NHS urges famillies to get MMR vaccinations

April 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment
NHS Lothian

Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh (Photo: Tom Freeman)

In light of the measles epidemic in Wales and the threat of imminent spread to the rest of Britain, NHS Lothian has highlighted the importance of MMR vaccinations. In a press release from the NHS, families are urged to ensure that they are protected from measles, mumps and rubella (MMR).

Gareth Colfer-Williams, 25, died on Thursday at his home in Swansea, the city at the centre of an epidemic of the disease. Further investigations are being undertaken by the Swansea coroner to establish the cause of death. However, the risk is still high for those who have not had the two MMR vaccinations.

NHS Lothian has admitted that a significant number of Lothian’s teenagers and young adults are considered at risk from measles, mumps and rubella, as they may not have completed or started the course of the vaccine as a child. NHS Lothian is now offering the MMR vaccine to teenagers in schools and through their GPs.

Professor Alison McCallum, the Director of Public Health and Health Policy at NHS Lothian, said:

“Measles, Mumps, and Rubella are preventable by two doses of the MMR vaccine and I would urge all parents to ensure that their children are fully protected from these three diseases. We are now offering the MMR vaccination as part of the school immunisation programme and hope more of our young people will take up the opportunity to protect themselves.”

She said it is now crucial that the course of the vaccine was finished, or in some cases, that young people began the course. Professor McCallum added: “We hope that parents and young people realise that it is never too late to be protected against these diseases.”

Measles is a very infectious virus that causes a fever, cough and rash but can also cause serious problems including blindness and encephalitis (swelling of the brain). Mumps can also cause fever along with painful swollen glands in the face and neck and can result in permanent deafness. Rubella is a milder infection but if caught during pregnancy it can cause serious damage to the unborn child.

For an updated timeline on the MMR autism fraud story from journalist Brian Deer, go to: http://briandeer.com/solved/bmj-wakefield-timeline.htm

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Splashback causing waves for Leith Councillors

March 30, 2012 By 1 Comment

Source: Greener Leith

Leith local election candidates faced the voters last night at the Leith Links hustings.  On the menu were crucial issues for the port  including the biomass proposal and the tram project. 

Leith Waterworld was also discussed and the closure of the family-friendly pool last January has not deterred campaigners, Splashback, from trying to reopen it. 

Edinburgh Napier News spoke to Johnny Gailey, one of the Splashback leaders.   

 

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Councillors pedalling fast to fight pollution

March 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Gordon MacKenzie speaks to Spokes supporters at the 2012 local election hustings.

It’s campaign time  and on May the 3rd  voters will  choose the future of the city transport. 

 Transport had been in the spotlight in recent years due to the troubled tram project.  Now Edinburgh faces another challenge with European Union strict standards on air pollution.  The Green party have highlighted the deadline for the city to reach acceptable air pollution levels by 2015.  If the council do not meet these targets the taxpayer will face a heavy financial penalty.  

Spokes is an Edinburgh charity organisation that focuses on bicycle transport but also green issues.  A hustings was held on Thursday  29th  March to question the councillors responsible for this important issue.

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Chronic pain patients left waiting

March 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

An FOI request made by the Scottish Labour Party has revealed that some patients suffering from chronic pain are waiting for more than 6 months before their first appointment.

The findings have revealed that 1,866 patients are waiting for their first appointment, whilst over 1,000 people are awaiting a follow-up appointment.

The worst waiting times exist in NHS Shetland, where patients may have to wait up to 33 weeks before they see someone. Next on the list was NHS Grampian, with a 30 week wait, and third was NHS Lothian, with waits of up to 22 weeks.
Scottish Labour have previously put in several other requests to the Scottish NHS. In August last year they revealed that NHS Dumfries and Galloway had spent £162,835 on voluntary redundancy deals. 6 people took up the offer in 2010-2011, which the local authority offered as a way of cutting long-term front line costs. The FOI request stated that voluntary redundancies had increased by 4x as much in the last four years.

The party also revealed that the Scottish Government had spent £600,000 of taxpayers money on sending Scottish patients to Bath for treatment, rather than sending them to hospitals within Scotland.

The Shadow Secretary for Health, Jackie Baillie MSP, stated that “forcing patients who are suffering from [...] excruciating painful conditions to endure long, gruelling waits and arduous journeys for treatment is grossly unfair and unacceptable [...] I fear efforts to help treat people living in chronic pain are being hampered by the SNP government cutting over 4,500 and the budget of our NHS by £319 million.

“We believe that there is a serious gap in care for sufferers of chronic pain in Scotland and it doesn’t make sense to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds sending Scottish patients on journeys of hundreds of miles to seek treatment in England.”

The findings revealed that only two Scottish Health Boards had set up a Managed Clinical Network (MCN). Ms Baillie states that Labour would “put in place funding to ensure that there are managed clinical networks for chronic pain in every health board across Scotland”. A press release on the party’s website describes an MCN as “an innovative and widely-supported way of treating patients that aims to breakdown existing structures” so that “the right treatment gets to the right patient at the right time”.

Sandra Mair, Deputy Chief Operating Officer for NHS Lothian, disputed the findings. In a statement released to Edinburgh Napier News, she described the waiting time “for a second appointment with a consultant in Lothian [as] less than 12 weeks with the majority of those being check - ups to determine how treatment is progressing. Patients are prioritised according to their needs.”

“NHS Lothian is committed to continuing our good work in the area of chronic pain management and we are continually looking at ways of further improving our service.”

 

Filed Under: Headlines, Health, Uncategorized

Video: Scotland’s health improves due to smoking ban

March 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Six years have passed since the implementation of the Scottish smoking ban and new evidence suggests the nation is healthier as a result of the change in legislation.

The ban was introduced to protect people from the dangers of passive smoking in public areas. Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) has revealed that it has proved a success among both smokers and non-smokers with 83 per cent of adults supporting the ban and an 86 per cent reduction in second hand smoke in bars.

Speaking about the ban, Sheila Duffy Chief Executive of ASH Scotland outlined the benefits of the ban.

“Six years on we can clearly see how Scotland’s smoke-free law is benefiting people. The law was opposed by the tobacco industry who sought to delay and derail it, much as they are doing with the current legislation. Tobacco smoke is a toxic substance and poses a threat to health, particularly to children’s health. We need to continue to strive for people’s right to breathe clean air.”

A study carried out earlier this month by the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Health and Wellbeing, showed that complications in pregnancy have fallen as a result of the ban. It was found that there had been a decrease in the number of babies being born prematurely and a reduction of infants being born underweight.

Dr Jill Pell who led the research team said:

“These reductions occurred both in mothers who smoked and those who had never smoked. While survival rates for pre-term deliveries have improved over the years, infants are still at risk of developing long-term health problems so any intervention that can reduce the risk of pre-term delivery has the potential to produce important public health benefits.”

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Gene linked to life threatening flu

March 26, 2012 By 1 Comment

A lack or low content of the protein IFITM3 due to genetic mutation can change a harmless flu into a life-threatening disease. This information was announced in a collaborative study which included contributions from Edinburgh University and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute among others.

While most people recover well from a flu, some have to be hospitalized with life-threatening symptoms.”We had little idea why this small number of people was so severely affected,” says Professor Tim Walsh from the Critical Care Medicine Department at the University of Edinburgh. Previous studies showed that protein IFITM3 plays a crucial role in blocking the growth of influenza viruses. The protein, which sits in the membrane, is suspected to hinder viruses from entering cells and subsequently their replication.

The initial study was done on mice lacking the IFITM3 gene and showed that these mice were more likely to express severe symptoms of flu when exposed to the viruses. A subsequent screening of patients who had been admitted to hospital with severe flu revealed a mutation in the IFITM3 gene in some of the patients.

“Our research is important for people who have this variant as we predict their immune defences could be weakened to some virus infections. Ultimately as we learn more about the genetics of susceptibility to viruses, these people can take informed precautions, such as vaccinations to prevent infection,” says Professor Paul Kellam from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.

Relating the genetic composition of a person to their susceptibility to viral infections will help scientists find the best cure for patients.

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Nurse suspended over child abuse claims

March 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

An experienced nurse has been suspended from her post after being charged with committing sexual offences against a minor.

Rhona Sharman, 50, has been suspended from her position as a staff nurse in West Lothian by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). The ban is expected to last 18 months while the accused faces the criminal charges.

The nurse has been charged with taking indecent photographs of a child, causing an older child to be present while engaging in sexual activity, communicating indecently with an older child and causing an older child to participate in sexual activity.

According to the NMC the offences are alleged to have taken place between August and October last year and involve a child aged between 13 and 16.

Douglas Sharman, 46, is also facing two charges of intercourse with an older child, causing an older child to participate in sexual activity, causing an older child to be present while engaging in sexual activity, communicating indecently with an older child and taking indecent photographs of a child.

Since being charged by Strathclyde Police on October 28, Ms Sharman has not carried out any clinical duties.

Internal investigation

The NMC investigating committee ruled that it was in the public interest to suspend the nurse until the council had completed its investigation into the allegations.

A statement from the panel said: “This is one of those rare cases where public interest alone necessitates an interim suspension order as an appropriate response. The panel is of the view that the allegations, if proven, suggest that you demonstrated poor judgement.

Your position as a registered nurse requires you to maintain certain standards including that you must always act lawfully, whether those laws relate to your professional practice or personal life, and that you must uphold the reputation of your profession.

“The panel considered that the reputation of the profession would be damaged if an order were not in place… the alleged behaviour would fall well below the public’s expectation of the behaviour of a registered nurse.”

They noted that the alleged incidents had taken place outside work.

Chris Dickson, Ms Sharman’s lawyer, said the accused denied the allegations made against her.

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Cameron pledges boost to dementia care and research

March 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

David Cameron is expected to pledge to double funding for dementia research by 2015 to £66 million.

It is hoped that this funding increase will ensure that the UK will become “the world leader for dementia research and care”. With the figure of dementia sufferers set to rise to 1 million within the next decade the cost of health and social care related to the disease is already at £23 billion per year. This figure surpasses the cost of cancer, stroke and heat disease treatment. Mr. Cameron is also expected to lay out plans to ensure that the NHS can deal with the ever increasing numbers.

The Prime minister will say that current understanding and awareness of the disease is “shockingly low” and that the government must tackle in the same way that cancer was tackled in the ’70s and AIDS in the ’80s.

Mr. Cameron will call Dementia, “One of the greatest challenges of our time is what I’d call the quiet crisis, one that steals lives and tears at the hearts of families, but that relative to its impact is hardly acknowledged.

“Dementia is simply a terrible disease. And it is a scandal that we as a country haven’t kept pace with it.”

Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley has also revealed that a new screening programme will be launched in an effort to catch the disease in its early stages. GPs will offer patients routine memory tests, as well as existing tests for heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

Chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, Jeremy Hughes said the plans were ”an unprecedented step towards making the UK a world leader in dementia”. Hughes added, ”Doubling funding for research, tackling diagnosis and calling for a radical shift in the way we talk, think and act on dementia will help to transform lives.”

Kirsty Jardine, Awareness Manager for Alzheimer’s Scotland spoke to us about the implications of Cameron’s announcement in Scotland. Click below to listen to the full interview.


 

Scotland Dementia Stats

  • In Scotland around 7 thousand people are a diagnosed with dementia every year.
  • Dementia is most common in older people, but can affect people in their 40s or 50s or even younger. Approximately 2,500 people with dementia are under the age of 65.
  • Scotland’s population is aging, which will have a significant impact on the number of people with dementia.
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10,000 to participate in Lung Cancer trial

March 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Ten thousand smokers will participate in a new lung cancer screening trial, according to Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer.

Sir Harry Burns announced the trial will test the cost-effectiveness of EarlyCDT lung, a simple blood test used to detect the disease in its earliest stages.  Current screening methods only detect advanced lung cancer.

The trial will involve people who have smoked the equivalent of 20 cigarettes a day for 20 years.

Half the participants will receive the EarlyCDT test, while half will not be screened.  At the end of the trial, the clinical outcomes and the overall cost of care for both groups will be compared.

Sir Harry Burns said: “The earlier a cancer is diagnosed the greater the chance it can be treated successfully, and currently 85 percent of patients with lung cancer remain undiagnosed until the disease has reached an advanced stage. . . By testing those at greatest risk of developing lung cancer, and diagnosing it at its earliest possible stage, we stand a better chance of being able to treat the cancer successfully.”

According to government statistics one in five deaths in Scotland are smoking-related.  Illness associated with smoking costs NHS Scotland over 400 million annually.

EarlyCDT-Lung testing has been used in the United States for two years.  According to Oncimmune, the pharamecutical firm that developed the test, it is “performing commercially as expected” there.

Burns hopes that use of new testing procedures will help NHS Scotland increase early detection of Lung cancer by 25%.

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Archbishop makes controversial claims to cut abortion rates

March 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, has made controversial claims that women should be shown scans of their unborn child before proceeding with an abortion.

The leader of Scotland’s Catholic Church said he thinks the NHS should introduce the measure which is currently used in America in order to reduce terminations in Scotland. In the US currently, there are seven states which require women to receive ultra sound scans and descriptions of the foetus before proceeding with an abortion.

Anti-abortion campaigners are in agreement with Cardinal O’Brien saying that if these procedures are in place they may help persuade women not to go through with the abortion after seeing their unborn baby and how developed they are. Approximately 200,000 abortions are carried out in Scotland every year.

These comments come on the 15th anniversary of the Glasgow-based Cardinal Winning pro-life initiative which offers help for women facing crisis pregnancies. Sister Roseann Rweddy who runs the initiative said that around 120 babies are alive today because their mothers availed of their service.

A Marie Stope International Spokesperson said that the comments made by Cardinal O’Brien are deeply worrying.

“We believe the Catholic Church in Scotland’s desire for women to be forced to have ­- and look at – a scan of the foetus before being granted an abortion is deeply worrying.  This is something we’ve increasingly seen in the US over the previous year, and in several states this has in fact passed into law.

We do not want to see a situation like this in UK, where a woman’s right to choose and access this procedure is gradually eroded.  Women invariably know whether it is the right time in their life to have a child, and the decision to choose to terminate a pregnancy must be theirs to make without any further barriers being introduced.”

What do you think?

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Daylight-saving time on the proof

March 26, 2012 By 1 Comment

Every year we turn our clocks forward by an hour at the last weekend in March. This year the change to daylight-saving time, or summer time as many people call it, took place yesterday, on March the 25th.

Summer time will reduce energy costs by aligning the time we spend awake and working with daylight. Since it’s introduction in 1916 the clock change has caused many debates and has resulted in many research studies. Research teams have proposed health risks due to the change in clock time twice a year, saying it has similar repercussions to jetlag, shift work and sleep deprivation.

Imre Janszky from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm in Sweden has found in a second study that the hour of clock change in the end of March has a short-term influence on the risk of suffering from an acute heart attack (also known as acute myocardial infarction). With an international team of scientists, he found that the sleep deprivation caused by the one hour of time difference resulted in a 4% increase in people admitted to the coronary care units in Sweden over a period of approximately one week. “The sleep-wake cycle appears to require several days to adjust to the official time after the shift,” he states.

The daylight-saving adjustment has also been criticized for not having a significant impact on energy consumption. Dr Simon I Hill and his team from the University of Cambridge   found that “having BST year-round would lead to energy savings on the order of at least 0.3% in the months in which the UK currently has GMT” (winter time).

This is one of the reasons for the proposed Daylight Saving Bill in the UK which received ministerial backing last autumn for a trial period of three years. The switch to the GMT+1 timezone would help aligning waking hours with daylight hours in Britain.The daylight-saving time has reportedly been found to reduce the risk of accidents. In January, however, the bill was brought to a halt due to a lack of time in the parliament and the Scottish Government has been reported to object  because of the longer duration of darkness in the morning.

The recent change of the clock is expected to raise the discussion again.

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Major fire at Astley Ainslie hospital

March 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

73 patients were forced to evacuate from Astley Ainslie hospital when a fire raged through the building yesterday evening.

Fire crews received a call at 5.19pm, and seven appliances were sent from four stations across Edinburgh to tackle the blaze.

[Read more...]

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Murray to take on Falla in Miami

March 23, 2012 By 1 Comment

By: Pamela Paterson

British Number One Andy Murray will be hoping to forget his early exit from the Indian Wells Masters when he takes on world number 71 Alejandro Falla in the second round of the Miami Masters later on today.

Murray lost to Guillermo Garcia Lopez in the first round of the championship in California earlier this month and will be aiming to avoid making the same mistakes when he takes on Falla.

Murray has won 14 of his 17 matches this year. He has beaten the 28-year-old Colombian during both of their previous matches.

Murray is aiming for his 23rd career title, and with his new coach Ivan Lendl, hopes to achieve his first grand slam win this year. He is currently ranked fourth in the world, behind Djokovic, Nadal and Federer.

Earlier this week Murray called for tennis players and other athletes to be given regular heart tests, after footballer Fabrice Muamba’s suffered a cardiac arrest on Saturday. The Bolton player collapsed during his team’s match against Tottenham in the FA Cup quarter-final, but is now showing signs of recovery.Murray believes that players in every sport should have screenings in order to be able to compete.

He told MSN Sport, “This has happened too many times. Here in the States it’s happened in high school and college basketball games and, of course, it’s happened a few times in football. With all the pressure and stress of modern sport you have no idea how much you are pushing yourself on the pitch or court, I think it’s something that’s just got to be done.”

The Scot added that he has been having regular heart checks for years. “I’ve been doing my tests for three years now so I have heart scans, heart monitors and other tests,’ Murray said. “I started when these things seemed to be happening more often. It’s clear to me that all the teams should be checked. I’m not sure if they do, but I know in tennis we don’t.”

Murray also showed another side to his character while taking part in the latest advert for tennis racket company, Head. In it, he demonstrates his skills at several other jobs, when asked at a press conference what his profession would be if he wasn’t a tennis player.

 

 

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“Hibernation” Could Help Stroke Recovery

March 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A technique which cools the human body, inducing a kind of hibernation, is to be used to see if it will help the recovery of stroke victims. The technique, which recuduces body temperature from 36.8C to between 34C and 35C has already been used to treat brain injury after cardiac arrest or birth defects.

Inducing hypothermia by use of cooling pads and intravenous fluids, the procedure has been successful in small-scale trials, but the process by which it helps is not yet fully known. Theories suggest that when cooled, the brain requires less oxygen, so giving doctors more time to help prevent damage.

The clinical trials are being run by Friedrich-Alexander-University in Germany in collaberation the University of Edinburgh and are likely to last until 2016 or 2017 . They will involve around 1500 people across Europe, with 200 from the UK.

It is hoped that if these trials are successful, the chances of a complete recovery from a stroke will be increased from 1 in 13 to 1 in 10. Currently there are few treatments available for stroke victims.

Dr Malcolm Macleod, head of experimental neuroscience at the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh commented that  “every day 1,000 Europeans die from stroke – that’s one every 90 seconds – and about twice that number survive but are disabled. Our estimates are that hypothermia might improve the outcome for more than 40,000 Europeans every year.”

Currently in Scotland a third of all strokes are fatal and although survival rates have improved over the last decade they are the third highest killer after cancer and coronary heart disease.

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Possible Junk Food Advert Ban

March 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Scotland’s Public Health Minister, Michael Matheson,  has introduced a pre-9pm ban on the television advertising of foods which are high in fat, sugar and salt content.

Matheson has also written to Westminster Health Secretary Andrew Lansley asking whether he would support a move to introduce this ban across the UK.

“We want to introduce a pre-watershed ban and are looking to the UK Government to support such a move which would carry the additional benefit of encouraging our partners in the food industry to reformulate their produce to lower salt, fat and sugar content,” said Matheson.

The ban would restrict the viewing of junk food and sugary snacks and affect a wide range of corporations such as Pizza Hut, Mars, Cadbury, KFC and McDonalds.

With the highest obesity rate in the UK, the new proposal is intended to combat Scotland’s obesity problem. Particularly Scotland’s childhood obesity which is a concern for heath experts with 1 in 5 primary school children being considered overweight. Currently there is a ban on advertising junk food during children programs, how ever Matheson is seeking tighter regulations and further actions.

“Broadcast advertising influences the choices made by children and can shape their attitudes to food as they grow into adulthood.  Tackling obesity and encouraging people to make healthier life choices is one of the most important things we can do to improve the health of our nation,” continued Matheson.

Even if Westminster refuses to join with the ban, the Scottish Government with still mover to introduce the ban within the country.

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First scientific proof of exercise-induced female orgasm

March 19, 2012 By 1 Comment

Women can feel sexual pleasure or even have an orgasm when exercising, a new study proved. The research group from the Indiana University Bloomington found that about 40 % of the 370 women responding to the survey had experienced exercise-induced orgasms or sexual pleasure in more than 10 occasions. The most ‘rewarding’ type of exercise in terms of sexual pleasure was found to be abdominal exercising. Debby Herbernick, a well-known researcher, advice columnist and author told EurekAlert that the study might help women to feel more comfortable and normal with their exercise experiences.

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Rugby legend donates brain to science

March 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Scottish rugby star John Beattie has announced he intends to donate his brain to science after he dies. The revelation follows a recent study which suggests that rugby players are at risk of similar long term brain injuries to those sustained by boxers. His brain will be used in a neuroscience study to determine the effect of regular head impacts on the condition of the brain. Over the next few months he will undergo a series of tests and scans which will be followed by an autopsy when he dies. This should give an accurate indication of the level of damage which has been incurred during a rugby players career.

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Concerns over standard of home care for the elderly

March 16, 2012 By 3 Comments
The UK’s home care service has been described as “shocking and disgraceful” by a consumer group today. 
Many elderly people have been left with food out of reach, in soiled beds and without their medication, a care association has said.
The UK Home Care Association said it was never acceptable for people to experience rushed or inadequate care.

Better care for the elderly: The UK Home Care Association reveal shocking conditions in care homes. Image: Nick Fraser/ CC license

[Read more...]

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‘No Smoking Day’ urges Scots to quit

March 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

With 25% of adults smoking cigarettes, Scotland has the UK’s highest percentage of smokers according to Government statistics.  With this in mind, the nation will participate in the 28th annual “No Smoking Day” on 14 March, Ash Wednesday.

This year the British Heart Foundation has merged with the  “No Smoking Day” charity, to support anti-smoking events at thousands of venues across the UK.

According to The Director of Policy and Communications for the BHF, “by joining forces we can enhance the No Smoking Day campaign and extend its reach, helping more people to quit… for both organisations, the opportunities posed by this merger were too good to miss.”

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Young mother died in paracetamol overdose, enquiry hears.

March 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The dangers of an over-the-counter painkiller overdose Image: pepedelaolla de la olla

A 20 year old woman died after taking too many paracetamol tablets, a coroner has told an enquiry today.

Desiree Philips upped her dose of the over-the-counter drug after a routine breast surgery and was found unconscious next to a packet of tablets at a home where she lived with her 11 -month – old son.

The inquest heard how Desiree died of liver failure on August 26 last year after being transferred to another hospital for a transplant operation.

Carmarthenshire Coroner Mark Leyton said: “Desiree was using paracetamol for pain relief and may have been exceeding the normal dose. But it remains unclear whether it was a built up or whether she took a large single dose.”

The case is the latest to present the danger of the drug when taken in an incorrect dose.

A Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Spokesman said: “Paracetamol is a safe and effective painkiller when used correctly and when dosage recommendations are followed. Every pack has a warning about overdose and instructions not to take more than eight tablets in any 24-hour period.”

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The message in Freddie Mercury’s silence

November 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

World Aid Day raises awareness around the globe. Photo: Courtesy UNAIDS

“Goodbye everybody – I’ve got to go, gotta leave you all behind and face the truth.”

These are some of the lines from one of the most famous songs in music history and looking back they seem hauntingly accurate. The song, written by Freddie Mercury, reached number one for the second time in 1991, staying there for five weeks following his death.

Mercury was a larger than life character and shocked the world by publicly announcing he was HIV positive one day before he died.

The legendary icon died at 45, from a type of bacterial pneumonia brought on by AIDS. He died in London, 20 years ago. Mercury is still well known for his flamboyant stage presence, powerful vocals and talented songwriting that has inspired millions.

With the anniversary of his death today, and the upcoming World AIDS Day next week, there are even more reports and research being published to raise awareness of the virus.

The purpose of World AIDS Day is to remind people around the world of the HIV and AIDS epidemic. It has been 30 years since AIDS was first reported, and it is estimated that today 34 million people are living with HIV around the globe.

World AIDS Day 2011 has a ‘looking forward’ theme with a focus on 2015.  The organisation, UNAIDS, which is a joint United Nations programme on HIV and AIDS, is leading the campaign with what they call ‘Getting to Zero’. The organisation claims “we have three main targets which are: zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS related deaths by 2015”.

UNAIDS is promoting a “smarter, faster, better campaign” to raise awareness of these targets. They may seem ambitious but with the global statistics of HIV and AIDS decreasing it might not be  impossible.

The total number of Scots with HIV is now 6,845 with 72% made up of males and 28% females. The main spread of HIV is mainly due to drug use and the sharing of needles and syringes.

The Scottish charity, Positive Help, has created services to help those who are affected by HIV and AIDS in the Edinburgh area. They provide a transport service, home support service and a children and young people befriending system. The befriending system is aimed at children from three to eighteen who are HIV positive, or have parents that are.

Angus Mackenzie from the charity claims, “the befriending system is very helpful to both children and teenagers, but also their parents.”

“There was one little boy we took to a festival and his reaction was just mind blowing, as if he’d never seen anything like it before.”

One of the biggest issues with HIV and AIDS is the embarrassment and taboo that still surrounds the virus toady. Mercury himself remained silent about his illness until one day before it killed him. Many suffer discrimination and feel restrictions in relationships with friends and family. This is what the befriending systems aims to prevent.

Despite the advances in life expectancy, Positive Help claims that those influenced by HIV still suffer physically, mentally and socially. Mental health issues are a problem with the virus as it can lead to ill health, depression, isolation and agoraphobia.

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“Chinese Army” couldn’t grit Edinburgh

November 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Central areas like the mound are being gritted, but will they go far enough?

A local Councillor has described Edinburgh’s attempt to keep the city’s streets safe during the winter season as “impossible for the Council to do, even if they got the Chinese army.”

The comments come as local residents raise concerns about the availability and distribution of grit as predictions of a harsh winter loom. Last year grit bins ran out of salt and members of the public were forced to buy their own or stay in their houses.

Councillor Norman Work, vice-convenor of Health and Social Care, has taken a controversial stance on the issue of whose responsibility it is for gritting Edinburgh’s roads.

Last year, he angered many Edinburgh residents when he said: “A lot of people think the Council should clear the pavements, but I think residents and shopkeepers should do it – unless you’re 90 years old. This is no time for laziness: why not clear your own pavement?

“I remember when people used to clear the pavements outside their own property.”

This year, he is again urging individuals to be more proactive. “People think the council’s going to come and dig their car out of their driveway.”

“If you’re able, get a shovel and help.”

The Council are setting up a scheme for members of the public to register as volunteers to help with the gritting.

Councillor Work said he would pitch in: “I’ve got a pair of wellies – I’ll get out and help.”

Yet he did promise that “there is more money” going towards gritting this year, with the Council having bought more bins and holding open discussions with local residents to improve on last year’s problems.

Suggested strategies include adapting vehicles to have shovels, and dumping builders’ bags of grit onto pavements to supplement the shortage of bins.

However,  Work pointed out bureaucratic issues in the system. “Health and safety is preventing the workers who bring the grit to replenish the bins. They bring it, then they can’t walk on the pavement.”

Grit poachers also undermine the Council’s efforts. “Sometimes the Council fill [the bins] and people come and steal it to sell on privately,”  Work added.

Distribution and restocking of bins are becoming an increasingly worrying issues for community members.

Gorgie and Dalry was identified as an area with a worryingly small number of salt or grit bins which are allocated unevenly. On Ardmillan Terrace there are two bins, but between there and Haymarket – a distance of two miles – there are no bins, while there are none at all north of Dalry Road.

Rona Brown, Secretary of the Community Council, said: “We shouldn’t have to wait for an accident to happen”.

Local resident Angela Astor expressed concern that they would run out, saying: “There definitely isn’t enough grit in the bins right now to last the winter.” She also claimed people have been urinating on the material making it impossible or difficult to use.

Chair of the local community council Maria Kelly said: “There is concern that the council is trying to dump salt responsibility on the neighbourhood community council.” She requested more salt bins last month, but has not received an acknowledgement from the Council.

The Council website has a map of bin distribution available here. They also invite requests for relocating bins.

Filed Under: All Politics, Health, Life and Society, Travel and Communities Tagged With: , , ,

Self-talk in sports helps to improve performance

November 24, 2011 By 1 Comment

Talking to yourself is not always bad,
according to a recent study.

Sports and exercise psychologist Dr David Tod, from Aberystwyth University, has found that positive self-talk has beneficial effects in sports performance.

The study suggests overcoming one’s weaker self is not always easy, even if one  regularly engages in sports. Many people often either lack motivation or tend to demotivate themselves and give up too early. Negative self-talk has always been believed to be counterproductive for motivation and success in sports. But “the existing literature suggests that negative self-talk does not impede performance,” said Tod’s report.  He claimed a little chatter with oneself during a run, combined with a bit of self-motivation can help to keep a person going when sports start to become laborious.

Performance benefits were clearly seen for positive self-talk, the team found. The study differentiated between instructional self-talk, which helped to improve technical performance, and motivational self-talk, which  increased strength and endurance. Both types of self-talk were found to positively influence performance. Talking to oneself, the study concludes, is not simply an activity that people regarded as weird do, it’s a common way to interact with oneself and keep oneself motivated.

“Novice athletes may benefit more frequently from the use of self-talk as compared with their skilled counterparts,” said the report. So the next time you’re out playing sports, try a bit of self-talk, it will help you to be more motivated and might even improve your performance.

Filed Under: Health, Science and Technology, Sports Tagged With: , , ,

Green spaces can improve your quality of life

November 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As the Woodland Trust says: "life is better with trees." Photo: Sunny Johnson

Plant a tree, save a life.

That’s the idea behind the Green Gym charity. With the help of the Dunfermline and West Fife Community Health Partnership, they aim to improve the lives of patients at Lynebank Hospital by planting trees.

The Green Gym charity encourages communities to work together to enhance their local areas by creating a green space. The aim of the scheme is to create a garden area at the hospital to promote positive health and wellbeing among patients, staff and visitors.

The charity running the Green gym claim a daily walk in a park can reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes and diabetes by 50%, cut breast cancer by 30% and Alzheimer’s by 25%.

They received a free 240-tree pack from the Woodland Trust. The environmental organisation has received over 1,000 community packs resulting in more than 200,000 native trees being planted all over the UK.

The Woodland Trust is supporting this project as it coincides with its main aims “we want to see no further loss of woodland and the creation of new native woodland.”

But the community packs are part of a bigger project. The Jubilee Woods scheme has a target of planting six million trees by the end of 2012.  It is one of a few projects in the UK that carry’s official Royal approval, with HRH the Princess Royal as its patron.

The charity’s aim is to raise awareness of the importance of parks. Over 33 million people in the UK choose to use their green spaces. Statistics show that the more often a person visits open green spaces the less often he or she will report stress related illnesses.

The Woodland Trust and Green Gym feel it is important to encourage people to take part in creating green spaces. This is because the local authorities are not legally required to provide, invest or maintain public parks and green spaces.

The Green Gym project will run for ten weeks in total with volunteers coming every Tuesday from 10am – 1pm. The initial five week period will finish on Tuesday 6th December. But it will pick up again on Tuesday 17th January until Tuesday 14th February.

The marketing and communications manager for Love Parks Week states “the Love Parks week is definitely the biggest public campaign”.

Filed Under: Conservation, Health, Life and Society Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Potentially promising new cancer treatment and biomarker

November 17, 2011 By 1 Comment

There have been great breakthroughs in cancer research.

by Sonja Klein

A potential new additional treatment for patients with advanced lung cancer
has been found in a collaboration study in Europe.

Patients diagnosed with stage III or stage IV lung cancer who have little hope of survival may have renewed hope with a new treatment that is currently being tested at various clinics throughout Europe. Non-small-cell lung cancer, a common type that often does not respond well to chemotherapy, has been treated with a combination of chemotherapy and a virus strain called TG4010. Patients that have not yet received chemotherapy, but were treated with the TG4010, on average had a higher survival rate than patients treated with standard chemotherapy.

However, treatment was not effective for all patients. Patients expressing a high percentage of a specific type of receptor on their “natural killer cells”, a sub-type of white blood cells, generally had a reduced survival rate. This knowledge can potentially be used as a biomarker which is an indicator substance in the human body that can be used to find out if a patient will respond positively to a treatment or not. At the current stage of cancer research many patients have to be treated with different types of chemotherapy until the right treatment is found. Testing patients for this specific type of receptor on the “natural killer cells” can reduce the number of tests people have to go through before they find the right treatment. This not only increases their chances of survival but also improves their quality of life.

Filed Under: Health Tagged With: , ,
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