6th Feb - International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation

In Mauritania, the National Association of Midwives has publicly declared their opposition to FGM and their pledge to abandon the practice in the communities they serve. Photo credit: UNFPA Mauritania

Today is UN Zero Tolerance of FGM Day. An estimated 140 million women and girls have suffered FGM, an excruciating and dangerous procedure which has serious life-long health effects.

While most of these are in Africa, global migration has ensured Ireland is not immune to the practice. Based on population and migration trends, it is estimated that more than 3,700 women in Ireland have undergone FGM in their country of origin.

Yet awareness remains low, with 65 per cent of GPs in one survey saying they were unable to identify symptoms.

Up to a dozen women have been treated at the first dedicated clinic for sufferers of female genital mutilation (FGM) since it opened last year.

Most have required surgical intervention to deal with the health problems caused by the procedure, according to Dr Caitríona Henchion, medical director of theIrish Family Planning Association’s FGM clinic in Dublin.

View on UN website: International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation - UN

View more on Irish Times here

Doctors to be obliged by law to tell patients of errors

Doctors and health professionalswill in future be obliged by law to tell patients where mistakes or accidentstake place in their treatment, the Oireachtas committeeon health and childrenhas heard.

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar said it was the equivalent of a motoring “hit and run” for doctors and health professionals to fail to make such disclosures and to live up to their duty of candour.

“I find that [behaviour] really appalling and it is not the type of medicine I was trained in.”

Mr Varadkar told the committee if doctors did adhere to their duty of candour and open disclosure and informed patients when adverse clinical outcomes had occurred, “ a lot fewer people would sue”.

The Minister said he now intended to legislate to make open disclosure a legal requirement.

Earlier, he told the committee the health service clearly has insufficient funding to address all areas of concern immediately.  Addressing the committee regarding spending for this year, he said the budget available would allow for a start to stabilising health service funding.

He claimed the health service was now in a more stable financial position than it had been for many years.

There was “undoubtedly a strong case for increased health funding in the years ahead”, he said.  However, increased spending without reform would not resolve the difficulties which the health service faced.

View here on Irish Times

Govt approves bill requiring calories on menus

Restaurants and takeaways look set to be compelled to display calorie details on their menus.

The Cabinet has approved proposals requiring food outlets to post the information at the point where the food is ordered, whether at tables or counters.

Drafting legislation is expected to start immediately and should be ready for enactment by next year.

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar said the move is a simple but effective way of encouraging people to choose a healthier option.

"I am very concerned about levels of overweight and obesity in Ireland. Latest figures indicate that nearly two out of every three adults, and one in four children, are overweight or obese.

"This presents real risks for health and well-being and causes a high percentage of many of the chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes," Minister Varadkar said.

The proposed laws will require all menus, including boards, leaflets, digital menus or other forms, to display the amount of calories alongside the price in the same font size and colour. 
View on RTE/Health here

NUI Galway’s 5th International Nursing and Midwifery Conference

The 5th International Nursing and Midwifery Conference, hosted by NUI Galway’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, will be held from 30-31 March. The conference is organised in partnership with the Nursing and Midwifery Planning Development, HSE West/Mid West.

The over-arching theme of the conference, 'Building and Promoting Excellence in Practice' highlights the importance of strengthening nursing and midwifery practice at international, national, local and community levels

The conference provides an opportunity for researchers, practitioners and policy makers to get together to learn, debate and share methods of building and promoting excellence in practice. There will be oral and poster presentations and five different workshops that delegates can choose to attend.

View more here

Keynote addresses will explore:

·         Evidence - Professor Neal Maskrey, Honorary Professor of Evidence-Informed Decision Making, Keele University.

·         Compassionate Care - Professor Belinda Dewar, Professor of Practice Improvement at the University of the West of Scotland.

·         Risk and Resilience - Professor Charlotte Clarke, Head of the School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh.

·         Motivation - Evelyn Gilmore, Consultant Work and Organisational Psychologist, an Accredited Psychotherapist and a Business and Executive Coach.

To avail of the early bird reduced fees please visit http://www.nursingmidwifery.ie/site/view/9/registration/ and register prior to Monday, 9 February.

Irish scientists developing bowel cancer blood tests

A simple and cheap blood test for bowel cancer, which has been developed by Irish-based scientists, could be available for widespread use as early as next year.

The test, which will search for biomarkers generated when bowel cancer starts to develop, promises to be more accurate and sensitive than existing tests.

It is being developed by scientists at the DCU-based Biomedical Diagnostics Institute in partnership with biomedical company Randox Technologies.

It is expected the new test could cost as little as €25.

Because it uses a small amount of blood it is less invasive than existing bowel cancer tests, and it is therefore leading to hopes that it may encourage more people to volunteer to be screened for the disease.

The current national bowel screening programme for those aged 60-69 has had a low uptake.

This is thought to be in part because it involves testing stool samples. Such testing is also considered slow and not entirely reliable.

Survival rates from bowel cancer are higher when the disease is caught early, after a formal diagnosis involving colonoscopy.

It is hoped the new test could lead to earlier diagnosis and a reduced need to send patients for further investigation via colonoscopy.

Bowel cancer is the second most common cause of death from cancer in Ireland.

2,500 people are diagnosed with it each year and 1,000 die from it.

The collaboration is funded by Enterprise Ireland and Randox. 

View more here

Honey and Lemon 'as good as cough mix'

THERE is no substantial evidence that expensive over-the-counter medicines are that effective in treating short-term coughs in children and adults, according to Irish researchers.


Professor Susan Smith of the Royal College of Surgeons revealed researchers found the old-fashioned remedy of honey and lemon was just as effective in giving relief. The team looked at 29 trials involving 4,835 adults and children with acute cough.

"There is a high prevalence of coughs and colds at this time of year and patients often buy over-the-counter medications to alleviate their symptoms. However, our study has found little evidence to support expenditure on these and some of these medicines can occasionally result in adverse side-effects.

"Simple remedies, such as honey and lemon, can provide effective relief for coughs at a lower cost than over-the-counter medicines."

Parents should not give honey to children under one.

"We recommend that patients talk to their pharmacist or GP for advice on low-cost, safe treatments for coughs that can be prepared at home."

Darragh O' Loughlin of the Irish Pharmacy Union said: "People should talk to their pharmacist and ask if there is something they can take which will be effective for them.

"There are strong mixtures that might not be visible on the shelf. They may be able to provide something more potent."

View more here

New Breast Cancer App - CUH

Cork University Hospital (CUH) has launched an app, FYI: Breast Cancer, to help women who are overwhelmed by medical information about cancer.

This new App explains what breast cancer is, the different types of breast cancer, what a breast cancer diagnosis means and what treatments are available. 

“As much as 90% of medical information on the internet is inaccurate or difficult to read,” says Consultant Breast Surgeon Mark Corrigan.

“To counter this, and to clearly explain the facts about breast cancer and dispel the myths, we have developed the FYI: Breast Cancer app. It has been made in a very user friendly format, and answers the most commonly asked questions.

“More and more, we see that patients attending a breast cancer clinic are using the internet for information.

“With 90% of patients using a mobile phone on a daily basis, we decided that an app would be the best way to communicate correct, easy to read information.

“We hope that the FYI: Breast Cancer app will make a major difference to the hundreds of women attending breast cancer clinics who find themselves overwhelmed by the medical information they are given.

It is hoped that the success of the app will pave the way for similar apps in other fields, such as prostate cancer, colorectal cancer and diabetes.

The FYI: Breast Cancer app is available to download on both Android and iPhone.

https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id936500021

View more information here

Communicable Diseases Update

Communicable Diseases Update Vol. 14 (1) February 2015 available via Lenus, Irish Health Repository

Click here to access PDF of the February 2015 issue

Lunchtime Lecture: 'Bodies of Knowledge', Wednesday 4th February, Hardiman Building

The Special Collections Lunchtime Lectures Series 2014-2015 will continue on Wednesday Feb. 4th, in Room G011 Seminar Room in the Hardiman Building at 1pm, with "Bodies of knowledge : the early days of anatomy in Galway" by Alexander Black, Anatomy, School of Medicine.

Anatomy was one of the founding departments of Queen's College Galway and was viewed at the time as a rather distasteful, if necessary, field of study, yet to be completely separated from its sibling discipline physiology. Anatomy is a visual and tactile subject, and perhaps relies on images and illustrations more than any other academic discipline.  This talk will cover the early days of anatomy in Galway, and will illustrate the importance of anatomy to society, society to anatomy, and medical imaging to medicine.

A selection of anatomy material from the Old Library Collection will be on display during the talk, and all are welcome to the G011 Seminar Room in the Hardiman Building at 1pm.

The accompanying "Art of the Unseen" exhibition of anatomical illustration will run in the Special Collections Reading Room during the month of February.

Lung Cancer Management - Ireland

Lung cancer treatments that are currently in the development stage could be of particular benefit to Irish patients, it has emerged.

 

It comes as a study released by the Irish Cancer Society has suggested that the rate of mutation of a specific gene called PIK3CA is high in the Irish population compared to the international rate.

Treatments that target the mutation of this gene are currently under development and it has now emerged that these could be of particular benefit to Irish lung cancer patients.

The research was funded by the Irish Cancer Society, which said that it uncovered promising new avenues that could lead to novel therapies to improve outcomes for lung cancer patients.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 80pc of lung cancers and despite advances in anti-cancer therapies, the overall survival rate for lung cancer patients remains poor.

The research study announced yesterday, which was led by Dr. Susan Heavey and supervisor Dr. Kathy Gately, investigated a gene pathway called P13K.

It is known to play a key role in the control of cell growth.

Heightened activity of this pathway has been found to be associated with a more aggressive disease and poorer outcome for patients.

The research identified that a targeted drug called DHMEQ was highly effective at reducing growth of chemotherapy-resistant lung cancer cells.

However, the charity said that further work was required to investigate this finding.
The research group has secured funding from the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) to continue the work.

View more information here