People stuck sitting in tight airplane seats for an entire long-haul flight are at risk of dangerous DVTs. But somehow immobile, hibernating bears are not. Now scientists know why. Recently, Thienel et al (Science, 2023) report an analysis of the thrombo-inflammatory machinery in hibernating brown bears (Ursus arctos), which rarely suffer from DVT despite […]
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Babies have more than 200 previously unknown viral families within their gut. This large number came as a surprise to researchers from the University of Copenhagen (Shah SA et al, 2023), who recently studied the nappies of 647 Danish babies and made the first mapping of its kind. The researchers found and mapped a […]
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Ghana has become the first country to approve a new malaria vaccine described as a “world changer” by scientists who developed it at the University of Oxford. The World Health Organization says a child dies every minute from malaria in Africa, where it is estimated that nine out of 10 malaria deaths occur. It […]
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A new COVID-19 variant dubbed Arcturus, which is driving a surge of fresh cases in India, has some unique symptoms in children, experts have pointed out. The XBB.1.16 strain, a sub-variant of Omicron, has been found in 22 countries, including Singapore, Australia, the UK and the US. It is believed to be responsible for […]
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General practitioners in the UK are experiencing the highest stress and lowest job satisfaction when compared with colleagues in nine other high income countries, a study (below) has shown. The report by the Health Foundation analysed data from the Commonwealth Fund’s survey of 9526 GPs in 10 high income countries, including 1010 in the UK. […]
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At least one person has died, and 96 others are unwell or very unwell, in an outbreak of Blastomycosis – which is an infection caused by a fungus called Blastomyces – at a northwest Michigan paper mill. Federal investigators are investigating this unprecedented number of a rare and potentially deadly fungal infection. The fungus lives […]
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For the first time, NHS England has published data that measures waits of more than 12 hours from arrival at A&E, as overall waiting lists have climbed to a new record high. The government target for A&E is 4 hours, not 12 hours, and 95% of patients are meant to achieve that. But on average, […]
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The number of people living with diabetes has topped five million (i.e. nearly 10% of the population) for the first time, according to Diabetes UK. Their new figures show that 4.3 million people are now living with a diagnosis of diabetes in the UK. Registration figures for 2021-22 are up by 148,951 from 2020-21, […]
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Junior doctors begin a four-day strike over pay today. Teachers, train and London Underground staff, and civil servants have all walked out in recent weeks, in the latest wave of industrial action. The doctors say years of below-inflation pay increases mean they have effectively had a 26% pay cut since 2008. The strike by […]
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Many – including MyHSN – think the terms ‘junior doctor’ and ‘trainee doctor’ and ‘trainee’ should be abolished. ‘Junior’ doctors make up almost half of all doctors in the UK – of the over 125,000 doctors in NHS hospitals and the community in England, over 50,000 are junior doctors. It is hoped that acknowledging doctors’ […]
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