Healthcare, The NHS, People & Training
The government is to scale back its £12bn NHS IT system in what the Tories are calling a “massive U-turn”. Chancellor Alistair Darling said he would be delaying parts of the scheme in Wednesday’s pre-Budget Report as it was “not essential to the front line”. The move may save hundreds of millions but Mr Darling [...]
Scientists believe that worms could hold the key to why some people develop Parkinson’s Disease. Worms share 50% of their genes with humans, including those involved with inherited Parkinson’s. Dundee University researchers will study a simple worm called C. elegans to try to work out why the condition causes patient’s brain cells to die. The [...]
The dudhi also called the calabash or bottle gourd is a vine grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable or harvested mature, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe. For this reason, one of the calabash subspecies is known as the bottle gourd. The fresh [...]
People who smoke potent skunk are more at risk of psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia than those who use other types of cannabis, scientists suspect. According to new research, regular users double their risk of psychosis but heavy skunk users increase theirs seven-fold. UK experts have a theory it is down to skunk’s composition – [...]
The World Health Organization is changing its advice on HIV drugs, asking that they be given sooner and to breastfeeding mothers with the virus. Experts say the advice is based on the most up-to-date information available and will cut infection rates and save lives but it will mean many more people needing treatment, which will [...]
Figures suggesting two-thirds of men and more than half of women in Scotland are overweight have been branded “appalling”. The data from 2008 was disclosed by Public Health Minister Shona Robison in answer to Tory parliamentary questions. Conservative MSP Jackson Carlaw said the statistics disclosed the true scale of “Scotland’s obesity epidemic”. Ms Robison said [...]
US scientists are testing a radical new theory that multiple sclerosis (MS) is caused by blockages in the veins that drain the brain. The University of Buffalo team were intrigued by the work of Italian researcher Dr Paolo Zamboni who claims 90% of MS is caused by narrowed veins. He says the restricted drainage, visible [...]
A major study has suggested that drinking alcohol every day cuts the risk of heart disease in men by more than a third. The Spanish research involving more than 15,500 men and 26,000 women found large quantities of alcohol could be even more beneficial for men, however the study found that the same was not [...]