Game of Thrones offers hope against Trump | Letters

Your article (Trump supporters in the heartland fear being left behind by GOP health plan, theguardian.com, 12 March) is unfortunately very consistent with a study that I recently commissioned looking at changes in white working-class death rates in California over the past 20 years. It showed that against a backdrop of improving white death rates in California, rural California is a veritable hot zone of white working-class mortality. Forty per cent of California counties (23 counties) voted for Donald Trump. Of those 23 counties, 21 of them are experiencing pronounced increases in death rates for whites aged 40-64. In some of these counties, white death rates have increased over 50% since the late 1990s.

This crisis of white premature death is being driven by alcohol and drug-related causes and includes a surge in suicides. These are the very types of health problems that are most amenable to high-quality mental health care and drug treatment services covered by Medicaid, which was expanded to millions of Californians under the Affordable Care Act. Our theory is that rapid shifts in the economy over this period without a meaningful social compact is the underlying cause of this epidemic of white death. These folks are watching the American dream slip further and further from their grasp and they are quickly losing hope. Tragically, their vote to repeal their healthcare access will likely exacerbate their pain.
Dr Anthony Iton
California Endowment, Oakland, CA, USA

• It’s reassuring to hear that Bernie Sanders is campaigning again (Journal, 11 March), but the examples given of his fightback are hardly likely to keep the light-sleeping President Trump awake at night. The usual emphasis on ever-more protests will soon meet the “too many marches” law of diminishing returns, as will I fear the hopes that his young supporters will still feel “the Bern” when the election is five years away rather than being imminent. His call for the Democrats to have a progressive platform geared more to the fears of steelworkers and less to the priorities of the liberal elites won’t on its own see off an increasingly authoritarian Trump. To do that it will need to include policies to cope with potential Democratic voters’ concerns about future immigration and to propose concrete steps to protect American jobs from imports.

This will require the Democrats to consider a progressive form of protectionism that will benefit all countries. Its core aim should be the nurturing and rebuilding of local economies not just in the US but worldwide. To adequately protect domestic jobs will need a permanent reduction in the level of international trade in goods, money and services and the prioritising of the ability of nation states to control the level of migration that their citizens desire. Without such an approach, Sanders could make more likely the ghastly prospect of an eight-year-long Trump reign.
Colin Hines
East Twickenham, Middlesex

• Trumps “Muslim ban 2” is planned to come into effect on Thursday 16 March. The ban, with very limited alterations, is just a repeat of the executive order that led to a global wave of protests. Islamophobia is at the heart of Trump’s agenda. The suspension of refugee programmes and the targeting of Muslim countries show just how far he is prepared to go to play divide and rule. We refuse to stay silent as Muslim communities are targeted and call on all those who oppose the ban to join us on the streets on Saturday 18 March as part of the global protests marking UN anti-racism day.
Dr Shazad Amin Mend, Abra Javid Rotherham 12 Campaign, Rashid Majid KhanSolicitors, Amal Azzudin Human rights activist, Tanzil Chowdhury Northern Police Monitoring Project, Nahella Ashraf Stand Up To Racism, Dr Amel Alghrani University of Liverpool, Dr Waqas Tufail Leeds Beckett University, Saleem Ahmed Bury Unison Black Members Officer, Maz Saleem Daughter of Mohammed Saleem, Sabia Kamali TV Presenter and Director of Sisters Forum, Vakas Hussain Barrister, Zlakha Ahmed Founder and manager of Apna Haq, Murad Qureshi Chair of Stop The War

• Rebecca Nicholson (Harry Potter and the Election of Horrors, G2, 14 March) tells an important story about the responses of Harry Potter fans to Trump’s election. She should certainly add to her account the case of the Harry Potter Alliance, the organisation of Rowling fans committed to acting out the values of non-discrimination and inclusiveness. But in just saying that each generation may have its effective “fictions”, she misses out the most important feature of this: that it is contemporary fantasy more than anything that is providing the means to this around the world.

It began with the Lord of the Rings films, which were accompanied for many by a picture of George W Bush wearing a gold ring with the slogan “Frodo has failed”. Then came Avatar, and the adoption of the Na’avis’ blue skin by environmental protestors. The Hunger Games provided anti-military protesters with the three-fingered salute of defiance. And of course Occupy borrowed heavily from V for Vendetta for its symbolism. But perhaps most interesting is the adoption by a number of anti-Trump protestors of the slogan “Winter is coming” from Game of Thrones. The difference being that on the face of it Game of Thrones is exceptional in being so dark and pessimistic. Yet it seems that it is helping people to feel hope within adversity. We are currently exploring this with our ongoing project, developed by 40 researchers in 12 countries. I hope some of your readers will be interested to visit, and perhaps contribute their views, at www.questeros.org.
Martin Barker
Emeritus professor, Aberystwyth University

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Game of Thrones offers hope against Trump | Letters

Liquid Lime Extract Offers At Least 15 Health Benefits

All this while, there are perhaps thousands of articles discuss lemon water health benefits. On the other hand, very few articles that I have come across discuss lime water health benefits.

As far as I know, liquid lime extract health benefits which I would like to share with you in this article is not written or mentioned by anyone not even once.

A liquid lime extract is thought to offer higher bioavailability of nutrients and phytonutrients compared to that of lime water.

One of the reasons why lime gets less attention from American natural health practitioners and bloggers could be that lime is actually more popularly used in countries of the tropics which many varieties of lime are grown.

Conversely, lemon is popular among western natural health practitioners and the general public because it has mainly been used in cooking since antiquity.

Varieties

There are many different varieties of lime but the most commonly found in grocery stores throughout North America are key lime, Citrus aurantifolia (the ‘original lime,’ also known as Mexican lime) and Persian lime, Citrus latifolia.

The majority of cultivated species are in reality hybrids; Key limes or Mexican limes are a hybrid of 2 plants while Persian limes are a hybrid of either 3 or 4 plants.

Both lemon and lime are much less the same in term of their nutrient contents. They are both excellent sources of citric acid, vitamin C, all B vitamins except B3 and B12, and many types of minerals.

Compare: Each 100 gram of lime and lemon delivers 29.1 percent and 46.0 percent Daily Value (DV), respectively. Ripe lemon is yellow while ripe lime is greenish which reflects it carotenoid contents. That’s why lime has 1 percent DV whereas lemon has virtually none.

Phytonutrients

It contains various types of phytonutrients (plant nutrients), including alkaloids, carotenoids, coumarins, flavonoids, phenolic acids, triterpenoids, and limonoids. All of these contribute to its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties.

It delivers the most abundant citrus flavonoids, including hesperidin, naringin, or neohesperidin. Other important constituents are apigenin, hesperetin, kaempferol, quercetin, naringenin, nobiletin, and rutin.

Besides potentially contributing anticancer activities, studies have also suggested that lime may be beneficial in preventing and slowing down atherosclerosis.

Maceration

Make it a habit putting in cut limes together with peel into your drinking water or juices, to enjoy all its holistic medicinal properties.

You can try the following suggestion to prepare a liquid lime extract in your kitchen:

1. Remove labels and wash with clean water thoroughly.


2. Cut a lime in half crosswise.


3. Pour lukewarm water into a glass until ¾ full.


4. Squeeze the lime and let it steep in the water.


5. Cover the glass top with a saucer.


6. Leave the preparation overnight.


7. In the morning, remove the lime.


8. Filter the liquid using a strainer.


9. Drink the liquid extract first thing in the morning.

Taste

I used to prefer drinking lemon water. It offers a sour-tart taste that wakes up your taste buds. Several years ago, I found myself starting to be fond of lime water over lemon water for its smoother bitter-sweet taste.

Both are refreshing but I find lime water is more ‘cooling’, a property that may be attributed to its bitter taste.

HEALTH BENEFITS

The followings 17 health benefits of drinking the liquid lime extract are derived from lemon health benefits which I deduced on the fact that lime nutrient and phytonutrient contents are much similar to that of lemon.

1.A Post-Workout Drink

Your body is loaded with free radicals after intense workouts. Liquid lime extract with little Himalayan crystal salt and pure honey added to it is a great neutralizer of free radicals. Drinking liquid lemon extract can help replenish lost fluids during workouts.

2. ‘Alkalizes’ the Body

All nutrients and phytonutrients contents in lime synergistically promote many positives physiological effects. Lime may help neutralize free radicals, preventing/reducing inflammation, preventing cancer formation, preventing atherosclerosis, promoting better digestion, among others.

Note: Free radicals are thought by some experts to cause the blood/cell pH to ‘rise,’ which have never been proven to happen.

3. Asthma Treatment

Lime can be one of the best natural treatments for asthma because it delivers many types of nutrients, phytonutrients, and essential oils that act synergistically to reduce spasm and inflammation which are the main symptoms of asthma.

Note: lime may aggravate the symptoms in some people.

4. Balances Blood Sugar Levels

Lime peel is rich in bioflavonoids and limonoids which are believed to help control blood sugar levels. Some experts believe bioflavonoids do it by stimulating the production of insulin.

Conversely, I personally believe they do it by enhancing insulin capability to dock to insulin receptors which in turn cause efficient GLUT4 upregulation (increases in numbers) leading to better glucose transport into the cells.

5. Superb Nutrients and Phytonutrients

Besides phytonutrients, lime also contains vitamin C; many types of B vitamin except B3 and B12; minerals such as magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, copper; and essential oils, all of which uniquely promote better overall health.

6. Help You Relax

Vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, bioflavonoid, carotenoid, and limonoid contents in lime are thought to help you feel relax.

They are also thought to help reduce your high blood pressure and aid digestion.

7. Detoxifies

Please read ‘Alkalizes’ the Body’

8. Dissolves Phlegm

A traditional concoction comprises lime, warm water, and honey is said to help dissolve phlegm. Vitamin C and phytonutrients are thought to act as antiviral and antibacterial that can help alleviate upper respiratory issues such as coughs and colds.

9. Fights Cancer Cells

Vitamin C and all phytonutrient contents in lime are thought to possess potent anticancer properties. These substances help reduce oxidative stress by neutralizing free radicals which in turn preventing oxidative damage (cell component damage).

10. Heart Food

B vitamins, vitamin C, and phytonutrients found in lime are vital for your heart health. It is thought to help prevent and may possibly reverse atherosclerosis (fatty plaque build-up).

These nutrients, phytonutrients plus magnesium and potassium can help prevent heart-related illnesses like high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and irregular heartbeat.

11. Prevent and Treat Constipation

Bitter principles that include limonoids and alkaloids, vitamin C, citric acid, and perhaps essential oils are thought to help induce bile acid secretions. This, in turn, promoting better digestion as well as preventing, and treating constipation.

12. Prevent Scurvy and Atherosclerosis

Vitamin C is a co-factor for collagen production and maintenance.

When you experience scurvy, other organs are also thought to experience it at the same time as well. Therefore, taking liquid lime extract every day is believed to help prevent not only scurvy but also atherosclerosis.

13. Improves Digestive Health

Please read ‘Prevent and Treat Constipation’

14. Lowers High Blood Pressure

Many alternative practitioners believe that potassium content in lemon (thus lime) helps lower high blood pressure. Actually, the hypotensive (blood pressure-lowering) properties of lime are not solely attributed solely to potassium. Vitamin C and magnesium plus phytonutrients such as hesperidin (a bioflavonoid) and limonene (a limonoid), and possibly other types of phytonutrients, all of which have been suggested to contribute to the said properties.

15. Improves Your Immune System

Antioxidant nutrients (vitamin C, citric acid), magnesium, B vitamins, and phytonutrient (see ‘phytonutrients’) contents in lime may help harmonize and boost the immune system.

Other Health Benefits

Liquid lime extract also offers other health benefits, including

• increasing metabolism and promoting weight loss


• keeping your body hydrated


• killing worms


• preventing bad breath


• building radiant skin


• preventing uric acid accumulation


• preventing and treating kidney stones


• preventing sepsis


• maintaining healthy liver and blood vessels

Liquid Lime Extract Offers At Least 15 Health Benefits

John McDonnell says autumn statement "offers no hope" – video

John McDonnell describes the last six years of economic policy as an ‘abject failure’ in the House of Commons on Wednesday. The shadow minister accuses Philip Hammond of failing the sick and elderly after his autumn statement gave no additional money to the NHS or social care

John McDonnell says autumn statement "offers no hope" – video

Clove (Syzygium aromaticum), A common Food Spice that offers A Long List of Traditional Uses

Clove is one of the highly prized spices, native to the Maluku islands in Indonesia. The spice actually is dried aromatic flower buds of an evergreen rainforest tree in the family Myrtaceae, Sygizium aromaticum

It is available throughout the year and commercially harvested primarily in Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and Zanzibar. It is widely recognized all over the world for its medicinal properties and culinary qualities.

The spice is widely used in Asian, Middle-East, and African cuisines in the preparation of curries, gravy items, and marinades. It is used along with other spices, including cinnamon, cardamom, and black pepper in the cooking of Biryani (spiced rice).

Clove essential oil is used as an active ingredient in cosmetic products and the healing of many disorders. In the Middle East, it is added to beverages, at times along with cardamom and peppermint.

Clove has been used for thousands of years in India, China, and South East Asia, not only as a spice and condiment but also as a remedial herb for many ailments. Ayurvedic practitioners, for instance, use clove for tooth decay, halitosis, and bad breath, among others. In Traditional Chinese medicine, clove is considered an aphrodisiac.

Scientists have determined and isolated many bioactive compounds from clove, including (but not limited to) phenolic compounds: flavonoids, eugenol, hydroxybenzoic acids, hydroxycinnamic acids, and hydroxyphenyl propene; phenolic acids: gallic acids and its derivatives, hydrolyzable tannins; and other phenolic acids: caffeic, ferulic, ellagic and salicylic acids. Flavonoids found in lower concentration in cloves, including kaempferol, and quercetin and its derivates (glycosylated) .

Clove flower buds contain up to 18% of essential oils, which comprises, eugenol, eugenol acetate, humulene, geranyl acetate, and caryophyllene oxide. Other volatile compounds present in lower concentrations in clove essential oil are beta-pinene, farnesol, limonene, benzaldehyde, 2-heptanone and ethyl hexanoate.

Clove is considered as an important medicinal plant due to the wide range of pharmacological effects owed to its traditional uses for centuries and reports in literature.

Health Benefits 

Digestive: Clove aids digestion by stimulating the secretion of digestive enzymes. It is also used to alleviate flatulence, gastric irritability, dyspepsia, and nausea. Roasted powdered clove is usually taken with honey as a remedy to relief digestive disorders.
Antibacterial: Clove found to have 29 phytochemicals with antibacterial properties against a number of pathogens including specific bacteria that spreads cholera.
Anti-carcinogenic: Clove really attracts the attention of scientists for its anti-carcinogenic properties. A study demonstrated that clove may be helpful in controlling lung cancer in its early stages.
Hepatoprotective: Metabolism, in the long run, results in increased free radical levels. Antioxidants prevent free radical induced tissue damage by preventing the formation of radicals, scavenging them, or by promoting their decomposition. Clove offers a high amount of antioxidants which may be beneficial in protecting organs from the detrimental effects of free radicals, including the liver.
Anti-diabetic: Consuming cloves on daily basis may be beneficial in regulating blood sugar in diabetics. A study has revealed that clove extract imitates insulin in certain ways and help in controlling blood sugar levels.
Anti-osteoporotic: Phenolic compounds in clove such as eugenol and its derivatives, and bioflavonoids including flavones and isoflavones have been particularly found to be helpful in preserving bone density and the mineral content of bone, as well as increasing tensile strength of bones.
Anti-Mutagenic: Mutagens is defined as chemical compounds that change the genetic makeup of the DNA by causing mutations. Biochemical compounds found in cloves such as phenylpropanoids shown to have anti-mutagenic properties. When administered to cells treated with mutagens, they were found to be able to control the mutagenic effects.
Immunostimulant: A study showed that clove essential oil stimulated the immune system by increasing the white blood cell count, thereby improving delayed type hypersensitivity. The study also demonstrated that it restored cellular and humoral responses in cyclophosphamide-immunosuppressed mice in a dose-dependant manner.
Hypocholesterolemic: One clove study found that a daily dose of cloves lowered cholesterol while improving insulin performance.

Antiviral: Dr. James A Duke in his ethnobotanical database shows that clove contains 21 phytochemicals that may act as antiviral. Taking clove tea either alone or combined with other antiviral herbs such as thyme, rosemary, cinnamon or neem may help in shortening of the flu or colds duration.

Reverse atherosclerotic plaque
Speaking about cholesterol-lowering and antioxidant properties of clove, I would like to share a little tip on how to possibly reverse atherosclerotic plaque in arteries in our body especially those located in the brain, heart, penis and feet.
Take 1 teaspoon of clove powder, 1 teaspoon of ghee or pure butter along with 1 teaspoon of pure pomegranate juice. Pomegranate syrup may also be used.
Traditional uses
Clove either alone or combined with other herbs can be used traditionally to treat candidiasis, bad breath, toothache, wounds, dental abscesses, muscle sprains, painful ejaculation, cholera, gingivitis, cold, cramps, cough, bloating, gastroenteritis, emphysema, diabetes, osteoporosis, stye (hordeolum), acid reflux, attitude sickness, typhoid, scanty menses, flu, grey hair, insect bites, entamoeba, schistosomiasis, sore throat, asthma, stomachache, headache, nausea, vomiting, fever, indigestion, and coryza.

Other traditional uses include relieving diarrhea, pneumonia, premature ejaculation, fatigue, lower back pain, sinusitis, phlegm, headache, hematemesis, acid reflux, bronchitis, irritable bowel syndrome, dizziness, and yellow teeth.

Note: Most of the traditional uses of clove in the aforementioned list can be found by browsing various alternative healing websites owned by Indian herbal practitioners or holistic health advocates.

Clove (Syzygium aromaticum), A common Food Spice that offers A Long List of Traditional Uses

Nicola Sturgeon offers help to Northern Irish women seeking abortions

Nicola Sturgeon has told the Scottish parliament that the devolved government would explore the possibility of women from Northern Ireland obtaining terminations in Scotland’s health service for free.

Responding to a question from Green party MSP Patrick Harvie on Thursday, the first minister said: “I am happy to explore with the NHS what the situation is now in terms of the ability of women from Northern Ireland to access safe and legal abortion in NHS Scotland and whether any improvements can be made.

“Like Patrick Harvie, I believe that women should have the right to choose, within the limits that are currently set down in law, and that that right should be defended. When a woman opts to have an abortion – I stress that that is never, ever an easy decision for any woman – the procedure should be available in a safe and legal way.”

The health service has so far refused to pay for abortions for women from Northern Ireland who travel to Britain for terminations. The procedure is only available in Northern Ireland’s hospitals when there is a direct threat to the mother’s life if the pregnancy continues. In all other cases, it is illegal.

Harvie pointed out that women from Northern Ireland had to fund their own private terminations which can cost from £400 to £2,000.

He asked Sturgeon if she would “agree that the national health service in Scotland should be exploring what can be done to ensure that those women are able to access abortion in Scotland, if that is where they choose to travel to, without facing that kind of unacceptable financial barrier?”

The supreme court in London is currently considering an application from a Northern Irish teenager who, as a15-year-old, had to go to England to terminate a pregnancy. She is challenging the NHS’s refusal to fund abortions for women from Northern Ireland.

Amnesty International welcomed Sturgeon’s offer. Patrick Corrigan, its Northern Ireland programme director, said: “Given the utter human rights failure of Northern Ireland’s ministers to provide free, safe and legal abortion healthcare for women and girls here, we welcome the commitment of Scotland’s first minister to explore what can be done via NHS Scotland.

“The UN human rights committee recently ruled that Northern Ireland’s laws prohibiting and criminalising abortion constitute a human rights violation. The Scottish government could help lessen the harsh financial impact of that violation by allowing women from Northern Ireland to access abortions free of charge on the NHS.”

Corrigan said Sturgeon’s offer of help should not, however, allow Northern Irish politicians to do nothing on the question of abortion. “While this would be a welcome and helpful step, it is no substitute for the Northern Ireland executive putting its own house in order with respect to significant reform of our scandalous abortion laws,” he said.

“The fact that Scotland’s first minister is now exploring what she can do to help women and girls from Northern Ireland is an indictment of the failure of Northern Ireland own’s first minister, executive colleagues and the assembly.”

Last November, a high court judge ruled that Northern Ireland’s abortion laws violated the rights of women and girls in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities or where a pregnancy was the result of a sexual crime.

An estimated 2,000 women a year have to raise the money to travel to private English clinics and hospitals from Northern Ireland to have terminations.

However, there is strong opposition to liberalising the province’s strict anti-abortion laws across the floor of the Northern Ireland assembly. The 1967 Abortion Act was never extended to Northern Ireland and an attempt to ease the law to include cases of fatal foetal abnormalities and pregnancy via sexual crime was rejected earlier this year.

Nicola Sturgeon offers help to Northern Irish women seeking abortions

Study offers potential breakthrough in care of children with autism

A new form of therapy has for the first time been shown to improve the symptoms and behaviour of autistic children, offering a potential breakthrough in care for millions of families.

Six years after parents were trained to better understand and interact with their preschool children, researchers found that the therapy had moderated the behaviour of those who had been severely autistic, unresponsive or unable to speak.

A child who might have run around a supermarket squealing, heedless of their parent, putting objects in their mouth and pushing past shoppers to try to press the buttons at checkout, might instead wait in the queue and even help load the trolley, the research found.

The success of the preschool autism communication trial (Pact) has surprised even the researchers who designed it. There are no drugs to treat the condition, which typically sets in around the age of two, and many families have tried intensive training of their children by therapists, with mixed results. Pact instead trained the parents to help their children.

Prof Jonathan Green at the University of Manchester, who led the study published in the Lancet medical journal, said they had not found the cure for autism, but he and his team believed it had great potential and hoped it would be widely adopted.

“The advantage of this approach over a direct therapist-child intervention is that it has potential to affect the everyday life of the child,” he said. “Our findings are encouraging, as they represent an improvement in the core symptoms of autism previously thought very resistant to change.

“This is not a cure, in the sense that the children who demonstrated improvements will still show remaining symptoms to a variable extent, but it does suggest that working with parents to interact with their children in this way can lead to improvements in symptoms over the long term.”

The trial involved 152 children aged two to four. The families visited a clinic twice a week for six months, where parents were videoed with their children and a box of toys. Autistic children might not interact with their parents at all, but when eventually a child did offer a toy or made a noise that could be interpreted as a request, the incident was rerun on video and the parent encouraged to respond. If the child offered a toy, the parent reciprocated. If the child said a word, the parent repeated it and added something. The practice was repeated at home every day.

The therapy continued with the parents for the next six months with less intensity. At the end of the first year, the researchers could see the children had improved, but the most dramatic development was seen at the follow-up six years later. At the start of the trial, 50% of those in the control group who did not get the therapy and 55% of those who did were assessed as severely autistic. The children in the intervention group, though, got better. The proportion assessed as severe in the control group was 63% by the end of six years, compared with 46% in the intervention group.

Uta Frith, emeritus professor of cognitive development at UCL, said called the study ‘a remarkably positive story’. Photograph: Antonio Zazueta Olmos/Antonio Olmos

Other experts applauded the work. “I can see why these researchers are excited,” said Dorothy Bishop, professor of developmental neuropsychology at the University of Oxford. “These results at follow-up are pretty consistent in showing the benefit of this early intervention for autism across a range of measures. My impression is that this is an intervention that reduces the severity of autistic symptoms, rather than curing autism. Nevertheless, for parents of children with autism, even a modest reduction would be worthwhile.”

Dr Max Davie, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said it offered “a hugely cheering message for families”, while Uta Frith, emeritus professor of cognitive development at University College London, called it “a remarkably positive story, because the intervention itself was neither intensive nor invasive”.

The absence of any hope, as well as the very sudden regression in children’s behaviour, led many parents to believe in the discredited theory of Andrew Wakefield that the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine was the cause of autism.

“Parents commonly tell us that they fight for a diagnosis but, when they finally get itthe cupboard is bare, with little information or tailored support available to them,” said Dr James Cusack, director of science at the charity Autistica. “Too often, parents fall victim to the false claims of charlatans who prey on desperate families. These results look promising for the many thousands of parents who want to find early interventions for their children based on solid science.”

The researchers said children’s communication with their parents was improved at the end of the six years. The parents said there were also improvements in relations with other children, in social communication and in repetitive behaviours. But there was no change in child anxiety, challenging behaviours or depression in the autistic children and they would still need a lot of support while growing up.

About 1% of children and young people are affected by autistic spectrum disorder, which ranges from mild to severe. The lifetime costs to the UK, which include health, social care and education costs as well as productivity losses, are estimated at £1m to £1.5m per child and between $ 1.4m and $ 2.4m in the United States.

Study offers potential breakthrough in care of children with autism

Gene therapy offers hope for treatment of sickle cell anaemia

Scientists are finalising plans to use gene therapy to treat one of the world’s most widespread inherited diseases – sickle cell anaemia. The technique could begin trials next year, say researchers.

About 300,000 babies are born globally with sickle cell disease. The condition causes red blood cells to deform, triggering anaemia, pain, organ failure, tissue damage, strokes and heart attacks. In the west, patients now live to their 40s thanks to the availability of blood transfusions and other treatments. But in Africa most still die in childhood.

“We have known exactly what is the cause of sickle cell anaemia for 60 years, but it has been enormously difficult to turn that information into a treatment,” said Prof Stuart Orkin of Harvard Medical School. “There are a million steps between the lab bench and the clinic, it turns out. However, I think we are closer.”

Sickle cell anaemia is triggered by a genetic fault that changes one of the dozens of amino acids that make up haemoglobin, the key constituent of the red blood cells that carry oxygen around our bodies. The mutated haemoglobin undergoes a change in shape and blocks veins.

The condition is carried by symptomless parents and is thought to have arisen in Africa, the Caribbean and other areas as a protection against malaria. However, when two carriers have children there is a one-in-four risk a child will inherit two sickle cell genes, one from each parent, and develop the disease. In Britain a screening service is offered to parents. Nevertheless more than 300 affected children are born every year.

Crucially, not every person with sickle cell disease succumbs to the condition, scientists have found. Some appear to be protected against its ravages. “We have two types of haemoglobin,” explained Orkin. “There is foetal haemoglobin whose production is normally switched off when we are born. Then the standard adult version takes over.”

But in some individuals foetal haemoglobin production is not turned off at birth. “Those individuals are supplied with foetal haemoglobin throughout their lives and for those who also inherit sickle cell anaemia this protects them against the disease by making a substance that can carry oxygen round the bodies,” he said. “We have calculated that you only need to make a small amount of foetal haemoglobin to halt sickle’s symptoms.”

The prospect of boosted foetal haemoglobin levels in patients was helped when it was found that a gene called BCL11A acts as a suppressor of foetal haemoglobin production. “Essentially, it switches off foetal haemoglobin’s manufacture after birth,” said Orkin. “What we aim to do is to stop it doing this. We want to suppress the suppressor and allow foetal haemoglobin to continue to be made in the body.” And crucial to this task was the discovery by Orkin and colleagues that a small piece of the BCL11A gene, called the enhancer, controls foetal haemoglobin expression.

“We can now use gene-editing technologies to cut out that little enhancer so that the BCL11A gene stops shutting down foetal haemoglobin production and allow children with sickle cell disease to start making it in their blood,” added Orkin. “Essentially, we will take bone marrow – where blood cells are made – from a patient, gene-edit it so that those cells produce enhanced levels of foetal haemoglobin, and return them to that patient.”

Orkin said the science had now been worked out. “We hope to begin trials in the near future.” He added that several other centres in the US were gearing up to start gene therapy trials for sickle cell using similar approaches.

David Williams, of the Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, is using a slightly different technique to boost foetal haemoglobin but also hopes to begin trials next year. “When you knock BCL11A down, you simultaneously increase foetal haemoglobin and repress sickling haemoglobin, which is why we think this is the best approach,” said Williams.

Such treatments were only like to help patients in the west, Orkin acknowledged. “What we need is a pill that will boost foetal haemoglobin in patients, one that is simple to administer,” he said. “That is our ultimate goal, and the lessons we learn from our gene therapy work will help us get there. Once we do that we can then say we have conquered sickle cell.”

Gene therapy offers hope for treatment of sickle cell anaemia

May offers no guarantee on immigration and NHS Brexit pledges

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Prime minister declines to guarantee points-based system and extra £100m a week for health service as Japan and US warn of exit risks to Britain

Theresa May has cast doubt on whether Brexit will lead either to a points-based immigration system or an extra £100m a week for the NHS – two central promises made by the successful campaign to leave the European Union.

The prime minister declined to endorse pledges made by the official Vote Leave group as she headed to China for the G20 summit, where Japan and the US have issued strong warnings about the consequences of exiting the EU.

Related: Britain cannot easily dismiss Japanese Brexit warning letter

Continue reading…

May offers no guarantee on immigration and NHS Brexit pledges

Brain training technique offers new possibilities for paraplegic people – video report

Dr Miguel Nicolelis explains the findings of the Walk Again Project, the collaborative project aimed at helping paraplegic people regain control of their lives using robotics. The project published its findings after ten months’ research into the use of virtual reality and exoskeleton technology with paraplegic people. However, it was found that the pairing of technologies lead to unexpected positive results for patients, all of whom reported increased movement on command and greater sensation after 2000 hours of training with the systems

Brain training technique offers new possibilities for paraplegic people – video report

HealthTap Offers Uber-Like Service For Seeing A Medical doctor

Screenshots of HealthTap’s new Prime support (picture by means of HealthTap)

Would you pay $ 99 a month for the potential to text or video conference with a medical doctor any time you desired? HealthTap is betting that American buyers will with its new support, Prime, being rolled out today.

HealthTap is greatest acknowledged for its question and response website, where consumers can submit concerns restricted to 150 characters, answered by a pool of 60,000 medical doctors from across the U.S. That service has 10 million lively consumers and is free with no ads. Prime is how HealthTap could commence making cash.

But will it? The worth proposition here is that HealthTap’s services saves you creating an appointment with a genuine-existence physician and traveling to their workplace for a meeting which could take upwards of an hour. With Prime you can inquire to communicate to a medical doctor and normally get one particular inside of a number of minutes, says HealthTap’s founder Ron Gutman, who demonstrated video calling a medical doctor about an allergy.

Watch our video on HealthTap at the bottom of this submit.

In the course of his demo with Forbes he was capable to see the medical doctor in two minutes, and the process was reminiscent of the Mayday button that Amazon has put in on its tablets, which lets you tap a button to video-contact an IT troubleshooter within ten minutes. HealthTap’s Prime doctors can usually fill out prescriptions, and down the line they might have a program in place to let them study lab check outcomes for a far better diagnosis.

HealthTap’s medical professionals themselves get paid, as an Uber driver may, according to how numerous sufferers they’ve witnessed and the high quality of their ratings.

“Some are employed elsewhere and are looking for versatility,” says Gutman. “Some medical doctors are interested in operating from residence, some want to travel and some want to moonlight and increase their cash flow. We are the 1st ever company to supply a overall health services that in fact has a mobile app for the iPhone. A doctor can practice from their iPad.”

Although there are other, often less costly, “telemedicine” companies out there like LifeHealth On the web and American Well, Gutman says he’s striving to build a marketplace for medical professionals that’s a tiny Amazon.

A number of thousand medical professionals are at the moment acquiring certified to get paid by HealthTap beneath the Prime services, and over time HealthTap will have the tricky task of managing provide and demand among sufferers and medical professionals — assuming it sees substantial demand for its $ 99 a month services which is in addition to people’s regular insurance payments.

Gutman is assured that individuals will pay that considerably for his support, in distinct mothers and fathers of young youngsters who’d rather not have to drag their youngsters to the doctor’s office, men and women with persistent problems, these who travel and caregivers.

Telehealth may possibly seem newfangled but overall health insurers are more and more interested in the business model because of the possible to reduce expenses. Marketplace analysis firm IHS IHS predicts the telemedecine sector will develop to $ 1.9 billion in 2018 from $ 240 million last year.

“It’s quite costly to triage people at $ 200 a pop, which is why it is so pricey for you and insurance firms,” says Gutman. “We see ourselves as the triaging system that discounts with simple items.”

Observe our video on HealthTap beneath:

HealthTap Offers Uber-Like Service For Seeing A Medical doctor

Jury offers open verdict on teenager who died following "relationship with star"

Ben Cowburn had mentioned he felt disgusted by what he had accomplished with the celebrity, referred to as Mr X at the inquest. Photograph: Apex

A jury has returned an open verdict on a teenager who died in a mental wellness clinic right after claiming he had been deeply upset by a sexual romantic relationship with an unnamed male celebrity.

The jury also explained it believed that “shortcomings” in the care of Ben Cowburn, 18, might have contributed to his death.

The coroner had earlier warned the jury that it ought to not try out to apportion blame over the death of the teenager.

Shortly just before his death Cowburn claimed he had created much more than 40 attempts to consider his daily life soon after getting “pressured” into performing “sexual issues” with the tv celebrity, the inquest heard.

Cowburn alleged the man had purchased him presents and taken him to nice places but he felt “disgusted” by what they had allegedly completed together.

The Cornwall coroner Emma Carlyon ordered that the celebrity at the centre of the allegations be referred to as Mr X throughout the inquest at Truro.

Summing up the proof before sending the jury out to attain its conclusions, Carlyon emphasised that no person was on trial. She also asked the panel not to undertake their personal research or search at any social network discussions about the situation.

She reminded the jury that a postmortem examination had located that Cowburn died of asphyxia in the en-suite bathroom of his space at Longreach House psychological overall health unit close to Redruth in Cornwall in December 2010. There was no suggestion that any person else was concerned.

Carlyon summarised the proof of a psychological wellness nurse who said Cowburn had told him he had had a partnership with a male celebrity who was older than him. The celebrity had allegedly given him presents, alcohol and medicines.

Cowburn explained he had not been raped or abused and what they had allegedly completed collectively was consensual. But Cowburn advised the nurse he had felt “dirty and ashamed”. Right after Cowburn’s death, police investigated the romantic relationship with the celebrity. They concluded he had not been abused or assaulted. The romantic relationship ended in the summertime of 2010.

The jury was reminded that medical professionals concluded Cowburn had been suffering from a depressive illness and may have had publish-traumatic pressure disorder.

Carlyon also flagged up considerations about how Cowburn was cared for. One particular skilled in mental wellness mentioned there had been failings in how the teenager was handled right after previous situations of self-harm and overdoses.

The inquest has been advised that Cowburn, a fashion college graduate, met the celebrity in a pub and began doing work as his stylist.

On Tuesday the police officer who led the investigation into Cowburn’s death in Cornwall, DC Joanna Sodergren, told the jury: “He mentioned the guy had brought him great items and took him to great spots but had done sexual issues to him. Asked if he had been raped or sexually assaulted he explained he had not, but agreed to them as he felt pressured to do the issues. He said if he killed himself it would make it far better as it would make it go away.”

Devon and Cornwall police informed Scotland Yard about his allegations. The star has not been arrested in excess of Cowburn’s allegations and has not been known as to give proof to the inquest.

Some media organisations have asked the coroner to reveal who Mr X is. The Tory MP Priti Patel explained “standard” details ought to be permitted into the public domain.

Jury offers open verdict on teenager who died following "relationship with star"

NHS chief David Nicholson offers difficult medicine as he stands down

Following 36 many years operating for an employer he joined straight from university, Sir David Nicholson refers to himself half-jokingly as “an NHS lifer”. The lifer, however, is about to gain some new horizons – reluctantly, one particular suspects – after paying the previous eight years as chief executive.

These are his last days in office, as he stands down on 31 March. He gave couple of interviews during people eight many years, in spite of being the boss of a £100bn a yr organisation that has a unique location in British daily life, and grew to become nearly invisible in the wake of final year’s public inquiry report into the Mid Staffs care scandal that noticed him branded “the man with no shame”.

But as he prepares to consider his leave, he is lastly subjecting himself to public scrutiny.

By nature a private man, and someone who for months final 12 months was the concentrate of relentless, almost brutal, criticism by some in the media, MPs and patient campaigners, he is visibly more relaxed.

In Manchester last week he revealed his humourous side by recounting to an audience at the NHS’s yearly Expohow, despite efforts to preserve his anonymity at the diabetes patient group he joined near his home in Birmingham after currently being diagnosed with the condition last year, one more of individuals current appeared to have twigged who he was. “I know you, I’m confident I know you,” she told him accusingly, ahead of dragging her friend more than to verfy her obtaining. “You’re … you are … that butcher from Kidderminster”.

Still only 58, Nicholson gives the impression of becoming nowhere close to prepared to leave his post, of getting a man with unfinished enterprise who, offered his apparent passion for maintaining the NHS as a viable concept in the encounter of acute and expanding pressures – demographic, fiscal and behavioural – would relish the occupation of sticking about to administer the difficult medicine he feels is necessary to make sure the patient survives for many years to come.

He is blunt in his evaluation of the services: “The NHS in its current type is unsustainable.” That is not, he rapidly emphasises, an argument for it undergoing nevertheless another significant reorganisation. Far from it. He described the final 1, the unpopular and barely-understood masterplan dreamed up and implemented by then health secretary Andrew Lansley in 2010-twelve, as “so huge you could see it from outer room”.

In his see the NHS requirements to undergo huge changes, but to the way it delivers care rather than to its complex architecture, if it is to survive as a special model of taxpayer-funded universal healthcare that is free of charge at the point of need. “It is sector-wide alter [that is required]“, he says. “Substantial adjust, on a scale we’ve never seen before, and more than a shorter period of time than we’ve ever observed ahead of in healthcare.” The process, he adds, is “unprecedented”.

Without transforming how it cares for patients it will encounter what he calls “managed decline”.

“I never feel the wheels are going to fall off tomorrow. But we’ll see a position where people have to reduce the quantity of nurses on the wards and have to reduce the drugs that we give to individuals. I can see all of individuals things happening unless we embrace this alter.”

So what adjust, specifically? Amid a blur of bulletpoints typically wrapped in NHS technospeak, a clear program of the Nicholson-envisaged future emerges. There would be huge centralisation of services that are presently presented in numerous hospitals in order to improve the top quality of care. Rather of every single hospital possessing a standard A&ampE unit, for example, there would be “between forty and 70 main emergency centres across the country, with all other centres feeding into them in a network.”

That does not necessarily imply that people other hospitals lose their emergency division altogether, he stresses. They will just no longer deal with the most serious situations. “The others will [nevertheless] consider 70% or 80% of the individuals who currently flip up at A&ampE units and treat them as typical.”

Similarly, the 300 distinct spots which presently give specialised NHS providers, such as cardiac or cancer care or organ transplantation, ought to ideally decrease to between 15 and thirty, he says.

He recognises how controversial any planned change is locally to the assortment of services any hospital gives. But, he adds, “with numerous strokes and heart attacks, ambulances will [previously] go previous their neighborhood hospital [to a specialist centres]. There’ll be a lot more of that.”

He also understands but is frustrated by people’s attachment to the NHS’s bricks and mortar. “For clear factors we get obsessed with buildings in the NHS, but they are not services. Folks are really proud of hospitals and put plenty of time and energy into them. But they want to look beyond them. It’s like hospital beds. Folks are fixated by the variety of them, but I’ve by no means recognized a hospital bed heal the sick.”

A lot much more care needs to be delivered in or close to people’s residences, he says, especially for the 15 million to 17 million individuals with one particular or more long-phrase situations this kind of as asthma or heart difficulty whose care currently will take up 70% of the NHS’s price range. He envisages a long term in which teams of various kinds of overall health and care experts work seamlessly with each other to care for individuals in and specifically out of hospitals, concentrating on assisting them remain well

Technology will be pivotal, as will GP solutions that are obtainable about the clock each day of the week.

It is essential, he believes, for the nation to engage in a serious, urgent and challenging conversation – ideally with medical professionals as the chief persuaders of a reluctant public – about the potential of the NHS.

Without having that, and with out undertaking large alterations, the service’s future might fall into doubt, he says.

“Public support in this nation for our healthcare method is better than in nearly any other nation in Europe, and that is so crucial for a taxpayer-funded technique. My fear is that if it gets worse, just before you know it you get to a place in which a minority of the people help it and then individuals who can afford to [do so] will go elsewhere for their healthcare. In those circumstances the question of how sustainable the NHS is turns into a a lot much more challenging a single to deal with. Which is my be concerned.”

NHS chief David Nicholson offers difficult medicine as he stands down

Targeted treatment method offers hope to cancer sufferers

But brentuximab has a remarkably novel mode of action which bodes properly for future cancer therapy, according to Tim Illidge, professor of targeted treatment at the University of Manchester. The antibody is combined with an anti-cancer drug referred to as vedotin, so strong it could not be utilized in normal chemotherapy. “The antibody sticks to the protein on the cancer cell, called CD30 – and it then delivers vedotin straight into the cancer website,” he says.

One more promising location is the use of MABs to set off the immune technique into attacking cancer cells, according to Prof Peter Johnson, chief clinician at Cancer Research United kingdom. For illustration, ipilimumab – now regarded a “cure” for innovative melanoma, the most hazardous variety of skin cancer – blocks a molecule that switches off immune method T-cells, enabling them to assault cancer cells. “Cancer immunotherapy is 1 of the thrilling breakthroughs of the past number of many years,” says Prof Johnson.

Newer medication are able to target abnormal molecules inside cancer cells. Imatinib, the 1st of this class of medicines, targets abnormal signal pathways inside of the cells that make them expand and divide, and has transformed the treatment method of a rare cancer known as chronic myeloid leukaemia, says Prof Illidge.

Yet as the term implies, targeted treatment is only powerful in patients with a distinct abnormality in their cancer cells. Herceptin only works in the thirty per cent of breast cancer sufferers who are positive for HER2, a protein involved in the growth of cancer cells.

“These are fascinating instances when we are discovering 1000′s of diverse genetic mutations concerned in the behaviour of cancer cells,” says Prof Illidge. “We are now far better able to differentiate which medicines will advantage which individuals, making use of biomarkers and genetic analysis. But the flipside of this is that we are moving into an era exactly where, as we identify a lot more mutations, we may not have developed the therapies to deal with them.”

Other places in targeted cancer treatment method, this kind of as gene therapy, are nonetheless at the experimental stage – getting genes into cancer cells proving a challenge. Bespoke cancer vaccines are an eye-catching vision, but “very futuristic”, says Prof Johnson.

Will targeted treatment transform cancer from becoming a killer into a manageable, persistent disease? Probably, but Prof Johnson is even much more hopeful. “The concept of immune therapy is to generate a prolonged-phrase cure – and give lifelong protection,” he says.

Targeted treatment method offers hope to cancer sufferers

Judge offers permission for caesarean area on mentally unwell female

A large court judge has given physicians permission to execute an urgent caesarean part on a mentally unwell lady who has diabetes. Mr Justice Hayden gave specialists doing work for the Royal Free of charge London NHS Trust the go-ahead following a five-hour hearing in the court of protection in London.

The judge explained a choice “compelling” a caesarean was “draconian”, but he had heard proof that the woman’s existence may be in danger. He mentioned he had concluded that the female, who is 32 and 32 weeks pregnant, lacked the mental capacity to make choices about whether or not or not to have her baby delivered by C-section.

Believe in officials had applied for permission, saying medical professionals imagined an urgent caesarean essential so that the woman’s “unstable psychological state” could properly be handled. One professional advised the judge that the priority was “keeping this girl alive”. He heard that she was thought to be suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and had attempted suicide.

The judge said neither the lady nor the hospital could be identified, but explained the well being authority could and ought to be named. He said the scrutiny of doctors’ carry out could only “serve to reassure public self-confidence”.

The court of protection is part of the high court and analyses troubles relating to sick and vulnerable folks.

“The determination to compel a caesarean area on an incapacitous lady who is mentally and physically unwell is an really draconian one,” stated Mr Justice Hayden. “Medical doctors do not embark on this lightly. It occurs really rarely. It is one that the lawyers also get quite seriously indeed.

“I am completely pleased that at the second [this female] is not able to make any reasoned evaluation of the positive aspects and disadvantages of a caesarean part.”

He explained he had also concluded that the female – who had stopped eating – lacked the capacity to regulate her personal diabetic medication and check her very own intake of foods and water. But physicians have been not provided permission to use force or restrain the girl. Medics imagined that the woman could be persuaded to agree to sedation and did not feel that force or restraint would be necessary, mentioned the judge.

A single doctor advised the court that the woman’s bodily and mental difficulties must lessen – and be simpler to treat – as soon as the child was born. And the medical doctor explained it was feared that the lady might have to have to be restrained so that nutrients could be fed through a drip if the infant was not delivered.

A specialist mentioned the infant must not be at threat if delivered by means of caesarean part at 32 weeks.

Judge offers permission for caesarean area on mentally unwell female