Saturday 31st October 2015- The Guardian: High-power sound waves used to blast cancer cells

‘British doctors are developing a revolutionary new therapy for cancer and associated conditions based on the use of high-powered beams of ultrasound.

The researchers – working at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), at the Royal Marsden hospital in Sutton, outside London – have already used the technology to kill harmful tissue deep inside the bodies of patients suffering from metastatic bone lesions – without recourse to any form of surgery. And in future, doctors believe they will also use ultrasound to zap prostate, breast and other tumours. “This technology has immense potential,” said Professor Gail ter Haar, who is based at the institute.

An example of the technology’s power is provided by Moira Baker (not her real name), a 52-year-old former teacher who lives in Kew, London. Two years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Shortly afterwards she was also found to have bone lesions caused by the metastatic spread of her cancer. Baker received chemotherapy that has left her in remission for her condition. However, her bone lesions continued to cause considerable pain which standard treatments, including radiotherapy, failed to alleviate. So she was selected to be treated with ultrasound to blast the cells in her bones that were triggering her pain.

“It transformed my life,” Baker told the Observer. “Stretching an arm or dressing was excruciatingly painful. After ultrasound, I was much better. I now have a normal life again.”’

See:

High-power sound waves used to blast cancer cells

Saturday 31st October 2015- The Telegraph: Jeremy Hunt: Junior doctors have been misled by the BMA

The Telegraph quotes Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt on the BMA and Junior Doctors;

‘Working on the NHS’s front line is one of the toughest jobs in Britain today. We have a million more people aged 70 or over compared to five years ago; NHS users have higher expectations; and getting things right – unlike nearly any other job – is often literally a matter of life and death. Our junior doctors are at the forefront of dealing with those pressures. They work the longest, most unsociable hours and staff our hospitals over the weekend – in short, they are the backbone of the health service.

So it is very disappointing that their union, the British Medical Association, has deliberately misrepresented the reforms the Government has proposed. In the summer, the BMA put a pay calculator on its website – so inaccurate it has since been removed – which told junior doctors their wages would be cut by 30-50 per cent.

Our proposals are about improving patient care by tackling higher mortality rates at weekends

If I read that as a junior doctor I would be furious and probably manning the barricades myself. But in fact what we have always proposed is a better, not a worse deal for doctors – so I want to set the record straight.

Our proposals do not reduce the junior doctor pay bill. Instead, they are about improving patient care by tackling higher mortality rates at weekends and ensuring that junior doctors work safe hours. We promised we would do this in our manifesto in May – a seven-day NHS was the very first pledge on the first page. If you believe in the NHS, as this Government does, you don’t just support it with an extra £10 billion of funding on the back of a strong economy – you also know we must offer every patient the promise of the same high-quality care, whichever day of the week they fall ill.’

See:

Jeremy Hunt: Junior doctors have been misled by the BMA

Thursday 29th October 2015- The Independent: World Stroke Day: New treatment can directly remove a brain clot

‘Scientists have developed a new technique to treat people affected by strokes. Only performed in a few hospitals around the world, the treatment consists of fishing out the clot directly from a patient’s brain by inserting a mechanical device – similar to a stent – in the groin.

As the video above shows, these operations can be risky and challenging for surgeons, but they are essential to re-establish the blood flux and prevent brain damage. They also offer an alternative to drug treatment.

The practice of removing a clot from other parts of the body already exists, but the procedure of removing it from a human brain has mostly been done only for a year now.

At the moment, this new operation costs around £16,000 and doctors believe the treatment should become accessible to everyone suffering a brain stroke.

World Stroke Day is celebrated on 29 October to raise awareness in the UK. According to the NHS, in England alone, over 110,000 people a year are victim of a stroke, which is the leading cause of disability and the fourth leading cause of death in the UK.’

See:

World Stroke Day: New treatment can directly remove a brain clot

Thursday 29th October 2015- BBC News: ‘Milestone’ prostate cancer drug

‘The first drug that targets precise genetic mutations in prostate cancer has been shown to be effective in a “milestone” trial by UK scientists.

The study, at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, took place on 49 men with untreatable cancer.

The drug, olaparib, had low overall success, but slowed tumour growth in 88% of patients with specific DNA mutations.

Cancer Research UK said the trial was exciting.

The future of cancer medicine is treating cancers by their mutated DNA rather than what part of the body they are in.

The breast cancer drug Herceptin is already used only in patients with specific mutations. Olaparib targets mutations that change the way DNA is repaired.’

‘The trial results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed the drug worked in 14 out of 16 men with such mutations.’

See:

‘Milestone’ prostate cancer drug

Wednesday 28th October 2015- BBC News: TB ‘joins HIV as most deadly infection’

‘Tuberculosis now ranks alongside HIV as the world’s most deadly infectious disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

Each accounted for between 1.1 million and 1.2 million deaths in 2014.

The WHO said the tuberculosis figures were unacceptable for a disease that could be cured.

Medecins Sans Frontieres said the statistics were “disheartening” and warned the world was “losing ground” on tackling resistant forms of TB.

The WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2015 shows the huge strides that have been made in tackling TB, with the death rate being nearly halved since 1990.

And the number of infections has been falling by 1.5% a year since 2000.

Deaths from HIV/Aids have also been falling rapidly because of improved access to anti-retroviral drugs.

Dr Mario Raviglione, the WHO’s tuberculosis director, told the BBC News website: “Tuberculosis and HIV are now competing to be the number one cause of death from infectious disease in the world.

“Tuberculosis now ranks alongside HIV.”

Most new cases of TB are in China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria or Pakistan.’

See:

TB ‘joins HIV as most deadly infection’

Tuesday 27th October 2015- The Guardian: TB rates in parts of London ‘worse than Iraq, Eritrea and Rwanda’

‘Boris Johnson is being urged to “get a grip” on London’s tuberculosis problem after a report revealed that parts of the capital have higher rates of the disease than Rwanda, Eritrea and Iraq.

There were more than 2,500 new cases of TB in London last year – about 40% of the UK’s total – according to a report issued by the London assembly and presented to Johnson, the mayor.

The study found a third of London boroughs exceed the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) “high incidence” threshold with more than 40 cases per 100,000 people.

And some borough wards are recording markedly more – areas of Hounslow, Brent, Harrow, Newham and Ealing have rates of more than 150 per 100,000 people.

WHO figures from 2013 show Iraq had 45 per 100,000 while Rwanda had 69 and Eritrea 92. Taken as a whole, the UK had 13 cases per 100,000.’

See:

TB rates in parts of London ‘worse than Iraq, Eritrea and Rwanda’

Thursday 22nd October 2015- The Telegraph: Stem cell breakthrough reverses infertility after cancer

‘Scientists from Egypt’s Mansoura Medical School show it is possible to restore fertility by injecting stem cells directly into the ovaries’.

‘Cancer patients made infertile by chemotherapy have been offered new hope after scientists succeeded in reversing the damage caused to eggs for the first time.

In a landmark breakthrough hailed as “phenomenal” by fertility experts, researchers from Egypt and the US showed that injecting stem cells into ovaries can bring them back to life.’

‘Although the procedure has only been carried out in mice so far, the results were so successful that the researchers say they are ready to move to human trials.

Mice who had suffered ovarian failure from chemotherapy were able to have large litters after treatment.’

‘Lead researcher Dr Sara Mohamed, of Mansoura Medical School in Egypt, said she had come up with the idea after meeting a 22-year-old cancer patient who was at risk of infertility from chemotherapy.’

Related Articles:

Stem cell breakthrough reverses infertility after cancer

Cancer breakthrough offers new hope for survivors rendered infertile by chemotherapy- The Independent

Thursday 22nd October 2015- The Guardian: NHS to fund world’s largest study into effect of aspirin on cancer

‘The world’s largest clinical trial to investigate whether taking aspirin every day stops the recurrence of some of the most common cancers is to be funded by Cancer Research UK and the NHS.

About 11,000 patients from more than 100 centres across the UK will be recruited for the study. It will take up to 12 years and involve two groups taking different daily doses of aspirin, either 100mg or 300mg, and one taking dummy, or placebo, tablets.

Participants will recently have had, or will still be receiving, treatment for bowel, breast, oesophageal, prostate or stomach cancer.

The study will attempt to determine whether taking aspirin daily for five years can stop or delay the return of cancers that have been caught and treated early.

Aspirin has already been proved to help prevent heart attacks and strokes in some patients, and research has suggested it could do the same for some cancers.’

Related Articles:

NHS to fund world’s largest study into effect of aspirin on cancer

Aspirin trial to examine if it can stop cancer returning- BBC News

Thursday 22nd October 2015- The Independent: Jeremy Hunt criticised for ‘misrepresenting’ NHS weekend mortality facts

‘Jeremy Hunt has been castigated by the editor of Britain’s leading medical journal over alleged “misrepresentation” of the facts on weekend mortality at NHS hospitals.

In a pointed letter to the Health Secretary, Dr Fiona Godlee, editor of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) asks Mr Hunt to confirm he “fully understands the issues involved”. ‘

‘Mr Hunt has repeatedly asserted that understaffing at hospitals during the weekend is causing 11,000 excess deaths every year. The claim is a key plank of the Government’s argument for what they call a “seven-day NHS”.

It is based on a research paper published in the BMJ last month, which identified that 11,000 more deaths occur within 30 days of admission to hospital on Friday to Monday, than occur after admission Tuesday to Thursday.

While the paper did identify a lack of senior doctors and support services at the weekend as possible factors, it also points out that people coming to hospital at the weekend tend to be sicker.  The authors, who include NHS England’s medical director Sir Bruce Keogh, were explicit that it was not possible to determine “the extent to which these excess deaths may be preventable” and said it would be “rash and misleading” to assume they were.’

Related Articles:

Jeremy Hunt criticised for ‘misrepresenting’ NHS weekend mortality facts

Jeremy Hunt accused of skewing weekend hospital death rates- The Guardian

Wednesday 21st October 2015- The British Medical Association: Now it’s time to ballot

‘Ballot papers for industrial action over the proposed new contract for junior doctors in England will be sent out on Thursday 5 November.

Juniors can expect to receive them one to two days after this date.

The postal ballot will close at 5pm on Wednesday 18 November.

Doctors in training have until midnight on Friday 23 October to update their place of work details with the BMA.

The announcement of the ballot comes ahead of BMA junior doctors committee chair Johann Malawana speaking to an audience of doctors at BMJ Live on Friday about the contract and the association’s actions.’

Related Articles:

Now it’s time to ballot

Junior doctors to start strike ballot over hated Jeremy Hunt contract- The Guardian

Junior doctors protest: “We’re here to send a message to Jeremy Hunt” – video; The Guardian