UK Heath Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour - Ebola Update

UK Heath Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

Ebola Update

As the Ebola crisis continues the BBC have reported that millions of doses of experimental Ebola vaccines will be produced by the end of 2015, according to the World Health Organization.

Apparently "several hundred thousand" vaccines will be produced in the first half of the year with vaccines being offered to health workers on the front line in West Africa as early as December 2014.

However, the WHO added a note of caution that vaccines would not be a "magic bullet" for ending the outbreak. Currently there is no proven cure or vaccine for Ebola.

It normally takes years to produce and test a vaccine, but drug manufacturers are now working on a scale of weeks.  There have been further developments too:

• Dozens of people are being monitored in Mali after the country confirmed its first case of Ebola
• A nurse in Dallas, Texas who was infected with Ebola is now free of the virus
• Health officials in New York are seeking people who came into contact with a doctor who tested positive after returning from Guinea
• European Union leaders agreed to increase their financial help on fighting Ebola in West Africa from some 600m euros ($758m; £743m)

Volunteers on the front line of the epidemic will be vaccinated first and healthcare workers, who place themselves at risk when treating patients, will take part in the first trials in West Africa. The WHO says we should have the first hints of how effective these experimental vaccines are by April.  There are no plans for mass vaccination before June 2015 but the WHO has not ruled that out.

The WHO says vaccines are likely to be key to ending the outbreak, even if cases fall in the next few months.

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

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UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour Clocks Going Back Robs Children of Activity Time

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

Clocks Going Back Robs Children of Activity Time

As the clocks go back for the autumn the BBC reports that if clocks were moved forward by one extra hour all year round in the UK this could lead to children getting more exercise every day, according to research.

A study of 23,000 children found that daily activity levels were 15% to 20% higher on summer days than they were on winter days.

The UK research team said increasing waking daylight hours would have a worthwhile benefit on public health.  Evening daylight plays a role in increasing physical activity in the late afternoon and early evening - the 'critical hours' for children's outdoor play.

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Bristol analysed the activity levels of a large group of children aged five to 16 years old in nine countries, including England and Australia.

All the children wore accelerometers or electronic devices around their waists that measured body movement.

The results, published in the International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity, suggest that more evening daylight can help keep children active for longer.

Proposals to shift the clocks forward by one additional hour for the whole year and not move them back in October, have been debated in parliament at various times over the years, but never been implemented.

The study calculated that these proposals - which would give British children 200 extra waking daylight hours per year - would increase the average time children spend doing moderate to vigorous physical activity from 33 to 35 minutes a day.

Lead author Dr Anna Goodman, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said an extra two minutes may not seem like much, "but it was not trivial in relation to children's overall activity levels".

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

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UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour - Can exposure to the sun slow weight gain and diabetes symptoms?

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

Can exposure to the sun slow weight gain and diabetes symptoms?

A glimmer of hope for us sun worshipers today as the BBC reports that sunshine is an important element of a healthy lifestyle and could help prevent obesity.

Research on mice has suggested that exposure to sunshine could slow down weight gain and the development of type 2 diabetes.

Writing in the Journal Diabetes, scientists from Edinburgh, Southampton and Australia found that shining UV light on overfed mice made them gain less weight.

But vitamin D, produced by the body in response to sunlight, did not appear to play a role, the study said.

The research team said their results should be interpreted cautiously because mice are nocturnal animals, covered in fur, which are not usually exposed to very much sunlight.

After treatment with ultraviolet light, the mice in the study also displayed fewer of the warning signs of type 2 diabetes, such as abnormal glucose levels and insulin resistance.

Dr Richard Weller senior lecturer in dermatology at the University of Edinburgh said “Skin cancer is not the only disease that can kill us and we should perhaps balance our advice on sun exposure.”

These effects of the UV treatment were linked to nitric oxide, which is released by the skin after exposure to sunlight. When a cream containing this compound was applied to the skin of the mice, it had the same effect.

"We know from epidemiology studies that sun-seekers live longer than those who spend their lives in the shade. Studies such as this one are helping us to understand how the sun can be good for us.

The study suggested that casual skin exposure to sunlight, together with plenty of exercise and a healthy diet, might help prevent the development of obesity in children.

Dr Colin Michie, paediatrician and chairman of the nutrition committee at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said the study results raised critical questions for us humans such as are the effects the same in our children as they are in ourselves? If so, can they be applied to prevent obesity, treat metabolic syndrome and save vast amounts of pharmacological treatment? Perhaps it is just a little sunshine that we require.

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

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UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour - GP’s to be PAID £55 For Dementia Diagnosis

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

GP’s to be PAID £55 For Dementia Diagnosis

The BBC have reported that family doctors in England are to be paid £55 for each patient they diagnose with dementia, NHS bosses say.

NHS England said the aim of the six-month £5m scheme was to increase the number of sufferers who receive treatment for the condition, which causes a decline in brain function.

It is estimated up to 90,000 patients are living with undiagnosed dementia.

But the Patients Association called it "a step too far" that would mean a "bounty on the head" of some patients.

Fewer than half of the 800,000 people in the UK who are estimated to have dementia have been formally diagnosed.

Dementia is an umbrella term used for a collection of symptoms resulting from a number of different diseases of the brain.

There are many types but all tend to affect brain function and cause problems with memory, mental agility, language skills, and the ability to carry out everyday tasks.  NHS England has aimed to diagnose two thirds of people with dementia by 2015.

Some practices are diagnosing far fewer - and this £5m fund will reward them for getting nearer to that level.

NHS England said it was "not just payment for diagnosis" and GP practices would have to form a detailed plan and show improving diagnosis rates.

It may include measures such as improving the way cases are recorded by a practice - so they are counted properly, or visiting care homes to assess very elderly people who have not previously been checked for dementia.

There is already a £42m scheme in England where GP practices were paid for offering appropriate assessments of people who came in with memory problems, or those with conditions that put them at increased risk of the disease.

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

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UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour - Paralysed man walks again

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

Paralysed man walks again

There was great excitement last week as the BBC reported the story of a paralysed man who had become able to walk again after a pioneering therapy that involved transplanting cells from his nasal cavity into his spinal cord.

Darek Fidyka, who was paralysed from the chest down in a knife attack in 2010, can now walk using a frame.

The treatment, a world first, was carried out by surgeons in Poland in collaboration with scientists in London.

Prof Wagih El Masri who is a consultant spinal injuries surgeon was the surgeon who fulfilled the dream of his patient and the BBC Panorama programme had unique access to the project and spent a year charting the patients progress in rehabilitation.

Mr Fidyka said walking again - with the support of a frame - was "an incredible feeling", adding: "When you can't feel almost half your body, you are helpless, but when it starts coming back it's like you were born again."

Prof Geoff Raisman, chair of neural regeneration at University College London's Institute of Neurology, led the UK research team.

He said what had been achieved was "more impressive than man walking on the moon” adding that Paralysis treatment "has vast potential"

The treatment used olfactory ensheathing cells - specialist cells that form part of the sense of smell. These cells act as pathway cells that enable nerve fibres in the olfactory system to be continually renewed.

In the first of two operations, surgeons removed one of the patient's olfactory bulbs and grew the cells in culture.

Two weeks later they transplanted the OECs into the spinal cord, which had been cut through in the knife attack apart from a thin strip of scar tissue on the right. They had just a drop of material to work with - about 500,000 cells.

About 100 micro-injections were made above and below the injury.

Four thin strips of nerve tissue were taken from the patient's ankle and placed across an 8mm (0.3in) gap on the left side of the cord.

The scientists believe the cells provided a pathway to enable fibres above and below the injury to reconnect, using the nerve grafts to bridge the gap in the cord.

Before the treatment, Mr Fidyka had been paralysed for nearly two years and had shown no sign of recovery despite many months of intensive physiotherapy.

This programme of exercise - five hours per day, five days a week - has continued after the transplant.

Mr Fidyka first noticed that the treatment had been successful after about three months, when his left thigh began putting on muscle.

Six months after surgery, Mr Fidyka was able to take his first tentative steps along parallel bars, using leg braces and the support of a physiotherapist.

Two years after the treatment, he can now walk outside the rehabilitation centre using a frame.

He has also recovered some bladder and bowel sensation and sexual function.

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

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Uk Health Radio Medical News Update on the Hour - Gracie on Chest Infections

Uk Health Radio Medical News Update on the Hour

Chest Infections

Chest infections are common, especially after you have been poorly in the winter and autumn. Some can be mild and get better on their own but some can be bad or even life threatening. The main symptoms of chest infections are:

Constant coughing

Coughing up mucus

Wheezing,

Chest pain and a

High temperature.

 The other things you can get are a headache, tiredness, sweating, not being very hungry or having muscle pain. A chest infection is caused by a infection of the lungs or airways. Certain people can get chest infections really badly such as:
babies, young children, people who are overweight, the elderly, pregnant women, smokers and people who have weak immune systems.

 Here are some ways which you can avoid getting a chest infection:
Good hygiene - for example sneeze in a tissue or cover your mouth when you cough and wash your hands regularly and  if you are offered a flu vaccination, take it. Adults who smoke should stop.

 The only way to treat bad chest infections is by going to the doctors and getting antibiotics.
 

I had a chest infection when I was just 2 weeks old and my parents had to give me Amoxicillin antibiotics to get rid of it. This worked and I soon recovered.
 

Gracie Timms

Uk Health Radio Medical News Update on the Hour

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UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour - Advertising Helps Curb Sugary Drink Purchases

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

Advertising Helps Curb Sugary Drink Purchases

The BBC have reported that in the on going battle against an unhealthy lifestyle and diet, some teenage shoppers were being influenced by signs warning how much exercise they need to do to burn off calories in sugary drinks, and chose healthier drinks instead, US research suggests.

A study of teenagers' purchasing habits found they bought fewer sugary drinks and more water when the signs were up.

The most effective sign said it took five miles to walk off the 250 calories in a sugary drink.

Public Health England said the study showed simple health messages worked.

Study leader Dr Sara Bleich, associate professor at the Bloomberg School, John Hopkins University, said people do not understand calorie content on its own on a label.

"What our research found is that when you explain calories in an easily understandable way such as how many miles of walking is needed to burn them off, you can encourage behaviour change."

For six weeks, the brightly coloured signs were displayed in corner shops in neighbourhoods in Baltimore, in full view of young customers buying sugary drinks.

Four different signs were used in the shops. Two translated the calories in the drinks into the amount of exercise needed to burn off those calories.

One sign said it would take 50 minutes of running to work off the 250 calories - or 16 teaspoons of sugar - contained in a 590ml bottle of fizzy drink, sports drink or fruit juice.

The remaining signs listed the sugar content of the drink and the calories contained in the drink.

Sugary drinks, such as fruit juices and fizzy drinks, can contain up to nine teaspoons of sugar in one can

A can of fizzy drink, which is 330ml in size in the UK, contains around nine teaspoons of sugar.

To find out the impact of the signs, the researchers - writing in the American Journal of Public Health - interviewed children aged between 12 and 18 years old leaving the shop.

Out of the 35% of those interviewed who said they saw the signs, 59% said they believed the sign and 40% said their behaviour had changed as a consequence.

Before the signs were put up, 98% of drinks bought in the shops were sugary ones. After six weeks, this was reduced to 89%.

During the time the signs were on view, sales of larger bottles of fizzy drinks went down from 54% to 37% of all purchases.

Kawther Hashem, a nutritionist at campaign group Action on Sugar said that any measure which helps draw attention to the dangers of consuming too many calories - was "a good thing, especially if it converts awareness into people taking positive action and switching to less calorific drinks".

She said it was also critical that soft drink manufacturers were made to reduce the sugar content of their drinks.

One quarter of all adults and one in five children in the UK are classified as obese.

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

Kindly sponsored by 1-stop-health-shop.com

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour - Ebola Update

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

Ebola Update

As concern about Ebola continues the BBC have reported that staff at Manchester and Birmingham airports will begin checking passengers from at-risk countries.  It is also being introduced at Gatwick and Eurostar next week while screening of arrivals from West Africa, where 4,500 have died in the outbreak, started at Heathrow on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a British ship carrying medical teams and aid experts has left the UK for Sierra Leone.

RFA Argus, which has a fully-equipped hospital, should reach the region by the end of the month with 225 military personnel and will provide support to workers in Sierra Leone but will not treat civilians infected with Ebola.

David Cameron had earlier urged other countries to follow Britain's lead in tackling the Ebola outbreak.

The prime minister described it as "the biggest health problem facing our world in a generation" and called on other nations to "look at their responsibilities".

The BBC reports that Canada and the US have already introduced increased screening of travellers arriving at airports from West Africa and France is to check passengers flying to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport from Guinea's capital from Saturday.

In September, about 1,000 people arrived in the UK from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa however there are currently no direct flights to the UK from the three worst affected countries - Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

British Airways recently took the step of suspending flights between Britain and Liberia and Sierra Leone because of the "deteriorating public health situation" in the two countries.

Public Health England had initially ruled out screening because the risk of Ebola arriving in the UK was low and screening "huge numbers of low-risk people" was thought to be inpracticable.

Downing Street said the Chief Medical Officer for England, Dame Sally Davies, still regarded the risk to the UK as "low".

Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale has called for the screening regime to be extended to ferry passengers arriving at the port of Dover.

Port officials said they would "support whatever measures the government deems appropriate" and remain vigilant.

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

Kindly sponsored by 1-stop-health-shop.com

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour - One-Week Wait for Cancer Diagnosis

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

One-Week Wait for Cancer Diagnosis

 The BBC have reported that The Labour Party is to pledge that if it wins the next election, by 2020 no-one in England will wait more than a week for cancer tests and results.

The party said the £750m cost would be covered by a levy on tobacco firms.

Labour leader Ed Miliband said it was "critical" to make improvements in the early diagnosis of cancer and that up to 10,000 lives a year could be saved as a result

But a Department of Health spokesman said Labour "simply can't be trusted to deliver improvements in cancer care".

currently a recommended six-week limit for diagnostic tests in England, is in place and that includes tests to diagnose cancer however it is clear that the number of people waiting longer than this is increasing. Labour will propose that within a week of being referred by their GP, a patient would have received both their tests and their results, meaning patients can start treatment sooner and suffer less anxiety while waiting for results,

Labour is also promising a one-week target for "all urgent diagnostics" - not just cancer - by 2025.

It would also launch "public awareness campaigns" to encourage people to visit their doctor and spot possible signs of cancer, introduce more training for GPs and consider new screening programmes for lung and ovarian cancer.

Mr Miliband is expected to say that it is critical to improve early diagnosis of cancer - a killer disease that one in three of us will get - so that we can match the best countries in the world for surviving it.

"with a plan paid for by money raised from the profits of the tobacco firms whose products have done so much to cause cancer in the first place." The Labour leader has been reported as saying.

In his party conference speech last month, Mr Miliband pledged an extra £2.5bn to, as he said, "save and transform the NHS".

But opponents say that none of that funding would be available until halfway through the next parliament.

Labour says the cancer test guarantee is one of the priorities for the £2.5bn fund.

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

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UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour - Misuse of Laxatives

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

Misuse of Laxatives

The UK's leading eating disorder charity has called for the sale of laxatives to children to be more strictly regulated, the BBC have reported.

Beat estimates say that 80% of those affected by eating disorders in the UK have misused laxatives in order to lose weight.

It says supermarkets have done nothing to restrict sales of the medicine to young people.

UK supermarkets say their sale of laxatives complies with regulation set by the medicines regulator, the MHRA.

Beat says eating disorders most commonly develop during adolescence.

Teens are turning to stimulant laxatives believing they can quickly lose weight, with some children known to be taking dozens of laxative pills on a daily basis, they say.

Medical professionals warn that laxative abuse can cause diarrhoea, dehydration and electrolyte imbalances that can lead to kidney failure.

Susan Ringwood Chief executive of Beat

It can also damage the liver and potentially damage the heart leading to heart failure and death.

Beat wants supermarkets and retailers to reduce the ease with which young people can buy laxatives in large quantities.

The charity is calling for a minimum purchase age of 16, the maximum pack size reduced to ten tablets, sales restricted to pharmacies and a warning label on packets that states "this is not a weight loss product".

The Dulcolax and Senokot tablets currently have age restrictions on the packets.

Dulcolax states that the dosage instructions are for adults and children over 10, and children under 10 should consult a doctor before taking them.

The Senokot packet advises the dosage instructions are for adults and children over twelve, and that children 6 years and older should consult a doctor before taking them. They do not recommend the drug for children under 6.

Both and Dulcolax and Senokot say that they treat the issue of eating disorders very seriously and say they fully comply with all the legal requirements made by MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency).

"We've seen a 30% increase in calls to our help lines over the last year where people have mentioned overusing laxatives in unhealthy way," Susan Ringwood, chief executive of Beat, told the BBC Watchdog programme 

"And that does include a significant number of young people as well," she added.

Sainsbury's and Boots added that they are retraining their staff to better identify signs of laxative misuse.

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update on the Hour

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