does talc cause cancer? Inside Health 1/3/16

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26689397 “Multiple studies of ovarian cancer and genital talc use have led only to consensus about possible carcinogenicity. Seeking greater clarity, we examined this association in 2041 cases with epithelial ovarian cancer and 2100 age-and-residence-matched controls. METHODS: We defined genital talc use as regular application to the genital/rectal area directly, on sanitary napkins, tampons, or […]

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RCGP council 26/2/16

Junior doctors review of morale: I suggested that the RCGP creates its own review of the evidence on moral and fatigue in junior doctors in particular and uses this as an independent reference and review when the AoMRC undertakes its’ review spoke to issue about post graduate learning and sponsorship of modules – these should […]

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Inside Health – co proxamol/ meningitis B vaccination 23/2/16

Current issue: spending lots on coproxamol “NHS Nene Valley CCG and NHS Basildon and Brentwood CCGs have told their members to switch patients to alternative medication after fears that the annual spend will far outreach the £3.2 million spent in 2014 on co-proxamol. The drug has had to be sourced as an unlicensed ‘special’, increasing […]

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E-cigs Inside Health 16/2/16

E CIGARETTES smoking stats Click to access smok-eng-2014-rep.pdf lancet review http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(15)00521-4/fulltext Nicotine replacement therapy http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23152200, NNT about 15 http://www.aafp.org/afp/2015/0701/od1.html comparative QALYS for smoking cessation Click to access OS_SmokingCessation(1).pdf cystine http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1407764 MHRA details Click to access con616843.pdf owned by BAT http://www.newsjs.com/url.php?p=http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jan/04/british-american-tobacco-e-cigarette-wins-uk-medicine-licence cochrane on EC http://www.cochrane.org/CD010216/TOBACCO_can-electronic-cigarettes-help-people-stop-smoking-or-reduce-the-amount-they-smoke-and-are-they-safe-to-use-for-this-purpose current stats (inc e cig use) http://www.smokinginengland.info safety http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/08/09/pubmed.fdu055.short http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/15-10185/

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SPRINT trial – hypertension. Inside Health 2/2/16

Notes on SPRINT Trial: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1511939#t=articleResults also of note http://www.cochrane.org/CD006742/HTN_benefits-of-antihypertensive-drugs-for-mild-hypertension-are-unclear http://cks.nice.org.uk/chronic-kidney-disease-not-diabetic#!scenariorecommendation:5 http://cks.nice.org.uk/hypertension-not-diabetic This was a randomised controlled trial 9391 people without diabetes at high risk of CVS events and with BP of over 130mm HG not blinded average bp 121 in rx group, 134.6 in normal rx group outcomes – MI, stroke, HF, death from CVS […]

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folic acid/flour Inside Health 26/1/16

http://www.ffinetwork.org/regional_activity/europe.php all wheat flour (except wholemeal) produced in the UK is subject to legislation which requires calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin to be added at certain specified levels Folic acid factsheet – women wanting to be/pregnant – https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/FolicAcid.pdf 1st reading of a bill to make mandatory in house of lords awaiting second reading – england […]

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Inside Health BBC Radio 4 19/1/16- notes on stroke stats

The ‘ 20% more likely to have a stroke at the weekend’ quote used by various politicians – seems to have come from study in PLOS 2004 – 2012 DATA http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0131836#sec014 However ,20% is relative risk – one needs to know the absolute risk to make sense of that. If admitted at weekend death rate […]

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Inside Health 12/1/16

Exercise special. I am addicted to parkrun.  I’ve written about it here in the BMJ and you can find out more here . The SPARKLE studies are here and here. The parkrun community are warm and welcoming and new runners/joggers/walkers are always welcome. Links to research I was talking about today NHS guidelines (which I think are too […]

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notes from RCGP Council 21st Nov 2015

: Whistleblowing policy I raised concerns that this should be enshrined in college policy and clear to all members. : ‘Be the best you’ meeting proposal for membership to increase resilience – it sounds like a Martin Lukes column. Resilience comes from strong systems and the best doctors will fail without that. Continuity of care […]

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