Health news

• East Aleppo evacuation under way - U.N. official

  18-12-2016 23:14
  GENEVA (Reuters) - The evacuation of the rebel-held enclave of east Aleppo resumed late on Sunday night after three days of delays, a U.N. official in Syria told Reuters. "Evacuations are on. Buses and ambulances are leaving east Aleppo now," the U.N. official said in an email message, adding that the first people left east Aleppo at around 11 p.m. (2100 GMT). The official had no immediate information about a planned simultaneous operation to evacuate people from two Shi'ite villages near Idlib
  
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• Gunmen burn buses, stalling Aleppo evacuation deal

  18-12-2016 21:09
  By Lisa Barrington and Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Armed men burned five buses that were supposed to be used for an evacuation near Idlib in Syria on Sunday, stalling a deal to allow thousands to depart the last rebel pocket in Aleppo, where evacuees crammed into buses for hours, waiting to move. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the evacuation of the villages had been postponed as a result, and that meant the evacuation of east Aleppo wa
  
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• The poor must not be left to pick up the tab for everyone’s social care | Letters

  18-12-2016 19:53
  
  Theresa May’s decision to single out Ealing for attack on adult social care at prime minister’s questions is bizarre and unfair (Councils can get social care cash early, says PM, 15 December). Despite significant funding pressures, Ealing council has one of the best re-ablement services in the country, with 93% of older people who use this service still at home three months after hospital discharge, a record we are proud of. Ealing works closely with our local NHS to provide a seamle
  
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• The perils of mixing faith and healing | Letters

  18-12-2016 19:42
  
  Chibundu Onuzo seems to think that it was appropriate for a nurse to ask patients, on their way to surgery, if she could pray with them (I’m invisible – I am a Christian, 13 December). I put the question to my elderly friends. The majority said that it would terrify them at a particularly vulnerable time as they would assume that the nurse expected them to die. Some said they would be angry at such an inappropriate question in a hospital. One commented that he had previously been app
  
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• Gunmen burn buses, hindering Aleppo evacuation deal

  18-12-2016 19:20
  By Lisa Barrington and Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Armed men burned five buses that were supposed to be used for an evacuation near Idlib in Syria on Sunday, holding up a deal to allow thousands to depart the last rebel pocket in Aleppo, where evacuees crammed into buses for hours, waiting to move. In return for the evacuation of fighters, their families and other civilians from Aleppo, mostly Sunni insurgents have agreed that people in the villages of al-Foua and Kefraya, Shi'i
  
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• Afghan migrants taken to hospital as Croatia arrests Bulgarians over trafficking

  18-12-2016 18:30
  Dozens of migrants, mainly from Afghanistan, have been taken to hospital in Croatia after police stopped a van carrying 67 people, and arrested two Bulgarian citizens suspected of human trafficking, the police said. Forty-two migrants were taken immediately to hospital and some were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning, health minister Milan Kujundzic was quoted by the Hina news agency as saying. "They were in serious condition, dehydrated and apparently have not eaten for five days." Some 650,
  
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• Under threat in Washington, first lady's food legacy may live on elsewhere

  18-12-2016 17:14
  By Chris Prentice NEW YORK (Reuters) - Michelle Obama will be ceding the title of first lady to Melania Trump next month, but she may hold for some time the other distinction she earned during her time in the White House: America's best known advocate for healthy food.     The non-profit organisation she helped create as first lady, Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), where she is honorary chair, will continue its work convincing food companies to improve nutrition content
  
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• Aleppo evacuation resumes after Syrian rebels, pro-government forces reach deal

  18-12-2016 16:31
  By Lisa Barrington and Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - A number of buses containing fighters from east Aleppo and their families left the last rebel-held sector of the Syrian city on Sunday after a deal between rebels and pro-government forces allowed evacuations to resume. Pro-government forces agreed to the deal in exchange for people being allowed to leave two Shi'ite villages besieged by insurgents. Syrian state television, citing its correspondent in the city, said on Sunday bu
  
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• 'Liberated' Mosul civilians not safe from violence, casualties rise

  18-12-2016 15:23
  By Stephen Kalin ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Seven-year-old Anas lies in a hospital bed in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, his little body wrapped in bandages following four surgeries to remove shrapnel that shredded his intestines. Two of his brothers did not survive the Islamic State mortar attack three weeks ago on their family's home in Mosul.
  
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• Exposure to chemicals in e-cigarettes could trigger severe gum disease

  18-12-2016 15:19 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Experts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found e-cigarettes contained toxic substances that could kill the top layer of cells in the mouth and gums (file photo).
  
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• Is air pollution really a public health crisis?

  18-12-2016 14:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Is air pollution really a public health crisis? Mark Lobel reports.
  
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• Syrian TV says evacuation deal reached for Aleppo, Shi'ite villages

  18-12-2016 13:58
  By Lisa Barrington and Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Rebels and pro-government forces have reached a deal to resume evacuations from east Aleppo as long as people are allowed to leave two Shi'ite villages besieged by insurgents and two other towns, Syrian state television reported on Sunday. Buses and Red Crescent vehicles arrived at the entrance to the two villages of al-Foua and Kefraya shortly after the deal was announced, according to al-Manar television, affiliated to the Leb
  
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• The Mail on Sunday's fitness guru MATT ROBERTS on why his dad didn't treat his cancer

  18-12-2016 12:16 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The Mail on Sunday's fitness guru lost his father, former Arsenal star John Roberts, in January this year following a five-month battle with pancreatic cancer.
  
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• The ten reasons you feel bloated

  18-12-2016 12:13 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Abdominal discomfort is a likely scenario for many over the holiday season, thanks to parties and the Christmas Day feast. Here are ten reasons why you might be feeling bloated and sluggish.
  
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• Chinese city cancels flights in 2nd day of smog alert

  18-12-2016 11:15
  
  BEIJING (AP) — A smog-shrouded Chinese city canceled airline flights Sunday due to poor visibility and parents took children to hospitals on the second day of a pollution alert across the country's north.
  
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• Red Cross says hopes to resume Aleppo evacuation on Sunday

  18-12-2016 11:07
  By Lisa Barrington and Stephanie Nebehay BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hopes to resume the evacuation of civilians and wounded from the Syrian enclave of east Aleppo on Sunday, a spokeswoman said. Thousands of people are left in Aleppo, some sleeping on the streets in freezing temperatures, after the evacuation of the rebel-held areas ground to a halt on Friday following a disagreement with pro-government forces. Rebels and a government official ha
  
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• Why pictures trigger buried memories much faster than words

  18-12-2016 07:00
  
  Human – and pigeon – brains are efficient at storing the essence of a pictureAs you’ll have noticed, in our issue devoted to this year’s most memorable news images, there is an immediacy to a photograph that we can’t help but respond to. A picture can trigger a buried memory and recall a precise moment in time much more rapidly than words. But why exactly?Neuroscientists have known for many years that humans have an extraordinary ability to encode pictures. In one s
  
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• Men suffering from a common prostate condition are set to benefit from a pioneering new implant

  18-12-2016 06:58 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  The device is a tiny wire basket made from an alloy of nickel and titanium which is inserted into the urethra towards the bladder during a simple five-minute operation under local anaesthetic.
  
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• Breakthrough in the war on skin cancer

  18-12-2016 06:35 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  British company Oxford BioDynamics, a ‘spin-out’ from Oxford University, has developed a new simple blood test that can detect the most deadly form of skin cancer - melanoma.
  
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• Insight - Heralding social, financial change, China aims blow at iron rice bowl

  18-12-2016 02:16
  By David Stanway PINGDINGSHAN, China (Reuters) - China has ordered state firms to smash the decades-old system of providing cradle-to-grave welfare support, known as the country's "iron rice bowl". At the heart of soot-covered Pingdingshan in central China is the Pingmei Shenma Group, a state coal conglomerate that dominates the economy, society and air of the heavily polluted city in Henan province. If they are not closed down, much of the infrastructure will need to be renovated, which State C
  
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• Economy pays tab for Japan Inc's free lunch on overtime

  18-12-2016 02:02
  By Stanley White and Izumi Nakagawa TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese workers put up with long hours and unpaid overtime under pressure from cost-saving companies, and figures from government, which wants more money in workers' pockets to boost consumer spending, appear to underestimate the problem. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is trying to enact labour reforms as part of his "Abenomics" plan to end decades of stagnant growth and deflation. Government data shows that Japanese work an average of 14.2 hours
  
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• Fat patients are to blame for the failure of a free gym scheme costing the NHS £100million a year because more than half quit within three months

  18-12-2016 01:51 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  More than half the NHS patients referred to the £100million scheme, which gives free gym membership, quit within three months, according to new research.
  
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• Night riders

  18-12-2016 01:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Across the UK, volunteer motorcyclists help the NHS by delivering blood. What motivates them?
  
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• Families affected by rare genetic condition that causes Alzheimer's in childhood are given new hope by what could be the first treatment

  18-12-2016 01:42 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC) is a progressive and fatal disorder that gradually robs children of the ability to speak and walk, and causes intellectual decline and memory loss.
  
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• Social media is damaging the confidence of Britons in the bedroom

  18-12-2016 01:38 via dailymail.co.uk
  
  More than half of Facebook and Instagram users surveyed admitted that reading romantic or fitness-related updates left them feeling insecure about their bodies.
  
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• NHS cashes in on private payers as waiting lists soar

  18-12-2016 01:05
  
  Hospitals’ income from ‘queue jumpers’ rises while 360,000 non-payers face delays beyond 18 weeksIncome received by NHS hospital trusts from private patients has risen by 23% in the last four years, as waiting lists for non-paying patients have soared.Under the government’s reforms, hospitals have been given the right to raise 49% of their funds through non-NHS work, often from patients seeking to avoid waiting for surgery. Prior to this, there had been a 2% cap on income
  
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• Chemo, clinical trials and a couple of ill-advised cocktails

  18-12-2016 01:05
  
  Steve Hewlett is caught up by the promise of drug trials, only to be brought low by the death of journalist AA GillWell, this second-line chemotherapy treatment is proving trickier than anyone expected. Although my blood levels – platelets, critical to blood clotting – and white cells, the ones that fight infection, do appear to return to normal between doses, every new chemo infusion really batters them. So today, I’m back at the Royal Marsden hospital for blood tests before w
  
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• How Britain plans to lead the global science race to treat dementia

  18-12-2016 01:04
  
  It has struck nearly a million people in the UK, yet even its cause is still unclearEarly next year, Professor Bart De Strooper will sit down in an empty office in University College London and start to plan a project that aims to revolutionise our understanding and treatment of dementia. Dozens of leading researchers will be appointed to his £250m project which has been set up to create a national network of dementia research centres – with UCL at its hub.The establishment of the UK
  
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• Stepmother who became mum for the first time: I can’t wait for my first Christmas as a mum

  18-12-2016 01:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  A LOVING stepmother to two girls, Sam Jackson longed to hold her own baby – and after a gruelling six years, her wish finally came true.
  
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• NHS blunders kill one patient a week, new figures show

  18-12-2016 01:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  ONE NHS patient dies each week after being given the wrong medication or an incorrect dose of drugs, new figures show.
  
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• Do not wash your hands of NHS and social care problems, MPs told

  18-12-2016 01:00
  
  ‘Problems should not be devolved to areas without resources to manage them’ says public accounts committeeThe devolution of power to local authorities and mayors should not be used as an excuse by central government to wash its hands of responsibility of key services such as the NHS and social care, a cross-party committee of MPs has said. Related: Social care spending falling below £554 minimum in most areasRelated: Social care crisis: Jeremy Corbyn seeks urgent meeting with P
  
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