A cure for ALL cancers?
Recently, the Daily Express had a headline entitled “A cure for ALL cancers is on the way as scientists make major breakthrough“. As a cancer researcher, I was attracted immediately to the first page article like a moth to the flame. Likely anybody with relatives or friends with cancer (the majority of us) was attracted to read it too. A cure for all cancers is on the way? When talking to non-specialists about cancer research and treatments, I find feelings that invariably fit in the grey zone between these two extremes: The conspiracy theorists; which argue that the cure of cancer may already exist, perhaps in the forms of simple natural remedies. But for these people a conspiracy among pharmaceutical companies, with the complicity of the whole medical system, forces patients to take expensive and rather inefficient drugs… On the other end of the spectrum are the absolute optimists, people who believe a magic bullet against all cancers is just around the corner. Hype or reality? Lets take a closer look at this case.
Coffee, chocolate and red wine must be the Holy Trinity of health-related news stories, with countless articles reporting the latest study to find supposed beneficial effects in consuming these “naughty” products. Perhaps we the public want to assuage the guilt associated with nibbling that late-night Dairy Milk, or maybe we just enjoy sticking two fingers up at a perceived “nanny state”, saying I told you so as we polish off the last of that open bottle of Merlot? Nevertheless, the stories keep on coming. Two recent, widely reported studies resulted in articles telling us of the positive effect of caffeine on short-term memory, and the more baffling claim that chocolate and red wine can protect against type 2 diabetes. The media furore around these papers gives a perfect opportunity to compare some of the dos and donts when reporting on scientific studies.
I am a healthy 37 year old woman, in a stable relationship and only beginning to discuss starting a family with my partner, with no firm decision made either way. Should I panic at my forthcoming February birthday hastening me towards 40? Should I start to swallow folic acid with growing anxiety? Well, reading many newspapers over recent years, I should be planning my family with great haste or be deemed irresponsible, career-hungry and selfish. (Incidentally, nobody seems to have anything to say about my similar-aged, professional male partner.)
England’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Prof Dame Sally Davies recently spoke at a debate, offering remarks about the ‘shift to have children later’ (you can read the Guardian’s report on this, on 17/1/14, here). Women are repeatedly told that they are at a higher chance of facing these problems if they try to conceive over the age of 35 years. Any women who has ever picked up a newspaper or women’s magazine in recent years won’t fail to have noticed the often cited figure of 1 in 3 women over the age of 35 years will fail to conceive within one year. Is this true?
While we know that some of the lifestyle choices we make are good or bad for our health and mental wellbeing, we might be less inclined to think about how the environment we live in affects us. In recent years, however, there has been a growing interest in how factors in our environment, for example the amount of green space in the area we live, might influence a range of important outcomes, from physical health and stress to mortality. A recent study highlighted that although living in areas with more green space has been linked to a range of better health outcomes, much of this work has used information from a single assessment. That creates a problem, as noted by the authors of the study:
“Are people happier and healthier due to the proximity of green space to their homes, or do healthier people move to greener areas?”
Guest post by Jens Hagendorff.
The economy is always at the top of the headlines in most major news outlets, especially in the aftermath of the recent financial crisis. What is less reported is the nitty-gritty of the legislation being put in place to avoid this crisis happening again. Readers of specialist news outlets will be well appraised of such things (usually because they are employed in sectors that are affected by this legislation), but the general public is usually not well informed. Take a recent piece from Bloomberg for example, which suggests that new agreements on how much capital banks must keep could be violated by the EU. But what does it all mean?
It’s a scene straight out of an 80’s sitcom: a man and a woman both come down with the flu, but the woman continues on with her responsibilities armed only with a pocket full of tissues, while the man lounges in his pajamas on the couch, surrounded by tea and medicine. But is “man flu” a myth or reality? While men really do experience more severe infections than women do, women are more likely to experience autoimmune disorders. Both of these patterns suggest that men’s immune responses are weaker than women’s, but the exact reason for this isn’t well understood. New research suggests that testosterone might have something to do with it.
Read more…
Here at Research the Headlines, many of our posts cover medical or health related news stories, which we scrutinise for unfounded claims, examine for scientific evidence and then communicate noteworthy results to you, the readers. We are also big supporters of the Ask for Evidence campaign, which supports and encourages people to request for themselves the evidence behind news stories, marketing claims and policies, helping people understand the importance of evidence and increasing the quality and accountability of evidence in public life.
As such, we are delighted to hear of a new social media initiative from the NHS and Sense About Science to allow the public to come together online to discuss health-related issues, understand the science behind health claims and connect them with expertise. The Healthy Evidence Forum, which launches officially on 20th January 2014, provides a venue for experts and members of the public to interact and dissect the latest news stories and studies, and is part of the wider Health Unlocked campaign.
Research the Headlines will be interacting regularly with the forum, providing both our own content and our experts’ analysis and advice. Can you help us by spreading the word as far as possible by telling your friends and colleagues to visit the forum? Can you join and share your insights on the science behind health reporting? Do you know useful sources that can help people sort the beneficial from the bogus, the likely from the doubtful? We would encourage all of those with an interest in this area to head on over to the Healthy Evidence Forum to check it out!
There’s been quite a bit of press lately about dogs’ lavatory habits, and how they relate to the magnetic field produced by the Earth. But is it really true that dogs prefer to poop in the direction of the magnetic North and South poles? And if so, why would researchers care?
The proposed High Speed 2 (HS2) railway line from London to the north of England has become one of the most controversial public investment projects of recent times. The political battles over HS2 have been heated to say the least, with plain-talking northern Labour politicians in search of jobs and investment pitched against the genteel denizens of the Chilterns seeking to protect their particular slice of the green and pleasant land. But the project has also opened up a second, equally bitter front, that between the UK Government, which argues that the project will act as a once-in-a-generation stimulus to the economy, and several academic commentators who claim that the benefits of the line are hugely overstated. So who is right? Is HS2 value for money or not?
Many of us will have started 2014 with a hangover, and many of us will have also turned to a personal “tried and tested” cure for the infamous blinding headaches and queasy stomachs that follow excessive alcohol consumption. Pints of water, fruit smoothies, bacon sandwiches and even icy swims – there are probably as many “cures” for hangover as there are drinks that cause them, but a recent study published in the journal Food and Function has suggested that the soft drink Sprite is the most effective of all. So how did the researchers come to this conclusion?
researchtheheadlines.org 