The teenage years are never easy to navigate, but for today’s youngsters, it’s a minefield, made all the worse by social media. Pictures of perfect bodies are creating anxiety and insecurity in a way we’ve never seen before, so much … Read More
New drug brings hope of slowing sight failure
As we get older our eyesight becomes vulnerable to age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) and diabetic macular oedema (DMO). Both conditions will cause blindness if left untreated. Their main feature is the excessive growth of blood vessels which can leak in … Read More
Cancer therapy can kill off ‘hard’ tumours
The latest cancer treatments harness the body’s own defences to attack the disease. They supercharge a patient’s immune system to fight the cancer cells. This is one of our most promising lines of research, immunotherapy. In a first, researchers at … Read More
Wonder diabetes drug could be key to treating heart failure
Many drug discoveries happen almost by accident, or accidental observation. Think penicillin and insulin. And now the first drug that was found to prolong the survival of people with Type 2 diabetes may also be able to treat heart failure. … Read More
Dating apps and careless sex put us top of Euro STI league
The prevalence of the STI gonorrhoea can be considered a marker for the sexual activity of our nation and the figures aren’t good. In 2017, there were nearly 50,000 cases of gonorrhoea in the UK, making up more than half … Read More
Gender change fears over trans-clinic kids need addressing
There’s been a global surge in children going to gender clinics – reflected in the UK as a rise in the number of referrals to the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS). The chairwoman of the child and adolescent faculty at … Read More
HPV vaccination jabs are vital to beat cervical cancer
This is important. Routine vaccination of Scottish girls in the 12-13 age group against the human papillomavirus (HPV) has led to a dramatic fall in the disease that leads to cancer of the cervix. Vaccination works again! The HPV vaccination … Read More
Fewer teens are smoking despite vape increase
Teenagers given good health information, I believe, will always act responsibly, by and large. This is proved by national surveys in several countries indicating smoking among the young has continued to fall in recent years, despite a rapid growth in e-cigarette use. … Read More
How to make simple routine changes for sleep-deprived kids
A few weeks ago I answered a letter from a woman whose grandson was having difficulty sleeping. Since then I’ve had several more. It seems to be an almost universal problem and I thought the topic could do with further … Read More
Prostate genes make it easier to detect cancer early
This doesn’t sound like much – the recent discovery of another 17 genes that raise the chances of developing prostate cancer – when we already know of six that do the same thing. But it’s a British research breakthrough that … Read More