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What's new?
Mental health and diet published 16th
January 2006
Malnutrition costs the
UK more than £7.3 billion of actual expenditure each year - double the
projected £3.5 billion cost of obesity
Editor's choice of news
Healing foods
beat statin drugs for lowering high cholesterol http://www.NewsTarget.com/008310.html
Alert after everyday painkillers
linked to danger of heart attack
Cancer drug delay 'will cost lives'
Nuclear stations 'do not cause child
cancer
http://www.newstarget.com/008191.html
white bread and diabetes
Alert after everyday painkillers linked to danger of heart
attack
Source: The
Times
Date: 10/06/2005
A major story today details the results of a study by Julia
Hippisley-Cox and Carol Coupland from Nottingham University. The study suggests
that common painkillers, taken daily by hundreds of thousands of arthritis
sufferers, significantly increase the risk of having a heart attack. A trial
using data from across the UK indicates that all drugs classed as non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) increase the risk of heart attack by at least
20%, and some by as much as 50%. This class includes ibuprofen, the prescription
drugs diclofenac and naproxen, as well as Celebrex. The study was published in
the British Medical Journal and calls for drug regulators to disclose all
confidential safety data on painkillers. The BMJ's editorial stresses caution in
interpreting the latest results, but said it highlighted the need for full
disclosure by the US Food and Drug Adminstration of the safety data, much of
which remains classified as commerical secret. Neil Betteridge, the chief
executive of Arthritis Care, called on the medical profession to "...take a
lead in helping people with arthritis decide what treatment is right for
them."
Cancer drug delay 'will cost lives'
Source: Daily
Telegraph
Date: 10/06/2005
The medical editor in the Daily Telegraph reports that a
delay in assessing the market readiness of breast cancer drug Herceptin, made by
Roche, will mean that the drug will not be made available for about two years.
Jeremy Hughes, the chief executive of Breakthrough Breast Cancer said: "If
it takes (the National Institute for Clinical Excellence) one to two years to
make its recommendation, 1,000 to 2,000 women could lose their lives
unnecessarily". Herceptin is already licensed to treat advanced cases of
breast cancer, however new studies have shown the drugs effectiveness in
treating newly diagnosed women.
Nuclear stations 'do not cause child cancer'
Source: The
Guardian
Date: 10/06/2005
The Guardian, the Telegraph and the Independent report that
the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment, an independent
group of scientists, have cleared Nuclear Power stations of responsibility for
childhood cancers. Looking at an area in a 25 mile radius of each power station
they found cancer rates to be no more than would normally be expected. However,
higher than average rates were found close to certain atomic research
facilities, weapons assembly plants and waste processing centres, but these
clusters are unlikely to have been caused by radiation from the plants.
Anti-nuclear campaigners have claimed that the study's methodology was flawed
FINGER LENGTH IS
LINKED TO AGGRESSION
 | The shorter the index finger is
compared to the ring finger, the more boisterous he will be, University of
Alberta researchers said.
| But the same was not true for verbal
aggression or hostile behaviours, they told the journal Biological
Psychology after studying 300 people's fingers.
| The trend is thought to be linked to
testosterone
exposure in the womb.
| It has been known for some time that
there is a direct correlation between finger lengths and the amount of the
male sex hormone testosterone that a baby is exposed to in the womb.
| Other studies looking at finger length
ratio have suggested that, in men, a long ring finger and symmetrical hands
are an indication of fertility, and that women are more likely to be fertile
if they have a longer index finger.
| One study found boys with shorter ring
fingers tended to be at greatest risk of a heart attack in early adulthood,
which was linked to testosterone levels.
| In the current study, Dr Peter Hurd
and his student Allison Bailey measured the fingers of 300 undergraduates at
their university.
| Men with the shortest index fingers
scored higher on measures of physical aggression than those with longer
index fingers, but the study's findings did not apply to women.
| He said: "Finger length can tell
you a little bit about where personality comes from.
| "A large part of our
personalities and our traits are determined while we are still in the
womb."
| But he said finger length should not
be used to draw too many conclusions about an individual person.
| Professor John Manning from the
University of Central Lancashire's department of psychology,
who first realised that sex hormone exposure in the womb influences finger
length, agreed. |
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More news to come soon
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