Health

Health Secretary Alan Johnson this week underlined the Government's commitment to improving family doctor services alongside further plans to tackle long-standing inequalities in GP provision.

The reserved, traditional ‘stiff upper lip’ is to blame for a high rate of depression among British men, according to a new study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry (May 1, 2008). The study, which was headed by Professor Michael King of the Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, looked at data from general practices in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Estonia and the Netherlands. It found that the rate of major depression and panic syndrome was highest among males in the UK.

Eight in ten workers (82%) fail to do important things in their home lives every week as work takes over personal time, according to new research from American Express Insurance Services.

A Government funded trial to treat inherited blindness by administering gene therapy to the human retina has proved successful, researchers have announced this week.

The Government's national immunisation programme has prevented well over 3,000 cases of death or serious illness and has ensured that young people are not at risk from Meningitis, according to a new report out last week.

With the bank holiday on the horizon, the coming weekend will no doubt be a combination of DIY, lazy lie ins and perhaps a spot of spring cleaning, but the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) reveals that, come Tuesday, these tasks may leave us lying flat on our back.

Why stay inside doing DIY when you could be gardening your way to good health over this Bank Holiday weekend?

With constant images of stick-thin, size-zero models, tiny-waisted pop princesses and actresses is putting young girls’ health at risk and fuelling the rise in eating disorders, according to Professor Janet Treasure of the Eating Disorders Research Unit at Kings College London.

The Institute of Cancer Research has announced that a drug candidate, first identified during a research collaboration with UK biotechnology company Piramed Limited (Piramed), is in clinical development. The trials are currently underway in the UK at The Institute of Cancer Research, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and in the U.S.

It's World Asthma Day on May 6th; a time to bear in mind that four people in the UK die every day from the condition. Asthma affects 5.2 million people UK-wide, but a growing body of evidence is offering new hope - relief can be helped along by munching on fruit and vegetables.