Post Archive by Year

So, Prince Philip did the right thing and handed over his car keys. But at what age do you think it’s time to check in your ­driving licence? Next time you renew it? When your doctor says it’s about time? … Read More

A friend recently had a nasty bout of shingles and I asked her if she could remember having had chickenpox as a child. When she asked why, I explained chickenpox and shingles are caused by the same virus which can … Read More

Several times now I’ve written about the keenness of a dog’s sense of smell and how it can diagnose serious illnesses. Turns out medical alert dogs can ­detect odours as diluted as a teaspoon of sugar in two Olympic-sized pools. … Read More

Years ago I was involved in the first research on the pill. It was an exciting time at the ­forefront of women’s lib, as it was called then, and the fight for a woman’s right to decide what ­happened to … Read More

Could sleep disruption be linked to Alzheimer’s disease, an ­illness which affects more than 500,000 ­people in Britain and 5.7 ­million in the US? It’s possible, because a study has found that going short on sleep increases levels of a … Read More

Hip fractures affect 75,000 ­people a year in the UK. They can, however, be difficult to treat, mainly because they tend to occur in elderly patients whose bones have been softened by osteoporosis. The traditional way to fix these ­fractures … Read More

Could regular use of aspirin or ibuprofen boost survival rates from head and neck cancer? It seems it’s possible. In recent research, the common painkillers were found to treble the chance of survival (from 25% to 78%) for patients with … Read More

Now here’s a reversal of previous thinking: all children born to healthy parents in clean ­environments develop at approximately the same rate, with genes accounting for as little as 10% of their development. The nature versus nurture debate has raged … Read More

When I first started to fight the anti-vaxxers who were led by Andrew Wakefield in 2001 it was a straight-forward job. The whole medical profession agreed MMR vaccination wasn’t hazardous. At the time, millions of children had been vaccinated without harm and … Read More

Four pints a day? Doesn’t sound like much does it? Yet despite NHS guidelines, it’s adults who regularly drink this amount that are at risk of needing a liver transplant due to ­alcoholic cirrhosis. Experts at the Royal Free Hospital … Read More