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Exodus of doctors from the NHS predicted

An exodus of doctors from the NHS, starting with a retirement surge in 2006, is predicted by the British Medical Association if plans to reduce the value of NHS pensions and increase the normal retirement age from 60 to 65 years, go ahead.

13 Mar 2005

HIV on the rise through hetero sex

The number of people developing HIV infections through heterosexual intercourse in the United Kingdom is rising.

13 Mar 2005

Better air onboard reduces spread of disease on aircrafts

The spread of infectious diseases in-flight, can possibly be reduced by increasing ventilation within aircraft cabins, suggests a review published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

13 Mar 2005

New guidelines tackle pre-eclampsia

A new guideline published in this week's BMJ will help to tackle one of the leading causes of illness and death during pregnancy.

13 Mar 2005

European folic acid policies are not effective enough

The prevalence of neural tube defects in Europe has not declined substantially in the past decade, despite national policies of folic acid supplementation in half the countries, finds a study in this week's BMJ.

13 Mar 2005

China trials new HIV vaccine on humans

China which has 840,000 people with HIV, a conservative estimate say experts, will carry out the very first trials of a new virus on human guinea pigs.

13 Mar 2005

New NHS payment system has already run into problems and requires careful monitoring

The new NHS payment system has already run into problems and requires careful monitoring, say researchers at Dr Foster in this week's BMJ.

13 Mar 2005

Openness and communication between experts and the public is key to winning the war over MMR

In 1998, MMR vaccinations in the United Kingdom reached 92% of its targets. Yet by 2002, after claims of a possible relation between MMR and autism, the United Kingdom lost considerable ground. One of the lowest levels of coverage of MMR is now found in London, at around 75%.

13 Mar 2005

Failure to count Iraqi casualties is irresponsible

An international group of public health experts has accused the British and American governments of being "wholly irresponsible" over their failure to count Iraqi casualties.

13 Mar 2005

Gene for AMD has now been identified by researchers

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a debilitating eye disease affecting about 15 million people in the United States.

13 Mar 2005

Protopic and Elidel may cause cancer

Protopic and Elidel, two treatments for eczema approved in 2000 and 2001, have now been found to cause cancer in three different animal species.

13 Mar 2005

Active brains stave off Alzheimer's signs

Mice who keep busy playing with toys also keep their brains and bodies active; more importantly, they also have lower levels of the peptides and brain plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease, compared to mice raised in environments not "enriched" with chew toys, running wheels,and tunnels, according to a new study in the 11 March issue of the journal Cell.

13 Mar 2005

New flu vaccine for kids hits the market

A new pediatric influenza vaccine that contains no preservatives - the only influenza vaccine approved for use in children 6 to 35 months of age - has been produced by the sanofi-aventis Group, in time for the 2005-2006 influenza season.

10 Mar 2005

FDA seizes drug orders from overseas

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has seized prescription drug orders shipped from abroad to more than 50 customers of I-Save-R-x, a program launched last year by Governor Rod Blagojevich, to help residents save money on prescription drugs.

10 Mar 2005

Birdflu vaccine successful on monkeys

A bird flu vaccine for humans could be only months away since the success of a vaccine on monkeys in Vietnam, researchers hope to have a vaccine ready for testing in humans later this year.

10 Mar 2005

Secondhand smoke causes breast cancer

A California agency, the Air Resources Board, which first linked secondhand smoke to heart disease, now says secondhand smoke causes breast cancer too.

10 Mar 2005

Unequal healthcare kills 80,000 black Americans

Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher said this week that over 80,000 black Americans die every year because of disparities in health care. Despite government and public and insurance companies knowledge of this shortchange in health care for blacks, they have done little to improve the situation.

10 Mar 2005

Doctors may in future be able to prevent many cases of deep-vein thrombosis

Doctors may in future be able to prevent many cases of deep-vein thrombosis, commonly referred to as DVT, a disease of the circulation that causes potentially fatal blood clots. It occurs most often in people who have not been able to exercise normally.

9 Mar 2005

Emergency clopidogrel could save thousands of lives worldwide

Adding the anti-platelet drug clopidogrel to aspirin for the emergency treatment of heart attacks could save thousands of lives a year worldwide and prevent thousands of repeat heart attacks and strokes, according to new research presented at the American College of Cardiology annual conference.

9 Mar 2005

Biologists discover why 10% of Europeans are safe from HIV infection

Scientists have known for some time that these individuals carry a genetic mutation (known as CCR5-Ä32) that prevents the virus from entering the cells of the immune system but have been unable to account for the high levels of the gene in Scandinavia and relatively low levels in areas bordering the Mediterranean.

9 Mar 2005