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Archive for August 2011
No more Ambre Solaire?
From the Daily Mail: They worked out how coral shields itself from the harmful ultraviolet rays in sunshine and hope to use the information to produce a ‘sunscreen in a pill’. A single pill could provide weeks of protection for the skin and eyes, cutting the odds of cancer, doing away with the need for … Continue reading
Environmental Effects on Genes
From The Daily Mail: Audrey Hepburn, iconic star of Breakfast At Tiffany’s, was renowned for her waif-like figure. But her sylph-like beauty masked a lifetime of poor health which culminated in her death at only 63. Now, a leading scientist suggests that her genes were fundamentally altered through suffering starvation as a teenager in the … Continue reading
Unethical Experiments killed 83
From AFP, via Yahoo News: At least 83 people died as human guinea pigs in macabre US research on sexually transmitted diseases in Guatemala in the 1940s… Cutler and his fellow researchers enrolled 1,500 people in Guatemala, including mental patients, for the study, which aimed to find out if penicillin could be used to prevent … Continue reading
Scottish Universities to begin charging £9k pa fees?
From the BBC: The University of Aberdeen has become the first in Scotland to adopt greatly increased fees for students from England and the rest of the UK… Students will face charges of £9,000 for all subjects for each year of study from next year. However, there will be special discounts to cap the total … Continue reading
Do Not Disturb
From the Daily Mail: And yet that is exactly what is happening in NHS hospital wards today, where nurses are sporting bright red tabards printed on the front with the bold words: ‘Do not disturb, drug round in progress.’ After pilot schemes in Kent, these deeply offensive items are to be worn by nurses in … Continue reading
Telemedicine Trends
From the Press Association: Patients will be able to hold online consultations with doctors as part of plans to technologically revolutionise the health service, according to the medical director of the NHS. Professor Sir Bruce Keogh said that IT will “completely change the way we deliver medicine” making access to GPs at any time a … Continue reading
Mosquito population crashing; blessing or future curse?
From the BBC: Figures indicate controls such as anti-mosquito bed nets are having a significant impact on the incidence of malaria in some sub-Saharan countries. But in Malaria Journal, researchers say mosquitoes are also disappearing from areas with few controls. The researchers are unsure if mosquitoes will return to these regions. If they do, one … Continue reading
Do Not Resuscitate
From the Guardian: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) attempts to restore breathing or blood flow to those whose heart has stopped beating or who have stopped breathing. It can include using electric shocks to try to correct the rhythm of the heart, repeatedly pushing down firmly on the patient’s chest and inflating the lungs with a mask … Continue reading
Congratulations GCSE Students!
Congratulations to GCSE students who got their results today! From the BBC: More exam entries were given the top A and A* grades and just under 70% were awarded between an A* and a C grade… There were more A and A* grades awarded too – with 23.2% of entries making that grade, up … Continue reading
Cutting the cost of hypertension
From the BBC: Patients thought to have high blood pressure should have the diagnosis confirmed at home, according to new guidelines. Patients in England and Wales will be offered extra checks using a mobile device that records blood pressure over 24 hours, says the watchdog NICE. A quarter of patients may find visiting a GP … Continue reading
