More health news 20/03/09

[Admin]

Doctors find that when it comes to healing, the maggot really cleans up
Flesh-eating maggots and blood-sucking leeches might be considered more medieval than modern, but if you want a wound treated with maximum efficiency, few therapies can compete with 200 million years of evolution.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5941230.ece

Children don?t make you happy (says an expert who doesn?t have any of his own)
A baby's first smile, a toddler's first steps... all the way through to seeing your child walking up the aisle. These are the moments parents treasure - but one social scientist says they give us an unduly rosy impression of raising a family.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-dont-make-happy--says-expert-doesnt-any.html

Drug to slow Alzheimer?s in ?five years?
New drugs which slow the progress of Alzheimer's disease could be available in five years but Britain faces an "unmitigated disaster" if they fail to work, scientists have warned.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/h...r-looms-unless-new-Alzheimers-drugs-work.html

The A to Z of sleep
Sleep is one of the most pleasurable and mysterious areas of our lives. It is as necessary as breathing and as nourishing as eating, yet few of us feel we are getting enough of it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...e-nightmares-The-A-Zzz-sleep-reveals-all.html

Snoops to spread healthy living message
Public health "mentors" will be enlisted by the NHS to offer 'on the spot' advice in their local neighbourhood when they see people smoking, eating or drinking too much.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/h...ag-their-friends-to-live-healthier-lives.html

Parents lose right to life baby battle
Parents fighting to keep their baby son alive have lost their High Court battle after a judge ruled the nine-month-old baby must be allowed to die with dignity.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...tilator-must-be-switched-off-court-rules.html

 

[Lizzie]

Weird - while the Times says that maggots are better than modern medicine, the BBC says they are not: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7953091.stm

They have used the same study but weirdly seem to have come up with opposite conclusions.

 

[Donald]

Back in 1991 I lost my right thumb in a accdent at work and they re attach the thumb and said if it did not improve after a week it would be taken off again, In that week they tried Leechs to help clean the wound around the area I could belive how big they got when they got to work. You did not feel them doing what did and I was told they breed for medical reason's and only on one person then they are killed and I found out that salt can kill them. If they wish to remove them before they drop off they use a little salt. sadly after the week they to remove the thumb because it did not take.


Donald