By: PA, The Independent
Friday, 3 October 2008

Diabetes sufferers should not routinely take aspirin to prevent heart attacks, research today suggested.
It had been argued that routine use of the drug could help prevent the risk of suffering a heart attack.

But new research conducted by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found that people who showed no symptoms of heart disease, received no benefit after regularly taking aspirin.
The study found that aspirin benefited people who have already suffered a heart attack or stroke as the drug could reduce the risk of future related problems by a quarter.

By: Laura May, PA, The Independent
Friday, 3 October 2008

Employees who take regular periods of long-term sick leave die earlier than their colleagues, a study by the British Medical Journal said today.

Researchers found that workers with more than one absence requiring a doctor’s note on their records were 66 per cent more likely to die prematurely.

And workers who had to stay off work because of psychiatric problems were two and a half more likely to die of cancer.

Those who had to take time off because of circulatory disease were the most likely to die before their healthy colleagues. Researchers found they had a four time higher chance of a premature death.

By: Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, The Independent
Wednesday, 17 September 2008

One of the world’s most widely used chemicals, a key constituent of plastic food and drink containers, has been linked for the first time with increased rates of heart disease and diabetes in adults.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is one of the 10 most common chemicals produced worldwide and gives plastic its rigidity, durability and light weight. Researchers now fear that tiny amounts which leach out of plastic containers into food and drink may cause harm to health.

By: Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, The Independent
Saturday, 6 September 2008

A global shortage of radioactive imaging agents vital to the diagnosis of cancer and other diseases threatens to delay treatment for hundreds of patients in Britain.

Specialists warned yesterday that UK hospitals are receiving less than half the expected supplies of medical isotopes used in heart and bone scans and some cancer detection procedures, and the situation is expected to worsen over the coming weeks. The isotopes are used in more than 80 per cent of routine nuclear imaging tests used to diagnose disease.

By: Francesco Sofi, clinical researcher, Andrea Capalbo, specialist in sports medicine et al, University of Florence, Italy.
BMJ, 3 July 2008

Participants: 30 065 (23 570 men) people seeking to obtain clinical eligibility for competitive sports.

Exercise ECG showed cardiac anomalies in 1227 athletes with normal findings on resting ECG. At the end of screening, 196 (0.6%) participants were considered ineligible for competitive sports.

Follow-up studies are needed to show if disqualification of such people would reduce the incidence of CV events among athletes.

(Age >30 years was significantly associated with an increased risk of being disqualified for cardiac findings during exercise testing.)

By: Steve Connor, Science Editor, The Independent
Friday, 4 July 2008

The secrets of a healthy life may lie at the bottom of a glass of red wine – but scientists have warned that such a life may not necessarily be a long one.

A study has shown that a substance found in the skin of red grapes has anti-ageing properties that protect the heart, bones and eyes from the ravages of old age.

Resveratrol, an organic compound found in grapes, nuts and a variety of other plant foods, significantly slows down the rate of ageing in laboratory mice when given in large enough doses over a long period, although it did not actually prolong their lives.

By: Dan Roberts, The Independent
Tuesday, 1 July 2008

Making love doesn’t just help you feel good. It also burns calories, boosts your immune system – and can even reduce the risk of cancer

Love life: regular sex combats stress, helps sleep, can take away pain and guards against breast cancer.

Having sex once or twice a week has been linked with higher levels of an antibody called immunoglobulin A, or IgA, which can protect you from colds and other sorts of infections.

During orgasm the body produces oxytocin, which is a hormone linked to a range of positive physical and psychological effects. Chief among these is its beneficial impact on sleep.

PA, The Independent
Monday, 23 June 2008

Women will be able to get the Pill online without having to visit their doctor under a new service being launched today. The medical website DrThom is offering three months’ supply for £29.99.

The service will initially be offered to women already on the Pill but will soon be expanded to those who have never taken it before.

By John Lichfield in Paris, The Independent
Thursday, 12 June 2008

France may have to reconsider its medical definition of death after a heart-attack victim came alive in the operating theatre as doctors were about to remove his organs for transplant.

The patient, whose identity has not been revealed, recovered after a long period in intensive care and is now able to walk and talk.

The 45-year-old man owes his life to the fact that surgeons authorised to remove organs for transplant operations were not immediately available. Under experimental rules adopted in France last year, to make more organ transplants possible, the man had already reached the point where he could be officially regarded as dead. Similar rules – allowing the removal of organs when a patient’s heart has stopped and fails to respond to prolonged massage – already apply in several other European countries, including Britain.

Professor Alain Tenaillon, the organ transplant specialist at the French government’s agency of bio-medicine, told Le Monde: “All the specialist literature suggests that anyone whose heart has stopped and has been massaged correctly for more than 30 minutes, is probably brain dead. But we have to accept that there are exceptions…. There are no absolute rules in this area.”

BMJ 2008;336:584-586 (15 March).

Feature
Emergency medicine

By: Alison Tonks, associate editor
Health emergencies on aeroplanes often make the headlines, but how common are they and what would you be expected to do if you were on the flight?

Occasionally people are born, become ill, and even die on board aircraft in flight. In July last year, Paul Keetch, Liberal Democrat member of parliament for Hereford, collapsed on a flight from London to Washington, DC. He survived a potentially lethal arrhythmia after prompt treatment with an automatic external defibrillator. Earlier this year a pilot for Air Canada developed signs of acute mental illness near the end of a transatlantic flight and had to be escorted off the rapidly diverted plane into a mental health facility in Ireland. Less than a month later, copilot Michael Warren collapsed and died on a flight to Cyprus. The plane landed safely in Istanbul.

US Aviation Medical Assistance Act 1998
Under individual liability, the act states: “An individual shall not be liable for damages in any action brought in a Federal or State court arising out of the acts or omissions of the individual in providing or attempting to provide assistance in the case of an in-flight medical emergency unless the individual, while rendering such assistance, is guilty of gross negligence or wilful misconduct.”

“Telemedicine is definitely the future for in-flight medical emergencies,” says Dr Alves. “We have some experience with these devices and they can be extremely useful.” More useful than a real live medical volunteer? “No. Nothing works better than another professional on the other end of the line.”

What should be in the emergency medical kit……