The number of men having breast reduction surgery and tummy tuck operations has increased significantly. Many industries have faced a decline in customers due to economic recession but the latest figures show that plastic surgeons still have plenty of people willing to go into surgery to improve the way they look.
Last year, over 43,000 procedures were carried out in the UK which is an increase of over five percent for the same figures in 2010. These figures have been released by the British Association of Ascetic Plastic Surgeons and they showed that there has been no decline for any type of cosmetic procedure in the last 12 months. They stated that the number of men coming into surgery, particularly for the two types of procedure mentioned above, has increased the most.
Despite the number of men coming in for cosmetic procedures, the number of surgeries taking place on women is still by far the majority, at around 90 percent. The most popular procedure for women is breast enlargement and in the last year over 10,000 procedures have been completed, which is over a six percent rise when compared with the same time period in 2010.
In March 2010 it became known that many breast implants were made with the type of silicone that would not normally be used in the human body. Despite the risks of a cosmetic procedure, which this scare highlights, the number of procedures is still on the increase.
The president of BAAPS is Fazel Fatah who has commented, “The most common surgeries that are taking place are those which affect the most visible part of the body, such as the breasts, eyelids and the nose. These are procedures that cause the most impact and this is why they are the most common procedures for people to choose.”
There is a current fear in the medical community that hip replacements that work by having metal on metal might be dangerous. Currently, advice is being drawn up for over 30,000 people in the UK who have been given hip replacements of this type.
Despite the news that these replacements might be more dangerous than previously thought, medical authorities have stated that most people have a very low risk of actually developing any problems from their new hip.
The concerns about the metal hips have come to light after Margaret Davie, a woman to receive a Pinnacle replacement hip at Hartlepool hospital, has claimed that the device has ruined her health. The company who manufactured her hip have accepted no liability but they’ve previously had to recall another artificial joint that they produced.
This latest report fuels a growing belief in the medical community that certain replacement joints can cause bone and tissue damage. The previous hip joint they recalled was called the ASR and it soon became clear that the device had a failure rate of nearly 15 percent. Since the initial recall though further evidence has shown that the failure rate of this replacement joints could be as high as 50 percent, just six years after the initial surgery.
Mrs Davie was caused so much discomfort by her metal replacement hip that she had it removed and a new one made out of ceramic put in. This failed to help her condition however and she suffered a dislocation of a hip and is now back in hospital.
The problem with all metal hip replacements is that the metals can rub against each other and cause fragments of metal to break off and into the bloodstream. This can potentially cause poisoning and also damaged bone and muscle.
Health care is an important consideration for any family or individual. How to get the care you might need in case you or a family member is ill is something you should decide before you need that care. The choices can be overwhelming. Should you spend the money for private healthcare insurance, rely on the National Health system, or pay for out-of-pocket care? It is critical that patients examine the pros and cons of each choice before making a decision regarding their healthcare.
The advantage of the National Health Service is, of course, that there is little to no out-of-pocket expense. The National Health Service is funded by the government, and so private citizens only have to give their NHS number to allow providers to access their healthcare records. Private healthcare can be more complex, and is certainly more expensive to the individual, but it offers benefits that must be considered before a decision is made.
Private insurance plans provide their users with some advantages over the National Health Service. Patients with private insurance tend to have a shorter wait to get an appointment and have easier access to specialists, but it is important to understand the process you must go through to get approval or you may end up paying out-of-pocket for expenses you thought were covered. Some plans insist upon making your appointments for you, while others simply reimburse you for covered expenses, up to a certain limit, depending on the policy.
Private healthcare cover means that you won’t wait as long to get seen, and your appointments will be one-on-one with your provider. There will not be medical students listening in on your consultation or examination. You will have the option of choosing your provider, which you may not have with the NHS. On the other hand, you may need to wait to see a particular specialist if they also work for the NHS, as they may have only limited appointments available to their private patients.
If your condition is complex, you may need to get multiple referrals to be sure your appointments are covered. Not all specialists address more than one condition. Therapies and appointments not under your cover may need to be paid for out-of-pocket. Cover may help close the gap between the NHS voucher and the cost of service for certain products, like optical lenses.
In the case of an accident compensation may be claimed by the NHS from the driver’s insurance company to cover some of the costs of care. Injuries sustained in an accident may or may not be covered by private insurance. It is important to understand all the cover provided by a private policy. In general, you will get what you pay for. Many policies are flexible in their coverage and offer a range of cover levels at different prices to meet your needs. Taking the time to understand the options available, and the benefits and pitfalls of each choice, can save you a lot of aggravation.
The office of National statistics has recently released information which has shown that the number of deaths from malnutrition or dehydration was around 25 every week in 2010. The study showed that over 800 people were dehydrated when they died and around 300 were suffering from malnutrition. Despite these additional medical complications they were not the cause of death in these people.
Some conditions mean that patients can be thirsty and hungry but feeding can be difficult due to medical complications. A disease which can prevent you from feeding when you are hungry is Alzheimers. Campaigners are working to make sure that no one dies because of hunger or dehydration.
The Patients Association chief executive is Katherine Murphy who has said, “The NHS needs to improve its care of people who could be suffering from dehydration or malnutrition. It is entirely possible that these deaths are avoidable if patient care is increased. Monitoring of patients who are vulnerable to these conditions needs to be made systematic and hospital boards need to accept responsibility for this and prevented from happening in the future.”
The figures are not just for the NHS but also privately run hospitals and interestingly, in the last decade, the number of deaths associated with starvation or dehydration has increased. In 2000 nearly 900 people died when suffering from dehydration or malnutrition, although this was not the primary cause of death. 10 years later the figures have increased and nearly 1300 people have dehydration or starvation as a contributory factor in death.
A spokesperson from the Department of Health has stated, “Most of the people who are suffering from these conditions have a severe underlying condition, such as cancer, and this makes them much more susceptible to these kind of nutrition problems. That said, patients have a right to expect that they will be helped to drink and eat enough to ensure they are comfortable no matter what.”
The Prime Minister has recently said that he wants to see the number of rounds nurses are doing in hospitals increased, so that the standard of care for patients improves. David Cameron commented, “There should be more rounds conducted by nurses making sure that each patient is hydrated, fed and comfortable. Everyone being treated by our health service deserves respect and dignity.”
He made his comments after a report by Care Quality Commission which stated that, in general, nursing standards in the NHS were not compassionate enough. A report by the organisation last year found that when visiting 100 hospitals, patients were only being checked to make sure they had enough food and water in 50 percent of cases.
In some cases doctors had to go to extreme lengths to make sure that their patients were getting enough water from nurses, some even went so far as writing it up as a prescription. There are also concerns that some patients who might struggle to feed themselves, such as the elderly, are not being given the assistance they need to make sure that they are eating well.
’4 Cancer Group’, the charity aimed at cancer respite using a focus on sport, has announced the formations of a new subsidiary of the group that is focused in snowboarding and skiing. As the name suggests Ski 4 Cancer will be using an alpine environment as a vehicle for both convalescence and fundraising.
Graham Precey is the Chair of Trustees at Ski 4 Cancer’s parent company , the 4 Cancer Group, and he has said that for the past 10 years, his charity has been helping UK families who are living with cancer to take both day trips and short breaks. He added that they have sent almost 2000 people away during that time, mainly in the summer, but the reality of a cancer diagnosis meant that many families couldn’t wait for the summer.
Precey continued “Treatment schedules or worsening health often mean that we need to react very quickly. Given some of the cancer patients we help will be on their last family holiday, it’s important that we have a full range of quality respite products throughout the year. Our new ski charity concept will help to plug the gap in the winter months.”
“The focus for our winter respite programme will be more about what we call ‘alpine chill’ than skiing however. We’ll be working with a wide range of snow sports providers to provide relaxing and stress busting holidays in some of the most beautiful mountain resorts around the world. Whilst the focus will be mostly on winter based holidays, we will also be funding lakes and mountains style holidays in the summer as well”.
“The charity’s respite programmes give families living with cancer something to look forward to at the end of arduous treatment schedules. They also give families the chance to spend quality time together and provide precious memories. Such trips also help the recently bereaved come to terms with their loss and give them something to focus on in the months after a loved one has died.”
Precey concluded “Ski 4 Cancer will be run by a dedicated Committee of skiing and snowboarding enthusiasts. With 40% of British people developing some form of cancer at some point in their lives*, we hope that other skiers and snowboarders touched by the disease will get involved.”
“The reality is that we can only move as quickly as funding allows though. Consequently, we’d like to hear from any individual or company who can help us meet our objectives. The message is simple really… if you ski or snowboard, think about doing it 4 Cancer.”
There have been concerns raised about the presence of a specific preservative in food products, cosmetics and various pharmaceuticals. Tissue samples from women with breast cancer have shown to have chemical parabens present, which are found in many products and are used for their preservative properties but are also known to be oestrogenic.
Oestrogen has a central role in the progression of breast cancer and with this chemical it is speculated there might be an increased the risk of the disease. Despite the correlations between these two factors there has never being a causal link approved.
Parabens are capable of mimicking an effect by oestrogen but it has a far smaller effect than the oestrogen that has been naturally produced by the body. The chemical is not only found in artificial products and is naturally occurring in blueberries and similar foods.
Research which has come out of theUniversityofReadinghas shown that 99 percent of samples taken from women’s breasts who had breast cancer contained at least one paraben. In 60 percent of the samples over five parabens were present.
Another author of the study is Mr Lester Barr from the University Hospital of South Manchester who has commented, “We have shown that there is no simple causal link between breast cancer and products that contain parabens. Parabens are very often present in underarm deodorants and it was thought for a long time that using them would increase the number of parabens that entered your system.
“However, in our study we found that even those women who were not using underarm deodorant had parabens present in their tissue samples. This raises the complex issue of where these parabens came from if they had never used chemical products that contain them.”
Dr Philippa Darbre, from the University of Reading commented, “It is also important to realise that just because there are parabens present in the samples of tissue that we took from women with breast cancer this does not mean they have necessarily come from the products that contain them.
The fact that we have seen them present in so many samples does mean that the relationship should be investigated further but right now we cannot confirm any link between the products and instances of breast cancer.”
Catherine Priestly is from Breast Cancer Care and she has recently responded to the study saying, “This debate has been going on for a very long time and this report really shows that there should be more scientific research into the link between breast cancer and parabens.
“We know there are many risk factors associated with breast cancer and right now we cannot conclusively say that parabens are one of them. Family history, gender and age are all more currently reliable risk factors that we are aware of. People should be aware of the risks of breast cancer and they should make lifestyle choices to reduce the likelihood of developing this type of disease.”
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has proudly announced the launch of MyAsthma, the first free personalised health app in the UK that has been designed to help asthma sufferers over the age of 12 to take greater control over the disease. The app features an ACT, or Asthma Control Test™ , which is test that lasts 30 seconds and has been developed by leading experts in the field of asthma.
This test gives patients a measure of their asthma control by using an easy to understand scoring system. Whilst many UK patients are receiving treatment for their asthma, a survey recently revealed that nearly 50% of sufferers do not have their asthma under control.
MyAsthma combines the latest technology with traditional asthma measurement procedures to provide a personalised plan daily that is aimed at helping sufferers to manage their asthma better.MyAsthma is an exciting breakthrough for asthma sufferers as it uses the latest technology to help them to both understand better and thus control this disease.
MyAsthma is also designed to be used by the carers of asthma patients, especially parents, and it is a great way to educate older children in how to control their asthma effectively.
“This creates a habit that they can carry into adulthood, a significant and positive step for the future of asthma care in the UK” said Dr Mike Thomas, Asthma UK Senior Research Fellow with the University of Aberdeen.“Empowering patients to take more control of long-term conditions not only leads to improved health outcomes but also cost savings”
Asthma is a chronic condition of the airways with symptoms including breathing difficulties and sudden episodes of breathlessness. Asthma affects approximately 5.4 million people in the UK with 4.3m adults and 1.1m children, currently receiving treatment for mild, moderate or severe asthma.
When not well controlled, asthma symptoms can result in hospitalisation, even fatality. Asthma places a significant economic burden on both individuals and society. The NHS spends around £1 billion a year treating and caring for people with asthma and between 2008 and 2009, up to 1.1 million working days were lost due to breathing or lung problems.[iii]
Designed with the support of a panel of asthma experts and Professor Rob Horne, a behavioural psychologist at the University of London, MyAsthma displays localised information on asthma triggers such as pollen count, pollution and weather. It is enabled to help patients track their symptoms and ACT score evolution over time and contains a library with useful information about asthma.
An algorithm generates tailored messages, based on a person’s ACT score and individual profiles, to help people address the personal barriers they face and to help them improve their management of the condition. MyAsthma is convenient and easy to use allowing patients to track their asthma control at the quick touch of a smartphone screen, which can help to create a more informed dialogue during consultations with their healthcare professional.
Are you in control of your asthma? ‘ACT’ now with MyAsthma and visit myasthma.com.
According to a new study, fish oil and vitamins can help to prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. US experts have also revealed, however, that the unhealthy trans fats found in margarine and some junk food can actually speed up the shrinkage of the brain that is linked to the disease.
The author of the study is also Dr Gene Bowman, from the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, and he has said it is very exciting news to discover that by adjusting their diets, people can potentially keep their brains sharp and stop them from shrinking
104 people with an average age of 87 took part in the study, and the levels of various nutrients in their blood were tested, as well as their thinking and memory skills. The brain volume, or grey matter, was also measured in 42 people using MRI scans, and the study found that those whose diets were high in Omega 3 and vitamins B,C,D and E were less likely to have brain shrinkage; a reduction in the volume of grey matter.
These subjects also had much higher mental performance scores that those who had diets that were low in the aforementioned nutrients. Vitamin D and Omega 3 Fatty acids are primarily found in fish, while the vitamins B,C, E can be obtained from fruit, vegetables and meat. Overall, 7% of the study participants showed a deficiency in Vitamin B12, whilst 25% had a vitamin D deficiency, the journal ‘Neurology’ revealed.
Dr Bowman’s team also believe that the levels of nutrients found in the blood accounted for around 37% of the variations between brain volumes, and 17% of the thinking and memory scores. Other factors, including blood pressure, age and number of years they sent being educated accounted for 36% of the variations in the test scores.
A major breakthrough that could soon see the growth of human sperm in laboratories has been made by scientists. This latest development opens up the possibility for infertile men to be able to father their own children and not have to resort to using donor sperm. Researchers in Israel and Germany have been able to grow mouse sperm from just a few cells in a lab dish.
In a world’s first, the team at Muenster University in Germany, headed by Prof Stefan Schlatt, were able to grow sperm from germ cells. These are the cells that are present in testicles and responsible for the production of sperm. The scientists managed to grow the sperm by surrounding the germ cells with a special compound known as Agar Jelly, which created an environment similar to that found in the testicles.
Professor Mahmoud Huleihel, who headed the team that grew sperm in the Ben Gurion University in Beersheba, Israel, said that he believed that it would eventually become possible to grow human male sperm routinely and to order by extracting tissue that contains germ cells from male testicles and stimulating the production of sperm under laboratory conditions.
Th results of the sperm trials have been revealed in an important scientific journal that is published by Nature. Now those scientists who first made these discoveries have begun further experiments that they hope will lead them to the ‘Holy Grail’; growing human sperm outside of a man’s body.
Stephen Gordon is a leading infertility consultant with the NHS, and he praised this breakthrough, saying that this was an amazing development that could result in male fertility treatment becoming completely revolutionised and allow every man to become a natural father. He added that it was natural for infertile men to want to father their own children, at present they have to accept this won’t happen, but it is now a possibility in the future.
It has been a long-held belief in medicine that patients who remained in a coma for more than a few weeks after suffering a brain injury would be unlikely to ever come out of it. However, recent research has suggested that consciousness isn’t as simple as the medical profession previously thought. It is not a simple case of whether someone is awake or asleep but consciousness is actually more of a spectrum.
Some people who suffer a brain injury remain in a minimally conscious state, which is different to those in a vegetative state, who have no conscious awareness. The people in this minimally conscious state are sometimes able to sense and respond to their environment and these responses can be detected through measuring brainwaves with an EEG.
This additional information has led to some remarkable discoveries about what may bring those in a coma out of it. Rather unusually, a prescription sleep medication can help those who are minimally conscious. This is a paradoxical effect of the medicine that was first recorded in the late 1990s, where a coma patient in South Africa was prescribed sleeping medication to stop him suffering from insomnia.
When the medication was given to him he started to achieve consciousness and even began to talk and move. The medication only lasted a short time but at any time that he was given it he would come out of his vegetative state.
Similar reports of this waking up of coma patients were reported by doctors who are trying the medication on people in a similar state. The medication was certainly not effective in all cases but in many patients woke up and achieved consciousness for the first time in years, although the consciousness only generally lasted for a few hours at a time.
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The number of men having breast reduction surgery and tummy tuck operations has increased significantly. Many industries have faced a decline in customers due to economic recession but the latest figures show that plastic surgeons still have plenty of people willing to go into surgery to improve the way they look.
