What? In a medical world dominated by quick fixes and potent prescriptions, a recent study has suggested a turn of tide for a common condition – acute low back and neck pain. Opioids, one of the most frequently prescribed medicines for these conditions, have been put under the microscope, and the findings might not be […]
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What? In an unprecedented move, NHS England has unveiled a major workforce plan aimed at doubling the number of university places for medical students, creating thousands of new roles, and possibly shortening medical degrees. At present, the NHS grapples with over 110,000 vacancies, causing massive strain on existing staff and impacting patient care. Prime Minister […]
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Why are senior doctors going on strike? Senior hospital doctors – called consultants – in England have voted to strike for two days next month, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said. The BMA is the main doctors union. On 20th and 21st July 2023, the hospital consultants will walk out. There was a high […]
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Sharp rise in teenage girls with eating disorders during COVID A recently published study in the Lancet has found there has been a sharp rise in teenage girls in the UK with eating disorders, during the COVID pandemic. The analysis (done in general practice) by the Universities of Manchester, Keele and Exeter, looked at nine […]
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Power of touch: blind women helping to detect breast cancer in India Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed (non-skin) cancer worldwide. In India, it is the leading cause of death from cancer among women, but 60% of cases are diagnosed at stage three or four of the disease, resulting in a significant reduction in […]
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Antidepressants: two million taking them for 5 years or more More than a quarter of patients on antidepressants in England – about two million people – have been taking them for five years, the BBC has found. More than eight million people in England are on antidepressants, which is over 12% of the population. They […]
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Super-engineered vaccines developed which may end polio Scientists have ‘super-engineered’ polio vaccines to prevent them mutating into a dangerous form that can cause outbreaks and paralysis. Polio can spread into the nervous system, causing paralysis. Cases have fallen by more than 99% since the late 1980s and about 20 million people who would have been […]
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Applications of ChatGPT in medical practice, education and research ChatGPT, which can automatically generate written responses to queries using internet sources, soon went viral after its release at the end of 2022. Its role in medicine has been debated recently in the Clinical Medicine journal (Sedaghat, 2023) from which this blog is derived. “The performance […]
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How to live longer – be active not passive Health – and longevity – is unevenly distributed across socioeconomic status. Persons of lower income, education, or occupational status experience worse health, and die earlier than do their better-off counterparts. These disparities can be lessened by being active not passive in terms of decisions about your […]
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What? New figures reveal that England is experiencing a concerning surge in sexually transmitted infections (STIs), particularly gonorrhoea and syphilis, following a decline during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2022, there were a staggering 82,592 cases of gonorrhoea, marking a 50% increase from the previous year. Additionally, syphilis cases rose by 15%, reaching the highest recorded […]
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