Get into Medicine UK
Health care
Using a virus to heal?
From Sci-News.com: The study, published today in the journal Nature, finds that a viral predator of the cholera bacteria can steal the functional immune system of bacteria and use it against its bacterial host. The bacteriophage (phage for short) used the stolen immune system to disable – and thus overcome – the cholera bacteria’s defense … Continue reading
Poor Sleep, Poor Health
From the BBC: Heart disease, diabetes, obesity and poor brain function have all been linked to substandard sleep. What missing hours in bed actually does to alter health, however, is unknown. So researchers at the University of Surrey analysed the blood of 26 people after they had had plenty of sleep, up to 10 hours … Continue reading
SARS-like virus death in the UK
From the BBC: A patient infected with a new respiratory illness similar to the deadly Sars virus has died in the UK… Of the 12 people known to have been infected with the virus around the world, six have died. The threat to the general population is thought to be small, although the virus has … Continue reading
Searching for Antibiotics
From the BBC: Researchers are embarking on an £8m project to discover new antibiotics at the bottom of the ocean… Few samples have ever been collected from ocean trenches – deep, narrow valleys in the sea floor that can plunge down to almost 6.8 miles (11km). Yet researchers believe there is great potential for discovering … Continue reading
2012/2013 Oxford University Medicine Admission Statistics
Click here for statistics from the 2012 admissions round (2013 entry) Key points: 1468 people applied; just over 10% received offers. This figure is skewed slightly upwards by the 255 international, fee-paying candidates (only 1 received an eventual offer), but irrespective of this, competition for places remained stiff. The mean BMAT score was 52% (down … Continue reading
Health News from Davos
From the BBC: … wealth is being squandered on a system that a chief executive of a European pharmaceutical company describes as “a sick system rather than a health system”. In fact, treating the sick and the injured, the old and the infirm, is so expensive that it has become a massive barrier to politicians’ … Continue reading
Suicide rates
From the BBC: Some 6,045 people killed themselves in 2011, an increase of 437 since 2010. The highest suicide rate was among men aged between 30 and 44. About 23 men per 100,000 took their own lives. On average, across both sexes, 11.8 people per 100,000 population killed themselves in 2011, up from 11.1 people … Continue reading
Do self-help books work?
From the BBC: Prescribing self-help books on the NHS is an effective treatment for depression, a study suggests. Patients offered books, plus sessions guiding them in how to use them, had lower levels of depression a year later than those offered usual GP care. More than 200 patients who had been diagnosed with depression by … Continue reading
Consolidating Hospitals
From the BBC: Dr Lee believes a hospital near the M4 could serve 650,000 patients in south Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and south Oxfordshire. He said: “It’s challenging the perception of what a hospital is for. It’s very emotive and there is a certain sentimentality people feel towards their local hospitals. “It challenges the make-do-and-mend which has … Continue reading
3 minutes of exercise a week
From the Daily Mail: There is welcome news for anyone who’s resolved to get fit in the New Year. Scientists claim we don’t have to spend hours every week slogging in the gym or jogging around a park in all weathers, along with the other January resolution makers. Instead, they advocate a pioneering new quick … Continue reading
