The scope of therapeutic applications of botulinum toxin has expanded far beyond the treatment of frown lines and crow’s feet. Thirty years ago in 1987, a Canadian ophthalmologist Jean Carruthers and her British dermatologist husband, Alistair, discovered that injecting a potentially lethal neurotoxin (botulinum) could soften lines and wrinkles. When Alistair who originally trained and worked as […]
Would you know how to use an EpiPen (epinephrine injection) if someone collapsed with a severe allergic reaction? The recent inquest into the death of Nasar Ahmed, a 14-year-old boy from North London, who died from an allergic reaction to his school dinner, revealed teachers had his EpiPen in their hands, but did not know […]
Mental health is no longer the taboo subject it once was and a good job too, with one in four people suffering from a mental health problem at some point in their lives. In addition, more and more people are looking to move away from pharmaceutical drugs to treat mental health problems. I think people […]
City life may substantially increase a young person’s risk of having psychosis, including hearing voices and feeling extremely paranoid, according to a new study from King’s College London and Duke University. Published today in Schizophrenia Bulletin, the study found that British adolescents raised in major cities in England and Wales were over 40 per cent more likely to […]
As someone who has carried out injections into the eyeball of patients with Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), I was excited and pleased to learn about the research being undertaken at the University of Birmingham to develop eye drops which do the same job. These eye drops have only been tested in the laboratory up […]
Proton pump inhibitors, which suppress acid production in the stomach, are widely prescribed for heartburn. The usual advice is to take them 30 minutes before breakfast, because eating causes acid to be to produced. However, recent studies suggest that these drugs may be more effective when taken before supper at night. A 2003 U.S. study […]
The Swiss are worried about the role that antiperspirants, and specifically aluminium salts in antiperspirants, may play in breast cancer, and they have taken steps to do something about it. On Tuesday the 5th of May 2017 their National Council (Conseil National) voted by 126 to 58 to approve a bill (postulat) that the Federal […]
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Doctors often find it challenging to make a positive diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), which affects at least one in five people at some point in their lives. The symptoms of IBS, including pain, bloating and altered bowel habits, have significant overlap with a number of other conditions including Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and […]
Why is it important that, for the very first time, we have reengineered Baker’s yeast to manufacture penicillin? Our team at Imperial College, London, inserted fungus genes into a yeast cell to make it produce penicillin molecules and our results are published in the journal Nature Communications this week. The reason that this is exciting […]
Should you take blood pressure pills first thing? When it comes to taking certain medications for cardiovascular health, there is an optimum ‘time slot’ in the day based on our 24-hour body clock. Also known as the circadian rhythm, this controls everything from sleep patterns to hormones, to metabolism, bowel movements, blood pressure and the […]
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