Why Are More Young People Being Diagnosed With Cancer?

Protein From Plants May Improve Your Quality Of Sleep.
Researchers in Ireland and the United States have examined whether protein affects sleep quality.
They found that while overall protein intake had no effect, protein from plant sources may improve the quality of a person’s sleep, while protein from animal sources can impair sleep quality.
Dr Wirth said: “This study contributes to the growing body of literature on diet-sleep interactions, emphasising the importance of a balanced and varied plant-based diet in promoting better sleep quality and optimal health.”
The study appears in The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
( Katharine Lang, 14.03.2024 )  ..  medicalnewstoday.com

Patients With Heart Problems Are Waiting Over A Year For Treatment.
Fifteen hospital trusts across England each have more than 200 patients waiting longer than a year for heart procedures, NHS figures reveal.
The British Heart Foundation warns that heart care waiting lists are now at a record high, reaching 414,596 at the end of March 2024 in England, almost double what it was in 2020.
The number of people waiting longer than a year for heart tests and treatments has risen to 10,893.
Four years ago, the figure was just 53.
The most recent waiting list figures for March show 974 patients at University Hospitals Sussex NHS foundation trust waiting longer than a year for cardiology services, 526 patients waiting longer than a year at West Hertfordshire teaching hospitals NHS trust, and 454 patients waiting longer than a year at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS foundation trust.
An analysis by the British Heart Foundation published in January 2024 found the number of people dying in England before age 75 from heart and circulatory ­diseases had risen to its highest level in a decade.
Heart and circulatory disease causes a quarter of all UK deaths and is the largest cause of premature deaths in deprived areas.
( Jon Ungoed-Thomas, 19.05.2024 )  ..  theguardian.com

More UK hospitals are leaving patients in corridors due to a lack of bed space.
NHS bosses say so-called corridor care is freeing up ambulances and saving lives, but patients say the growing practice is humiliating and degrading.
One of the major impediments to freeing hospital bed capacity appears to be worsening.
Across England, patients fit for discharge but unable to leave was on average 59% higher in April 2024 than three years ago, according to NHS data
.The Health Foundation also indicates demand is outstripping bed capacity and getting worse.
It estimates the NHS will need 21,000 more beds by 2030 as the population ages and more people develop multiple health conditions.
NHS England told the BBC it had no plans to conduct a national evaluation of the corridor scheme.
( Nikki Fox and Matt Precey, 15.05.2024 )  ..  bbc.co.uk

Disabled People Are Waiting Up To Two Years For A Wheelchair.
The NHS’s leading wheelchair provider has been told to urgently improve its complaints system by the health service ombudsman amid concerns disabled people are waiting up to two years for chairs.
The parliamentary and health service ombudsman took the unusual step of writing to AJM Healthcare after a sharp rise in complaints from wheelchair users.
Most related to people not receiving new wheelchairs or the correct parts.
The waits range from a month to two years, the ombudsman said.
AJM, which describes itself as the leading provider of NHS wheelchair services in the UK, did not say what was causing the issues.
Experts have warned more broadly that there is not enough government funding to support the service.
( Sarah Marsh and Frances Ryan, 21.05.2024 )  ..  theguardian.com

Members Of Boat Race Team Contracted E.Coli From Polluted River Thames.
The annual Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge was conducted under farcical conditions on March 30, 2024, after pollution levels in the River Thames reached highly dangerous levels – and some competitors contracted E.Coli.
Oxford Captain Lenny Jenkins was scathing in his assessment of the water quality, as his team were beaten by their esteemed rivals.
The state of the water was so bad, Cambridge opted against the tradition throwing their Cox into the river.
Jenkins revealed a few of his team mates were ‘down pretty bad’ with the E.Coli strain, and the skipper admitted that he too was vomiting earlier in the morning.
Over the last few years, water companies have been dumping sewage with impunity, and very little has been done to prevent such an environmental catastrophe.
With no accountability, rivers like the Thames have reached critically polluted levels.
It has also been revealed that sewage was dumped into the river during the Boat Race.
( Tom Head, 31.03.2024 )  ..  thelondoneconomic.com

Man Found To Have Tapeworm Eggs In His Brain After Eating Under-Cooked Bacon.
Tapeworm eggs found in the brain of a man who suffered severe migraines are believed to have been caused by under-cooked bacon.
The 52-year-old American consulted doctors after his usual migraines became more frequent and severe and were not responding to medication.
Scans revealed a number of tapeworm eggs in his brain.
The man was diagnosed with neurocysticercosis – caused by taeniasis – a form of infection from larval cysts of the pork tapeworm, which can get into tissue such as the muscles and brain.
Researchers said the man had not travelled to any “high-risk areas”.
On further questioning, the patient denied eating raw or street food but admitted to a habit of eating lightly cooked, non-crispy bacon for most of his life.
Researchers said they believe the infection was “transmitted via auto-infection after improper handwashing after he had contracted taeniasis him­self from his eating habits.
The man’s migraines improved when he was given anti-parasitic and anti-inflammatory medication.
People are most at risk from such infections through poor handwashing or by ingesting contaminated food or water.
( Sky News, 13.03.2024 )  ..  news.sky.com

Why Are More Young People Being Diagnosed With Cancer?
Doctors across the world are sounding the alarm over a surging epidemic of young people being diagnosed with cancers which are more commonly associated with the elderly.
Between 1990 and 2019, cases of cancer in young people across the globe have increased by 79% and deaths have risen 28%.
Studies project diagnoses will continue to rise by 31% and deaths will rise by 21% in 2030.
Nearly every continent is experiencing an increase of various types of cancer in people under 50 years old, which is particularly problematic as the disease tends to be caught in later stages in this population because most doctors aren’t trained to look for it in young people.
The disparities of rates and types of the disease are puzzling scientists and have prompted some to kick off multi-decade research projects that will involve hundreds of thousands of people from around the world.
Globally, Australia has seen the highest number of early-onset cancer diagnoses in the world, with a rate of 135 per 100,000 people.
Nearby New Zealand has the second highest rate, at 119 cases in people under 50 per 100,000 people.
But while breast cancer is the top disease in Australia, colon cancer ranks first in New Zealand.
Cancers increasing the fastest include throat and prostate cancers.
Early-onset cancers with the highest mortality include breast, tracheal (windpipe), lung, stomach and colon.
( Alexa Lardieri, 15.03.2024 )  ..  dailymail.co.uk

NHS Bosses Are Spending Millions On Pest Control In Crumbling Hospitals.
Thousands of pests including rats, cockroaches and bedbugs have been found at NHS hospitals in England as the health service buckles under a record high repair bill.
Hospital bosses are having to spend millions of pounds on pest control after discovering lice, flies and rodents in children’s wards, breast clinics, maternity units, A&E departments and kitchens, in the most graphic illustration yet of the dismal and dangerous state of the NHS estate.
NHS bosses have repeatedly warned ministers of the urgent need to plough cash into fixing rundown buildings in order to protect the safety and dignity of patients and staff.
The maintenance backlog now stands at £11.6billion in England.
NHS bosses are having to spend millions of pounds calling out pest control and dealing with infestations, with £3.7million spent in the last three years.
( Andrew Gregory, 09.04.2024 )  ..  theguardian.com

Blood sugar monitors are unnecessary for people without diabetes and could, in extreme cases, fuel eating disorders, leading doctors have warned.
They are part of a personalised diet trend, promoted on social media and spearheaded by companies including ZOE.
But NHS national diabetes advisor Professor Partha Kar said there is no strong evidence the gadgets help people without the condition.
In people with diabetes, blood sugar, also known as blood glucose, can remain high for several hours after eating.
At very high levels this can cause organ damage if it’s not monitored and kept in check.
ZOE, previously involved with the Covid symptom-tracking app, is one of the main companies selling the blood sugar monitors to people without the condition.
Dr Nicola Guess, a dietitian and diabetes researcher at the University of Oxford, said the majority of evidence linking high, and highly varied, blood sugar to health problems is based on glucose levels only seen in people with diabetes or pre-diabetes.
High blood sugar is a symptom, not directly a cause, of diabetes, she said.
( Rachel Schraer, 16.03.2024 )  ..  bbc.co.uk

It kills millions every year, with a potential impact in the near future that could dwarf that of the Covid-19 pandemic but AMR, or antimicrobial resistance, remains a little-known problem outside specialist circles.
Experts say it is vital that we get a grip on it, with action needed across sectors from health to agriculture.
Antimicrobial resistance occurs when germs that cause sickness – bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites – develop ways to resist the drugs traditionally used to treat them.
The new, resistant pathogens are sometimes called “superbugs”.
It’s a natural process that happens over time, but is being accelerated by too much unnecessary use of medicines – particularly antibiotics – in humans, animals and plants.
This is because exposure to the drugs helps the pathogens learn how to resist them.
AMR is already a major problem.
Bacteria resistant to antibiotics were directly responsible for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019, and thought to be a contributory factor in 4.95 million deaths.
It makes infections harder to treat, and makes other treatments riskier.
Cancer patients, for example, are particularly vulnerable to infections because of the impact of their treatment on their immune systems.
Likewise, organ transplant recipients who must take drugs to damp down their immune systems in order to prevent their bodies rejecting the new organs.
There is a severe lack of new antibiotics coming through the pipeline.
Farmers need to use antibiotics on their plants and animals only when needed, doctors must not prescribe antibiotics for infections caused by viruses, and pharmaceutical companies must manage the waste created during manufacture to stop antibiotics finding their way into the environment.
( Kat Lay, 13.05.2024 )  ..  theguardian.com

A Single Measles Jab Is Ineffective In Children Born By C-Section.
A study by the University of Cambridge, UK, and Fudan University, China, has found that a single dose of the measles jab is up to 2.6 times more likely to be completely ineffective in children born by C-section, compared to those born naturally.
Failure of the vaccine means that the child’s immune system does not produce antibodies to fight against measles infection, so they remain susceptible to the disease.
A second measles jab was found to induce a robust immunity against measles in C-section children.
Measles is a highly infectious disease, and even low vaccine failure rates can significantly increase the risk of an outbreak.
( Science Daily, 13.05.2024 )  ..  sciencedaily.com

Hundreds Of Physical Assaults On NHS Staff.
An NHS trust recorded more than 800 physical assaults against its staff in 2023.
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Trust said the physical assaults against staff were reported, along with another 925 non-physical assaults.
A nurse said she was attacked by a patient who tried to stab her.
She was not badly injured but underwent counselling.
Some staff were so badly assaulted they went off sick, with some saying they felt guilty for leaving their colleagues short-staffed.
The government said it was “trying” to reduce assaults on NHS staff.
( Nathan Briant, 16.05.2024 )  ..  bbc.co.uk

A Big Rise In People Under 40 Being Diagnosed With Type 2 Diabetes.
The number of people under 40 being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the UK has risen 39% in six years, fuelled by soaring obesity levels and cheap junk food.
Britain has one of the highest obesity rates in Europe.
Two in three adults are overweight or obese and the NHS spends £6billion a year treating obesity-related ill-health.
That is forecast to rise to £10billion a year by 2050.
New figures from Diabetes UK show cases of type 2 among under-40s have increased to almost 168,000 from 120,000 in 2016/17.
Diagnoses are rising at a significantly faster pace than among over-40s, for whom the increase was 25% in six years.
The figures come after the Guardian revealed that ministers had been warned they were putting children and young people at risk of life-changing medical conditions, including type 2 diabetes, because they had shelved policies to tackle obesity and junk food until 2025.
( Andrew Gregory, 22.05.2024 )  ..  theguardian.com

Leprosy passed between humans and red squirrels in medieval England, research suggests, supporting the theory that the fur trade could have played a role in the spread of the disease.
Leprosy is one of the oldest infectious diseases recorded in humans and is typically caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae.
While most cases now occur in south-east Asia, and can be treated with antibiotics, leprosy was common in medieval England and caused sickness and disfigurement in rich and poor people alike.
Previous research revealed that people in medieval England, Denmark and Sweden had a similar strain of leprosy to that found today in red squirrels in the south of England, with one theory being that the trading of squirrel furs, imported from Viking Scandinavia, could have been a factor in spreading the disease.
Now experts say the theory has been given a boost, with genetic analysis revealing that red squirrels in medieval England experienced a very similar strain of the disease to humans living at the time.
( Supertrooper, 07.05.2024)  ..  focusingonwildlife.com