UK Health Radio Medical News Update

Sperm Shortage

The BBC has reported that the UK is facing a major sperm shortage that may be tempting fertility clinics to accept poorer quality sperm, the British Fertility Society (BFS) warns.

Some clinics rely on imported sperm to keep up with demand. The concern is that some clinics may be setting a lower bar to "get donors through the door. This in turn may mean that some women are subjected to more invasive and expensive techniques.  The right to anonymity was removed in 2005 and it is thought that this has had an impact on the numbers of men willing to donate sperm.

At the same time the demand for donors has been falling as advances in fertility treatment let more men father their own children.  However despite this, a shortage of donors has now come to light.

Figures from the fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), show nearly1 in 4 samples of donated sperm now come from abroad compared to a figure was one in 10 in 2005. Sperm banks in Denmark and the US being the major suppliers..

This is limiting patient choice and increasing waiting times, leading to potential risky practices, including DIY insemination with a friend's sperm or seeking treatment in a country with less fertility regulation.

The worry is that clinics may be tempted to bend the rules, in the face of a national sperm shortage.

A HFEA spokesperson said: "We expect our clinics to use only donor sperm of a quality that will ensure the best outcome for the patient, and under our code of practice clinics are required to fully inform patients of the different treatment options available to them."

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio Medical News Update

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

UK Health Radio Medical News - Breast Cancer Link with Leukaemia

UK Health Radio Medical News Update

Breast Cancer Link with Leukaemia

News has broken that Leukaemia research may lead to new drugs for difficult-to-treat breast cancers, according to  scientists.

The types of breast tumours that may be targeted cannot be treated with the drugs which have been used and have hugely improved survival.

A team in Glasgow say that they have identified a faulty piece of DNA which causes leukaemia and also has a role in some tumours.  They hope that this could help in research for new drugs.

Meanwhile, other researchers say they have taken tentative steps towards a blood test for breast cancer.  Currently oestrogen or progesterone positive breast cancers can be treated with hormone therapies such as Tamoxifen while another drug, Herceptin, works only on those tumours that are HER2-positive.

But around one in five breast cancers is "triple negative" meaning chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery are the only options.

A team at the University of Glasgow investigated the role of the RUNX1 gene, which is one of the most commonly altered genes in leukaemia.  However, they have now shown it is also active in the most deadly of triple negative breast cancers.

Tests on 483 triple negative breast cancers showed patients testing positive for RUNX1 were four times more likely to die as a result of the cancer than those without it.

One of the researchers, Dr Karen Blyth, told the BBC: "First we need to prove this gene is causative to the At the time that scientists at University College London think they have taken the first steps towards a blood test for breast cancer this is an exciting times in terms of breast cancer research.

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio Medical News Update

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

UK Health Radio - Medical News Update Gracie - Ban on Tuck Shop treats

UK Health Radio - Medical News Update

Ban on Tuck Shop treats

The government are planning to ban chocolate and sweets from school tuck-shops next year because more children are becoming very overweight.

Reports show that 18.9% of Year 6 children are obese, which is not good.

I do agree that having too much junk food makes you unhealthy and overweight. However, I do not agree that tuck shops should stop selling sweet treats completely.

I believe that children should have a treat now and then as long as most of the food they eat is healthy.

Tuck shops should have plenty of healthy food and drinks to sell like fruit, cereal bars and milk.

Schools should let children know what is a reasonable and healthy amount of treats to have. The people running the tuck shops should then monitor what each child is buying.

In my school the unhealthy foods are cheaper than healthy foods. For example a chocolate mouse is 60p and the salad bowls are £1.00.

I think there should be a choice of healthy and unhealthy food but all at the same price.

Now that it is the summer I think they should sell sugar free ice creams on a Friday as a treat!

This is Gracie Timms for UK Health Radio

Medical News Update

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

UK Health Radio - Medical News Update Transplant News

Medical News Update

Transplant 

The BBC has reported that from December 2015, Wales will be the first UK nation to introduce a system where people will be presumed to have agreed for their organs to be donated.

And to get the message across viewers of Coronation Street and Welsh soap Pobol y Cwm will be the first to see public information films explaining the change in Wales' organ donor rules next year. The adverts are to be broadcast during Monday evening's episodes of the soaps and will be on radio, television and social media in the run up to national transplant week, from 7-13 July.

A mother, a young boy, a lady in her 50s and a young man feature as four fictional individuals with a digital clock counting down the time they have available.   It is hoped that the adverts will also prompt those watching at home to talk with their loved ones about their organ donation wishes, the Health Minister Mark Drakeford said.

The Welsh government is hoping that a change in the law will lead to an increase in transplant rates by 25% as they aim to show why the Welsh government says the system needs to be changed to cut the number of deaths of people who are waiting for a transplant.  Wales will adopt the system that presumes consent on the 1^st of December 2015

Currently, people across the UK join a voluntary scheme and carry a card if they wish to donate organs however evidence from other countries with an opt-out system indicates that the rise in organ donors is small with about 15 additional donors provided each year and approximately 45 extra organs.

There has been some opposition to the scheme but ministers have insisted it will be implemented sensitively.

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio - Medical News Update

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

UK Health Radio Medical New Update Gracie Timms - Caffeine Drinks Could be Harmful to Children

UK Health Radio 

Medical New Update

Caffeine Drinks Could be Harmful to Children

New research is saying that caffeine could be more harmful to children than thought and give them blood pressure problems. It can also make your heart beat too slowly. This is not just fizzy drinks like cola but also caffeine in teas, coffees and energy drinks. The problem seems to be worse for teenage boys than girls.

If this is true I think it should be made illegal for children to have theses drinks just like they are not allowed to drink alcohol.

My school has banned all drinks that contain caffeine from the tuck shop and children aren’t allowed to bring them to school from home. A boy in my tutor group disobeys this rule. He then gets too hyper and is now on report.

I like Lucozade and Powerade and coffee. They taste nice but I know that they do not have any goodness in them like fresh juices have. My parents buy me Lucozade when I am poorly to make me feel better. Now, I am not so sure this is a good idea as it contains caffeine that just gives you more energy.

I think it is OK to have these drinks sometimes but children would be better to have plenty of healthy drinks like water and pure fruit juices every day.

This is Gracie Timms reporting for UK Health Radio. Medical News Update kindly sponsored by 1- Stop-Health Shop.com.

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update Sun Addiction

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update

Sun Addiction

News today that spending time basking in the sun might actually be addictive.  This claim comes following research conducted in the USA. The study that was published in the journal Cell, has shown that exposure to sunlight leads to the production of endorphins in the skin.

The Harvard Medical School team who conducted the research said their experiments on mice showed that repeated UV exposure led to addiction in the animals.

Other scientists however have said that calling it an "addiction" was going too far but there have been previous suggestions that people can get addicted to the sun.

The research showed that the UV radiation led to the production of a protein in the skin that was then broken down into the pigment melanin, the pigment that produces a tan, but the team showed that endorphins were also produced. The chemicals act on the same systems in the body as other opioids such as heroin and morphine and giving the mice the drugs used to block opioids, which are used in rehab clinics, led to withdrawal symptoms that included shaking and tremors.

The mice then started to avoid the place where the drugs were being administered, which the researchers said was a hallmark of addictive behaviour.

But their experiments do not show the mice actively seeking out the UV light in the same manner as a drug addict.  Other scientists are not convinced, putting forward the argument that if people were sun-addicted then they would be giving up their family lives to get access to sunshine, you would have people who lose their jobs because they spend their day on the beach and British people would go on holiday to the south of France and would never come back.

The fact is that while we all need some sun for strong and healthy bones, when the sun is strong it's important to spend time in the shade and cover up with clothing. Sunscreen with at least SPF15 and a high star rating can help protect the parts you can't cover and we should avoid using sun beds.

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio - Medical News Update

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

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update No More Fillings

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update

No More Fillings

Good news from the BBC today for those of us who do not enjoy a visit to the dentist.  Apparently a new idea to encourage teeth to repair themselves may see the end of dreaded whine of the dentist's drill, researchers have said.

A team of researchers at King's College London believe that electricity can be used to strengthen a tooth by forcing minerals into the layer of enamel which they hope will do away with the need for drills, injections and fillings.

A company has been set up to bring the technique to the dentist's chair in the next three years.

Minerals such as calcium and phosphate naturally flow in and out of the tooth but acid produced by bacteria munching on food in the mouth help leach minerals out. The group at King's applied a mineral cocktail and then use a small electric current to drive the minerals deep into the tooth.

They say "Electrically Accelerated and Enhanced Remineralisation" can strengthen the tooth and reduce areas of tooth decay.

Prof Nigel Pitts, one of the inventors and an investor in the new company, told the BBC: "This is early stage - you don't start with the finished product - but we're excited because we think it is ground-breaking.

"We have set up a company to convert it from a demonstration technology into a viable commercial product that we can put into the hands of dentists around the world."

He said the technology had the potential to replace the need for many existing fillings, but could not tackle large "end-stage" cavities.

"What it wont do is physically re-grow a tooth," he added.

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio – Medical News Update

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

UK Health Radio Medical News Update - Don't Wash Chicken

UK Health Radio

Medical News Update

Don't Wash Chicken

Today we are being warned to stop washing raw chicken as doing so increases the risk of food poisoning. An online survey of four and a half thousand UK adults by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) found that almost half of them washed chicken before cooking. However far from cleaning the food it can spread Campylobacter onto the hands doing the washing and to clothing, cooking utensils and work surfaces. 

Campylobacter affects about 280,000 people in the UK each year and yet only 28% of those asked in the FSA survey had even heard of it and only a third of them knew that poultry was the main source of the bacteria. Ninety per cent however had heard of salmonella and E. coli. Those washing chicken most commonly said they did because they thought it was necessary or because their mother had always prepared chicken in that way.

The majority of cases of Campylobacter come from contaminated poultry.  This nasty infection causes diarrhoea, cramps, stomach pains and fever, and generally feeling unwell.  Although most people are only ill for a few days, it can lead to long-term health problems, including irritable bowel syndrome and a serious condition of the nervous system, Guillain-Barre syndrome.

The best advice for handling raw chicken is to cover and chill it, and store it at the bottom of the fridge to prevent any juices dripping onto other food.  Never wash raw chicken and thoroughly wash all utensils, chopping boards and surfaces used while preparing raw chicken.  With the barbeque season upon us it is essential that all chicken should always be cooked thoroughly - there should be no pink meat and juices should run clear.  In the worst-case scenario Campylobacter can kill and the people most at risk are children under five and older people so it is well worth heeding the advise from the Food Standards Agency.

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio- Medical News Update

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

UK Health Radio Medical News Update - Mental Health - A New Beginning.

UK Health Radio

Medical News Update

Mental Health - A New Beginning. 

Recently I have been in contact with a lady called Kate Mottram.  After the report I did a little while back about mental health services in the UK, I was very interested in the book that she is currently writing called Mend the Gap; Katie calls this a memoir with a difference that documents her transformative journey through deep despair to discovering her soul purpose!

She asks. Have you ever been too afraid to say how you REALLY feel for fear of being thought of as mad? Most of us have. Most of us are forced to be untrue to ourselves, by a system that is there to help us be less anxious which actually makes us more anxious, - now THAT is madness! 

I asked Katie what 'Mend the Gap' was all about?

She told me that it was a book with a purpose – a raw, authentic, autobiographical account of breakdown to breakthrough; how she changed from suicidal to eternal optimist in what was an extraordinary transformation. 'Mend the Gap' provides hope to those whose hope may have been negatively impacted by the current mental health system.  One quote that struck a chord with me was:

"You are having what could be diagnosed as an insane experience, but you know, deep down, that it’s actually more real than the façade you are trying to maintain to ‘fit in’ with what society suggests is normal. Are you really the only one, and can you continue to live a lie?"

Mend the Gap documents Katie’s personal journey from struggling to hide deep emotional distress, to being unable to hide it any longer, through to the realisation that hiding it had been the actual madness all along! 

What do you do when a belief you’ve held for years and on which you’ve built your identity is shattered in an instant? Shattered irreparably by an experience so profound that it resolves all of your insecurities and outstanding questions about life, and yet threatens that safe identity? Do you risk your professional security and being labelled as mad? What if you follow the truth in your soul but in doing so, know that this will challenge you to question the very foundations of psychiatric practice. In this topsy turvy world, will you be brave enough to give your heart a voice?

Katie quotes Martin Luther King Jnr

 

  

Katie says I too am 38 years old, and I am afraid about speaking my truth, but I am more afraid of the consequences of not speaking it at all. In ‘Mend the Gap’, I explain through taking you through the dark depths of my internal battle, the secrets, which should not be secret at all, to self- acceptance, creating abundance and becoming the shining soul that we all know deep down that we truly are - if only we dare to believe! 

I am sure like me you will be very eager to know more about this interesting book and I will be bringing you more information in the weeks to come.

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio Medical News Update

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

Katie Mottram's Kick Start page. 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1240927486/mend-the-gap-influencing-a-paradigm-shift-within-p