Daniella T, in her final words, expressed gratitude for loved ones and shed light on the lack of awareness and treatment options for various cancers, including the one that claimed her life. She emphasised that not all cancers are caused by lifestyle choices, detailing her case where the cancer originated in her bile ducts despite her being healthy and active.

Cholangiocarcinoma, a rare aggressive cancer with often no apparent causes and no cure, prompted Daniella to hope for increased research to save more lives in the future.

“Firstly, I just want to say that not all cancers are caused by lifestyle choices, in some cases it’s genetics, or unfortunately it just happens,” she wrote in her post.

Facing the grim diagnosis with remarkable positivity, she encouraged others to enjoy life’s little moments and cherish every second. Daniella advocated for the romanticisation of life and pursuing happiness despite challenges. Sharing a hopeful quote from Winnie-the-Pooh, she thanked her partner Tom for support, urging him to go enjoy life.

The post resonated deeply, amassing thousands of likes and heartfelt reactions from internet users. One user found the message powerful and inspiring, emphasising the importance of appreciating life’s blessings.

Another user expressed hope that Daniella’s story would uplift those who did not know her, highlighting the enduring impact of her message and spirit. She talked about celebrating life rather than being devasted by the deadly disease in her post.

Her post is a reminder for two points, one that in the worst situation, one should not stop living life fully, embrace and appreciate. Secondly, there is a lack of awareness regarding Cholangiocarcinoma cancer, which needs to be raised as an issue.

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Official figures reveal a notable uptick in mental health issues among the younger demographic, with adverse consequences for their education and subsequent career paths.

In 2023, 5 per cent of young people, aged 18 to 24, were economically inactive due to ill health, representing a substantial portion of this age group facing challenges in the workforce. Contrary to trends observed two decades ago, the report establishes that young people currently exhibit the poorest mental health compared to other age groups.

In 2021/22, a staggering 34 per cent of individuals aged 18 to 24 reported symptoms of mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder. This marks a notable increase from the 24 per cent reported in 2000.

The economic ramifications of this mental health crisis are particularly pronounced for young individuals without a university education. A concerning one in three young non-graduates with common mental disorders is currently without work, emphasizing the intricate link between mental health and economic outcomes.

“Attention had more often been on mental health in higher education, but what should most worry us is when poor mental health comes together with poor education outcomes,” said Louise Murphy, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation

The gender disparity in mental health outcomes is noteworthy, with young women being one-and-a-half times a 41 per cent more likely to experience poor mental health compared to their male counterparts of 26 per cent.

The research indicates that a significant 79 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds who are ‘workless’ due to ill health have qualifications at GCSE level or below. This stands in stark contrast to the overall figure for the same age group, where only 34 per cent fall into this category.

The correlation between educational attainment and mental health challenges emphasizes the importance of holistic support systems for young individuals.

The study further unveils the far-reaching impact of poor mental health on academic performance. Children aged 11 to 14 experiencing mental health issues are three times more likely to fail to achieve five GCSEs, including English and Maths, compared to their mentally healthy peers.

In response to these findings, the Resolution Foundation, an advocate for improved living standards for those on low and middle incomes, calls for enhanced mental health support in colleges and sixth forms.

Additionally, the foundation advocates for comprehensive efforts to prevent young people from leaving compulsory education with low qualification levels, addressing the root causes of the issue.

Jo Bibby, the director of the Health Foundation, said “building blocks of health are things like good employment and education and cross-government action was needed to stop the creation of a lost generation due to poor mental health.”

While the study relies on data from the Labour Force Survey, discontinued by the Office for National Statistics due to declining participation, the Health Foundation maintains the accuracy of its analysis.

This research underscores the urgency of prioritizing mental health support and educational interventions to safeguard the well-being and future prospects of the younger generation in the UK. (With inputs from BBC)

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Prime minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to reduce wait times in the NHS, but he admitted last week he had not made enough progress, blaming strikes by healthcare workers.

New guidance for data collected this month, which will be published in April, said those waiting to see a specialist doctor in community services in two treatment categories should be removed from the headline “referral to treatment” (RTT) list, documents seen by Reuters show.

An NHS England source said around 40,000 cases, just under 10 per cent, would move from the community pediatrics category to a community data set that now numbers about 85,000. A much lower number would be moved from the main list for community medicine.

NHS England said the change would end duplication and have no impact on patient care. The RTT list is the most visible monthly indicator of pressure on the NHS and routinely makes headlines.

The provision of free health care, strained by an ageing population, a lack of investment, staff shortages and the fall-out from the pandemic, is a major concern for voters in an election expected this year.

The Conservatives are trailing Labour in opinion polls, with the opposition party on track to end more than 13 years of Tory rule.

One outside expert said moving cases from the scrutiny of the main list, which at 7.6 million cases in December is close to record levels, to lower profile community data could result in less funding for child services already under pressure.

“The point of having these targets and publishing data is to reduce waiting times for patients and be accountable to the public,” said Rob Findlay, director of strategic solutions at healthcare data company Insource, which provides services to the NHS.

The change would cut the figure for those who had been waiting for more than 78 weeks by nearly nine per cent, he said, adding: “If some long-waiting services are excluded, then that protection and accountability will be lost.”

NHS England said the changes would help target care.

“Consolidating reporting of community service waits will also make it easier to analyse and understand the number of patients waiting for treatment,” a spokesperson said, without commenting on the figures.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, which represents paediatricians, said it realised data needed improvements, but that the changes would not make children waiting more than a year for treatment feel better.

“Waiting times for children and young people are at record levels and rearranging the deckchairs alone will not help them,” it said, calling for investment in staffing community services to tackle what it said were some of the longest waits.

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Figures published earlier this month showed 329 of 465 (71 per cent) cases across England from October to February were in the region.

The sharp rise over the past six weeks was mainly driven by cases (80 per cent) in Birmingham, with the majority of patients not being vaccinated.

Across the country, there have been 62 cases in London, and 32 in Yorkshire and the Humber in the same period. The remaining cases were reported in other regions of England.

Of the 465 cases in England, the majority – 66 per cent (306) – were among children under the age of 10, while 25 per cent (115) were in young people and adults over the age of 15.

Dr Naveed Syed, health consultant for the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), warned that with Ramadan just weeks away, numbers of measles cases could increase further due to large gatherings during the holy month.

“If you have got an infected person in a room full of people who’ve not had the vaccine, at least 15 out of the 20 will pick up the infection and that’s after a small contact time, 15-20 minutes – it spreads really, really quickly,” said Dr Syed at an emergency briefing, which was hosted last week by the mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street.

“If people are in a congregational setting, just being cognisant of the fact that Ramadan is coming up and evening prayers, people may be there for an hour plus and if there’s a lot of people who have not been vaccinated, there is a high likelihood that other people will get it because it spreads through coughing and sneezing.”

There were 1,603 suspected cases of measles in England and Wales in 2023, UKHSA statistics showed earlier this year. The figure is up from 735 in 2022, and just 360 the year before.

The UKHSA last month sounded a “national call to action” for more measles jabs for children because of falling vaccination rates and fears a current outbreak could spread.

Dr Syed said nearly 85 per cent of those contracting measles have not had any doses of the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

“That just shows the importance of vaccine,” he said. “If we can vaccinate up to about 90-95 per cent of the population, that would protect everyone else in the community and you’d basically stamp out any measles outbreaks.

“The vaccine is not just for children. We were out in pop-up clinics at the weekend and people were coming in bringing their kids and having it themselves as well, because when they rang their GP for the kids, they realised they are not vaccinated.”

Jenny Harries, head of the UKHSA, previously said some members of the Muslim community were wary of the vaccines because one of the MMR vaccines on offer has a pork-based derivative.

But she said she wanted to let people know that an alternative was available and was “very effective”. Dr Syed said it was important that the public received the relevant information regarding the MMR vaccine. “There are legitimate concerns in some communities around the MMR vaccine and there are a lot of misinformed concerns in the communities,” he said. “There are obviously issues around people getting vaccines, there are cultural issues, certain religious issues, because there are two MMR vaccines, one of them contains pork derivatives, the other one doesn’t. This one can be given to people of Muslim faith and others, such as vegetarians.

“It’s important for us to be culturally aware for those people and get that message out there that there are alternatives to the main one which does have pork gelatine.”

Communication around the cultural issues surrounding the MMR vaccine hasn’t been “consistent”, Jo Tonkin, acting director of public health at Birmingham City Council, admitted.

“We’re doing work to really understand which groups don’t have the MMR vaccine and what are the barriers that people are facing in getting it,” said Tonkin.

“All of the evidence points to things like health literacy and access. When I talk about health literacy, I’m talking about understanding basic information about what vaccines and immunisations are and translating that into action (getting more people vaccinated). Doing something with that information and also considering it alongside cultural and faith beliefs.”

She added: “We need trusted voices in the community to work with us to encourage our population to get their MMR vaccines that includes community leaders, that includes faith leaders. What we need to do is to listen and understand the barriers that your communities are facing in the community and respond to them.

“All of the directors of public health, their teams, our integrated care boards, our education colleagues, are all out there talking to communities and faith leaders.” Feedback pointed to people not realising how serious measles is because “we don’t see it anymore”, Dr Syed said.

Measles usually starts with cold-like symptoms, followed by a rash a few days later. Some people may also get small spots in their mouth, according to the NHS. The measles infection can spread very rapidly and lead to serious complications, lifelong disability and even death. It can affect the lungs and brain and cause pneumonia, meningitis, blindness and seizures.

The NHS says the best way to protect against measles is through vaccination.

The UK had previously achieved “measles elimination status”, Harries said, but lost this in 2018 following an increase measles cases in the country and vaccine levels lower than the 95 per cent.

Currently, the average number of children starting school who had both doses of the MMR vaccine stands at 85 per cent. Vaccination rates across the country have been dropping, but there are particular concerns about some areas, including parts of London.

The lowest rates nationally were seen in the capital, with one area – Hackney in the east – with only 56.3 per cent of children vaccinated, according to the latest health service figures.

Dr Mubasshir Ajaz, head of health and communities at the West Midland Combined Authority (WMCA), acknowledged that people had become more wary of vaccines due to the Covid-19 pandemic and felt it was important to find ways to dispel fears around the MMR vaccine.

“It’s okay to point people towards the NHS website which has a whole leaflet on both vaccines as to what the ingredients are. “Everybody kind of became a semi-expert on vaccines when Covid came up. Even if those buzzwords that people have heard in the news, if we can clarify those points and the fact that we’re not hiding any kind of ingredients either, it’s really useful for parents and community members.

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With options such as viewing prescribed medications, booking vaccine appointments, ordering repeat prescriptions, and accessing NHS 111 online, the NHS App is changing the way that people can access and manage their health records for themselves, a press release by the NHS said.

Many users of the NHS App first downloaded it during the Covid-19 pandemic to access the Covid travel pass. But now, the latest features of the NHS App are helping people to feel more in control of managing their health than ever before.

You can use the App to:

● View your prescribed medication and request repeat prescriptions, to pick up at your chosen local pharmacy – without needing a paper prescription.
● View your GP records, which can include information about appointments you’ve had, immunisations and your specific health conditions.
● Find your NHS number

You can also check symptoms using NHS 111 online via the App, find local NHS services – such as urgent care, pharmacies, and urgent treatment centres – and even browse through more general information about medication or medical conditions.

Almost half of people signed up to the NHS App already use it regularly, with 25.8 million logins in November 2023 – the equivalent of 10 every second. The new NHS campaign aims to raise awareness of the many possible uses of the App and encourage even more users, by showing how it can save people time and help them feel in control of their health.

Healthcare professionals in the community are increasingly seeing the benefits of the NHS App for patients, who are able to manage different aspects of their health with greater ease and often with less need for direct contact with their GP surgery. Over the last five years, a total of 66.1 million repeat prescriptions have been ordered through the App, saving valuable time for patients and clinicians.

Dr Farzana Hussein, GP said, “I would encourage everyone to try the NHS App again. I know for many of my patients it’s something they simply don’t think of using, or don’t know about the new functions it has, but when I’ve shown people what it can do and when I used it myself, I realised how easy it is to use. People have been very positive about it after using it. Especially during the winter when we might need more frequent repeat prescriptions or want to find out about symptoms we’re experiencing, it can be so useful. We’re on our phones all the time in our daily lives, and we’re busy – so it’s a great time saver, helping people to feel on top of their health and in control.”

For more information including how to download the NHS App visit www.nhs.uk/nhsapp or scan the QR code.

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The treatment, known as Produodopa, leverages a pump system to deliver a constant flow of medication directly into the patient’s bloodstream, offering a new level of symptom management, the BBC reported.

This method stands in stark contrast to the current regimen for many, which can involve ingesting over 20 pills daily, often resulting in fluctuating control over symptoms. For some, the alternative has been receiving medication through a permanent feeding tube.

Produodopa combines foslevodopa and foscarbidopa, which together increase the levels of dopamine in the brain, a crucial neurotransmitter for regulating movement.

The medication is administered via a cannula placed under the skin, controlled by a compact pump that ensures a consistent dosage 24 hours a day.

Patients also have the option to manually adjust the dosage for additional relief as needed.

James Palmer, NHS England’s medical director for specialised services, expressed enthusiasm about the rollout, highlighting its significance for patients who are ineligible for other treatments like deep brain stimulation.

He anticipates that this therapy will significantly enhance the daily lives and overall well-being of nearly a thousand individuals.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has endorsed Produodopa drug for NHS use following its success in clinical trials.

Testimonials from participants, such as 70-year-old John Whipps, underscore the transformative impact of this treatment.

Whipps shared how the therapy has made his life more manageable, reducing his reliance on a complex regimen of pills and alleviating nocturnal symptoms.

Phil, another trial participant from Cornwall, echoed Whipps’ sentiments. He recounted the challenges of managing his fluctuating symptoms with a regimen of 25 pills a day and the substantial improvement in his quality of life since using the pump, particularly during nighttime.

This new treatment promises not only to alleviate the burdens of medication management for those with advanced Parkinson’s but also to offer an alternative for patients who currently depend on invasive methods of drug delivery.

According to the NHS, Parkinson’s disease affects approximately 128,000 individuals across England.

Laura Cockram from the charity Parkinson’s UK hailed Produodopa as a potentially “life-changing option” for patients, she however, advises individuals to consult healthcare professionals to determine if it is suitable for their specific condition.

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While the figures for 2022 were stable, with 4,380 reported incidents nearly mirroring the 2021 count of 4,411, provisional data for 2023 paints a more alarming picture.

There has been an increase of 10.7% in TB cases in 2023, rising to 4,850 from the previous year’s 4,380, a press release by UKHSA said.

This uptick suggests a resurgence of TB infections, surpassing levels seen before the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite England’s classification as a country with low TB incidence, this recent escalation complicates the nation’s efforts to align with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) aim to eliminate TB by 2035.

In response, UKHSA, in collaboration with various partners, is delving into the causes behind this surge to formulate effective countermeasures.

The data also reveals a growing trend of TB cases among individuals born outside the UK, but the 2023 increase has been observed in both non-UK born and UK born individuals, spreading across England.

Metropolitan areas like London, the North West, and the West Midlands have seen the sharpest increases, with notable rises in the South West and North East as well, where TB incidence is low.

Tuberculosis is notably linked to socio-economic factors and is prevalent in large cities. High-risk groups who experience the highest number of cases include people from South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), Africa (Eritrea, Nigeria) and Eastern Europe (Romania).

In the UK, individuals born domestically who face homelessness, substance dependence, or have interacted with the criminal justice system are at a higher risk of contracting TB.

Additionally, the incidence of TB is significantly higher among UK-born individuals belonging to ethnic minorities, as opposed to those from white backgrounds.

Emphasising the importance of collective efforts to combat TB, Dr Esther Robinson, the head of UKHSA’s TB Unit said, “We need collective action to tackle TB and we are working with partners across the health system to understand how we can best refocus efforts to stamp out this preventable and treatable infection. Not every persistent cough, along with a fever, is caused by flu or Covid-19. A cough that usually has mucus and lasts longer than 3 weeks can be caused by a range of other issues, including TB. Please speak to your GP if you think you could be at risk.”

As part of its continued fight against TB, UKHSA is collaborating with NHSE and other stakeholders to refine the TB action plan, focusing on enhancing prevention, detection, and expanding the TB workforce’s capacity.

A bacterial infection, TB primarily targets the lungs and becomes contagious at this stage.

Key symptoms to watch for include persistent coughing beyond three weeks, fevers, night sweats, loss of appetite, and weight loss. Although treatable with antibiotics, TB poses significant risks if left unaddressed.

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The chemicals, called phthalates, are used to soften plastic and can be found in thousands of consumer items, including plastic containers and wrapping, beauty care products and toys.

Phthalates have been known for decades to be “hormone disruptors” which affect a person’s endocrine system and have been previously linked to obesity, heart disease, some cancers and fertility problems.

Because they affect hormones, these chemicals “can precipitate early labour and early birth”, lead study author Leonardo Trasande of New York University’s Langone health centre said.

By analysing the level of phthalates in the urine of more than 5,000 pregnant women in the United States, the researchers were able to examine how exposure to the chemicals could have affected how early the babies were born.

The 10 per cent of mothers with the highest levels of phthalates had a 50 per cent increased risk of giving birth before week 37 compared to the lowest 10 per cent, according to the study in The Lancet Planetary Health.

Extrapolating their findings across the US, the researchers said that nearly 56,600 preterm births could have been linked to phthalate exposure in 2018 alone, or roughly 10 per cent of the country’s premature births that year.

Babies born prematurely or at a lower weight tend to have more health problems later in life.

The researchers estimated the resulting medical and social costs of phthalate exposure for preterm births in the United States to be between $1.6 billion (£1.26bn) and $8.1bn (£.6.41bn)

While the study was carried out in the US, Trasande said phthalates are so ubiquitous that five to 10 per cent of premature births in most other countries could probably be linked to the chemicals.

He estimated that more than three-quarters of exposure to phthalates was due to plastic.

Trasande said the benefits of plastic to society need to be weighed against its harms and called for a global treaty to drastically reduce plastic production.

“The people who are producing plastic are not paying for the health effects. They’re not caring for these preterm babies,” he said.

As awareness has grown about the potential threat posed by the common phthalate DEHP, some plastic companies have tried replacing it with other compounds from the chemical group.

“What was even more frightening” about the new study was that these “replacement phthalates were associated with even stronger effects than DEHP”, Trasande said.

He called for phthalates to be regulated as a group, rather than focusing on specific compounds.

Stephanie Eick, a reproductive health researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the study, said the research could not prove definitively that the premature births were directly caused by phthalates.

But there are now an “overwhelming number of observational studies that support this hypothesis”, she said.

To avoid exposure, Eick advised people to eat less food wrapped in plastic and avoid personal care products that contain phthalates.

Trasande said putting plastic containers in microwaves or dishwashers can release phthalates which can then enter food. (AFP)

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“I’m actually present in my daily life and that’s incredible,” the 34-year-old Ameican said.

“Before this, I was just constantly in my head worrying about my compulsions.”

Doctors have known for decades that precisely applied electrical stimulation can affect the way the brain operates.

Such deep-brain stimulation is used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and other conditions affecting movement, including epilepsy.

Brain implants have hit the headlines recently with Elon Musk’s announcement that his Neuralink company had placed a chip in a patient’s head, which scientists hope will ultimately allow people to control a smartphone just by thinking about it.

Pearson’s doctors offered her a 32-millimetre (just over an inch-long) device to treat her debilitating epileptic seizures, confident it would be able to detect the activity that causes the episodes and deliver a pulse to interfere with them.

It was then that Pearson herself had something of a lightbulb moment. “It was her idea to say: ‘Well, you’re going into my brain and putting this wire and I have OCD, so can you just put a wire for OCD?’,” recalls neurosurgeon Ahmed Raslan, who carried out the procedure at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.

“And you know, luckily, we took that suggestion seriously.”

There had previously been a study on the use of deep brain stimulation for people suffering from OCD, but Raslan said it had never been combined with treatment for epilepsy.

Doctors worked with Pearson to see exactly what happens in her brain when she gets trapped in an obsessive loop.

The technique involved exposing her to known stressors – in this case, seafood – and recording the electrical markers.

In this way, they could effectively isolate the brain activity associated with her OCD.

They could then configure her implant so that it would react to that specific signal.

The dual-programme device now watches for brain activity associated both with epilepsy and with OCD.

It is “the only device in the world that treats two conditions,” said Raslan.

“And it’s programmed independently. So the programme for epilepsy is different than the programme for OCD.”

He said, “This is the first time in the world that’s been done. Usually, we think of devices either for OCD or for epilepsy.

Raslan said a study is now under way at the University of Pennsylvania to see how this technique can be more widely applied too give relief to the 2.5 million OCD patients in the US.

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The study is published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

Although physical activity has been shown to lessen various types of pain, its effects on cancer-related pain are unclear.

To investigate, a team led by senior author Erika Rees-Punia, PhD, MPH, of the American Cancer Society, and first author Christopher T.V. Swain, PhD, of the University of Melbourne, in Australia, analysed information pertaining to 51,439 adults without a history of cancer and 10,651 adults with a past cancer diagnosis.

Participants were asked, “How would you rate your pain on average,” with responses ranging from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst pain imaginable).

Participants were also asked about their usual physical activity.

US guidelines recommend 150 minutes (2 hours 30 minutes) to 300 minutes (5 hours) a week of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes (1 hour 15 minutes) to 150 minutes (2 hours 30 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity.

Based on participants’ responses, the investigators found that for individuals who had cancer in the past as well as for those without a history of cancer, more physical activity was linked with lower pain intensity.

The extent of the association was similar for both groups of individuals, indicating that exercise may reduce cancer-related pain just as it does for other types of pain that have been studied in the past.

Among participants with a past cancer diagnosis, those exceeding physical activity guidelines were 16% less likely to report moderate-to-severe pain compared to those who failed to meet physical activity guidelines.

Also, compared with people who remained inactive, those who were consistently active or became active in older adulthood reported less pain.

“It may feel counterintuitive to some, but physical activity is an effective, non-pharmacologic option for reducing many types of pain. As our study suggests, this may include pain associated with cancer and its treatments,” said Dr. Rees-Punia.

(ANI)

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