Focus
Fiery responses to SA’s draconian Tobacco Bill
August 8th, 2018 SA’s Tobacco Bill has met with a barrage of criticism, among other things for proposing jail for smoking in public, outlawing designated smoking areas, trampling on civil liberties and including e-cigarettes in tight controls. Public comment on...
International experts highlight ‘significant weakness’ in SA Tobacco Bill
August 8th, 2018 In a last-minute submission on the SA Tobacco Bill, international academics argue that the Bill does not sufficiently differentiate between nicotine products of widely differing risk to health. That it does not embrace the definition of ‘tobacco...
‘This should change everything’ – A performance standard for cigarettes
August 8th, 2018 Unlike many other consumer products, no safety standards have been set for cigarettes or other tobacco products. Now a performance standard proposal has been published in the British Medical Journal by Neil Collishaw of Physicians for a Smoke-Free...
Advancing tobacco regulation for public health – New FDA initiatives
August 8th, 2018 Over the past year, the US Food and Drug Administration has taken important steps towards achieving its overarching goal – a world where cigarettes can no longer create or sustain addiction, and where adults who seek nicotine can get it from less...
Plausible link between IPO and triathletes' drowning
September 7th, 2016 Heart abnormalities linked to immersion pulmonary oedema (IPO) may be a significant factor in 42 triathletes deaths during the swim portion, according to a seven-year Duke Health study. The findings are based on an analysis of autopsy reports...
UK optometrist's suspended manslaughter sentence — landmark case
August 31st, 2016 A UK optometrist who failed to spot symptoms of hydrocephalus during a routine eye test of an eight-year-old who later died has been given a two-year suspended prison sentence. The landmark case is thought to be the first conviction of an...
Face transplant patient is thriving one year on
August 31st, 2016 The severely burned firefighter who underwent the most extensive face transplant ever performed is thriving one year after his historic surgery, according to his medical team at New York University Langone Medical Centre. Unprecedented among those...
Ultrasound used to jump-start coma patient's brain
August 31st, 2016 A 25-year-old man recovering from a coma has made remarkable progress following a treatment at the University of California at Los Angeles to jump-start his brain using ultrasound. This is the first time that the technique, called low-intensity...
Caster wins Olympic gold and runs into another medical storm
August 24th, 2016 Caster Semenya won the Rio 800m in the fifth-fastest time in Olympic history but may never get to run so fast again, reports The Guardian. The IAAF, the world athletic control body, wants to ban hyperandrogenic athletes like Semenya unless they...
Combined HRT triples breast cancer risk – UK study
August 24th, 2016 Combined oestrogen-progestogen hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can triple the risk of breast cancer, the biggest ever study has found, following more than a decade of controversy. Findings by the UK Institute of Cancer Research and Breast Cancer...
Junior doctors victory in Cape ups pressure on government
August 17th, 2016 SA Health is under pressure urgently to reduce the working hours of junior doctors nationally following Western Cape Health’s decision to slash maximum shifts from 30 to 24 hours. The Junior Doctors Association of SA told MedicalBrief it was...
DASH diet lowers chronic kidney disease risk, also gout marker
August 17th, 2016 The decades-old DASH diet — rich in fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy and reduced in fats and saturated fats — significantly lowers risk of developing chronic kidney disease, Johns Hopkins research suggests. It also appears to significantly...
Brain-controlled robotics helping the paralysed regain muscle control
August 17th, 2016 News that scientists have unexpectedly restored some movement and sensation to paralysed patients is not simply an extension of previous work, writes Tim Radford in The Guardian Science Notes. He writes: “There have always been three lines of...
New asthma pill could be a 'game changer'
August 10th, 2016 The first new asthma pill for nearly 20 years has the power to significantly reduce the severity of the condition, a study led by the University of Leicester has found. “This new treatment, Fevipiprant, could likewise help to stop preventable...
Cervical stitch linked to stillbirth and prem birth
August 10th, 2016 In an Imperial College London study of almost 700 pregnant women who received a cervical cerclage designed to prevent preterm labour, the use of one type of suture over another was associated with three times higher risk of stillbirth and almost...