Post Archive by Month

Treating irritable bowel ­syndrome is notoriously ­difficult because the cause is elusive. This common digestive ­disorder affects up to one in 10 ­people and it is ­characterised by ­abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhoea or ­constipation but symptoms vary as do ­responses to diet … Read More

Psychologists think you’re doing the job you’re doing because of your personality. Do you believe that? Well researchers analysed the personality profiles of thousands of people across more than 250 jobs to learn how personality shapes – and can be … Read More

One of the most prominent ­effects of ageing is weakening of muscles and loss of muscle mass, strength and ­endurance. But if we knew which genes were responsible for muscle ­ageing could we delay it? A study by Nottingham Trent … Read More

Recently a girlfriend of mine had a stroke. She was discovered to have atrial fibrillation but wasn’t given an anticoagulant. As a result she developed a clot, as people with AF will, hence the stroke. She was lucky. The clot … Read More

Turns out I have a special interest in this latest advice about concussion during sports. I’ve been tracking updates ever since one of my sons, who played school rugby, was concussed during a match. Pitch-side attention to such episodes was … Read More

Artificial Intelligence is revolutionising medical research with new discoveries, not least those revealing the secrets of ECGs (electrocardiograms) that our eyes can’t see. And in doing so AI can predict the risk of developing heart disease, and even the risk of early … Read More

Even though the proportion of people who don’t smoke every day has increased over the past 20 years, smoking is still a subject for discussion. And according to a new study the proportion that are motivated to quit smoking is … Read More

Attention all insomniacs. A new study has found moving the clocks one hour forward in spring and one hour back in autumn has a short-lived, though ­substantial effect on how long we sleep. The University of Bristol-led study analysed sleep data from … Read More

The liver is one of the most important organs in the body. It’s a detox factory breaking down potentially harmful chemicals into harmless ones, including drugs and alcohol. But that’s not all. We now know it also flushes out cholesterol … Read More

Autism spectrum disorder, ASD, can run in families, but rather than being inherited could it be down to a parent’s job and the skills they need to do their job, affecting their children? Sounds far-fetched? Well, I thought so till … Read More