World of Health

The chairman of the BMA (British Medical Association) suggested that some medics are allowed to work, even if their English is as poor as the average Britons mastery of the Chinese language.

In response, he has called for regulations to be tightened so that the deaths, such as that of, David Gray does not reoccur with another patient.  Gray died after he was not properly treated by a German doctor that was working his very first shift in Britain.

After the death, an inquest showed that the German Doctor, Daniel Ubani, gave the seventy year old man twenty times more than the recommended dose of a drug.

Ubani failed an English test while attempting to obtain a position in Leeds, but was still allowed to practice in a Cambridgeshire NHS hospital.

Dr. Hamish Meldrum opened the Brighton annual BMA conference stating that it is wrong that foreign doctors from the EU are not forced to undergo the same high scrutiny as British medics.

Meldrum stated that Britain does not do enough to check overseas doctors within Europe in order to ascertain that they are competent and able to understand the language properly.

He did remark that throughout the years Britain has benefited from the influx of foreign doctors, but that a case such as what happened to Gray shocked the medical community.

He also stated that it is not acceptable and that GPs are not to blame for opting to not provide out-of-hours care, which has led to foreign doctors traveling to Britain to fill the gaps.

Instead, Meldrum stated that the situation was caused by a mixture of mismanagement and underfunding with too many Primary Care organizations failing to enforce proper regulations.

The first study on cannabis use for medicinal purposes is underway in the UK with a focus on the benefits it may bring MS sufferers.

A mouth spray called Sativex, which uses cannabis can relieve muscle spasticity, which can make it hard for those afflicted with MS to get out of a car or even open the lid of a milk bottle.

The drug was developed by GW Pharmaceuticals after a few MS sufferers broke the law in an effort to alleviate their pain.

Sativex contains a few active ingredients labelled as cannabinoids, which are taken from cannabis plants gown in top secret at a location in the UK.

About 11,500 MS patients may be eligible to receive the drug with half expect to gleam positive results from its use, but at £11 per day the medicine may not be approved by the NHS rationing body.

For the last few years, a large amount of MS sufferers in Britain have campaigned to be allowed use of cannabis in order to treat their symptoms.

Chief executive of the MS Trust, Pam MacFarlane, stated that they have known for quite some time that cannabis medications may help improve spasticity significantly which is why the MS Trust has been working towards making a licensed medicine available to those who suffer in a prescription manner that can be controlled.

MacFarlane also stated that they have placed a great deal of resources and money in developing the knowledge available by funding research into how effective cannabis medications can be.

Professor John  Zajicek, a Derriford Hospital neurology consultant and the world leader in cannabis research stated that the successful treatment was a milestone in just how helpful cannabinoids can be.

New research suggests that those who do not brush their teeth at least two times a day may be increasing their risk of developing heart disease.

Although there has been a known link between heart problems and gum disease for some time, experts have only now looked at the impact that daily brushing can have on this link.

In a new study published by the BMJ, people that do not brush their teeth, or do so less than twice a da,y are 70% more likely to have heart disease associated problems than those that do brush their teeth twice a day.

However, researchers also stated that the comprehensive risk of heart disease that results from poor oral hygiene is still low.

The data was studied from over 11,000 people around the age of fifty by the University College London.

The researchers looked at people’s lifestyles, brushing habits, and exercise routines. Study participants were asked how often they brushed their teeth and how often they visited the dentist.

Separate details were then collected that took an in-depth look at people’s medical histories, family history of heart disease, and blood pressure.  Blood samples were also collected in order to measure the presence of blood inflammation.

A little over six out of every ten people reported they regularly saw their dentist twice a year, while 71% reported that they brushed twice a day.

Throughout eight years of a follow-up study 555 people involved in the study suffered serious heart problems, out of which 170 of the attacks were fatal.  Experts then looked at the study results and found those who did not brush their teeth regularly were 70% more likely to suffer heart disease.

In a new ad campaign to encourage Welsh people to donate organs, the Kidney Wales Foundation has filmed real-life patients who are awaiting organ transplants. The advert was filmed in an actual jail cell to emphasize the anxiety of those on ‘Death Row’ (the waiting list), many of whom will die soon if they can’t get the new kidney or other organ they need.

Roy J. Thomas, chairman of Donate Wales and Kidney Wales, said that hopefully the impact on the U.K. will be strong enough to convince the rest of the country to follow Wales’ lead in an ‘opt out’ programme, where instead of having to sign up on an organ donor registry, every citizen will be automatically included in the registry unless they state otherwise.

At present, Britain has one of the lowest numbers of organ donors and related transplant operations amongst the larger European countries including Spain, France, Portugal and Belgium.

A number of studies and surveys throughout the British Isles indicate that at least 90% of the population would be willing to donate their organs, but only about 28% have actually joined the organ donor registry.

Mr. Thomas believes that the change to an opt out approach will save many more lives, and that the public in general will endorse it. The current campaign is meant to urge Westminster to pass legislation similar to that in other countries where the percentage of organ donors is much higher.

There are valid arguments both for and against the proposition, with the opposing parties stressing the lack of public awareness, i.e. that many people won’t get the message that they have to state their preference if they do not want be donors, and that the individual’s wishes may not be known.

However, the opt out system has the backing of the British Medical Association and numerous other organizations including the British Heart Association and the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB).

Those who sleep less than six hours every night have an increased risk of premature death according to researchers who claim they have found indisputable evidence that premature death and sleep deprivation are linked.

According to researchers, those who get fewer than six hours of sleep every night are 12% more likely to die early, which is defined as under the age of 65 compared to those who get six to eight hours of sleep a night.

The research team looked at 16 studies that included around 1.3m people to draw their conclusions, the team was made up of researchers from the Federico II University Medical School in Naples and the University of Warwick.

They stated that earlier studies of sleep deprivation have proved associations with high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and high cholesterol.

On the other hand, other researchers from Sleep magazine believe that sleeping too much is a higher risk to your health and can result in premature death, although another research study published directly afterwards contradicted the statement, stating that those who sleep more than ten hours every day may live to the age of 100.

The authors of the most current study however believe that sleeping too long is a sign of low physical activity and depression, both of which are harmful to the body and a person’s overall state of health.

Professor Francesco Capuccio from the University of Warwick and the Warwickshire NHS Trust stated that although a small amount of sleep can be a sign of poor health, long lengthy sleeping periods are better indicators of poor health.

He went on to state that six to eight hours of sleep are optimal.

An IVF clinic in Wales is in serious hot water after a couple who have been trying for a baby for over seven years were the victim of a cruel irony when the clinic inadvertently ‘lost’ lost the couple’s embryos.

The couple who can only be identified as Gareth and Clare have now taken out legal action against the clinic which is located within the Cardiff-based University Hospital of Wales following an admission by the health provider that they had misplaced the embryos just before they were due to be implanted in Clare.

Just last year the same clinic was at the centre of another controversy after a mistake led them to implant the last embryo available to a couple into the wrong woman. The hospital claims that this event is a recognised complication of embryo vitrification.

The procedure sees makes use of liquid nitrogen in order to store the frozen embryos which are then thawed in order to be implanted. This case is not good news for IVF clinics as it comes hot on the heels of the report on the BBC5 Live show that stated that official figures show that clinics in England and Wales had seen mistakes double in just one year.

Well respected broadcaster Donal Macintyre interviewed Clare who stated that she was minutes away from the transfer when she was informed by staff that she had only one of three embryos remaining as two of them had ‘gone missing’, and went on to say that they were certain that the acts of not been implanted into another woman.

“I get bitten loads of times at night. I get sick five times a year, I think. I do not have a mosquito net. My brother does, but I don’t.”

Many families like Nanawewje’s do not have enough mosquito nets. Their extreme poverty forces them to prioritise who will get to sleep under the net or even who gets malaria treatment if they become sick.

As World Malaria Day (26^th April) approaches, it is shocking to think that a preventable and curable disease like malaria still kills nearly 850,000 people each year – mostly children even younger than Nanawewje and mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Yet this year marks a significant milestone in the meeting of malaria control targets among the development community and  there has been some excellent progress in the fight against the disease. It is as a result of these interventions that the number of child deaths from malaria is estimated to have dropped from 3,000 a day to 2,000, according to the latest Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) report.

“If it takes us almost 15 years to reduce child deaths from malaria from a child every 30 seconds to a child every 45 seconds, we will never beat malaria,” said Sunil Mehra, Executive Director of Malaria Consortium at a recent reception to mark World Malaria Day at the United Nations in New York.

“We’re at a critical crossroads in the fight against malaria,” he added. “There has been significant support from donors in recent years, but what really needed is sustained, long-term resources for a wide range of activities to beat this disease.”

In RBM’s report it is estimated that $6 billion will be needed in 2010 for the widespread malaria control activities. At the moment, funding amounts to one third of that requirement. This annual amount will gradually lessen, however, once control measures become embedded and sustainable.

“It is crucial that donors don’t stop their support for malaria control activities, but what is really needed is over the long term is for the national governments of those countries affected by the disease to commit resources from within their health budgets.”

Mr Mehra was co-hosting a reception with RBM at the public gallery of the UN Headquarters in New York, with guests of honour Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and HRH Princess Astrid of Belgium. Some 250 guests attended the reception, which included a special viewing of the highly successful photographic exhibition Malaria: blood, sweat, and tears by award-winning photographer Adam Nadel, which was commissioned by Malaria Consortium, the world’s leading non-profit organisation dedicated to comprehensive control of malaria.  The story of Nanawewje is just one of the featured portraits of people living with malaria on a daily basis. To view the exhibition online, please visit www.malaria-bloodsweatandtears.com.

According to a new study of sexual health from Lloydspharmacy – 72% of men have never had an STI screen, compared to 62% of women. Lloydspharmacy also found men were almost twice as likely to test positive for certain STIs such as chlamydia.

13% of men buying chlamydia tests from Lloydspharmacy’s Online Doctor tested positive compared to just six per cent of women.

The research from the community pharmacy chain also found that men are placing themselves at greater risk of picking up an STI with 13% of men having had unprotected sex with more than one person over the last five years, almost double that of women (7%).

With the research revealing that men are more reluctant to be tested but significantly more likely to test positive than women, the findings fuel concerns that men may be delaying testing until they are showing symptoms and that real rates of infection are significantly higher than reported.

Although men are less likely to have had a face-to-face consultation for an STI screen, according to Lloydspharmacy sales of tests online are split almost equally between men and women. This suggests that men prefer the anonymity of the online channel.

Through its Online Doctor service the community pharmacy chain has launched a postal Platinum Test for men which screens for five genital infections; genital Chlamydia, genital gonorrhoea, mycoplasma, ureaplasma and trichomonas. This confidential postal service allows men to be tested and if found to be positive, treated without the need to visit their GP.

“The lower rate of face-to-face testing and higher incidence of positive results amongst men suggests that many men may be waiting until they suspect they have an infection before getting themselves tested”, said Clare Kerr, Lloydspharmacy’s head of sexual health. “This is particularly worrying as many STIs don’t have any obvious symptoms, so men could be putting both themselves and their partners at risk by delaying tests.”

“Embarrassment is a huge barrier to testing and so we hope that removing the need to see a GP or GUM clinic face-to-face will encourage men to test themselves regularly. We can provide accurate tests for a wide range of genital infections anonymously and discreetly through the Online Doctor.”

Website:  http://onlinedoctor.lloydspharmacy.com/

Monday at 8:15 an international group of surgeons started an operation that is the first of its kind at Great Ormond Street Hospital on a ten year old boy.

The boy required a windpipe transplant from a donor to replace the artificial one that was in place in his body, because it had caused his throat to massively bleed three times in a row.

However, the twist of the surgery was that instead of getting a normal donor organ, he became the first child to receive an organ transplant that was created with stem cell advances and made from his own stem cells.

When the boy was born, his windpipe had only grown about one millimetre in width making it impossible for the boy to breathe forcing doctors to replace it with a metal implant.  However, over time the metal device pushed against his blood vessels threatening to cause him to bleed to near death multiple times.

The process of creating his donor organ actually started six weeks ago in Italy when a windpipe was taken from a 30 year old donor and stripped of its tissue.

Afterwards, the donor trachea was flown to London and the team of surgeons took 60ml of bone marrow from the boy’s pelvis so that stem cells could be extracted and injected into the donor organ.

Professor Paolo Macchiarini from the Florence, Italy hospital where the organ was treated, stated that the team accomplished what had taken six months in the past to finish in only four hours which is a landmark in stem cell advances.

A new study published in the Lancet medical journal on the treatment of high blood pressure and the drugs used to control it indicates that physicians may need to change their approach.

Currently, the accepted practice in determining a patient’s risk of stroke or heart attack is to take the average of several pressure readings over a period of time.  Thus, if the results of several tests include one high and the rest low or normal, drug treatment would probably not be recommended.

The new studies concluded that people whose blood pressure varied the most, with spikes of high pressure and other periods of low or normal pressure were most likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke, six times more likely than those with relatively stable pressure.  Those with the highest spikes appeared to be at greatest risk overall.

The findings of this study need further research and clarification, however.  Though the study was comprehensive and reliable, it was not specifically designed to measure the extent of blood pressure variations in individuals, or how much that variation might affect their risk of heart attack.  In addition, the two drugs most commonly used, beta-blockers and calcium-channel blockers, work on different aspects of the condition.

In general terms, beta-blockers serve to lower blood pressure by blocking reception of stimuli to the heart and blood vessels so the heartbeat becomes stronger and slower.

Calcium-channel blockers help prevent the constriction of blood vessels, thereby improving blood flow to the heart.  Both drugs are effective in combating high blood pressure, but one may work better than the other to prevent strokes and heart attacks.