AP – Tens of thousands of protesters riding motorcycles and crammed into trucks and cars rolled through the streets of the Thai capital Saturday in a giant caravan to rally residents to their “class war” against the government.
HealthDay – THURSDAY, March 18 (HealthDay News) — Pregnant women with the H1N1
(swine) flu were 13 times more likely to become critically ill than
non-pregnant women infected with H1N1, according to a report from
researchers in Australia and New Zealand.
HealthDay – FRIDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) — A new review of studies on the
controversial diabetes drug Avandia finds that most of the researchers who
reported positive results had financial ties to pharmaceutical companies,
but it’s not clear if being paid by drug makers directly leads to
supportive research.
HealthDay – (HealthDay News) — Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesy
of ClinicalConnection.com:
HealthDay – FRIDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) — Medicare Part D Plan
coverage gap prices for widely used brand name drugs rose in 2010, and
price increases since 2006 have far exceeded the rate of inflation, a new
study finds.
HealthDay – FRIDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) — Infertile women face an
increased risk for sexual dysfunction, a new study reports.
By Jane Elliott
Health reporter, BBC News
When Coronation Street’s Sally Webster told her husband on Christmas Day that she had breast cancer, the audience was gripped.
Would the philandering Kevin stay with Sally, or run away with his young lover Molly
But for breast cancer nurse Vickki Harmer there was a far greater concern – how would the soap handle such an important issue as breast cancer
Each year in the UK there are more than 46,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer. At some point, one in nine women will have the cancer.
Plot lines
Almost 80% of those affected are post-menopausal, but the rest, like Sally, are younger.
And as Vickki, a clinical nurse specialist at Imperial College NHS Trust, explained – when airing an issue like this on one of the major soaps it is vital to get things right.
"You might think ‘oh crumbs that wouldn’t happen like that!’"
Vickki Harmer
In September she was asked to join an expert panel advising the soap, and helping them plan Sally’s battle with the disease.
"I had already advised the Archers, when Ruth Archer got breast cancer, and a Family Affairs character, so I was delighted," she said.
"It is a really exciting, amazing opportunity.
"I advised them on surgery, a mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy – all the treatments essentially, and all the support that is out there.
"I had to answer questions such as how long someone waits for their operation, how long someone is in hospital, when would they be able to go back to work, whether someone can sit with them during their radiotherapy and what the side effects would be.
"I also advise them on hospital protocol, such as bare below the elbow – where doctors are asked not to wear watches or rings.
"Then I would email them back, and then they would email me the scripts.
"And you might think ‘oh crumbs that wouldn’t happen like that!’"
Vickki said it is important the soaps get their facts right, because they have such large audiences.
"When Coronation Street ran the Sally storyline they ran a helpline number afterwards. Breast Cancer Care said their calls doubled after the show," she said.
Dr Alexis Willett, from Breakthrough Breast Cancer, who asked Vickki to take up her role, agreed – saying that getting the right message across is paramount.
"By working closely with our expert advisors, such as breast care nurses, charities like Breakthrough can make sure that the right information and messages are woven into a plot line.
"As a result, as well as raising awareness of the disease, viewers should get a more realistic idea of what a breast cancer patient may experience throughout their treatment journey.
"Working on high profile programmes also means that we can make sure that our information line staff are fully prepared for any extra calls this may bring."
Struggle
Vickki said ensuring errors do not hit the screen is vital.
"If storylines aren’t handled sensitively, and give out the wrong information, they can do untold damage," she said.
She even wrote to her favourite soap, EastEnders, when character Sam Mitchell discovered a benign lump and had to wait two weeks for results after seeing a specialist.
"I told them it wouldn’t happen like that and they would get the results the same day."
Vickki admitted she was avidly watching Sally’s struggle.
"I have been following it closely," she said.
"They changed her treatment trajectory around, for one reason or the other, and actually she is having radiotherapy at the moment, so we assume she has been lucky enough to miss out chemotherapy."
Like the rest of Coronation Street fans, she is unaware of Sally’s ultimate fate, but says she has been impressed by what she has seen so far.
"It’s been hugely rewarding to work with such responsible script writers," she said.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
By Helen Briggs
Health reporter, BBC News
Testing for human papillomavirus during cervical screening does not help doctors identify women at risk of cancer, a study suggests.
A positive HPV test does not accurately predict which women need an urgent follow-up, say doctors.
Each year, millions of UK women have a cervical screening test as part of the national programme.
The NHS is piloting add-on tests for the virus linked to cervical cancer at several UK centres.
Other studies have shown this could be a useful tool for identifying women at high risk of developing cervical cancer.
"The most important thing is to attend for cervical cancer screening – the most effective way of preventing cervical cancer. "
Dr Maggie Cruickshank, University of Aberdeen
Around six out of 100 women who have a test receive a borderline or mild abnormality result.
But only a tiny minority of these will go on to develop cervical cancer.
The study, funded by the Medical Research Council, looked at 4,439 women undergoing cervical screening in Grampian, Tayside and Nottingham.
Those with mild abnormalities were tested to see if they were positive for HPV, a sexually-transmitted infection linked to most cases of cervical cancer.
Early signs
But the researchers found 70% of women testing positive for HPV after a mild abnormality result did not develop early signs of cancer during a three-year follow-up.
Cervical cancer
Dr Maggie Cruickshank, from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Aberdeen, led the study.
She said: "The most important thing is to attend for cervical cancer screening – the most effective way of preventing cervical cancer.
"This new additional test may not add any value.
"Our study is showing that HPV is such a common infection in younger women that testing for it doesn’t help decide which is the best action to take."
But in women over 40, HPV testing might be useful for ruling out further investigations, she added.
Contradictory research
Professor Jack Cuzick is an epidemiologist for Cancer Research UK.
He said other studies have shown that HPV testing is good at detecting abnormalities in women with low-grade tests and can reduce the number who need to be referred for treatment, especially in the over 35s.
He added: "The results of this study are surprising, as they’re very much out of line with most other studies in the field.
"One thing to note is that the type of test used isn’t commercially available, so we need to be careful when considering these results in the context of our national screening programme."
Julietta Patnick, director of the NHS Cancer Screening Programmes, said the results of the study would be reviewed.
Full details of the research are published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
AP – An unexpected big drop in new U.S. tuberculosis cases is probably because of stepped up screening and treatment of immigrants before they leave their native countries, health officials say.
HealthDay – THURSDAY, March 18 (HealthDay News) — Pregnant women with the H1N1
(swine) flu were 13 times more likely to become critically ill than
non-pregnant women infected with H1N1, according to a report from
researchers in Australia and New Zealand.
HealthDay – FRIDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) — A new review of studies on the
controversial diabetes drug Avandia finds that most of the researchers who
reported positive results had financial ties to pharmaceutical companies,
but it’s not clear if being paid by drug makers directly leads to
supportive research.
