consortium ruled that the benefits of Sutent (Sunitinib) did not yet justify its high cost.
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A new series on BBC One follows real life patients in A&E and operating theatres with specially shot material and unique computer generated imagery to show the fight for survival from the inside. Faye Barker, 19, had a normal pregnancy and was looking forward to the birth of her first child.
NHS inspectors have issued their first warning to hospital bosses in England for breaching the NHS hygiene code. Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust was given an improvement notice by the Healthcare Commission for not meeting standards on bugs such as MRSA.
A pioneering new cancer centre has been officially opened in Manchester - with the aim of saving more lives. The £14m Nightingale Centre and Genesis Prevention Centre opened its doors at a community fun day on Sunday afternoon. The Wythenshawe Hospital-based research team - headed by three world renowned professors - will focus on prevention, screening and early diagnosis.
A family planning doctor prescribed an exorcism to a woman during a routine appointment, a medical tribunal heard. Dr Joyce Pratt, 44, allegedly told the patient she was possessed by an evil spirit and suggested she visit a priest who could take the problem away.
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Tummy fat 'can grow new breasts' - BBC Health News 9th June 2007
Fat from the tummy or bottom could be used to grow new breasts in a treatment which could be carried out in an hour - or a lunch break. Scientists say they can create a fat mixture with concentrated stem cells, which, when injected into the breast, apparently encourages tissue to grow.
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Accused family killer was 'denied treatment by Scientologist parents' - The Guardian 10th July 2007
Accused family killer was 'denied treatment by Scientologist parents' - The Guardian 10th July 2007
A woman accused of killing her father and sister and injuring her mother was denied psychiatric treatment by her parents who were Scientologists, a court heard yesterday. They declined the treatment after the 25-year-old woman, who cannot be named, was diagnosed with a psychotic illness last year and instead gave her medication they got from America.
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Aboriginal policy is not underpinned by race, but by health concerns - The Guardian 10th July 2007
We should be encouraged that the government has found the strength to act, says Richard Alston Richard Flanagan may be a prize-winning Australian fiction writer, but this scarcely qualifies him to be taken seriously when he turns his hand to political diatribes - as he did in responding to the Australian government's plan to deal with the high rate of child abuse in indigenous communities (This draconian outrage has shaken Australia, June 28).
An E number used to make commercial sausages and burgers pink may cause cancer. Scientific studies suggest Red 2G, or E128, causes tumours in rats and mice and might have the same effect on people. After reviewing the experiments, the European Food Safety Agency (Efsa) said it could set no safe limit for the additive. The European Commission is expected to ban its use within a fortnight, but products containing the additive on the shelves are not likely to be withdrawn.
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Cancer alert over dye that gives cheap sausages a fresh look - The Times 10th July 2007
Smokers are less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease, research suggests. According to a large-scale review of studies, a better understanding of how smoking protects from Parkinson’s disease could also lead to a better understanding of the condition, its prevention and treatment. About one in 500 people in Britain have Parkinson’s.
How on earth have we allowed the sun, source of life and health, to be seen more as a cause of cancer and death? My family returned from the coast at the weekend, reddened from enjoying the first sunshine of summer, to be met by more dark clouds of doom. The Times reports that the European Commission is to ban the word “sunblock” from sun cream, to make clear that “there is no such thing as a safe suntan”.
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Suncream makers to block their label lies - Daily Mail 9th July 2007
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In less sophisticated days, options for parents hoping to keep track of their children seldom amounted to much more than a worried phone call. However, with the astonishing advance of communications technology the chances of any child evading supervision, even if just for a few seconds, are receding.
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Cuddles from Dad that dry a baby's tears - Daily Mail 9th July 2007
Babies delivered by Caesarean cry less and fall asleep more quickly if they have a cuddle with their father straight after being born. Tests showed infants who had skin-to-skin contact with fathers stopped crying within 15 minutes and became drowsy in one hour, nearly half the time it took for babies left in cots on their own.
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Cuddles from Dad that dry a baby's tears - Daily Mail 9th July 2007
Babies delivered by Caesarean cry less and fall asleep more quickly if they have a cuddle with their father straight after being born. Tests showed infants who had skin-to-skin contact with fathers stopped crying within 15 minutes and became drowsy in one hour, nearly half the time it took for babies left in cots on their own.
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Older women with low levels of the male hormone testosterone are at greater risk of heart disease, claim researchers. For the first time a study shows those with a testosterone "deficiency" after the menopause are more likely to have blocked arteries.
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Low testosterone may risk heart - BBC Health News 9th July 2007
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Low testosterone may risk heart - BBC Health News 9th July 2007
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US scientists believe they may have found a way to stop the growing problem of bacteria becoming resistant to current drug treatments. They have found drugs called bisphosphonates block an enzyme used by bacteria to swap genes, and acquire or spread resistance to antibiotic drugs.
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The XXX-rated med school teacher - BBC Health News 9th June 2007
Dr Carla Pugh makes an unusual shopping trip at the start of every academic year as she prepares teaching materials for her medical students - to porn emporia and toy shops. Worried by the quality and anatomical accuracy of mannequins available for her students to practise on, Dr Pugh decided to take matters into her own hands and provide her own.
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A TEENAGE transplant survivor whose nine-year-old sister died waiting for a donor today urged people to join the register. Matthew Dodd was only 17 months old when he was diagnosed with a liver problem so rare doctors still do not have a name for it.
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HEALTH bosses have launched a new booze audit to tackle the region’s binge-drinking crisis. Individiual health checks give people the truth about how bad their drinking really is. It consists of a few questions which tell people if they are a “safe”, “hazardous”, “harmful” or “dependent” drinker.
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A NURSE cleared of manslaughter after injecting a toddler with the wrong drugs will this week find out if she can return to work. Rose Aru, 62, from Wavertree, mistakenly injected a paralysing agent into Jake McGeough, aged 18 months, in July 2001, inducing a fatal heart attack.
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Drug death nurse fights to resume work - Lancashire Telegraph 9th July 2007
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UP to a quarter of underage teenagers sent in to test Merseyside pubs, shops and off-licences were sold alcohol. In St Helens the undercover youngsters tested 85 retailers over two years and bought booze on 22 occasions, a rate of 26%.
A WIRRAL GP is facing a disciplinary hearing over alleged indecent behaviour towards patients. Dr Vijay Dwivedi, of Stanley Avenue, Bebington, will face the Fitness to Practice panel of the General Medical Council on August 6. The panel will investigate two separate allegations that while Dr Dwivedi was employed as a GP he performed an examin-ation in an in-decent and inappropriate manner.
PARAMEDICS on emergency calls will be asked to decide whether patients should be treated at home instead of being taken to hospital. The controversial plans, aimed at speeding up paramedic response times, means patients who need hospital treatment may also be transported by car rather than ambulance.
A DOZEN people living on a Wirral estate targeted by police investigating drugs and anti-social behaviour have asked for help with their addiction. A police operation began two weeks ago on the Overchurch estate with two suspected “crack dens” being raided and closed down by officers in raids. More raids were carried out yesterday, targeting the Comet pub in Laird Street and Overchurch Hotel on the estate, along with some homes.
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Smoke clears - Knutsford Guardian 9th July 2007
THE SMOKING ban has split the regulars at a Knutsford town centre pub - quite literally. While drinkers sit in the bar of the Lord Eldon, warmed by a log fire, smokers are consigned to a sheltered backyard.
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FOLLOWING her own battle with breast cancer, BBC Radio Cumbria presenter Val Armstrong has given her backing to a new drop-in centre at the Cumberland Infirmary. Previously located on the bottom floor of the hospital, the Cancer Information and Advice Centre is now situated in the atrium, right beside the main entrance.
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A CUMBRIAN man whose life was saved after his son donated half of his liver is now recovering back at home. David Lomas, a 20-year-old student, underwent pioneering surgery to help his ailing father 51-year-old Stephen Lomas.
A NURSE cleared of the manslaughter of a Blackburn toddler she injected with an incorrect drug will this week find out if she can return to work. Rose Aru, 62, from Wavertree, mistakenly injected a paralysing agent into 18-month-old Jake McGeough, of Leicester Road, Whitebirk, which enduced a heart attack in July 2001.
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Needle nurse job verdict - Liverpool Echo 9th July 2007
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Sex case doctor's trial postponed again - Lancashire Telegraph 9th July 2007
A DOCTOR facing a re-trial over his alleged indecent assault on a teenage patient will now not stand trial until February 2008. Dr Naveen Shivan, 36, is charged with molesting the youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, at the former Blackburn Royal Infirmary in August 2005.
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THE heavens opened - but it didn't matter one bit to the people marking the opening of Europe's first breast cancer prevention centre. Patients, their families, fundraisers and staff of the new £14m Nightingale Centre and Genesis Centre were drenched by a massive downpour, but they refused to let it dampen their spirits.
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Cancer centre aims for prevention - BBC Health News 9th June 2007
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Cancer centre aims for prevention - BBC Health News 9th June 2007
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A MOTHER killed herself and her young son by lighting a disposable barbecue in a sealed bedroom. Anjun Cavanagh, 30, and five-year-old Dylan slowly died of carbon-monoxide poisoning, an inquest heard.
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Mother kills herself and son, 5, with a barbecue - Daily Mail 9th July 2007
THE ASSOCIATION of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) has renewed its call on the government to improve the balance of funding between health and social care services. The association - reacting to the publication last Wednesday, July 3, of a national survey, conducted by Counsel and Care - says it wants to see enhanced services for older people.
FAMILY doctors will be given guidelines on how to treat pregnant women with pre-eclampsia following the death of a mother at the Royal Bolton Hospital. Claire Hindmarch and her baby daughter, Kimberley, died at the hospital in January last year after Miss Hindmarch developed high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia.
LAST year in the UK a record 3,086 people's lives were transformed by a transplant, but the need for organ donors has never been greater. More than 7,000 people in the UK are currently waiting for a transplant, and sadly around 400 people die every year while waiting. Transplants are one of the most miraculous achievements of modern medicine, but they depend entirely on the generosity of donors and their families who are willing to make this life-saving gift to others.
CLAIRE Hopkins from Ramsbottom is waiting for a kidney transplant and to increase her chances has signed up to the paired donor scheme with her partner, Claire said; "Waiting for a transplant can be difficult at times. The phone call to say a donor organ is available could come at any time, so when the phone rings late at night you think is this the call'.
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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