Coffee, sex and blowing your nose could increase the risk of a type of stroke, say researchers in the Netherlands.
The study on 250 patients identified eight risk factors linked to bleeding on the brain.

They all increase blood pressure which could result in blood vessels bursting, according to research published in the journal Stroke.

The Stroke Association said more research was needed to see if the triggers caused the rupture.

More than 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke each year with nearly 29,000 due to bleeding on the brain.

Bleeding can happen when a weakened blood vessel, known as a brain aneurysm, bursts. This can result in brain damage or death.

The researchers at the University Medical Center in Utrecht looked at 250 patients for three years to identify what triggers ruptures.
Caffeine danger

They found that coffee was responsible for more than one in 10 burst brain aneurysms.

The percentage of bursts were due to:
Coffee 10.6%
Vigorous exercise 7.9%
Nose blowing 5.4%
Sex 4.3%
Straining to defecate 3.6%
Drinking cola 3.5%
Being startled 2.7%
Being angry 1.3%

While people drinking coffee had only a 1.7 times greater risk, it is more common than other risk factors.

Being startled increased the risk by more than 23 times, but was responsible for just 2.7% of cases.

Dr Monique Vlak, a neurologist and the study’s lead author, said: “All of the triggers induce a sudden and short increase in blood pressure, which seems a possible common cause for aneurysmal rupture.”

The authors said one in 50 people has a brain aneurysm, but only a few rupture.

Dr Vlak advised that: “Reducing caffeine consumption or treating constipated patients with unruptured intracranial (brain) aneurysms with laxatives may lower the risk of subarachnoid haemorrhage.”

The study only looked at the triggers for the burst. High blood pressure weakens blood vessels in the first place and can be caused by being overweight, smoking and a lack of exercise.

Dr Sharlin Ahmed, Research Liaison Officer at The Stroke Association said: “A sudden surge in high blood pressure can increase the likelihood of an aneurysm rupturing. However, it’s very difficult to determine whether the triggers identified in this study are definitely related to the onset of a stroke as they could simply be put down to coincidence.

“A lot more research needs to be carried out to assess whether each of the identified triggers could directly cause an aneurysm to rupture.”

Health Direct flippantly suggests that the old adage of having a cigarette after having sex might just complete the hat trick of stroke risk factors.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13294022

With the weekend coming up- a word of warning- a dirty weekend away could really kill you, a study suggests, after finding that having sex only occasionally puts you at more than twice the risk of suffering a heart attack.Exercise is generally considered good for you as it decreases your overall risk of heart disease and generally makes you healthier.

But the new research suggests that spikes in physical activity – such as during sex – can also have the opposite effect – triggering heart attacks and cardiac arrests.

The increased risk – as much as 2.7 times higher than normal – applies mainly to people who are otherwise unhealthy and can be reduced by regular physical activity.

But a small risk does apply to everyone.

The scientists at Tufts and Harvard Universities in Boston reviewed the results of a number of previous studies to come up with the findings.

They found that “episodic activity” was associated with more than a two and a half times increased risk of heart attack and sudden cardiac death (SCD).

However regularly indulging in exercise – including sex – offset the increased risk by almost half for each additional time per week it was carried out.

“Regular physical activity has been identified as strongly associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease and related mortality,” the researchers wrote.

“Despite the well-established benefits of regular physical activity, anecdotal evidence has suggested that physical activity, as well as other acute exposures, such as sexual activity and psychological stress, can act as triggers of acute cardiac events.”

The researchers looked at more than 14 studies looking at what caused heart attacks and found that a small but significant number happened during physical and sexual activity.

They found that all kinds of physical activity accounted for three and a half times increased risk and sex 2.7 times.

Researchers said that most importantly the risks could be modified by “habitual physical activity” and that those who indulged regularly were much less likely to have a heart attack triggered by sex.

Heart and circulatory disease is the biggest killer in Britain and heart disease alone causes 91,000 deaths a year.

The study was published in the latest issue of the journal JAMA.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/Occasional-physical-and-sexual-activity-bad-for-the-heart

A row over a disgraced GP sacked from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs for controversial views including linking homosexuality with child abuse intensified as it emerged that a Home Office report makes the same point.
The appointment last month of Dr Hans Christian Raabe – who takes a hard line against drug use – was welcomed by anti-drugs campaigners. A media backlash prompted the Home Office to sack Dr Raabe over his 2005 comments linking homosexuality and child sex offences.

Dr Raabe said that he is considering taking legal action against the Home Office unless he receives an apology. He pointed to a research report by the Home Office – Sex Offending Against Children: Understanding the Risk – which states: “Bradford et al (1988) suggested reasonably that approximately 20 to 33 per cent of child sexual abuse is homosexual in nature.”

He pointed out that this is a similar statistic to that cited in the academic paper he co-authored in 2005, claiming 25 per cent of child sex abuse is homosexual. “This is quite hypocritical and very bizarre indeed. I am being sacked by the Home Office for stating what a Home Office document says,” the Manchester GP said.

“I volunteered for unpaid public service and feel as though my personal and professional reputation has been shamefully destroyed by the Government, for saying something it says itself. My appointment has been revoked based on the wrong perception that I could potentially discriminate against gay people; something I have never done, either in my private or professional life. The real issue is that there was a campaign to get rid of me. I suspect it’s a group of people that are for a more liberal drug policy and perhaps want to legalise drugs.”

Anti-drugs campaigners yesterday called on the Home Secretary, Theresa May, to apologise for “an unjustifiable personal and professional attack by her ministry”. David Raynes, from the National Drug Prevention Alliance, described Dr Raabe’s sacking as “a vicious and personal witch hunt orchestrated by pro-drugs campaigners” and said “there remains a cabal of people on the committee who are sympathetic to the legalisation of all drugs. It can ill afford to lose people who act as a balance against this view”.

The Home Office said: “Dr Raabe’s failure to disclose a controversial report which, among other things, links homosexuality to paedophilia raises concerns over his credibility to provide balanced advice on drug misuse issues and impacts on the smooth running of the ACMD.”

Other controversial figures appointed to the expert body last month include a former cocaine addict and a drugs researcher who has downplayed the risks of ecstasy.

From: http://www.independent.co.uk/sacked-drugs-adviser-demands-apology-from-home-office

Pfizer the drug group, dealt a major blow to Britain’s pharmaceutical industry this week- with a decision to pull out of its research site in Kent, putting up to 2,400 jobs at risk.
US-based Pfizer said that over the next 18 months to two years, the majority of people working at the site in Sandwich, which researches drugs for allergies and respiratory conditions, would be made redundant. However, the company hopes to “transfer several hundred positions to other Pfizer sites or to external partners”.

The closure of the site, which discovered some of Pfizer’s most high-profile medicines, including Viagra, brings to an end the company’s 57-year history in the town.

Like other major drug companies facing patent expiries on top-selling medicines, Pfizer is taking steps to streamline its research and development (R&D) activities.

Tuesday’s announcement marked an acceleration of that strategy as Pfizer revealed plans to reduce the number of disease areas it focuses on and cut its R&D budget by up to £1.2 billion each year, to around £4 billion to £4.4 billion.

A Pfizer spokesman said the company was concentrating its efforts on “where we can deliver the greatest medical and commercial impact”.

Dr Ruth McKernan, head of the Sandwich site, said the plant had a “rich history in science research”. “It is hoped that we can retain this proud R&D heritage through strategic partnerships in the future,” she added.

Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skils, described the decision as “extremely disappointing”.

“The company has been clear that this decision was part of its global programme of change and not based on a judgement of the UK as a location for pharmaceutical research,” he added.

“This country is an attractive location for the life sciences industry and with R&D tax credits and our plans to introduce a Patent Box, the Government is committed to ensuring the UK is the destination of choice for investment, research and growth.”

But Colin Blakemore, professor of neuroscience at the University of Oxford, said the move was “a shocking wake-up call”. “We must respond to this signal that one of our most important industries no longer has confidence in the future of British science,” he said.

The news came as Pfizer reported a 4pc rise in full-year net income to £5.2 billion, on sales 36pc higher at £42.4 billion.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/Pfizer-to-close-Viagra-research-site-putting-2400-UK-jobs-at-risk

The Pfizer closures comes only a few days after Health Direct posted that NHS red tape harming patients and medical research at http://www.healthdirect.co.uk/2011/02/nhs-red-tape-harming-patients-and-medical-research.html when we said that urgent changes are required to the regulation and governance of health research in the UK because unnecessary delays, bureaucracy and complexity are stifling medical advances, without additional benefits to patient safety.

Midwives have criticised the postcode lottery in maternity care after official NHS figures revealed caesarean rates are twice as high in some hospitals as others.
In some cases even neighbouring hospitals have widely varying rates of caesarean section, revealing that it is not necessarily down to the characteristics of the local population.

The proportion of women having their first antenatal appointment within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy varies 11-fold, according to the data published by the NHS Information Centre.

This may be due to women recognising that they are pregnant later but also reflects on how well organised services are.

The figures show that almost nine in ten women were seen in the first 12 weeks at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust compared with less than one in ten at Walshall Hospitals NHS Trust in 2009/10.

Similarly more than three in ten women had a caesarean birth at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, in London – twice as many as at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust in Shropshire.

However the variations cannot be completely explained by deprivation as neighbouring hospitals will had large differences in rates.

At Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust 87.6 per cent were seen in the first 12 weeks, five times higher than in neighbouring Barnsley Hospital NHS Trust where 17.2 per cent were seen.

There were twice as many caesareans at Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust than at nearby Shrewsbury and Telford.

Nationally more women are being seen within the first 12 weeks in 2009/10 compared with the previous year and the caesaearan section rate has remained for the last year at around one in four of all births, the majority of which were conducted as emergencies.

The figures show that the proportion of births delivered by doctors instead of midwives has increased from less than one in four in 1989/90 to almost four in ten in 2009/10, as a result of more caesarean and instrument deliveries due to greater numbers of older and obese mothers giving birth.

Tim Straughan, Chief executive of The NHS Information Centre, said: “The figures show that the experience women have of NHS maternity care varies markedly across the country and even within regions.

“Rates of caesareans and access to antenatal assessment in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy vary according to which hospital they use.

“In some trusts, there may be specific demographic or clinical reasons that explain why they carry out, for example, more caesareans. But others will need to examine closely the full range of reasons why their rate is different from the national average of about one caesarean delivery for every four deliveries.”

Cathy Warwick, General Secretary of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), said: “These results show that there is a postcode lottery when it comes to maternity services, and this is worrying when those services are part of a ‘national’ health service. Women should expect and receive high quality care wherever they live, not care that is based upon chance and plain old good luck.

“Superficially the huge variations revealed in this report are a concern and further analysis is needed to find out why they are occurring.

“The variation on the first antenatal booking is astonishing and those on caesarean section rates – already widely known – are worrying in their persistence at such a level.

“Midwives are the experts when it comes to normal births and will deliver the vast majority of women having their baby in this way. The fact that midwives’ involvement in birth has decreased will be reflected in the increase in caesarean rates and instrumental deliveries over the years.

“I think some of the large variations could be linked to staffing levels; as we know one-to-one care from a midwife increases the possibility of a normal delivery but I am sure this is not the whole story. It could also be related to how services are organised.

“In the statistics around intervention, maternity units need to be looking at each other’s practice to see where they can learn from each other, and make their services better for women and their babies.”

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/Maternity-postcode-lottery-revealed-in-NHS-figures

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has accused the government of backing down on a pre-election pledge to increase midwife numbers in England.

It says mothers and babies will suffer unless the 3,000 extra midwives it says were promised are delivered by 2014.

RCM general secretary Cathy Warwick told its annual conference there are too few to cope with a rising birth rate and increasingly complex births.

The Tories said the rise was now not needed as the birth rate was stable.

She said: “Just before the election, both the prime minister and the deputy prime minister told us that they would commit to continuing the previous government’s promise to give us more midwives.

“We’ve just done a survey of all the heads of midwifery and they’ve got vacant posts but they’re having difficulty filling them.”

The RCM survey of 83 out of 194 heads of midwifery suggested maternity units were already seeing budget and staffing cuts.

Some 30% said their budgets had fallen over the past year, while a third had been asked to reduce staff.

And two-thirds surveyed said they did not have enough midwives to cope with demand.

Meanwhile, the number of live births in England has risen by 19% between 2001 and 2009, to 670,000 a year.

The RCM said births over the same period had become more complex, with obese pregnant women and older or teenage women needing extra support.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) said maternity services were facing many challenges.

President, Dr Tony Falconer, said: “As well as need for more midwives, there is a need for more consultants to deal with the increase in the number of high-risk pregnancies.”

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The commitment to 3,000 midwives made in opposition was dependent on the birthrate increasing as it has done in the recent past. It was not in the coalition agreement because predictions now suggest the birthrate will be stable over the next few years.

“People can be absolutely clear that our commitment to meet the needs of expectant mothers remains, and we will continue to train new midwives to meet the demands arising from the births.”

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11772485

A  drug addict has become the first man in the country to be sterilised in exchange for cash under a controversial new project.A man addicted to heroin for 15 years, was given £200 by an American charity in return for having a vasectomy

The man, known as John, who has been addicted to heroin for 15 years, was given £200 by an American charity in return for having a vasectomy.

Project Prevention, the charity running the scheme, has made similar payments to thousands of men and women in America in a crusade to prevent them having children who may inherit their addictions.

The 38-year-old man said he had been involved with drugs since the age of 11 or 12 and that the offer of money had “spurred” him into having the operation.

He said: “It was kind of what spurred me into doing it in a way.

“It was something that I’d been thinking about for a long time and something that I’d already made my mind up that I wanted to do. Just hadn’t got around to it.”

The charity began offering the cash incentive to British addicts after paying 3,500 American men and women addicted to drugs or alcohol to be sterilised.

John said he was given 30 days to make a decision after calling the charity’s helpline, and had the operation on the NHS in September.

He told BBC London’s Inside Out, which was screened on Monday night: “It came as a bit of a shock to me knowing I was the first in Britain.

“I would have thought people would be snapping up the offer as soon as it came apparent as it was there. I won’t be able to support a kid. I can just about manage to support myself. Just about got it together to do that.”

The woman behind the project, Barbara Harris, from North Carolina, said she set up the charity after adopting four children whose mother was addicted to crack.

She said: “I got very angry about the damage that these drugs do to these children.

“It was unbelievable. Isaiah could not sleep, he couldn’t eat, his eyes were big, noise bothered him, light bothered him. It broke my heart.”

But the scheme has attracted criticism from people who feel the charity is exploiting vulnerable people and led to accusations of social engineering.

Ms Harris added: “I’ve been called everything. I’ve been spat on.

“Typically I just say to my critics: ‘If you believe these women should continue to take drugs and have children, then step up in line and adopt their babies’. It’s that simple.”

But the scheme has met criticism from addiction charities.

A spokesman for Addaction, the drug and alcohol treatment charity, said: “Addaction firmly believes there is no place for Project Prevention in the UK because their practices are morally reprehensible and irrelevant.

“Sex education and contraceptive advice is part of drug treatment work in this country. Women who use drugs can access all types of contraception free on the NHS including a number of long term options.”

The project also pays addicts to get long-term birth control including intrauterine contraceptive devices or a contraceptive implant.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/First-drug-addict-sterilised-under-cash-for-vasectomy-offer

New mothers are left frightened and alone after childbirth, because midwives do not have time to care for them, a major study has warned.
The report by the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) says staff shortages have left increasing numbers of mothers feeling isolated at a time when they are desperate for reassurance.

The charity’s poll of more than 1,200 first time mothers found 59 per cent did not get the “emotional support” they felt they needed after giving birth – compared with 51 per cent in a similar survey a decade ago.

Women who had undergone a caesarean section were the least happy about their experience.

Asked about the 24 hours following birth, 66 per cent said they had not received enough support, compared to 57 per cent of those who had a natural labour in hospital, and 24 per cent of those who gave birth at home.

Mothers who had gone through traumatic labours said they had been left to cry themselves to sleep, while others said overstretched midwives had no time to offer a kind word of reassurance.

In total, 42 per cent said there were not enough midwives to care for them, compared with 33 per cent, when the question was posed in 2000.

Those who gave birth at home, or in a midwife-led birth centre, were less likely to describe shortages of midwives.

The NCT findings show that despite a large investment in maternity services, and pledges from the last Government to make care “woman-centred” with a choice of where to give birth, many women are being denied even basic care.

Among the poll of 1260 first time mothers, 44 per cent said they did not even get the physical help they needed, while 55 per cent said they did not get enough information or advice in the weeks after having their first child.

Anne Fox, the head of campaigns and public policy for the NCT, said; “It’s clear postnatal care urgently needs improvement – our report paints a dreadful, shocking picture of care in the UK – we’re letting women and their babies down.

“Many of the problems these women highlight seem to be due to staff shortages or lack of visits once they had left hospital – and this issue needs to be addressed if the quality of postnatal care is to be improved, particularly for vulnerable women.

In the report, new mothers describe being “absolutely terrified” and alone during their first night in hospital, frightened to ask for help from staff who responded to them rudely.

One mother said: “As soon as the baby was born, I felt I was on my own. I spent the first night after the birth of my son in floods of tears and unable to sleep as every time I closed my eyes the nightmare of my birth experience came flooding back.

“Nobody came to check on me to see if I was OK, even though I know I was sobbing loudly and uncontrollably.”

Louise Silverton, Deputy General Secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, described the report’s findings as “disappointing,” but said the study sent a compelling message to those in charge of NHS budgets, about the need to keep investing in maternity services.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/Midwives-have-no-time-to-care-for-new-mums-report-warns

A doctor who got one of his patients pregnant and then helped to arrange an abortion has been suspended from medical practice.
Stephen Carr-Bains, 56, had sexual relationships with two vulnerable patients while working at a surgery at the University of Surrey.

When one of the women fell pregnant he arranged for a termination but failed to record the details in her medical records.

Dr Carr-Bains was suspended from medical practice for a year following a two week hearing at the General Medical Council (GMC).

But he was told he would have been struck off the medical register had it not been for 49 pages of testimonials from fellow doctors, patients and friends.

The GMC heard that Dr Carr-Bains began a sexual relationship with a woman identified as Patient A in December 1995 after she visited him at the Guildowns Group Practice in Guildford, Surrey, suffering from mental health problems.

When she fell pregnant in 1999, he arranged for her to have an immediate termination, but failed to make any record of the abortion.

The GMC hearing, which took place in Manchester, was also told that he failed to put a letter from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service in her medical file and did not refer her for post-termination counselling.

In June 2003 he began a relationship with another woman, known as Patient B, who told the GMC panel, they often slept together in her university accommodation.

Both women had been suffering from mental health problems.

Andrew Kennedy, representing Dr Carr-Bains said his relationship with Patient A was one of “deep love and friendship over a long period of time”.

He added that Dr Carr-Bains had otherwise had a “blameless career spanning 32-years with no clinical concerns and utter devotion to patients and the wider profession”.

But the GMC was told Dr Carr-Bains had “abused his position of trust” to “exploit vulnerable patients”.

The panel chaired by Dr Roger Ferguson, ruled in its findings that Dr Carr-Bains’ behaviour had been “wholly unacceptable” and that he had shown a “flagrant disregard” for the doctor patient relationship.

The report read: “You exercised poor judgement in engaging in a sexual relationship with two patients registered at your practice. To this end, the Panel concluded that you have failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries and differentiate between the importance of your role as a GP and personal relationships.”

The report added: “Your actions have shown a flagrant disregard for the importance of the doctor-patient relationship.”

But Dr Carr-Bains avoided being struck off the medical register after a large number of testimonials were submitted describing him as a “highly competent, conscientious, hard working and respected doctor”, who was “caring” and “kind”.

The GMC panel stated that his case would be reviewed shortly before the period of suspension expired.

Dr Carr-Bains became Student Medical Officer at the University of Surrey in 1999 before resigning from his post at the Guildowns Group Practice in 2006.

A spokesman for the university said the college was “dismayed” at the “breach of trust”.

The spokesman said: “Dr Stephen Carr-Bains was employed by the GP practice that supplied services to the university and our students.

“We are dismayed by Mr Carr-Bains clear breach of trust and welcome the GMC’s ruling on the case which reflects our own determination to protect and treat student patients with respect at all times, affording their safety the highest level of priority.”

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/Doctor-suspended-after-getting-patient-pregnant

The researchers say that movements associated with good dancing may be indicative of good health and reproductive potential.  Their findings are published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
“When you go out to clubs people have an intuitive understanding of what makes a good and bad dancer,” said co-author Dr Nick Neave, an evolutionary psychologist at Northumbria University, UK.

“What we’ve done for the very first time is put those things together with a biometric analysis so we can actually calculate very precisely the kinds of movements people focus on and associate them with women’s ratings of male dancers.”

Dr Neave asked young men who were not professional dancers, to dance in a laboratory to a very basic drum rhythm and their movements with 12 cameras.

These movements were then converted into a computer-generated cartoon – an avatar – which women rated on a scale of one to seven. He was surprised by the results.

“We thought that people’s arms and legs would be really important. The kind of expressive gestures the hands [make], for example. But in fact this was not the case,” he said.

We found that (women paid more attention to) the core body region: the torso, the neck, the head”

“We found that (women paid more attention to) the core body region: the torso, the neck, the head. It was not just the speed of the movements, it was also the variability of the movement. So someone who is twisting, bending, moving, nodding.”

Movements that went down terribly were twitchy and repetitive – so called “Dad dancing”.

Dr Neave’s aim was to establish whether young men exhibited the same courtship movement rituals in night clubs as animals do in the wild. In the case of animals, these movements give information about their health, age, their reproductive potential and their hormone status.

“People go to night clubs to show off and attract the opposite sex so I think it’s a valid way of doing this,” Dr Neave explained.

“In animals, the male has to be in good physical quality to carry out these movements. We think the same is happening in humans and certainly the guys that can put these movements together are going to be young and fit and healthy.”

Dr Neave also took blood samples from the volunteers. Early indications from biochemical tests suggest that the men who were better dancers were also more healthy.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/good dancing sign of a healthy male