UK Health Radio Medical News Update Facebook and Dementia

Wednesday 30^th April 2014

UK Health Radio Medical News Update

Facebook and Dementia

Interesting news from BBC Health that Facebook users are being invited to experience what it is like to live with dementia as a way of raising awareness about the disease.

The FaceDementia app, developed by Alzheimer's Research UK, is designed to take over a personal Facebook page, and for a temporary period, removes important memories, in the same way that dementia affects the brain.

Users will see personal photos, vital information and updated status simply disappear before their eyes.  The real Facebook page however, will remain intact.

The app does not retain any data or scramble a user's real timeline or information on Facebook but instead presents an overlay that will show what the effects of dementia would be.

People can also watch short videos featuring people affected by dementia explaining what impact the symptoms, simulated by FaceDementia, have had on them or their relatives.

Rebecca Wood, the chief executive of Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "Facebook's appeal is that it can gather your friends and family and keep them close, with memories and contacts all contained within one space. It also develops a diary of your life since you joined the site and documents your thoughts and musings during that time.

We wanted to use these Facebook features to illustrate how those thoughts and memories can be confused, or forgotten altogether, as experienced by some of the hundreds of thousands of people across the UK who are living with dementia.

Stigma around dementia is due in part to a lack of public awareness and understanding, so FaceDementia will be invaluable in helping people better understand the condition."

She urged people to take part and share the app with their friends and family on Facebook.  I think this is a very useful and interesting exercise and would love to hear from any of you that try it.

This is Amanda Thomas for UK Health Radio with your Medical News On the Hour kindly sponsored by 1-stop-health-shop.com

 FaceDementia app,

UK Health Radio Medical News Update - Claire Bullimore

Tuesday 29^th April 2014

UK Health Radio Medical News Update

I received a letter today from somebody an old friend of UK Health Radio, a very brave young woman called Claire Bullimore who was interviewed by Rob Trewhella some time back about her story of surviving a brain tumour.  Her letter read

Hi Everyone!

Scary and exciting times.  My Crowd funding campaign has now gone live. I now have 28 days to reach my target of £5,200. The down side of crowdfunding is that if I do not reach my target in 28 days then I receive nothing and the project is finished. Nobody loses any money they would just get their money back. I am extremely anxious about reaching the goal and could really do with your support. Feel free to message me through UK Health Radio if you are not sure of anything. When people pledge they receive a reward. To find out more about them just see the crowdfunder page. Although it would be amazing if you can pledge I am also asking if you could spread the word with your Facebook, twitter pages etc.

The money I am raising is all for the book tour A-Brain-Tumours-Travel-Tale-Book-Tour and nothing goes into my pocket. I just don’t have the finance to cover the cost of accommodation, transport, printing copies of my book, food and drink for the meetings, and some marketing and PR, to make sure I reach as many people as possible. I really need your support and yes I am begging! 

Claire has given links to all the pages she mentions as well as to a YouTube clip of outtakes and the diary dates for the book tour. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2NtJEmym9w

http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/A-Brain-Tumours-Travel-Tale-Book-Tour/
http://clairebooktour.tumblr.com/

Book tour dates:

July:
Edinburgh – Dundee - Glasgow - York - Leeds - Bradford - Manchester

August:
Sheffield - Derby - Birmingham – Coventry - Cambridge - Bedford - Bicester - Oxford

September:
Torquay – Bournemouth – Brighton

October:
Bangor - Liverpool – Wales

November

Margate - Canterbury – Rainham

UK Health Radio Medical News Update - Laboratory Skin Grown

Monday 28^th April 2014

UK Health Radio Medical News Update

Good news today from the BBC who reported that laboratory grown skin may do away with the need for animal testing for drugs and cosmetics as a team of scientists from Kings College London report having grown a layer of skin from stem cells - the master cells of our bodies. 

This is not the first time that skin has been grown from Stem cells but the researchers have said that the results of their latest work has been more skin like as it has been grown with a permeable barrier.   And the very good news for the animal rights contingent is that using laboratory grown skin instead of animals for testing cosmetics and drugs will be more cost effective.

The outermost layer of human skin, known as the epidermis, provides a protective barrier that stops moisture escaping and microbes entering.  The skin that has been grown by the Kings College Team was developed in a low humidity environment using reprogrammed skin cells and produced a barrier that was very similar to that found in normal skin.  The implications of this seem to be very exciting as another hurdle is overcome by medical science.

 Amanda Thomas 

 UK Health Radio 

 Medical News On the Hour 

kindly sponsored by 1-stop-health-shop.com

Gardening is Good For You In all Sorts of Ways

I read an interesting article in the Independent newspaper this week by Kitty Knowles.  In it she said that Gardening, once perceived as the sole preserve of middle-class women who venerate the Chelsea Flower Show, is now being used as an effective therapy to help drug addicts, soldiers with post-traumatic disorders and stroke victims alike.

On the eve of National Gardening Week, Kitty reported that Sir Richard Thompson, president of the Royal College of Physicians, has said that more doctors should be promoting gardening therapy, not simply to benefit patients, but also to create "huge potential savings for the NHS". "Just looking at a garden is scientifically proven to improve recovery time," said Alyson Chorley the patron of horticultural charity, Thrive: "Patients do much better after surgery if they look at 'green things' – and they get out of hospital quicker."

According to Sir Richard, "positive spin-offs" from gardening include, exercise, vitamin D from sunlight, and home-grown food. He said: "If everyone was encouraged to do a bit more gardening, you can well imagine how that would affect obesity rates and reduce the stress on the NHS."

According to Thrive, gardening can benefit everyone, regardless of age or ability. It can help older people, and people who have had strokes to improve their mobility by getting their muscles moving. Gardening also improves mental health by providing a sense of purpose and achievement. It's a very social activity and can reduce feelings of isolation and low mood – making friends is easy for some, but for others it is really difficult and having a shared interest can really help to break the ice.

The charity combines therapeutic benefits with practical ones by teaching City & Guilds qualifications, with more than half of those taking part leaving with an NVQ in work-based horticulture.

Kitty Knowles reported that Ian Rickman attended The Geoffrey Udall Centre in Reading, after suffering a stroke in 1995.  The 58-year-old centre volunteer said, "Initially, I didn't think I'd ever be able to garden again. When I came out of hospital I looked through my patio doors at my greenhouse and I just cried. I couldn't even step over the threshold. But with time, and through the gardening, my confidence returned. It was like being born again."

Forty-nine-year-old Kevin Fitzgerald turned to the east London-based Grounded project 10 years ago when he was struggling with depression and alcohol-addiction. "I just didn't know what to do anymore," Fitzgerald said. "But when I started volunteering, I felt this surge of wellbeing at the possibility of being able to come to a patch in the park and call it my own. To hit the cow parsley and take out the brambles just allowed me to find a sense of new direction."

So for those of us contemplating tackling our gardens for the first time this year, at least we can be comforted by the knowledge that the whole experience will be doing us, as well as the garden, the world of good! 

Please note that all information and content on UK Health Radio and this blog are provided by the authors, producers and companies themselves and is only intended as additional information to your general knowledge.  It is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. Please do not delay or disregard any medical advice received due to information gathered on UK Health Radio.

UK Health Radio – the health radio station for the United Kingdom, Europe and beyond at www.ukhealthradio.com – is kindly sponsored by www.1-stop-health-shop.com

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio

DART (Disaster Arborist Response International)

DART (Disaster Arborist Response International) are a newly formed Humanitarian Disaster Relief Response Team that is unique in what they offer. Having responded to disasters over the years, most recently the Philippines typhoon, it became very obvious that one of the most crucial parts of aid work is being overlooked. 

DART provide four man teams of trained, experienced and qualified Arborists who spend two weeks in disaster zones. The four man teams work together to clear the devastation caused by fallen and windblown trees. Trees that block roads, demolish dwellings, take out power cables and cause many other forms of devastation. Dealing with these tree falls is crucial to aid work being able to take place. Without experienced and capable people to clear trees and debris, lifesaving aid and medical supplies cannot be taken to the places and people that need it most. The lack of qualified chainsaw operatives available to work in these situations is critical, and the potential for accidents and fatalities is immense. 

Since returning from the crisis in the Philippines in November 2013 DART have worked tirelessly to recruit a professional and reliable team of volunteers who will be trained and ready to deploy on new disasters as they occur. The DART team respond to natural disasters fully equipped for self-sufficiency in the field. They take supplies of food for seven days and basic personal medical equipment. They work effectively and safely for the benefit of the people they have been sent to help. They do not drain resources and are happy to construct their own shelters to stay in whilst on deployment.

DART volunteers are made up of capable people, many with a military background alongside their arborist abilities. DART volunteers come from all parts of the UK and beyond. The support is growing on a daily basis as its unique need is being recognised. Already there are over forty people undergoing specialist training.

Whilst these people are all willing to give their time and effort to help others, they need support in the form of financial support and kit. The advertising that supporting the DART International Team will deliver is something that money cannot buy.  Prior to setting up DART International, members on previous deployments have been filmed and interviewed by news crews from Korea, Japan, Germany and Australia – to name but a few. The names of sponsors displayed on their kit will be seen all around the world.

The full list of the kit that is needed and information are available by emailing DART at dartinterantionaluk@gmail.com

UK Health Radio – the health radio station for the United Kingdom, Europe and beyond at www.ukhealthradio.com – is kindly sponsored by www.1-stop-health-shop.com

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio