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Friday 18 March 2016
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Wednesday 16 March 2016
Nui Galway Carry Out Irish Study As Part Of New Pan-European WHO Survey
- Irish children report a lack of family and peer support
- Cyberbullying increasing with age in Ireland
- Drinking behaviours and tobacco use improving among Ireland’s young people
A new pan-European World Health Organisation (WHO) survey
of schoolchildren reveals that the proportion of 15-year-olds who first smoked
at the age of 13 has fallen significantly since 2010. The main findings of the
‘International Health Behaviour in School-aged Children’ (HBSC) 2014 study was
launched today in Brussels, with The Health Promotion Research Centre at NUI
Galway carrying out the Irish survey.
The WHO report entitled Growing up unequal:gender and socioeconomic differences in young people’s health and well-being covers 42 countries and regions across Europe and North America who participated in the study, collaborating with the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Findings in the report are based on almost 220,000 school students. Cross national comparisons are made for young people aged 11, 13 and 15 years.
The WHO report entitled Growing up unequal:gender and socioeconomic differences in young people’s health and well-being covers 42 countries and regions across Europe and North America who participated in the study, collaborating with the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Findings in the report are based on almost 220,000 school students. Cross national comparisons are made for young people aged 11, 13 and 15 years.
The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC)
survey, which is updated every four years, reveals that the proportion of
15-year-old Europeans who reported having a first cigarette at the age of 13 or
younger fell from 24% to 17% between 2009/2010 when the last survey was
conducted and 2013/2014. The reduction reported among girls (22% to 13%) was
larger than that among boys (26% to 22%), and the data shows no consistent
association with family affluence, suggesting that smoking behaviour is only
partially determined by socioeconomic factors.
This positive news on smoking is tempered by other aspects of the report, which goes on to warn that while 80% of the schoolchildren report generally high rates of life satisfaction, differences between genders and socioeconomic status are adversely affecting many young people’s health, well-being and lifestyle choices at a critical stage in their development.
This positive news on smoking is tempered by other aspects of the report, which goes on to warn that while 80% of the schoolchildren report generally high rates of life satisfaction, differences between genders and socioeconomic status are adversely affecting many young people’s health, well-being and lifestyle choices at a critical stage in their development.
The Irish Study
The Irish survey was carried out by the Health Promotion Research Centre at NUIGalway and it was the fifth round of data collection in Ireland. The overall study aims to gain new insight into, and increase our understanding of young people’s health and wellbeing, health behaviours and their social context.
The Irish survey was carried out by the Health Promotion Research Centre at NUIGalway and it was the fifth round of data collection in Ireland. The overall study aims to gain new insight into, and increase our understanding of young people’s health and wellbeing, health behaviours and their social context.
To access a full copy of Growing up unequal:
gender and socioeconomic differences in young people’s health and well-being, visit: http://www.euro.who.int/en/hbsc-report-2016
Monday 14 March 2016
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Friday 11 March 2016
Gum disease link to Alzheimer's, research suggests
Gum disease has
been linked to a greater rate of cognitive decline in people with Alzheimer's
disease, early stage research has suggested.
The small study,
published in PLOS ONE, looked at
59 people who were all deemed to have mild to moderate dementia.
It is thought
the body's response to gum inflammation may be hastening the brain's decline.
The Alzheimer's
Society said if the link was proven to be true, then good oral health may help
slow dementia.
The body's
response to inflammatory conditions was cited as a possible reason for the
quicker decline.
Inflammation
causes immune cells to swell and has long been associated with Alzheimer's.
Researchers believe their findings add weight to evidence that inflammation in
the brain is what drives the disease.
The study,
jointly led by the University of Southampton and King's College London,
cognitively assessed the participants, and took blood samples to measure inflammatory
markers in their blood.
Their oral
health was also assessed by a dental hygienist who was unaware of the cognitive
outcomes.
Of the sample
group, 22 were found to have considerable gum disease while for the remaining
37 patients the disease was much less apparent. The average age of the group
with gum disease was 75, and in the other group it was 79.
A majority of
participants - 52 - were followed up at six months, and all assessments were
repeated.
The presence of
gum disease - or periodontitis as it is known - was associated with a six-fold
increase in the rate of cognitive decline, the study suggested.
View study here: Periodontitis and Cognitive
Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease
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'Breast Cancer drugs can destroy tumours in 11 days' EBCC Conference
 |
| British doctors have discovered combining two powerful breast cancer drugs could dramatically shrink or destroy tumours in just 11 days. File photograph: Rui Vieira/PA Wire |
Combining two powerful breast
cancer drugs could dramatically shrink or destroy tumours in
just 11 days, British doctors have discovered.
Some patients with HER2
positive breast cancer may be spared chemotherapy altogether if they are given
the drugs straight after diagnosis and before they have surgery. About 15 per cent to 25
per cent of women diagnosed with breast cancer have HER2, which tends to grow
more quickly than some other types of breast cancer.
Researchers have
discovered that combining the drugs Tyverb (lapatinib) and Herceptin
(trastuzumab) and giving them to women before surgery could lead to tumours
shrinking significantly or even disappearing.
Presenting their
findings at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Amsterdam,
experts described the findings as exciting.
The UK EPHOS-B trial
involved 257 women with newly diagnosed HER2 positive breast cancer.
In the first part of the
trial, 130 women were randomised to receive either no treatment before surgery
or Herceptin and Tyverb for 11 days after diagnosis and before surgery.
According to Cancer Research UK,
current treatments are effective, and women often experience a complete
response after three to four months.
Nevertheless,
researchers said the 11-day response was very surprising.
Prof Arnie Purushotham,
senior clinical adviser at Cancer Research UK, which funded the study, said:
“These results are very promising if they stand up in the long run and could be
the starting step of finding a new way to treat HER2 positive breast cancers.
About 5,300 to 8,000
women a year are diagnosed with HER2 positive breast cancer.
Thursday 10 March 2016
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'#hellomynameis campaign' for more compassionate care
Nurses, doctors and other HSE staff – particularly frontline staff - are being asked to tell their patients their name, as part of the #hellomynameis campaign for more compassionate care. #hellomynameis was started by Dr Kate Granger in the UK after she became frustrated with the number of staff who failed to introduce themselves to her when she was an inpatient with post-operative sepsis.
Kate has terminal cancer but continues to work as an elderly medicine registrar. Since leaving hospital, she has started a campaign on Twitter and on her own website asking staff to make a pledge to introduce themselves in future to their patients. The #hellomynameis campaign is being supported by the HSE as part of the Quality Improvement Division’s patient engagement strategy and is included in the division’s operational plan for 2016.
Staff can greatly enhance or negatively affect patient experiences of HSE services. Simple things like introducing yourself can put patients at ease and positively influence their experiences of the Irish healthcare system. Patient engagement and compassion need to be at the centre of the Irish healthcare services and built into everything we do.
This page aims to encourage and support staff to engage with the #hellomynameis movement and to put patient engagement and compassion at the heart of our healthcare services.
The resources below will help to get you started.
- Visit Kate’s website http://hellomynameis.org.uk/ for lots of resources and information, where you can:
- Download and print off your own #hellomynameis badges
- Download and print off your own #hellomynameis placard – take a photo or selfie and use social media to spread the word
- Download a #hellomynameis icon for your email signature
- Read the #hellomynameis feature in the Spring 2016 edition of Health Matters
- Watch Kate Granger’s presentation to an Irish audience at the HSE Communications Masterclass
- Watch Kate Granger’s interview recorded at the HSE Communications Masterclass
For more information about how you can start a #hellomynameis movement in your workplace, email the QID Division at opse@hse.ie
'Stunning' operation regenerates eye's lens
A pioneering procedure to regenerate the eye has successfully treated children with cataracts in China.
More than half of all cases of blindness are caused by cataracts - the clouding of the eye's lens.
An implanted lens is normally needed to restore sight, but the operation described in Nature activated stem cells in the eye to grow a new one.
Experts describe the breakthrough as one of the finest achievements in regenerative medicine.
The lens sits just behind the pupil and focuses light on to the retina.
About 20 million people are blind because of cataracts, which become more common with age - although some children are born with them. Conventional treatment uses ultrasound to soften and break up the lens, which is then flushed out.
An artificial intraocular lens must then be implanted back into the eye, but this can result in complications, particularly in children.
The technique developed by scientists at the Sun Yat-sen University and the University of California, San Diego removes the cloudy cataract from inside the lens via a tiny incision.
Crucially it leaves the outer surface - called the lens capsule - intact. This structure is lined with lens epithelial stem cells, which normally repair damage. The scientists hoped that preserving them would regenerate the lens.
The team reported that tests on rabbits and monkeys were successful, so the approach was trialled in 12 children. Within eight months the regenerated lens was back to the same size as normal.
Dr Kang Zhang, one of the researchers, said: "This is the first time an entire lens has been regenerated. The children were operated on in China and they continue to be doing very well with normal vision."
It also showed a dramatically lower complication rate "by almost every measure, supporting the superiority of the treatment"
However, he says larger trials are needed before it should become the standard treatment for patients.
Commenting on the findings, Prof Robin Ali from the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, said the work was "stunning".
He told the BBC News website: "This new approach offers greatly improved prospects for the treatment of paediatric cataracts as it results in regeneration of a normal lens that grows naturally."
He said getting similar results in adults "is likely to be more difficult to achieve" but could "have a major impact".
View more on BBC/Health News
View more on BBC/Health News
Thursday 3 March 2016
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