Alcohol 'should have calorie labels'

31 October 2014 Last updated at 00:10 By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website

Alcohol should have a calorie content label in order to reduce obesity, according to public health doctors.

The doctors warn a large glass of wine can contain around 200 calories - the same as a doughnut.

Yet the Royal Society for Public Health says the vast majority of people are blissfully unaware.

Public Health Minister Jane Ellison said "great strides" had been made with labelling food, and that the government will look at the issue.

The drinks industry said it was open to the idea of calorie labels, but that labelling drinks with units of alcohol was more important.

The UK is one of the most obese nations in the world with about a quarter of adults classed as obese.

'Startling'

Food already comes with calorie information, but alcohol is exempt from EU food labelling laws.

And the European Commission is considering whether drinks should also carry such information.

Research by the Royal Society for Public Health suggested the measure would be popular with British drinkers.

The RSPH's chief executive, Shirley Cramer, told the BBC: "Quite startling really - 80% of adults have no idea what the calorie count is in anything they're drinking and if they do think they have an idea they totally underestimate it anyway.

"It could help the nation's waistlines as well as probably reduce alcohol consumption."

In a small pub experiment conducted by the society, people who were told the calories content of their drink consumed 400 fewer calories in a session.

How many calories

• A large 250ml glass of 8% wine is 170 calories
• The same amount of 14% wine is 230 calories
• A 275ml alcopop can be 170 calories
• A pint of 4% beer is more than 180 calories
• Four pints on a night out equates of two-and-a-half burgers or 73 minutes of running
• In comparison a sugary doughnut comes in around 200 calories

Source: Royal Society for Public Health, Drinkaware

Estimates suggest 10% of an adult's calorie intake comes from alcohol.

Gram for gram it is the second most calorie-dense source of energy, just behind fat.

'Open to discussion'

The Portman Group, which represents drinks manufacturers, said it took the health consequences of drinking "very seriously" and provided calorie information on the Drinkaware website.

In a statement it said: "Drinks producers can play a key role in informing and educating consumers and are open to further discussions about calorie information.

"However, it is essential that alcohol content, not calorie content, should primarily inform consumer decision-making."

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Brendan O'Donnell says cutting down on alcohol helped him lose more than 11 stone

Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said the government had been dragging its feet on the issue.

"A calorie-count on wine and beer bottles can't come soon enough.

"Just one premium lager contains by itself contains enough calories for a small meal and, added to the meal itself, eats up a chunk of anyone's maximum allowance."

Ms Ellison said: "It is very positive to see that people want more information to help them lead a healthier life.

"We have made great strides in food labelling and customers can see at a glance the calories they are consuming on many products.

"While it is already possible for alcohol producers and retailers to display calorie content on their labels, we will continue to look at what else can be done to help people make healthier lifestyle choices."

Jackie Ballard, the chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said: "Much more needs to be done to raise awareness of both the contents and the harms which can be caused by alcohol.

"You walk into any shop and the calorie, fat content, sugar and more are on the back of food packets and we don't see why alcohol should be any different."

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Why scratching 'intensifies itching'

30 October 2014 Last updated at 17:14

Research into itching has indicated why scratching can paradoxically make you feel more itchy.

A study in mice found that "scratch cycles" get harder and harder to break because of serotonin released into the system.

The research, which has not been tested in humans, indicates that blocking specific serotonin receptors in the spine could reduce chronic itching.

Dermatologists said the research could help towards effective itch control.

Itchy and scratchy

Itchiness can be caused by a number of factors, ranging from very minor irritation by dust and small hairs to serious skin conditions.

One of the purposes of scratching is to produce pain. This disrupts the itch by getting nerves to carry pain signals instead of itch signals.

The pain causes the "happy" neurotransmitter serotonin to be released by the brain, to control the pain.

But the serotonin then activates spinal cord nerve cells that control itch intensity when it reaches the spine, according to Prof Zhou-Feng Chen, director of Washington University's Center for the Study of Itch.

"In mice, there is a vicious itching [and] scratching cycle," Prof Chen said. "If you reduce the serotonin the itchy intensity reduces."

Pain barrier

Prof Chen said it was not feasible to block serotonin release, because that could have wide-ranging consequences. Serotonin is involved in growth, ageing, bone metabolism and in regulating mood.

The research indicated that one of the most promising ways of controlling chronic itching is to disrupt the interaction between serotonin and cells that relay itch signals to the brain, Prof Chen added.

A spokesman for the British Association of Dermatologists said the research could help better understanding of the itch mechanism, and ultimately could help the development of treatments for chronic itching.

"More effective ways of managing itch... would be hugely comforting for people with a wide range of conditions," he said.

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Genes 'play role in Ebola survival'

31 October 2014 Last updated at 00:36

Genetic factors could play an important role in whether people survive the Ebola virus, say US scientists.

A study of mice infected with the virus found they showed a number of different symptoms, with 19% remaining unaffected by the disease.

This could explain why some people recover from the illness while others die in pain, the scientists said.

Their study is published in the journal Science.

Scientists from the universities of Washington and North Carolina, and the National Institute of Health in Montana, examined mice they had infected with the same species of Ebola virus causing the current outbreak in West Africa.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

It may not be necessary to completely eliminate Ebola virus from the body during infection to ensure that there is no disease"

End Quote Prof Andrew Easton University of Warwick

Although all the mice lost weight in the first few days after infection, nearly one in five regained that weight within two weeks and showed no evidence of the disease.

But 70% of the mice became very ill, some showing signs of liver inflammation and a larger group having blood that took too long to clot.

These mice also had internal bleeding, swollen spleens and changes in liver colour.

They also had a greater than 50% chance of dying from the disease.

Host's genes

Angela Rasmussen, from the Katze Laboratory at the University of Washington, said the different ways in which the mice were affected mirrored the variety of symptoms seen in humans in the 2014 outbreak.

Recent Ebola survivors could have had immunity to this virus or a related virus which may have saved them, for example.

This would have meant the disease reacting in a particular way to a host's genes, which is seen with many other viruses.

Andrew Easton, professor of virology at the University of Warwick, said the study provided valuable information, but the data could not be directly applied to humans because they have a much larger variety of genetic combinations than mice.

He added: "The paper also does not assess the role of environmental factors that undoubtedly also play a role in the disease process such as the underlying health status of the at-risk population."

However, Prof Easton said the data suggested that "it may not be necessary to completely eliminate Ebola virus from the body during infection to ensure that there is no disease, and that reduction of virus growth in the body may offer alleviation from some aspects of the disease".

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

It will be important to see if a similar phenomenon is happening in humans"

End Quote Prof Jonathan Ball University of Nottingham

This suggests new treatments may not have to be as thorough as initially expected, he said.

'Intriguing'

Prof Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham, said some of the study's discoveries regarding blood clotting were interesting.

"In this mouse model study, the finding that levels of expression of a gene involved in coagulation differs between mice showing different severity of disease symptoms is really intriguing.

"Of course, this is merely an association and needs to be explored more to know definitively how expression is controlled and how it might influence disease.

Prof Ball added: "It will also be important to see if a similar phenomenon is happening in humans."

Another study published in Science, on how best to stop the transmission of the Ebola virus, concluded that funerals were "super-spreader events".

Researchers from Yale University, Oregon State University and Liberia, said funeral practices - which often involve washing, touching and kissing of the bodies - had to end in order to bring the disease under control.

They also said aggressive steps should also be taken "to isolate cases and and better protect healthcare workers".

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UK national sperm bank starts work

30 October 2014 Last updated at 01:00 By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website

A UK national sperm bank - charged with reversing a growing shortage of donor sperm - has started work in Birmingham.

Fertility clinics have become increasingly dependent on imported sperm giving rise to the so-called "Viking babies" phenomenon.

Meanwhile, data from the fertility regulator shows a 10th of IVF cycles are dependent on donated sperm or eggs.

And a third of procedures using donated material were for same-sex couples or single women.

The number of UK-based sperm donors has been increasing since 2004. However, demand has increased even faster.

Denmark and the United States have become major suppliers of sperm to British women.

Banking

The Department of Health has given £77,000 to fund a national sperm bank which will be based at Birmingham Women's Hospital.

There will be a corresponding campaign to "change the face" of sperm donation, which will be run by the National Gamete Donation Trust.

Sperm donors in the UK are mostly white, which leaves people from other ethnicities struggling to find a donor.

The project will start in Birmingham before being extending to cover the whole country.

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Mother to one-year-old twins Abi explains how she needed a Danish sperm donor

Dr Sue Avery, the director of the Birmingham Women's Fertility Centre, told the BBC News website: "The idea of the campaign is to focus on sperm donation as a tremendously positive thing to do and that the men who do this are very special.

"They're helping to build families.

"We're spending this money to start something that we hope will grow to the point where nobody has to import sperm."

Eventually the national bank could act like a "brokerage house" that connects donors in one part of the country with those in need elsewhere.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said the proportion of imported donor sperm was increasing every year.

"In part this is because the time and resources needed to recruit UK donors can sometimes make importation more viable," the body said.

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Chief Executive of the new sperm bank Laura Witjens: "We want sperm donors to be very proud of what they do"

People who need donated sperm included men who have had cancer treatment or had a genetic defect leaving them incapable of producing sperm.

The HFEA data also shows a rising number of women who are single or who have a female partner receiving treatment with donated sperm.

Growing problem

Dr Allan Pacey, the chair of the British Fertility Society, told the BBC: "We are importing as a nation more and more sperm from overseas, without being xenophobic it kind of just doesn't feel right, it's a problem that's not going away."

He argued simple economics could make it easier to import sperm than increase the number of donors.

But said the practice created problems such as making it much harder for children to meet their biological parents if they lived half a world away.

"Also I think there will always be some patients who, with regards to sperm donors, will want an individual that is more closely related to them in culture and language and outlook."

He added that sperm donation needed to become more ethnically diverse and it made sense to start the bank in multicultural Birmingham.

Jimmy, a 22-year old sperm donor from Coventry

I've gone to the Birmingham clinic about twice a month for the past nine months.

I initially started doing it because I had a friend who was struggling to have children and it made me want to help. I want to help other people, some who really go through it. I just think why not?

Obviously you are concerned but I have faith if someone has gone through this to have children they will go to the effort to make sure they have a good life.

I don't think of [babies conceived from my sperm] as my children as I think the parent is the person who brings them up.

I don't feel an emotional bond [to the children]. At my age now I don't know I would be a good parent.

Why choose Birmingham?

Laura Witjens, the chief executive of the National Gamete Donor Trust, said: "When people think of sperm donation they often only think about the physical act of producing sperm.

"Let's face it that can be off-putting and detract from the real issues. We're all set to change that outlook.

"Sperm donors are very special men who are doing something they and their families can be exceptionally proud of.

"These are men who are doing something life-changing for themselves and for others. It's time to shout about how fantastic these guys are."

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Care plan 'to ease hospital pressure'

30 October 2014 Last updated at 00:46 By Nick Triggle Health correspondent, BBC News

Vulnerable patients in England will get better support in the community as part of plans to ease pressure on hospitals, ministers say.

Joint teams of social care workers and NHS staff such as nurses and physios will become available seven days a week under the changes being unveiled.

The move is part of the government's Better Care Fund to join up the NHS and council-run social care systems.

It comes as a new analysis showed hospitals were under growing pressure.

The King's Fund think tank's quarterly monitoring report, covering the period from June to September, found that 5% of patients were spending four or more hours in A&E - the highest level at this time of year for a decade.

The review also highlighted that waiting times for routine operations, such as hip and knee replacements, had reached their highest levels since 2008 with 12.1% of patients waiting more than 18 weeks.

Meanwhile, the latest figures for the 62-day target for cancer treatment also show that it is being missed, although those figures only cover the period to June.

Where has the money come from?

The government is trumpeting the £5.3bn that has been set aside for the Better Care Fund.

None of this is new money as such, just existing funding streams that are being ring-fenced for this purpose.

The pot was originally set at £3.8bn. That included £3.3bn from the core NHS budget with the rest from money set aside for carers and capital expenditure.

This has been topped up by extra funds that have been put in by local areas that wanted to create bigger pooled budgets.

The £5.3bn represents less than 5% of the combined NHS and social care budgets.

King's Fund director of policy Richard Murray said the performance was a "significant cause for concern" and pointed to a difficult winter ahead.

But ministers are predicting pressures will ease from April when the Better Care Fund comes into place.

The pot, mainly sourced from NHS money, has been created to close the divide between the health and care systems, which elderly patients are particularly affected by.

It has been up to local areas to draw up their own plans, but they all involve some kind of collaboration between health and care staff and creating a single assessment system.

Ministers believe the plans will help prevent more than 160,000 hospital admissions, 2,000 care home admissions and result in more than 100,000 fewer days of unnecessary hospital care caused by delays in discharging patients.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "For years, successive governments and NHS leaders have talked about joining up our health and care services so people get better care at the right time and in the right place.

"The time for talk is over - our plans will make this vision a reality for patients and help deliver a sustainable future for the NHS.

"Too many families experience being passed from pillar to post between the NHS and their council endlessly repeating stories along the way."

Case study: A sign of things to come?

London's Queen Mary's Hospital runs a community rehabilitation service to help people recuperate after an accident or illness.

It is staffed by physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers and an elderly-care doctor, who all work together to help patients regain their mobility and independence.

Evidence suggests it has helped reduce readmissions to hospital and the numbers of people being placed in care homes.

But Local Government Association chairman David Sparks said the changes would fail unless the social care system was better funded - research by the group has suggested local authorities are being under-funded by a third.

He said without more money the whole system would "collapse".

"While we recognise these reforms have the ability to change health and social care for the better, the government must fund councils properly to ensure this happens."

Shadow care minister Liz Kendall said the scale of the plans were "depressingly unambitious".

"The government should have focused on integrating frontline services from day one, but instead they forced through a backroom reorganisation," she added.

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Cancer survival rates 'improving'

30 October 2014 Last updated at 12:59

Most people diagnosed with cancer in England in recent years are surviving for longer, according to the latest statistics.

Eighty per cent of those with breast, prostate and skin cancer are living for five years after diagnosis. The figure is 90% for testicular cancer.

Recently diagnosed prostate cancer patients will see a large improvement in their hopes of survival.

The figures are published by the Office for National Statistics.

The ONS report estimated the chances of people surviving for one year and for five years after being diagnosed with cancer in England.

The report looked at survival rates for 24 different common cancers diagnosed between 2008 and 2013.

It found survival improving for the majority of cancers, with survival generally higher in women.

Survival boost

For people with cancers diagnosed in 2013, the greatest improvement in survival chances will be in men with prostate cancer - from 83.6% to 87.6%.

High survival rates for prostate cancer and breast cancer are thought to be due to the increasing number of men and women getting their cancer diagnosed and treated at an early stage.

Other lesser-known cancers also showed promising improvements in the chances of survival.

For women with myeloma, or cancer of the white blood cells, there was a rise in five-year survival from 41.6% for those diagnosed in 2007-2011 to 46.2% for diagnosis between 2008 and 2012.

There were also large increases in survival chances for men with myeloma and men with leukaemia.

While some cancers have a good prognosis, others "remain extremely poor", the ONS report says.

Five-year survival estimates for cancers of the brain, lung, liver, pancreas and stomach are all below 19% for men and 22% for women.

Pancreatic cancer for both men and women has a survival rate of just 5.4% - the lowest in both sexes.

'Greater awareness'

Nick Ormiston-Smith, head of statistical information at Cancer Research UK, said more people were surviving cancer then ever before "thanks to better treatments, earlier diagnosis and greater awareness".

"But the story's not so positive for all types of cancer," he said.

"Lung, pancreatic, oesophageal cancer and brain tumours still have relatively low survival rates, partly because they tend to be diagnosed at a later stage when they're much harder to treat."

He added: "We're working to beat all cancers sooner, increasing our research into cancers with lower survival rates and boosting our investment to help diagnose cancer earlier - accelerating progress to save more lives."

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Drugs fund 'papers over cracks'

29 October 2014 Last updated at 00:53

A fund to pay for cancer drugs that are not available on the NHS "papers over" deeper drugs pricing issues, according to charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Thousands of women with terminal breast cancer are being denied extra time with their loved ones due to the high cost of new drugs, it said.

The charity called on drugs firms and government to make medicines more accessible.

Drugs firms said more drugs needed NHS approval.

NICE, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, said it approved drugs based on clinical and cost effectiveness.

Over the past few years, NICE has not recommended at least seven breast cancer treatments, with cost being a factor in the rejection of over half of those treatments.

Drugs fund

Life-extending drugs that are not available on the NHS can currently be paid for through the £200m per-year Cancer Drugs Fund.

The fund is due to be available until the end of March 2016.

Many drugs have been rejected for approval by NICE on the grounds of cost, Breakthrough Breast Cancer said.

The charity has called for action from the government, the pharmaceutical industry, drugs approval body NICE, and charities to bring down the costs of new treatments and sort out funding issues.

"The Cancer Drugs Fund was only supposed to be a temporary solution and, while it should remain until a workable alternative is found, it is merely papering over the cracks of a system which is no longer fit for purpose," said Chris Askew, chief executive of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

"Whilst there will be no quick fix solution to this problem, the pharmaceutical industry will need to get serious about its pricing and whoever forms the next government will need to get a grip on the problem and take action to resolve it," he added.

The cost of a life

The NICE drugs approvals process takes into account the cost of the drug, as well as how it effects a patient's quality of life, and how long they live.

NICE uses a measure called a "quality adjusted life year" - a "QALY" - to gauge how much it would cost to give patients a year of healthy life using a treatment.

Drugs that cost up to between £20,000 and £30,000 per QALY can get NICE approval, but end-of-life drugs that cost almost double that can also be approved.

However, some innovative cancer treatments can cost up to £100,000 per QALY, so are dropped by NICE, Breakthrough Breast Cancer senior policy manager Caitlin Palframan said.

"We understand it costs money to develop new treatments," she said. "It's not that we believe that pharmaceutical companies don't have a right to make a profit.

"However, it doesn't do anybody any good if the treatments aren't available on the NHS," she added.

The charity gave the example of breast cancer drug Kadcyla, which is not routinely available in England and Wales, due to its cost.

Safety net?

Cancer drugs that are rejected by NICE can be funded through the Cancer Drugs Fund, but only in England, Ms Palframan said.

In Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, terminally-ill patients must get cancer specialists to apply for funding for non-approved treatments.

It was "unacceptable" that some terminally-ill patients "are having to fight for their treatment", she told the BBC.

The high costs of new cancer drugs mainly reflect research costs, drugs industry body the ABPI said.

"The price of development is high," said ABPI director of value and access Paul Catchpole. "It can cost more than £1bn and 10 to 12 years to research and develop a new medicine."

In addition, only one third of new medicines end up covering research and development costs, he said.

"The issue is - who decides what 'high' and 'appropriate' is?" he added.

Mr Catchpole said there were "no upper limits" on what the Cancer Drugs Fund was willing to pay, and called for "evolution" in how NICE assesses cancer drugs.

"We need to make sure [NICE] is taking into account the full costs and benefits of proposals," on the wider economy, he said.

The approvals body said it "makes recommendations for treatments based on the clinical and cost effectiveness of each drug."

"For NICE to recommend a treatment it must work at least as well as, or better than, currently available NHS treatments for the price that the NHS is being asked to pay," it said.

The body said that so far this year it had recommended five cancer treatments, and one drug had been recommended for a specific group of patients.

It has rejected two cancer drugs this year.

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NHS screening advice 'must improve'

29 October 2014 Last updated at 00:50 By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website

The NHS needs to get better at highlighting the dangers of screening for diseases such as cancer, say MPs.

Screening picks up diseases early to improve the odds of survival or improve quality of life.

But the practice also leads to "overdiagnosis" and people having treatment for conditions which would never have caused harm.

The Science and Technology Committee accused the NHS of "poor communication" on the issue.

Breast-cancer screening became hugely controversial in 2012. An independent review was set up to settle a fierce debate about whether the measure did more harm than good.

It showed that for every life saved, three women had treatment for a cancer that would never have proved fatal.

As a result the leaflets given to women offered a mammogram included more information to give them an "informed choice".

'Unnecessary treatment'

However, the Science and Technology Committee argues the lessons have not been learned by those overseeing other screening programmes.

Andrew Miller, the committee chairman, said: "While screening can increase the likelihood of curing, preventing or delaying the progression of disease for some patients, for others it may lead to false results, misdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment.

"More needs to be done to ensure that both the benefits and risks are clearly, and even-handedly, communicated so that people can make an informed choice about whether screening is right for them."

Conditions screened for include:

• Abdominal aortic aneurysm
• Diabetic retinopathy
• Breast cancer
• Cervical cancer
• Bowel cancer

There are also newborn screening programmes, including hearing checks, as well as Down's syndrome and foetal anomaly screens during pregnancy.

Mr Miller continued: "Producing accurate, concise and accessible public information on screening will always be challenging, but the UK National Screening Committee must ensure there is standard process across the NHS for achieving this and facilitating informed choice."

There are hopes that screening could be extended to other diseases such as ovarian cancer and eventually prostate cancer.

However, the committee said the barriers to new screening programmes "should remain high" due to the delicate balance of risk and benefits.

'Vitally important'

Prof Kevin Fenton,, director of health and wellbeing at Public Health England, which oversees the NHS screening programmes. said: "We welcome the findings of the Science and Technology Committee's report, which has identified a number of recommendations.

"We will now consider these recommendations in full."

The British Medical Association's Dr Richard Vautrey said: "Many GPs will share the Science and Technology Committee's concerns about health screening. As the BMA has repeatedly warned, it is vitally important that people being invited for screening fully understand the pros and cons of the procedure.

"Patients must also be aware that there is a risk that false positive results could lead to unnecessary and potentially harmful further investigations."

Cancer Research UK was involved in the independent review of breast-cancer screening.

Jessica Kirby, from the charity, said: "It's vitally important that all screening programmes are based on the best possible evidence so people can be confident that screening is only offered where the benefits outweigh the harms.

"The report highlights the importance of ensuring people get the best possible information so they can make the decisions that are right for them."

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Dementia tops female causes of death

29 October 2014 Last updated at 13:22 By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website

Dementia is the leading cause of death for women in England and Wales, official figures show.

The disease now kills more than three times as many women as breast cancer and thousands more than either heart attacks or stroke.

Analysts say the rising numbers may be because doctors are becoming more aware of the disease and recording it on death certificates more frequently.

Coronary heart disease remains the leading cause of death in men.

For males, dementia is the third most common cause of death.

Shorter lives

The gradual wasting away of the brain in dementia cuts lives short.

The condition can be recorded as the sole cause of death, but is frequently found as an underlying condition. Many people with dementia ultimately die from pneumonia.

The data, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed more than half a million people died in England and Wales in 2013.

Women			Men
Cause of death	Number of deaths	Rank	Causes of death	Number of deaths
Dementia and Alzheimer's	31,850	1	Coronary heart disease	37,797
Coronary heart disease	26,075	2	Lung cancer	16,818
Stroke	20,706	3	Dementia and Alzheimer's	15,262
Flu and pneumonia	15,361	4	Chronic lower respiratory diseases	15,021
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	14,927	5	Stroke	14,058
Lung cancer	13,619	6	Flu and pneumonia	11,426
Breast cancer	10,144	7	Prostate cancer	9,726
Colon cancer	6,569	8	Colon cancer	7,669
Urinary infections	5,457	9	Lymphatic cancers	6,311
Heart failure	5,012	10	Liver disease	4,661
	Total: 261,205			Total: 245,585

Cancer is the leading killer when all subtypes of cancer are combined across both genders. Nearly one in three deaths last year was from some form of cancer.

The latest data confirms a dramatic shift in the causes of death in the past decade.

Between 2003 and 2013 the percentage of deaths from coronary heart disease, which includes heart attacks, fell to 16% of male deaths from 22%. In women the figure fell to 10% from 15%.

Improved care means people are more likely to survive heart attacks and more people take statins to prevent them in the first place.

What is dementia?

• It is an umbrella term that describes about 100 diseases in which brain cells die on a huge scale.
• All damage memory, language, mental agility, understanding and judgement.
• Alzheimer's disease is the most common form, affecting 62% of those living with dementia.
• It gets worse with time and eventually people are left completely dependent on carers.
• It is incurable.

Meanwhile, dementia rose to 6% of male deaths from 2% and to 12% of female deaths from 5%.

The latest data is the second consecutive year that dementia has been recorded as the leading cause of death for women.

The ONS report said: "Some of the rise over the last few decades may also be attributable to a better understanding of dementia.

"This means that doctors may be more likely to record dementia as the underlying cause of death."

Continue reading the main story

The figures highlight dementia as a huge problem that we cannot shy away from any longer"

End Quote Hilary Evans Alzheimer's Research UK

Hilary Evans, the director of external affairs at the charity Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "The figures highlight dementia as a huge problem that we cannot shy away from any longer.

"Encouragingly, the statistics reveal that other health conditions, such as heart disease, are beginning to be tamed and this has come about due to improved research into treatment, prevention and better public health.

"We must now turn our attentions to dementia - our greatest health challenge - and invest in research that will drive better prevention and treatment of the condition."

Gavin Terry, from the Alzheimer's Society, said: "Dementia is one of the biggest health and social care challenges the UK faces.

"For too long dementia has been wrongly seen by many clinicians as a natural part of ageing and, as such, have failed to record it as a cause of death."

Prof Peter Weissberg, the medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said coronary heart disease "continues to blight the lives of thousands of people and families".

"We've made great progress over the last 50 years but we still need to fund much more research to stop people dying needlessly, and to help the increasing number of people living with heart disease."

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Mental health spending 'too low'

28 October 2014 Last updated at 11:15

Local authorities in England spend an "unacceptably low" amount of money on public mental health, according to the charity Mind.

A report by the charity says on average just 1.4% of public health budgets is spent on mental health.

Public Health England welcomed the report and said there should be more investment at the local level.

The Local Government Association said councils did many positive things that the report had not recognised.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Local authorities need much clearer guidance and support"

End Quote Paul Farmer Chief executive, Mind

Public mental health includes interventions to prevent mental health problems, promote good mental health and ensure good physical health for people with mental health issues.

National strategy

During NHS reforms in April 2013, the responsibility for this moved from primary care trusts to local government.

Of the 152 local authorities in England, 86 replied to Mind's freedom of information requests about public mental health budgets.

According to the charity, local authorities plan to spend £76m on increasing physical activity, £160m on anti-smoking initiatives and £671m on sexual health services in 2014/15. This compares with just £40m on public mental health.

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Louise Rubin, a spokesperson for Mind, says spending is "unacceptably low"

Mind said spending on preventing mental health problems was just as important as physical health - particularly for vulnerable groups.

Mind chief executive Paul Farmer said: "Mind's findings show that while local authorities are happy to spend on preventing physical health problems, their equivalent spending on mental health is unacceptably low.

"Local authorities need much clearer guidance and support on how best to tackle mental health problems.

"We want the next government to introduce a national strategy to ensure local authorities know what to do and use their budgets to prevent mental health problems developing."

'Too narrow'

Councillor Izzi Seccombe of the Local Government Association said: "While we welcome a discussion about public mental health, we think the focus of this report is too narrow.

"There are many things that councils do that impact positively on mental health but might not come with a mental health 'badge'.

"We would support the development of a national strategy that gives greater attention and focus to promoting mental health but would caution against any approach which dictates to local authorities and public health teams how to use their health promotion budgets."

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

There are many things that councils do that impact positively on mental health but might not come with a mental health 'badge'"

End Quote Izzi Seccombe Local Government Association

Gregory Henderson of Public Health England said: "PHE welcomes this important report as it clearly underlines the need for more local investment in improving the public's mental health.

"The old adage 'prevention is better than cure' is also very much true for mental health and more needs to be done to help individuals, families and communities maintain and gain good mental health.

"There is good evidence on what local areas should be investing in and PHE is working in partnership to develop a national approach."

In 2015 Mind plans to train hairdressers, pub landlords, beauty therapists and restaurant staff to spot the signs of people struggling with mental health issues and to offer advice on local support services.

The project will run in Tameside, Oldham and Glossop and is based on a similar scheme that began in Norfolk in 2015. The Norfolk team trained more than 200 people in mental health first aid skills, providing guidance on listening techniques and how to identify the signs and symptoms of common mental health problems.

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Body has 'rush hour' transformation

28 October 2014 Last updated at 12:10 By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website

A pair of "rush hours" every day rapidly change the way tissues throughout the body work, scientists have discovered.

The animal study, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, monitored the function of cells, in 12 tissues, through the day.

It found large shifts in activity just before dawn and dusk.

Experts said the findings could help time medication to hit sweet-spots in the body clock.

The body's internal clock is known to drive huge changes - it alters alertness, mood, physical strength and even the risk of a heart attack in a daily rhythm.

Continue reading the main story

A team at the University of Pennsylvania investigated the impact of the time of day on the way DNA functions in experiments on mice.

Every two hours they looked at samples from the kidney, liver, lung, adrenal gland, aorta, brainstem, cerebellum, brown fat, white fat, heart, hypothalamus, lung and skeletal muscle.

They showed that 43% of genes, sections of DNA, involved in protein manufacture altered their activity throughout the day.

Different genes had different activity patterns in different tissues so the research team conservatively estimate that more than half of genes would show daily fluctuations if every tissues type was sampled.

The liver was the most dynamic with 3,186 genes showing a daily pattern compared with just 642 in the hypothalamus.

Two major windows of activity were observed in the study - dawn and dusk.

Timing medication

It is already known that some drugs work better at certain times of the day.

Heart disease is driven by artery-clogging cholesterol, which is mostly made in the liver at night. Taking statins in the evening makes them more effective.

The researchers said 56 of the top 100 selling drugs and nearly half of the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines acted on genes which were now known to have this daily oscillation.

'Real opportunity'

Dr John Hogenesch told the BBC News website: "I'm hopeful that we can use this information to design better therapies with existing drugs, and that's huge because it's not going to cost any more money.

"I think there is a real opportunity to improve current medication in a way that will be impactful."

Dr Simon Archer, a body clock scientist from the University of Surrey, told the BBC: "If you move away from one tissue, we looked at gene expression just in the blood, and look at the whole organism then that precise temporal organisation applies to much more than people previously realised.

"If 40-50% of genes are going up and down over 24-hours and these are drug targets, then it's going to be important.

"Thousands, millions of people potentially, could benefit from taking their medication at a different time of day and raising this kind of awareness is important."

Prof Andrew Loudon, from the University of Manchester, said it was a "really important" study.

He said all drugs were a trade-off of benefits and side-effects, such as liver damage.

"Drug companies do everything they can to make long acting pills that can be taken once a day, but we need targeted drugs with a short half-life and time them for maximal effect and minimal side-effects."

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Surgery halted by 'incomplete' data

28 October 2014 Last updated at 13:43

The decision to suspend children's heart surgery in Leeds was based on "invalidated and incomplete data", but was made "in the interests of patient safety", a report has found.

Operations at the hospital's unit were halted in 2013 when NHS England raised concerns about data on mortality rates.

However, surgery resumed 13 days later after an investigation revealed the data was flawed.

The report said it had caused "a storm of controversy and concern".

High Court fight

It said: "Inaccurate data are worse than useless and can be positively damaging.

"At Leeds incomplete information was instrumental in causing the suspension of surgery and great consternation both at the hospital and in the community it serves.

"Leeds senior management at the time should have ensured that data was full, accurate and submitted on time."

The suspension of surgery came a day after a decision to stop children's heart surgery at the hospital - as part of an England-wide reorganisation of services - was quashed in the High Court.

The report, written by management consultants Verita, said the timing of the events had led to the belief there was a connection between the two.

However, it said: "We examined closely the sequence of events that led to the suspension [and] concluded that the suspension was made in the interests of patient safety rather than for any other reason."

'Political' row

The suspension was also prompted by concerns raised by families and doctors at Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust.

A separate report examined concerns about 14 Leeds cases, which were raised by doctors and managers in Newcastle.

It found there had been unnecessary delay in two cases, unsatisfactory risk assessments in another two cases, and failures in communication in five.

However, the report concluded the balance of evidence did not support some of the situations described by Newcastle and the families.

It said the review created rivalry between Leeds and Newcastle and led to strained relationships between the doctors.

It also suggested some of the families' concerns were being communicated "for political purposes".

The report made 17 recommendations, including that Leeds review it communication policies and all NHS organisations make accuracy and completeness of data a high priority.

Analysis: Jane Dreaper - Health correspondent

Children's heart surgery involves delicate operations on exceptionally sick children.

That is why it arouses particularly strong passions, whether those lives are saved or lost.

This latest report shows how a multi-million pound attempt at reorganisation led to a bitter atmosphere and intense rivalry between Leeds and Newcastle.

The authors found the balance of evidence did not support many of the allegations made against Leeds by families who were treated in Newcastle.

It also suggests that some families' concerns were communicated "for political purposes".

The review of units has been reinvented by NHS England, who are continuing to consult patients' families.

It is unclear when the fresh process will end. This controversy is by no means over yet.

'Unbearable scrutiny'

Sharon Cheng, of the Children's Heart Surgery Fund - which provides support to the heart unit in Leeds, said: "The report's findings confirm that the Leeds unit is safe and provides excellent standards of clinical care, treatment and outcomes for the children under its care.

"Verita's analysis makes clear that many of the claims and accusations that led to the suspension of surgery and the subsequent unbearable scrutiny of the Leeds unit were unfounded or incorrect, and in some cases were made due to vested interests."

A spokesman for Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust said it welcomed "the scale and scope of change now being brought about that does serve to justify the action taken in April 2013".

On the subject of the 14 cases examined, he said: "The report is about 14 complex cases where the child was either not offered surgery or faced delays or placed on palliative care pathways.

"Despite the underlying complexity and high risk involved, each and every child underwent surgery in Newcastle with a successful outcome. Disappointingly the Verita report has chosen to disregard this important factor.

"Newcastle Hospitals as an NHS Foundation Trust exercised freedom and a responsibility to patients and the NHS to fulfil the duty of candour, that for whatever the prevailing circumstances, were not receiving the appropriate care and treatment."

He said the trust gave its "categorical assurance that our aim then, as it is now, reflects an unstinting commitment to improve pathways of care including choice where appropriate".

Dr Mike Bewick, NHS England's deputy medical director, said: "Patients should be reassured that this service has been rigorously scrutinised and has improved as a result.

"Patients and the public can have confidence that this is a well-run unit and is now in a position to go from strength to strength."

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Ebola crisis 'may harm malaria fight'

27 October 2014 Last updated at 00:00 By Jane Dreaper Health correspondent, BBC News

A leading malaria control expert has said efforts to contain the disease may be jeopardised by the Ebola crisis.

Dr Fatoumata Nafo-Traoré, who heads the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership, said after visiting west Africa: "Understandably, all the health workers' attention is on Ebola."

Children's wards which used to be full of malaria patients were becoming "ghost areas," she added.

In 2012, malaria killed 7,000 people in the three countries worst hit by Ebola.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

We're really concerned that Ebola will cause a setback to the efforts on malaria."

End Quote Dr Fatoumata Nafo-Traoré Roll Back Malaria Partnership

Most of these will have been young children - although malaria is curable.

The disease caused almost 4,000 deaths in Sierra Leone in 2012 - as well as around 2,000 deaths in Liberia and approximately 1,000 in Guinea.

Now the three countries are wrestling with the Ebola virus and Dr Nafo-Traoré said she feared that recent gains in preventing malaria could be threatened by the crisis.

She said: "These countries have previously been really hit by malaria. But five years ago, it was even worse - the deaths were double.

"We all agree that no child should die from malaria, because we have the tools to prevent and treat it.

"But now, understandably, all the health workers' attention is on Ebola.

"We used to see hospital beds with three children in them at a time, because there was not enough space.

"Now those paediatric wards are becoming ghost areas, because of the lack of manpower there.

"So we don't know who has malaria, and who is dying from it.

"Even if the situation is at the same level as last year, that was still very bad in those countries. We're really concerned that Ebola will cause a setback to the efforts on malaria.

"And there's a lack of trust and confidence in health workers. There's still a feeling it's them who are bringing the virus to people."

RBM is a partnership of more than 500 organisations. It was formed 16 years ago to co-ordinate global efforts against malaria.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

When people have fevers, they are often afraid to go to healthcare facilities because they want to avoid being held in the Ebola treatment centres."

End Quote Dr Fatoumata Nafo-Traoré Roll Back Malaria Partnership

It says Guinea and Sierra Leone met key targets last year for distributing bed nets - a crucial weapon for protecting children from mosquitoes which spread malaria.

The situation in Liberia was less positive. Officials there are trying to work out how they can boost their distribution efforts while trying to contain Ebola too.

One problem is that the early symptoms of Ebola and malaria can be similar.

Dr Nafo-Traoré travelled by road from Conakry in Guinea to Sierra Leone earlier this month.

She told me: "The Ebola treatment centres have a protocol for treating cases of fever with anti-malarial drugs too, because the patient might be suffering from both diseases.

"But at the moment when people have fevers, they are often afraid to go to healthcare facilities because they want to avoid being held in the Ebola treatment centres.

"We are working with the countries to ensure people are tested for malaria and get the drugs.

"It's important to have a co-ordinated approach. A key aim is to decrease cases of malaria-related fever, so the Ebola centres don't get overwhelmed.

"I'm worried because of the weak health systems. And communication is so easy between all 15 of the West African countries.

"In the past Ebola occurred in remote bush areas. But today it's happening in capital cities.

"People are getting well-organised now. As I travelled by road there, I saw checkpoints where people were having their temperature taken and were washing their hands.

"Fortunately the world has received a wake-up call - but the response was slow at the beginning."

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Eyeball link to Alzheimer's studied

27 October 2014 Last updated at 00:20

Researchers at Dundee University are to lead a £1.1m study into whether eye tests can reveal the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

A team from the university's school of computing will carry out the three-year study with colleagues in Edinburgh.

Evidence suggests changes to veins and arteries in the eye could be linked to diseases including stroke and cardiovascular disease.

The team will study if this could act as an "early warning" of Alzheimer's.

The new study uses specially-developed computer software to analyse high-definition images of the eye from multiple instruments to establish whether such changes in the eye could act as an early indicator of Alzheimer's disease.

The team will further develop existing software and cross-reference data with medical history information stored at Ninewells Hospital to see if a relationship can be established.

'Interesting proposition'

Emanuele Trucco, professor of computational vision at the school of computing, is leading the project.

He said: "If you can look into someone's eyes using an inexpensive machine and discover something which may suggest a risk of developing dementia, then that's a very interesting proposition.

"There is the promise of early warning in a non-invasive way and there is also the fact that we even might be able to use the test to differentiate between different types of dementia."

The project has been funded as part of an £8m investment at 11 universities by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

The body's chief executive Prof Philip Nelson said: "The UK faces a huge challenge over the coming decades, we have an ageing population and a likely rise in the numbers of people suffering from dementias.

"These research projects will improve our abilities to detect and understand dementias and how the disease progresses."

The study will begin in April 2015 and run for three years.

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Paperless hospital system goes live

27 October 2014 Last updated at 01:19

A £200m electronic patient record system that will eventually make two hospitals paperless has gone live.

The system at Addenbrooke's and Rosie hospitals in Cambridge means nurses can access patient records on handheld devices instead of waiting for notes.

Addenbrooke's said it is the biggest patient care investment it has made.

Chief information officer Dr Afzal Chaudhry said patients should get medication quicker and leave sooner with the system in place.

The hospital is the first in the UK to use Epic's eHospital system, which is used in hospitals in the US.

The software currently contains more than 2.1m patient records from the last five years and it can be used on 7,000 computers and devices at the hospitals.

Smartphone access

Nurses can quickly access and update patient records using 500 iPod Touch devices and using its barcode scanner, run tests such as measuring blood pressure.

The software can also be accessed on staff smartphones.

Last week the Cambridge News reported some staff were "panicking" and there was a "sense of doom" about the new system, which has required 200,000 hours of staff training.

A spokesman for Cambridge University Hospitals said no specific concerns had been highlighted up to chief executive level, but staff would be given 24-hour support.

It is expected to take a year until the system works entirely without paper.

Dr Chaudhry said: "It is the biggest single investment the Trust has ever made in the quality of patient care, and will make a real difference for everyone who comes into the Trust.

"Patients will get their medication quicker, nurses can spend more time with their patients and people who are treated here will get home sooner."

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Ebola outbreak cases pass 10,000

25 October 2014 Last updated at 16:00

The number of cases in the Ebola outbreak has exceeded 10,000, with 4,922 deaths, the World Health Organization says in its latest report.

Only 27 of the cases have occurred outside the three worst-hit countries, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

Those three countries account for all but 10 of the fatalities.

Mali became the latest nation to record a death, a two-year-old girl. More than 40 people known to have come into contact with her have been quarantined.

The latest WHO situation report says that Liberia remains the worst affected country, with 2,705 deaths. Sierra Leone has had 1,281 fatalities and there have been 926 in Guinea.

Nigeria has recorded eight deaths and there has been one in Mali and one in the United States.

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Obama: "Patients can beat this disease, and we can beat this disease"

The WHO said the number of cases was now 10,141 but that the figure could be much higher, as many families were keeping relatives at home rather than taking them to treatment centres. It said many of the centres were overcrowded.

And the latest report also shows no change in the number of cases and deaths in Liberia from the WHO's previous report, three days ago.

Eight countries have registered cases in the outbreak. In West Africa, Senegal and Nigeria have now been declared virus-free by the WHO.

'Facts, not fear'

In the US, the governors of the states of New York, New Jersey and Illinois have ordered a mandatory 21-day quarantine period for all doctors and other travellers who have had contact with Ebola victims in West Africa.

Anyone arriving from affected West African countries without having had confirmed contact with Ebola victims will be subject to monitoring by public health officials.

The move follows the diagnosis in New York of Dr Craig Spencer, who had been working in Guinea.

The first person to be quarantined under the rules was a female health worker who arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday.

She had no symptoms then but later developed a fever. A preliminary test came back negative for Ebola, the New Jersey health department said on Saturday, but the woman remains in isolation.

Also in the US, two nurses infected while caring for dying Dallas patient Thomas Eric Duncan have been declared free of the virus.

One, Nina Pham, 26, met President Barack Obama at the White House, hours after being discharged.

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The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse travels with an ambulance worker in Liberia

In his weekly radio and online address, Mr Obama repeated that people cannot contract Ebola unless they have come into direct contact with an infected patient's bodily fluids.

He said the disease had to be stopped at source in Africa.

Mr Obama added: "Patients can beat this disease, and we can beat this disease. But we have to stay vigilant... And we have to be guided by the science, we have to be guided by the facts - not fear."

'High-risk exposure'

In Mali, authorities continue to try to trace anyone who may have had contact with the victim there.

The child had travelled more than 1,000 km (600 miles) from Guinea through the capital, Bamako, to Kayes.

"The child's symptomatic state during the bus journey is especially concerning, as it presented multiple opportunities for exposures, including high-risk exposures, involving many people," the WHO said.

The girl's mother died in Guinea a few weeks ago and the child was then brought by relatives to Mali.

Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita told French radio on Saturday: "We are doing everything to prevent panic and psychosis.

"Since the start of this epidemic, we in Mali took all measures to be safe, but we never hermetically sealed ourselves from this."

He said the border with Guinea would remain open.

However, officials in neighbouring Mauritania said it had closed its borders with Mali in response to the case.

Ebola virus disease (EVD)

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How Ebola survivors' blood is saving lives

• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
• Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva
• Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 70%
• No proven vaccine or cure
• Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus's natural host

Ebola special report

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Cancer-killing cells made in the lab

25 October 2014 Last updated at 00:27

Scientists from Harvard Medical School have discovered a way of turning stem cells into killing machines to fight brain cancer.

In experiments on mice, the stem cells were genetically engineered to produce and secrete toxins which kill brain tumours, without killing normal cells or themselves.

Researchers said the next stage was to test the procedure in humans.

A stem cell expert said this was "the future" of cancer treatment.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

We do see the toxins kill the cancer cells"

End Quote Dr Khalid Shah Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School

The study, published in the journal Stem Cells, was the work of scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

For many years, they had been researching a stem-cell-based therapy for cancer, which would kill only tumour cells and no others.

They used genetic engineering to make stem cells that spewed out cancer-killing toxins, but, crucially, were also able to resist the effects of the poison they were producing.

They also posed no risk to normal, healthy cells.

In animal tests, the stem cells were surrounded in gel and placed at the site of the brain tumour after it had been removed.

Their cancer cells then died as they had no defence against the toxins.

Dr Khalid Shah, lead author and director of the molecular neurotherapy and imaging lab at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said the results were very positive.

"After doing all of the molecular analysis and imaging to track the inhibition of protein synthesis within brain tumours, we do see the toxins kill the cancer cells."

He added: "Cancer-killing toxins have been used with great success in a variety of blood cancers, but they don't work as well in solid tumours because the cancers aren't as accessible and the toxins have a short half-life."

But genetically engineering stem cells has changed all that, he said.

"Now, we have toxin-resistant stem cells that can make and release cancer-killing drugs."

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

This study shows you can attack solid tumours by putting mini pharmacies inside the patient..."

End Quote Prof Chris Mason University College London

Chris Mason, professor of regenerative medicine at University College London, said: "This is a clever study, which signals the beginning of the next wave of therapies.

"It shows you can attack solid tumours by putting mini pharmacies inside the patient which deliver the toxic payload direct to the tumour.

"Cells can do so much. This is the way the future is going to be."

Nell Barrie, senior science information manager for Cancer Research UK, said it was an "ingenious approach".

"We urgently need better treatments for brain tumours and this could help direct treatment to exactly where it's needed.

"But so far the technique has only been tested in mice and on cancer cells in the lab, so much more work will need to be done before we'll know if it could help patients with brain tumours."

She said this type of research could help boost survival rates and bring much-needed progress for brain cancers.

Dr Shah now plans to test the technique using a number of different therapies on mice with glioblastoma, the most common brain tumour in human adults.

He hopes the therapies could be used in clinical trials within the next five years.

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'Nothing to hide' over Welsh NHS

26 October 2014 Last updated at 12:56

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Mark Drakeford rejected calls for a "backward looking" inquiry, saying problem areas were investigated as they arose

The Welsh NHS has "nothing to hide" about its performance, the health minister has said, as the political row over Welsh Labour's record continues.

Mark Drakeford told the BBC's Sunday Politics programme that Wales had the UK's "most scrutinised" health service.

The minister said the "big picture" in Wales was one of a "careful" and "compassionate" service.

He rejected calls for a "backward looking" inquiry, saying problem areas were investigated as they arose.

Mr Drakeford's comments follow a week of sustained criticism from the Conservatives and the Daily Mail newspaper on Labour's record running the health service in Wales.

'Slashed and burned'

The minister said health services were facing "real pressures" across the UK, claiming that in some areas - such as cancer care - Wales was doing better than England.

He pointed to the plan to invest an extra £425m in the Welsh NHS over the next two years, and defended the decision to protect spending on social services and social care as part of an "integrated" system.

"In England they have slashed and burned their way through social services departments - it's why their hospitals are chock full of people who ought to be discharged and there are no services for those people to go to," he said.

Rejecting calls for an inquiry into the whole of the Welsh NHS, Mr Drakeford said that an independent report following spot checks of 70 hospitals found the "big picture" of the Welsh NHS was that it was "careful, compassionate, and provides an excellent services for Welsh patients".

He also denied that Wales was refusing to co-operate with a planned survey of UK health services by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Mr Drakeford said he was unwilling to "fall in" with the "deliberate distortions" of UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who he again accused of trying to subvert the process by vowing to selectively quote from the eventual findings.

'Playing politics'

Earlier, the Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies told Sunday Supplement on BBC Radio Wales that Labour's running of the NHS in Wales had left it with longer waiting lists and reduced access to treatments available elsewhere.

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood accused the Conservatives and Labour of "playing politics" with the Welsh NHS.

Speaking of the attack on Labour's record in Wales, she said: "It's unforgiveable that the Tories would risk frightening patients and demoralising staff in this way."

Liberal Democrat AM Eluned Parrott repeated her call for an all-party commission on health, saying politicians "need to move beyond points scoring into putting it right".

Dame June Clark, professor emeritus at Swansea University and former president of the Royal College of Nursing, told the programme that political "carping" about the NHS was "frightening" patients.

She added that it was not helping the morale of staff who were "working their socks off" in both England and Wales, which each had their problems.

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Jones 'not afraid' of NHS scrutiny

25 October 2014 Last updated at 13:27

First Minister Carwyn Jones has told the BBC he is not afraid of scrutiny of the Welsh NHS.

On BBC Radio 4's Any Questions, he said Wales will participate in a study of the UK's different health services.

The independent think-tank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, will carry it out.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has urged the Welsh government to take part and its findings to be published before the general election.

But Mr Jones said an agreement between the four governments has been broken by the Department of Health.

Mr Jones told Any Questions: "There will be an OECD survey.

'Not afraid'

"We've never said we wouldn't have it.

"The question is that there was an agreement between the four governments as to the way in which those reports would be handled and the Department of Health decided to break that agreement.

"We're not afraid of scrutiny, by any stretch of the imagination.

"I'm not going to pretend to you that everything is sweetness and light in the health service in Wales, or in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland, that wouldn't be sensible.

"We will have the OECD in, but we can't have the OECD in on terms that are set by the Department of Health."

The state of the Welsh NHS, which has been under particular scrutiny following a series of articles in the Daily Mail, dominated Any Questions, which was broadcast from Brecon on Friday.

Plaid Cymru AM Rhun ap Iorwerth said although he felt the Daily Mail coverage was politically motivated, the NHS in Wales is "facing problems that the Welsh government is not facing up to".

He said the government in Cardiff Bay must tackle problems in areas such as recruitment and diagnostic tests.

'Honest culture'

"The Welsh government must accept the problems and put a strategy in place.

"We need a diagnostic look at the state of the NHS in Wales," Mr ap Iorwerth said.

In response, Carwyn Jones acknowledged there are "issues" in the Welsh NHS that "need to be dealt with, but insisted that the problems are not unique to Wales, and that most patients get "excellent care".

The Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin who was also on the panel criticised Labour for "resisting" an inquiry into the health service, but said the NHS should not be a "political football".

"We have to have a much more open and honest culture about healthcare," he said.

"I believe Jeremy Hunt is promoting that culture.

"We ought to have much more cross-party co-operation (on the NHS) rather than fighting".

Any Questions is available on the BBC IPlayer

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Cancer-killing cells made in the lab

25 October 2014 Last updated at 00:27

Scientists from Harvard Medical School have discovered a way of turning stem cells into killing machines to fight brain cancer.

In experiments on mice, the stem cells were genetically engineered to produce and secrete toxins which kill brain tumours, without killing normal cells or themselves.

Researchers said the next stage was to test the procedure in humans.

A stem cell expert said this was "the future" of cancer treatment.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

We do see the toxins kill the cancer cells"

End Quote Dr Khalid Shah Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School

The study, published in the journal Stem Cells, was the work of scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

For many years, they had been researching a stem-cell-based therapy for cancer, which would kill only tumour cells and no others.

They used genetic engineering to make stem cells that spewed out cancer-killing toxins, but, crucially, were also able to resist the effects of the poison they were producing.

They also posed no risk to normal, healthy cells.

In animal tests, the stem cells were surrounded in gel and placed at the site of the brain tumour after it had been removed.

Their cancer cells then died as they had no defence against the toxins.

Dr Khalid Shah, lead author and director of the molecular neurotherapy and imaging lab at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said the results were very positive.

"After doing all of the molecular analysis and imaging to track the inhibition of protein synthesis within brain tumours, we do see the toxins kill the cancer cells."

He added: "Cancer-killing toxins have been used with great success in a variety of blood cancers, but they don't work as well in solid tumours because the cancers aren't as accessible and the toxins have a short half-life."

But genetically engineering stem cells has changed all that, he said.

"Now, we have toxin-resistant stem cells that can make and release cancer-killing drugs."

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

This study shows you can attack solid tumours by putting mini pharmacies inside the patient..."

End Quote Prof Chris Mason University College London

Chris Mason, professor of regenerative medicine at University College London, said: "This is a clever study, which signals the beginning of the next wave of therapies.

"It shows you can attack solid tumours by putting mini pharmacies inside the patient which deliver the toxic payload direct to the tumour.

"Cells can do so much. This is the way the future is going to be."

Nell Barrie, senior science information manager for Cancer Research UK, said it was an "ingenious approach".

"We urgently need better treatments for brain tumours and this could help direct treatment to exactly where it's needed.

"But so far the technique has only been tested in mice and on cancer cells in the lab, so much more work will need to be done before we'll know if it could help patients with brain tumours."

She said this type of research could help boost survival rates and bring much-needed progress for brain cancers.

Dr Shah now plans to test the technique using a number of different therapies on mice with glioblastoma, the most common brain tumour in human adults.

He hopes the therapies could be used in clinical trials within the next five years.

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Ebola outbreak cases pass 10,000

25 October 2014 Last updated at 12:47

The number of cases in the Ebola outbreak has exceeded 10,000, with 4,922 deaths, the World Health Organization says in its latest report.

Only 27 of the cases have occurred outside the three worst-hit countries, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

Those three countries account for all but 10 of the fatalities.

Mali became the latest nation to record a death, a two-year-old girl. More than 40 people known to have come into contact with her have been quarantined.

The latest WHO situation report says that Liberia remains the worst affected country, with 2,705 deaths. Sierra Leone has had 1,281 fatalities and there have been 926 in Guinea.

Nigeria has recorded eight deaths and there has been one in Mali and one in the United States.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

Obama: "Patients can beat this disease, and we can beat this disease"

The WHO said the number of cases was now 10,141 but that the figure could be much higher, as many families were keeping relatives at home rather than taking them to treatment centres. It said many of the centres were overcrowded.

And the latest report also shows no change in the number of cases and deaths in Liberia from the WHO's previous report, three days ago.

Eight countries have registered cases in the outbreak. In West Africa, Senegal and Nigeria have now been declared virus-free by the WHO.

'Facts, not fear'

In the US, the governors of the states of New York and New Jersey have ordered a mandatory 21-day quarantine period for all doctors and other travellers who have had contact with Ebola victims in West Africa.

Anyone arriving from affected West African countries without having had confirmed contact with Ebola victims will be subject to monitoring by public health officials.

The move follows the diagnosis in New York of Dr Craig Spencer, who had been working in Guinea.

The first person to be quarantined under the rules was a female health worker who arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday.

She had no symptoms then but later developed a fever. A preliminary test came back negative for Ebola, the New Jersey health department said on Saturday, but the woman remains in isolation.

Also in the US, two nurses infected while caring for dying Dallas patient Thomas Eric Duncan have been declared free of the virus.

One, Nina Pham, 26, met President Barack Obama at the White House, hours after being discharged.

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The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse travels with an ambulance worker in Liberia

In his weekly radio and online address, Mr Obama repeated that people cannot contract Ebola unless they have come into direct contact with an infected patient's bodily fluids.

He said the disease had to be stopped at source in Africa.

Mr Obama added: "Patients can beat this disease, and we can beat this disease. But we have to stay vigilant... And we have to be guided by the science, we have to be guided by the facts - not fear."

'High-risk exposure'

In Mali, authorities continue to try to trace anyone who may have had contact with the victim there.

The child had travelled more than 1,000 km (600 miles) from Guinea through the capital, Bamako, to Kayes.

"The child's symptomatic state during the bus journey is especially concerning, as it presented multiple opportunities for exposures, including high-risk exposures, involving many people," the WHO said.

The girl's mother died in Guinea a few weeks ago and the child was then brought by relatives to Mali.

Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita told French radio on Saturday: "We are doing everything to prevent panic and psychosis.

"Since the start of this epidemic, we in Mali took all measures to be safe, but we never hermetically sealed ourselves from this."

He said the border with Guinea would remain open.

Ebola virus disease (EVD)

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How Ebola survivors' blood is saving lives

• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
• Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva
• Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 70%
• No proven vaccine or cure
• Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus's natural host

Ebola special report

Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

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