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Source: NHS News Feed
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Total 273 results found since Jan 2013.
PET scans may improve brain injury diagnosis
ConclusionThis is a valuable diagnostic study that tested how accurate PET and fMRI imaging are at distinguishing between different levels of conscious state and helping to predict recovery. Diagnostic assessments are traditionally made using bedside clinical tests – but as the researchers say, judging the level of awareness in people with severe brain damage can be difficult.In particular, the researchers wanted to see whether the scans could accurately distinguish between people with “unresponsive wakefulness syndrome” and “minimally conscious state”, as distinguishing between these two states can have impor...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 16, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medical practice Neurology Source Type: news
Cannabis linked to brain differences in the young
Conclusion
This study found differences between young recreational cannabis users and non-users in the volume and structure of the nucleus accumbens and amygdala, which have a role in the brain’s reward system, pleasure response, emotion and decision making.
However, as this was only a cross sectional study taking one-off brain scans of cannabis users and non-users, it cannot prove that cannabis use was the cause of any of the differences seen. It is not known whether cannabis use could have caused these changes in regular users.
Or conversely whether the cannabis users in this study had this brain structure to sta...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 16, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Mental health Neurology Source Type: news
ONS suggests that one in four deaths are 'avoidable'
“1 in 4 deaths could have been prevented,” The Times reports. Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that 23% of deaths could have been prevented through better care, more effective treatment and healthier living.
The news is based on an ONS bulletin titled Avoidable Mortality in England and Wales, 2012 (PDF 186kb).
The bulletin provides mortality figures for causes of death that are considered avoidable if timely and effective healthcare is received or healthier lifestyle choices adopted.
Figures were provided for the period 2001 to 2012 so that trends can be seen.
The bulletin found tha...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 8, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Cancer QA articles Source Type: news
Brits eating too much salt, sugar and fat
“Too much sugar, salt and fat: healthy eating still eluding many Britons,” The Guardian reports, while the Daily Mail rather bizarrely warns of a “fruit juice timebomb”. Both papers are covering a major survey that looked at the nation’s eating habits over recent years.The survey found that, overall, adults and children are eating too much saturated fat, added sugar and salt. We are also not getting the recommended levels of fruit, vegetables, oily fish and fibre that our bodies need. Who produced the survey?Public Health England, an agency of the Department of Health, has released data from the National Diet an...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 15, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet QA articles Source Type: news
NICE: 'Obese should be prescribed slimming clubs'
“GPs told to prescribe £100 slimming courses for millions of obese patients,” the Daily Mail reports.
The news is based on new guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) that aim to encourage sustainable weight loss in the obese; “lose a little, and keep it off”.
The guidance is mainly aimed at commissioners (who plan and agree which services will be provided in the NHS and monitor them), health professionals and groups who provide lifestyle weight management programmes. The recommendations may also be of interest to members of the public, including people who are overweight or o...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 28, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Food/diet Obesity QA articles Source Type: news
One in three adults in England 'has prediabetes'
Conclusion
This study indicates that there had been an increase between 2003 and 2011 in the proportion of people aged 16 or older with prediabetes, with more than a third of adults in 2011 having prediabetes.
The study is useful because it is based on information from the Health Survey for England (HSE), which sampled a representative sample of the English population.
However, the researchers defined prediabetes using cut-offs used by the American Diabetes Association (5.7-6.4%), but in the UK NICE recommends higher cut-offs to identify people at high risk of diabetes (6.0-6.4%).
There are several ways you can reduce you...
Source: NHS News Feed - June 10, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Diabetes Medical practice Source Type: news
Stress 'causes damage to the heart,' study finds
Conclusion
This research investigates the widely held perceived wisdom that psychological stress is associated with coronary heart disease.
It found 29 medical residents working in a stressful intensive care unit setting had increased levels of white blood cells, which form part of the immune system. The researchers also found exposing mice to chronic stress similarly increased their levels of certain white blood cells.
When they examined the bone marrow of stressed mice, they found this increase in the number of white blood cells seemed to be mediated by an increase in the activity of hematopoietic stem cells, which prod...
Source: NHS News Feed - June 23, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Mental health Source Type: news
Over-60s 'benefit from bursts of intense exercise'
Conclusion
This small preliminary study indicated high intensity training (two sessions per week for six weeks) improved blood pressure, aerobic fitness and mobility in and out of a chair, compared with a control group of 12 people over the age of 60.
While this research is promising, there are a number of limitations to be aware of.
We don't know anything about what the control group were asked to do. For example, control groups are often given lifestyle advice as part of an incentive to take part in studies and are otherwise free to continue whatever lifestyle habits they had before, but we don't know if this was the c...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 28, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Older people Source Type: news
Over-60s exercise claim based on just 12 people
Conclusion
This small preliminary study indicated high intensity training (two sessions per week for six weeks) improved blood pressure, aerobic fitness and mobility in and out of a chair, compared with a control group of 12 people over the age of 60.
While this research is promising, there are a number of limitations to be aware of.
We don't know anything about what the control group were asked to do. For example, control groups are often given lifestyle advice as part of an incentive to take part in studies and are otherwise free to continue whatever lifestyle habits they had before, but we don't know if this was the c...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 28, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Older people Source Type: news
Running 7 minutes a day 'halves heart death risk'
Conclusion
This well-conducted cohort study found running is associated with a reduction in risk of death from any cause and death from cardiovascular disease during a 15-year follow-up. It calculated running was associated with a three-year increase in life expectancy.
The study also found short duration running (less than 51 minutes a week, equivalent to less than approximately seven minutes a day) or running at slow speeds was associated with a reduction in risk.
As this was a cohort study, it cannot show running caused the reduction in risk of death. It is possible there were other differences between runners and n...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 29, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news
Eating more than 5 a day 'brings no extra benefit'
Conclusion
This systematic review of cohort studies has found higher consumption of fruit and vegetables is associated with a reduced risk of death from any cause, with an average reduction in risk of 5% for each additional serving per day.
There was a threshold observed at around five servings per day, after which the risk of death did not reduce further.
Greater fruit and vegetable consumption was associated with decreased risk of death from cardiovascular disease, but higher consumption was not appreciably associated with death from cancer.
As many of the news stories point out, this threshold at around five servings ...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 30, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Food/diet Source Type: news
Growth of newborn babies' brains tracked
Conclusion
This study has mapped out the growth rate of the major structures of the brain in 87 apparently healthy neonates from within a week of birth up to 90 days.
A study of this nature can help our understanding of the growth and development of the brain and our ability to monitor brain development over time. The fact the investigation had no apparent side effects is also welcome.
However, as the authors point out, the relatively small size of the study means the results cannot be used as a reference for normal development. Larger and more ethnically diverse studies would be required.
The goal of establishing data ...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 12, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pregnancy/child Source Type: news
Caution urged over CT scan radiation doses
BBC News reports on a sharp rise in the number of CT scans being performed, exposing people to the potential health risks of radiation.
However, as The Daily Telegraph says, it is not possible to calculate the cancer risk due to exposure to CT scans because there is a lack of data.
These media stories follow the publication of a report by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE). COMARE has reviewed trends in the use of CT scans in the UK. The review weighs up the risk-benefit balance of using CT scans, and considers ways to obtain the best quality scan image while minimising the necessary...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 15, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medical practice Source Type: news
Claims magnetic brain stimulation helps memory
ConclusionIn this study, TMS was found to improve performance on the associative memory test by more than 20%, whereas sham stimulation had no significant effect.TMS also increased connectivity between specific cortical (grey-matter) regions of the brain and the hippocampus.This interesting research increases our knowledge of how memory works. However, it was a very small trial with only 16 participants. It is also unclear whether electromagnetic stimulation would be effective for people with memory disorders such as dementia. The media has reported that the researchers are now planning to study the effect of TMS on people...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 29, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Source Type: news
Prescription sleeping pills linked to Alzheimer's risk
Conclusion
This case control study has suggested that long-term use of benzodiazepines (over six months) may be linked with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease in older people. These findings are reported to be similar to other previous studies, but add weight to these by showing that risk increases with increasing length of exposure to the drugs, and with those benzodiazepines that remain in the body for longer.
The strengths of this study include that it could establish when people started taking benzodiazepines and when they had their diagnosis using medical insurance records, rather than having to ask people to ...
Source: NHS News Feed - September 10, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Mental health Source Type: news
