Monitoring people’s blood pressure at home rather than having repeated tests at a GP surgery has been recommended for patients in England and Wales. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which provides guidance to medical practitioners, has for the first time recommended using home monitoring to take regular readings over specific time … More Home blood pressure test recommended to diagnose hypertension

Children, teenagers and young adults who experience acute malnutrition, such as a famine, are more likely to develop heart disease later in life. Researchers studying girls and young women who lived through the Dutch famine at the end of the Second World War have found those who were severely affected by the famine had a … More Malnutrition in young people increases the risk of heart disease in later life

Tropical plants may contain the basis of new and effective treatments for ovarian cancer, according to researchers at the Universities of Strathclyde and Portsmouth. The scientists are developing a programme for testing plant extracts for the ability to stop cells from ovarian tumours growing. In initial tests, several plant extracts killed the tumour samples, taken … More Plants could pave the way for new ovarian cancer treatments

BRITONS have very low awareness of the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer – the third most common cancer in the UK and second largest cause of cancer deaths each year, new research shows. The Cancer Research UK-funded study1, published today (Tuesday) in BMC Cancer also found that the public didn’t know that lifestyle factors like diet, weight and exercise can … More Poor public awareness of bowel cancer

Researchers say measuring the levels of calcium in someone’s arteries should be used for the primary prevention of heart disease. The results of a new study show looking at levels of coronary artery calcium (CAC) is better than looking at C-reactive protein (CRP) when it comes to predicting cardiovascular events, like hearts attacks and strokes. … More Calcium test could help identify those most at risk of a heart attack

The London Ambulance Service has revealed new statistics which show more Londoners than ever are surviving a cardiac arrest. However, bystanders are only stepping in to perform life-saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in little over a third of cases. As a result the ambulance service and the BHF are calling on more people to attend Heartstart courses across … More Ambulance service calls for more life-savers on the streets

The government has announced an £800 million investment in health research over the next five years today (Thursday, 18 August), including £18 million for dementia research.  The £18 million funding will be split between four new biomedical research units specialising in dementia research, at the University of Cambridge, Newcastle University, Kings College London and University … More £18 million for dementia research announced

A CANCER RESEARCH UK-funded trial of a new drug for patients with advanced breast or ovarian cancer due to inherited gene faults has been launched at the Oxford Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) at the University of Oxford. The trial, led by a team based at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, is looking … More Researchers trial new drug for women with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer

Computer games which help young people with cystic fibrosis cope better with treatment, and improve monitoring of their condition, are being developed by the University of Derby. Cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening, inherited disease which affects more than 9,000 people in the UK. Internal organs, especially lungs and the digestive system, clog with a thick … More Computer Games To Help Cystic Fibrosis Kids