In The News

Interferon-free, treat-all approach cost effective, beneficial for chronic HCV     May 21, 2013 ORLANDO, Fla. — An orally administered, interferon-free regimen with a treat-all approach for patients with chronic hepatitis C may be more beneficial and more cost effective than interferon-based triple therapy, according to data presented at Digestive Disease Week. Researchers used a decision…

Blood Tests OK for Fibrosis Dx in Hep C By Salynn Boyles, Contributing Writer, MedPage TodayPublished: June 03, 2013Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD ; Emeritus Professor, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of PennsylvaniaAction Points     While liver biopsy remains the gold standard for predicting disease progression in people with HCV infection, it…

Alcohol is killing too many of us It gets ever cheaper and now it’s linked to over a million hospital admissions a year. Minimum unit pricing would be a good startMan drinking a pint‘Availability of alcohol has multiplied far beyond the local pub.’ Photograph: Johnny Green/PA In 2011-12, there were over 1.2m alcohol-related hospital admissions…

by Annalisa Lista – 04.24.2013 | Comments | Print |   Since binge drinking and related diseases have increased over the past 5 years in Ireland, the RCPI Policy Group on Alcohol have listed a series of recommendations in order to reduce this phenomenon. According to data released, alcohol consumption is especially popular among people…

Provisional figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) show that in 2012, nearly half of liver disease admissions to hospitals in England were for alcoholic liver disease (47.7%, or 16,510 out of 34,650), and approximately 1 in 8 of these resulted in a hospital death (12.3%, or 2,030 out of 16,510). These…

Pouring granulated sugar on wounds ‘can heal them faster than antibiotics’ Folk medicine from Africa may hold the key to treating wounds that defy modern medicine Sugar draws water from the wound into a dressing which accelerates the healing process By Jenny Hope PUBLISHED: 19:11 EST, 14 February 2013 | UPDATED: 05:34 EST, 15 February…

Cutting salt could save 20,000 lives each year in UK Too much salt increases risk of high blood pressure, which can lead to heart attacks and stroke Adults should consume no more than 6g a day, but on average UK men have 9.7g and women have 7.7g By Claire Bates PUBLISHED: 06:41 EST, 12 February…

Food and drink companies are using the same dodgy tactics as tobacco companies to protect profits, leading experts warn Report says global firms are using sneaky tactics that jeopardise health Include lobbying governments to block health regulations against junk food Other methods include distorting research findings and paying large sums of money to form close…

The Jekyll and Hyde happy pill: It’s brought relief to millions but is linked to suicide, low libido and birth defects, and we still don’t know how Prozac works The Jekyll and Hyde happy pill: It’s brought relief to millions but is linked to suicide, low libido and birth defects, and we still don’t know…

The deadly delusion: My father’s untimely death. A haunting question from my children. And how I finally realised the truth about my ‘moderate’ drinking I finally faced up to the truth about my ‘moderate’ drinking when my children, aged six and four, starting asking what killed their grandfather… and if I would die too Richard…