Category Archives: Medical research

Dementia risk factors pose more danger for ethnic minorities, finds study

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Conditions such as diabetes and obesity are said to magnify risk of south Asian and black people developing the disease

The most common risk factors for dementia appear to have a more pronounced effect in black and Asian people, a study suggests, prompting calls for greater efforts to tackle health inequalities.

The number of adults living with dementia worldwide is on course to nearly triple to 153 million by 2050. Experts say the disease presents a major and rapidly growing threat to future health and social care systems in every community, country and continent.

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Cannabis brain effects study struggles to attract black UK users

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Exclusive: Fears findings will represent only white population if too few people of colour take part

A major study into the effects of cannabis on the human brain is at risk of being partially thwarted because too few black users have agreed to take part.

White people have come forward in large numbers offering to get involved in King’s College London’s £2.5m study of how the drug may contribute to paranoia and psychosis in some users but not others. It is hoped the project will pave the way for wider medicinal use and make illegal recreational use safer.

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Eliminate malaria once and for all or it will come back stronger, UN warned

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World faces ‘malaria emergency’ from resistance to insecticides, waning efficacy of drugs, funding shortfalls and climate change

African leaders have warned that the world is facing the “biggest malaria emergency” of the past two decades.

Heads of state and experts came together in a show of unity to call for urgent action on malaria at the UN general assembly on Friday, saying progress on eradicating the disease faced serious setbacks from mosquitoes’ growing resistance to insecticides, and the decreased effectiveness of antimalarial drugs and diagnostic tests.

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China fuels global surge in mpox cases as LGBTQ+ stigma hampers response

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WHO says China facing ‘sustained community transmission’ of virus first detected as imported case last year

China is fuelling a global surge in mpox cases, accounting for the majority of new cases reported in September, according to the World Health Organization.

The number of weekly cases reported globally increased by 328% in the week to 10 September, data shows. Most of that rise came from China, where more than 500 new cases were reported in August. The WHO said China was experiencing “sustained community transmission” of the virus, which was first detected as an imported case in September last year.

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Ivani’s genetic disease is worsening as she ages. Her mother hopes Australia’s new biobank will help

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Exclusive: National Muscle Disease Bio-databank will store blood test and skin biopsy samples from children with diseases such as muscular dystrophy

Bindu Shree remembers her daughter Ivani had “such a nice plump face as a baby”, but now she sees gravity pulling down her four-year-old’s cheeks as the muscles in her face become weaker.

When Ivani was diagnosed with a genetic muscle disease at four months, Shree’s first response was to ask the doctors, “What’s the treatment? What can we do to help her?”

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Ultra-processed food raises risk of heart attack and stroke, two studies show

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Research presented to annual meeting of European Society of Cardiology prompts calls for action

Ultra-processed food significantly raises the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attacks and strokes, according to two studies that one expert says should serve as a wake-up call for governments worldwide.

Global consumption of heavily processed items such as cereals, protein bars, fizzy drinks, ready meals and fast food has soared in recent years. In the UK and US, well over half the average diet now consists of ultra-processed food (UPF). For some, especially people who are younger, poorer or from disadvantaged areas, a diet comprising as much as 80% UPF is typical.

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The best medicine: study finds laughter is good for heart health

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Unique research shows cardiovascular gains recorded in patients who were shown TV comedy

The old adage that “laughter is the best medicine” may contain an element of truth when it comes to heart health.

A study has demonstrated that having a chuckle causes the tissue inside the heart to expand – and increases oxygen flow around the body.

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Salt-free diet ‘can reduce risk of heart problems by almost 20%’

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Large new study using UK Biobank data shows even a small reduction in salt intake can be beneficial

Cutting out salt from meals can slash your risk of heart problems and strokes by almost a fifth, the largest study of its kind suggests.

Research has documented how adding salt to food increases the likelihood of cardiovascular disease and premature death. Now experts have established just how big a difference you could make to your heart health – simply by reducing the number of meals to which you add salt or by ditching it altogether.

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Political support for surveillance of Covid waning in Australia despite ‘waves of mutations’, scientists say

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Active community testing required on an intermittent basis to see ‘the whole iceberg, not just the tip’, Prof Catherine Bennett says

Political momentum for the monitoring and surveillance of Covid-19 is “fading”, the Australian virologist who developed a world-first method for rapidly isolating and characterising variants said.

Prof Stuart Turville, with the University of New South Wales Kirby Institute, said while the impact of Covid-19 in Australia is waning, the Sars CoV-2 virus that causes disease is constantly changing and “there is still a lot we don’t know”.

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Woman ‘over the moon’ after sister donates womb in UK first

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Pioneering operation could allow dozens of infertile women a year to have babies

Surgeons have performed the first womb transplant on a woman in the UK, opening up the possibility for dozens of infertile women to have babies every year. The woman’s sister was the living donor of the womb.

The 34-year-old was “incredibly happy” and “over the moon” with the success of the nine-hour operation, according to the medical team behind the pioneering procedure. She now plans to have two children using IVF.

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MRI scanning could lead to major cut in prostate cancer deaths, finds UK study

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Research found MRI is significantly more accurate than current tests, which are linked to overdiagnosis and overtreatment

Using MRI scans to screen men for prostate cancer could reduce deaths from the disease significantly, researchers have suggested.

Scientists said current tests, which detect the level of the protein prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood, have been linked to overdiagnosis and overtreatment of low-risk cancer.

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Cyprus to begin treating island’s sick cats with anti-Covid pills

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Vets receive medication originally meant for people amid virulent feline coronavirus that has killed thousands of cats

Veterinary services in Cyprus have received a first batch of anti-Covid pills, from a stockpile originally meant for humans, as efforts intensify to stop the spread of a virulent strain of feline coronavirus that has killed thousands of cats.

The island’s health ministry began discharging the treatment on 8 August – long celebrated as International Cat Day – in what is hoped will be the beginning of the end of the disease that has struck the Mediterranean country’s feline population.

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French research centre behind controversial Covid paper found to have used questionable ethics processes

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Institution used concerning approval procedures for hundreds of studies, review says

A major French research centre that produced one of the most widely cited and controversial research papers of the Covid-19 pandemic has been found by an international research team to have used questionable and concerning ethics approval processes across hundreds of studies.

The Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Infection, or IHU, is a large clinical research centre in the south of France. It was founded by Prof Didier Raoult, who was also director of the centre until August 2022, when he stood down ahead of the release of findings from a government audit that found the institute conducted trials “likely to constitute offences or serious breaches of health or research regulations”.

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New vaccine research centre to help scientists prepare for ‘disease X’

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Facility in Porton Down, Wiltshire will allow vaccines to be developed for future pandemic pathogens

Ministers have opened a new vaccine research centre in the UK where scientists will work on preparing for “disease X”, the next potential pandemic pathogen.

The state-of-the-art Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre is based at the UK Health and Security Agency’s (UKHSA) Porton Down campus in Wiltshire.

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Nose-picking healthcare workers more likely to catch Covid, data suggests

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Rhinotillexis may be underestimated cause of transmission between staff, say researchers

Nose-picking should be given greater consideration as a potential health hazard, researchers have said, after finding healthcare workers who engaged in rhinotillexis were more likely to catch Covid than those who refrained.

Scientists in the Netherlands say research has previously found healthcare workers who had direct contact with Covid patients were more likely to catch Covid than those who did not.

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Immortal cells: Henrietta Lacks’ family settle lawsuit over HeLa tissue harvested in 1950s

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Cells taken without consent from cancer victim can reproduce indefinitely and were sold for unjust profit by Thermo Fisher Scientific, relatives argued

Laboratory equipment maker Thermo Fisher Scientific has settled a lawsuit brought by the estate of Henrietta Lacks, a long-deceased cancer victim whose “immortal” cells have lived on to fuel biomedical research for decades, lawyers for the estate have said.

The story of Lacks, a young African American woman who died in Baltimore in 1951, was made famous in Rebecca Skloot’s 2010 book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which became a movie in 2017 featuring Oprah Winfrey.

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UK’s soaring liver cancer death rate blamed on alcohol and obesity

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Charity calls on government to do more to restrict unhealthy lifestyle choices

One of the country’s leading health charities is calling for urgent action to reduce the “carcinogenic effects” of cheap alcohol and unhealthy food after a 40% increase in deaths from liver cancer in a decade.

Liver cancer is now the fastest rising cause of cancer death in the UK, warns the British Liver Trust. Since the early 1970s, liver cancer mortality rates have more than tripled.

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Alcohol in moderation may lower stress-related risk of heart disease, study finds

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US researchers discover reduction of signalling in part of the brain could have significant impact on cardiovascular system

Light to moderate alcohol consumption may lower the risk of heart disease because it leads to long-term reductions in stress signalling in the brain, new research claims.

But cardiologists warn the cardiac benefits do not mean we should ignore other dangers of alcohol.

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Bowel cancer patients could be spared radiotherapy, US study suggests

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Doctors found some patients could rely on chemotherapy and surgery alone to treat the disease

Thousands of bowel cancer patients could be spared radiotherapy, a study suggests, after doctors discovered they could rely on chemotherapy and surgery alone to treat their disease.

Radiotherapy has been used to treat bowel cancer patients for decades, but the side-effects can be brutal. It can cause problems that negatively affect quality of life, including infertility, the need for a temporary colostomy, diarrhoea, cramping and bladder problems.

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Potential antidote found for toxin in world’s most poisonous mushroom

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Chinese and Australian researchers have identified that a dye used in medical imaging can block the toxic effects

Scientists believe they have found a potential antidote for a potent toxin found in the world’s most poisonous mushroom, the death cap.

The death cap mushroom, Amanita phalloides, is responsible for about 90% of mushroom-related deaths globally.

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