20180124

Asthma patients 'not receiving basic care'
basic care基礎的治療
Nearly two-thirds of people with asthma are still not receiving the basic level of care despite claims it could prevent two out of three asthma deaths a year, according to a survey by Asthma UK.
despite a claim that〔that以下〕という主張［要求］をよそに
The study revealed a "frustrating" lack of progress in asthma care, following similar findings last year.
Donna Green's son Tiernan was one of the UK's 1,200 asthma deaths in 2017.
"As a mum who has lost a child to an asthma attack, I don't want any other parent to go through what we have."
Donna, of County Armagh, added: "I didn't realise how serious asthma was, and I found out in the most devastating way, when my boy died in my arms."
According to the survey, Northern Ireland had the best performance for basic asthma care across the UK, with 48.2% receiving basic care - and Donna maintains that Tiernan had been receiving satisfactory support for his asthma.
At his inquest, the coroner said Tiernan had an asthma review lined up with his nurse, but tragically died before he had the chance to go.
inquest【名】検視
coroner【名】検視官
Yet Asthma UK's annual report - which surveyed 7,611 people - found that only 35% of patients with asthma in the UK are receiving the most basic level of asthma care.
Basic care involves three key elements, as set out in national guidelines. They are:
a yearly asthma check-up
a written asthma action plan
a lesson in how to use an inhaler
There are 5.4 million asthma sufferers in the UK, including 1.1 million children.
Based on the proportion of people in the survey who responded - and applied to the UK's asthma population as a whole - the charity believes 3.5 million asthma sufferers are not receiving basic care.
A lack of basic care can be fatal. NHS data from the past four years shows, on average, someone is admitted to hospital for an asthma attack in the UK every eight minutes.
'Postcode lottery'
postcode lottery
〈英〉ポストコード・ロッタリー、居住地域に基づく（社会的）差別【直訳】郵便番号くじ居住している地域によって、本来平等に享受できるはずの社会的サービスがすぐに得られたり、すぐには得られなかったりすること。大都市圏ほどこれらのサービスをより簡単に受けることができる
Tiernan, was 20 when he died.
"Tiernan came to my bedroom door, having an asthma attack, gasping for breath. He was pale, his lips had turned blue and he was taking his inhaler but it wasn't helping," said Donna.
"I called an ambulance and was on the phone when he turned to me and said, 'mum I'm going to die tonight'. It was the most frightening moment of my life.
"Tiernan collapsed on the floor and stopped breathing and I gave him CPR while my daughter continued talking to the paramedics, but he died before he got to hospital.
"Losing Tiernan has left a big hole in our lives."
Donna has joined forces with Asthma UK to campaign for better care.
"Mums often tell me that doctors are brushing aside their worries about their children's asthma and they aren't being given what they need."
Statistics show that asthma patients are four times more likely to be admitted to hospital for asthma if they don't have an asthma action plan.
The use of written action plans has increased year on year since the Asthma UK's first annual survey in 2013, with nearly half of those surveyed in 2017 (43.9%) saying they now have have a written plan for managing their or their child's asthma.
However, the 2017 survey found annual asthma reviews and inhaler technique checks have dipped.
One in six people (15%) with asthma - an estimated 800,000 - said they received poor care, with wide variations geographically.
While Northern Ireland recorded good figures, only 27% of sufferers in London and 26% in Wales received basic care compared, to the UK figure of 35%.
The survey also found marked generational differences. A quarter of people aged 18 to 29 (25.1%) received basic asthma care, compared to 41.7% of people aged 70 to 79.
Dr Samantha Walker, from Asthma UK, said: "There's a postcode lottery with millions not getting basic asthma treatment, despite the fact it is proven to save lives.
"It shouldn't matter where you live - people with asthma should get a written plan to help them manage their asthma, a yearly review to check their medicine is working and help to ensure they are taking it properly."
Dr Imran Rafi of the Royal College of GPs said: "This report recognises that we need better information sharing between primary and secondary care to improve the outcomes of patients with asthma, and we agree that this process needs to be more seamless to ensure patients are receiving the best possible care throughout.
"It is also vitally important that patients understand their treatment and how to properly use equipment, such as inhalers, and we support any measures that encourage patients to feel more confident to manage their condition effectively and appropriately."
An NHS England spokeswoman said: "GPs are best placed to provide appropriate asthma treatment and we are rolling out support to help them improve the diagnosis and treatment of the condition, including the development of local hubs that will make testing more effective."

20180123

Brazil declares yellow fever emergency in Minas Gerais
Vaccination programmes are being rolled out across southern Brazil to deal with the outbreak.
Brazil's south-eastern state of Minas Gerais has declared a public health emergency following a deadly outbreak of yellow fever.At least 15 people have died there since December. Many areas, including the state capital Belo Horizonte, have been affected.
A mass vaccination programme is in place in three southern states.But queues have formed outside clinics in Rio and Sao Paulo amid concerns that vaccines could run out.
In neighbouring Argentina, there have also been long queues for the vaccine in Buenos Aires and other cities as thousands of prospective tourists prepare to travel to Brazil for carnival.
prospective【形】予想される
On Tuesday the WHO recommended that travellers to Sao Paulo state get a yellow fever vaccine before visiting.
Minas Gerais has been the hardest-hit Brazilian state. The health emergency will be in place for six months and will allow local authorities to commission special services and buy in emergency materials.
WHO advises people to get a vaccine at least 10 days before travelling to a yellow-fever area
Caused by a virus that is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes
Difficult to diagnose and often confused with other diseases or fevers
Most people recover after the first phase of infection that usually involves fever, muscle and back pain, headache, shivers, loss of appetite, and nausea or vomiting
About 15% of people face a second, more serious phase involving high fever, jaundice, bleeding and deteriorating kidney function
Half of those who enter the "toxic" phase usually die within 10 to 14 days
toxic phase中毒期
The WHO's advice is for all travellers to Sao Paulo to get a vaccination at least 10 days before travelling and to take measures to avoid mosquito bites.
Brazilian Health Minister Antonio Nardi responded by saying that most people attending Brazil's carnival celebrations in February should be safe as they are held in large cities and not the rural and forested areas which have seen the biggest increase in yellow fever cases.
Mr Nardi said Sao Paulo state authorities would speed up their vaccination campaign with the aim of vaccinating half of the state's population by the end of February.
More than 45 million people live in Sao Paulo state.

​20180121

Persian shallot 'could help fight TB antibiotic resistance'
A type of onion could help the fight against antibiotic resistance in cases of tuberculosis, a study has suggested.Researchers believe the antibacterial properties extracted from the Persian shallot could increase the effects of existing antibiotic treatment.
They said this could help "reverse the tide" of drug-resistant TB, which infected 490,000 people in 2016.
But they said the research was still in its early stages and clinical trials would need to follow.
Why is it so difficult to discover new antibiotics?
In the ongoing study, led by Birkbeck, University of London and University College London, the research team conducted tests on four different molecules from the shallots, which are a staple of Iranian cooking.
staple【名】〔ある国や地域の主食となる〕食糧、食物、穀物
They found all four showed a significant reduction in the presence of the bacteria in the multidrug-resistant TB - the most promising candidate of which inhibited growth of the isolated TB cells by more than 99.9%.
The team concluded that the chemical compounds could be used alongside existing antibiotics to combat strains of TB which have developed resistance to anti-bacterial drugs.
Dr Sanjib Bhakta, one of the study's authors, from Birkbeck's department of biological sciences, said: "Despite a concerted global effort to prevent the spread of tuberculosis, approximately 10 million new cases and two million deaths were reported in 2016.
"In searching for new anti-bacterials, we tend to focus on molecules that are potent enough to be developed commercially as new drug entities by themselves.
entity【名】物
"However, in this study we show that by inhibiting the key intrinsic resistance properties of the TB, one could increase the effects of existing antibiotic treatment and reverse the tide of already existing drug resistance."
intrinsic 【形】 本来備わっている、固有の、本質的な
Prof Simon Gibbons, another of the authors, and head of UCL's department of pharmaceutical and biological chemistry, said: "Natural products from plants and microbes have enormous potential as a source of new antibiotics."Nature is an amazingly creative chemist and it is likely that plants such as the Persian shallot produce these chemicals as a defence against microbes in their environment."
In October, England's chief medical officer, Prof Dame Sally Davies, urged global leaders to tackle the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
Medical experts say these drugs are being used too much, and that 25,000 people die across Europe each year because of drug-resistant infections.
Researchers said they hope the molecules, which were tested in a laboratory, could be combined with existing antibiotics to form new anti-TB drugs.

20180119

Cancer blood test ‘enormously exciting’
Scientists have taken a step towards one of the biggest goals in medicine - a universal blood test for cancer.
A team at Johns Hopkins University has trialled a method that detects eight common forms of the disease.
Their vision is an annual test designed to catch cancer early and save lives. UK experts said it was "enormously exciting".Tumours release tiny traces of their mutated DNA and proteins they make into the bloodstream.
The Cancer Seek test looks for mutations in 16 genes that regularly arise in cancer and eight proteins that are often released.It was trialled on 1,005 patients with cancers in the ovary, liver, stomach, pancreas, oesophagus, colon, lung or breast that had not yet spread to other tissues.Overall, the test found 70% of the cancers.
Dr Cristian Tomasetti, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told the BBC: "This field of early detection is critical, and the results are very exciting.
"I think this can have an enormous impact on cancer mortality."
The earlier a cancer is found, the greater the chance of being able to treat it.
Five of the eight cancers investigated have no screening programmes for early detection.
Pancreatic cancer has so few symptoms and is detected so late that four in five patients die in the year they are diagnosed.Finding tumours when they could still be surgically removed would be "a night and day difference" for survival, said Dr Tomasetti.Cancer Seek is now being trialled in people who have not been diagnosed with cancer.
This will be the real test of its usefulness.
The hope is it can complement other screening tools such as mammograms for breast cancer and colonoscopies for colorectal cancer.Dr Tomasetti told the BBC: "We envision a blood test we could use once a year."
The Cancer Seek test, reported in the journal Science, is novel because it hunts for both the mutated DNA and the proteins.Increasing the number of mutations and proteins being analysed would allow it to test for a wider range of cancers.Dr Gert Attard, team leader in the Centre for Evolution and Cancer at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, and consultant medical oncologist at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, told the BBC: "This is of massive potential.
"I'm enormously excited. This is the Holy Grail - a blood test to diagnose cancer without all the other procedures like scans or colonoscopy."
Holy Grail
《the ～》聖杯 中世の伝説で、イエス・キリストが最後の晩さんで用い、アリマタヤのヨゼフに与えたとされる杯。また磔にされたキリストの血を受けたとされる。イエスが最後の過越の食事をしたときに子羊の肉を載せた皿だとする説もある。
holy grail困難な探求の対象、渇望の品、至高の目標
He said "we're very close" to using blood tests to screen for cancer as "we have the technology".
But he cautioned there was still uncertainty about what to do when a cancer was diagnosed.
In some cases, the treatment may be worse than living with a cancer that is not immediately life-threatening.
Men can already have slow growing prostate cancers closely monitored rather than treated.
"When we detect cancer in a different way, we can't take for granted that everyone will need treatment," Dr Attard said.The cost of Cancer Seek is less than $500 (￡360) per patient, which is around the same price as a colonoscopy.

20180117

Man ruptures throat by stifling a sneeze
Stifling a sneeze by clamping your nose and mouth shut can cause serious physical damage, doctors are warning.
stifle【他動】抑える
Medics in Leicester treated a 34-year-old man who ruptured his throat while trying to stop a high-force sneeze.
With nowhere to escape, the pressure ripped through the soft tissue, and although rare and unusual, they say others should be aware of the danger.
Trapping a sneeze could also damage the ears or even rupture a brain aneurysm, they warn in journal BMJ Case Reports.
aneurysm【名】《病理》動脈瘤アニューリズム
The man said he felt a "popping" sensation in his neck when it happened and then immediately experienced pain and difficulty swallowing and speaking.
When the doctors checked him over they found he had swelling and tenderness around his throat and neck.
An X-ray revealed air escaping from his windpipe into the soft tissue of his neck through the rupture.
The man had to be fed by a tube for the next seven days to allow time for the tissues to heal.
After spending a week in hospital, the man was sent home and made a full recovery.
Doctors from the ear, nose, throat department at Leicester Royal Infirmary, where the man was treated, said: "Halting a sneeze via blocking nostrils and mouth is a dangerous manoeuvre and should be avoided."
Sneezes can spread diseases, so although it is good to "let them out", make sure you catch them in a tissue, say experts.
With flu season in full swing, children and adults should be encouraged to cover their mouth and nose with a tissue when they cough and sneeze and then throw the tissues away in a bin and wash their hands to stop the spread of germs, says Public Health England.

20180117

Black Death 'spread by humans not rats'
Black Death
《the ～》黒死病1340年代後半にアジアに端を発して1347～1353年にヨーロッパに広まった歴史上最大のペストの流行。ヨーロッパだけで2000万人、全世界で7500万人が亡くなったとされる。ヨーロッパでは人口の3分の1から3分の2が失われ、ローマカトリック教会の権威の失墜、ユダヤ人などの排斥運動、刹那主義など多くの影響を与えた。
Yersinia pestisペストは元々齧歯類（特にクマネズミ）に流行した病気で、人間に先立ってネズミなどの間に流行が見られることが多い。
Rats were not to blame for the spread of plague during the Black Death, according to a study.
The rodents and their fleas were thought to have spread a series of outbreaks in 14th-19th Century Europe.
But a team from the universities of Oslo and Ferrara now says the first, the Black Death, can be "largely ascribed to human fleas and body lice".
ascribe ~ to～を…のせいにする
The study, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, uses records of its pattern and scale.
The Black Death claimed an estimated 25 million lives, more than a third of Europe's population, between 1347 and 1351.
Has the black rat (Rattus rattus) been falsely blamed for spreading plague during the Black Death?
"We have good mortality data from outbreaks in nine cities in Europe," Prof Nils Stenseth, from the University of Oslo, told BBC News.
"So we could construct models of the disease dynamics [there]."
He and his colleagues then simulated disease outbreaks in each of these cities, creating three models where the disease was spread by:
rats
airborne transmission
fleas and lice that live on humans and their clothes
In seven out of the nine cities studied, the "human parasite model" was a much better match for the pattern of the outbreak.
It mirrored how quickly it spread and how many people it affected.
"The conclusion was very clear," said Prof Stenseth. "The lice model fits best."
"It would be unlikely to spread as fast as it did if it was transmitted by rats.
"It would have to go through this extra loop of the rats, rather than being spread from person to person."
'Stay at home'
Prof Stenseth said the study was primarily of historical interest - using modern understanding of disease to unpick what had happened during one of the most devastating pandemics in human history.
But, he pointed out, "understanding as much as possible about what goes on during an epidemic is always good if you are to reduce mortality [in the future]".
Plague is still endemic in some countries of Asia, Africa and the Americas, where it persists in "reservoirs" of infected rodents.
According to the World Health Organization, from 2010 to 2015 there were 3,248 cases reported worldwide, including 584 deaths.
And, in 2001, a study that decoded the plague genome used a bacterium that had come from a vet in the US who had died in 1992 after a plague-infested cat sneezed on him as he had been trying to rescue it from underneath a house.
"Our study suggests that to prevent future spread hygiene is most important," said Prof Stenseth.
"It also suggests that if you're ill, you shouldn't come into contact with too many people. So if you're sick, stay at home."

20180114

Breast cancer survival 'unaffected by faulty gene'
Young breast cancer patients with faulty BRCA genes have the same survival chances as those without, a study has found.
BRCA1（breast cancer susceptibility gene I
The researchers, who looked at almost 3,000 women, also found outcomes were the same whatever kind of treatment women had - including mastectomies.
Experts say it means women can take time to decide if the radical surgery is right for them.
do radical surgery根治手術をする
The study did not look at preventative mastectomies.
These are offered to women with faulty genes to cut their risk of developing cancer.
Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes increase a woman's risk of breast cancer by four-to-eightfold and can explain why some families have lots of relatives diagnosed with breast cancer.
The study, published in The Lancet Oncology, found 12% of 2,733 women aged 18 to 40 treated for breast cancer at 127 hospitals across the UK between 2000 and 2008 had a BRCA mutation.
The women's medical records were tracked for up to 10 years.
During this time, 651 of the women died from breast cancer, and those with the BRCA mutation were equally likely to have survived at the two-, five- and 10-year mark as those without the genetic mutation.
This was not affected by the women's body mass index or ethnicity.
body-mass index《医》ボディー・マス・インデックス、体格指数、肥満度指数
About a third of those with the BRCA mutation had a double mastectomy to remove both breasts after being diagnosed with cancer. This surgery did not appear to improve their chances of survival at the 10-year mark.
But the researchers said surgery may still be beneficial for these patients to reduce their risk of a new cancer developing in the longer term.
What is the BRCA gene?
It has been dubbed the 'Angelina Jolie gene', after the actress revealed she underwent preventative surgery on learning she had an up to 87% chance of developing breast cancer.
Everyone has the BRCA genes, but when a fault occurs in one of them it can result in DNA damage and lead to cells becoming cancerous.
Around 1 in 800 women in the general population are thought to carry the mutation and 5% of women with breast cancer in the UK will have a faulty form of the BRCA gene.
The faulty genes are also linked to an increased risk of ovarian and prostate cancers, as well as breast cancer.
Angelina Jolie had a preventative mastectomy, before she developed cancer. These types of surgery were not examined in this study.
The study's author, Professor Diana Eccles, of the University of Southampton, said: "Women diagnosed with early breast cancer who carry a BRCA mutation are often offered double mastectomies soon after their diagnosis or chemotherapy treatment.
"However, our findings suggest that this surgery does not have to be immediately undertaken along with the other treatment."
'More time to decide'
Fiona MacNeill, of the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, who was not involved in the research, said: "This study can reassure young women with breast cancer, particularly those with triple negative cancer or who are BRCA carriers, that breast conservation with radiotherapy is a safe option in the first decade after diagnosis and double mastectomy is not essential or mandatory at initial treatment.
triple negative breast cancers三種陰性乳癌、トリプルネガティブ乳癌
mandatory【形】義務的な、強制的な
She added: "In view of this, younger women with breast cancer can take time to discuss whether radical breast surgery is the right choice for them as part of a longer-term risk reducing strategy."
Katherine Woods, from charity Breast Cancer Now said the findings "could enable many patients to make even more informed choices regarding their treatment".
"In particular, being able to give some women with triple negative breast cancer the choice to delay a risk-reducing mastectomy would allow them to take back control of a major part of their treatment and offer them more time to recover from their initial therapy."
She said she was now keen to understand how women fared more than 10 years after their diagnosis.
fare【自動】〔人がある様態で〕やっていく
The authors note the findings do not apply to older women.

20180113

Huge black hole blasts out 'double burp'
Astronomers have caught a massive black hole letting out a "double burp" after bingeing on hot gas.
binge【自動】〈話〉大酒を飲む、飲み騒ぐ、どんちゃん騒ぎをする
When cosmic gas comes near one of these sinkholes, it gets sucked in - but some of the energy is released back into space in the form of a burp.
sinkhole【名】陥没穴
get sucked inだまされる、引き込まれる
Now, the Hubble and Chandra space telescopes have detected a new belch emerging from a black hole located about 800 million light-years away.
But they saw a remnant of another belch that occurred 100,000 years earlier.
"Black holes are voracious eaters, but it turns out they don't have very good table manners," Julie Comerford, from the University of Colorado, Boulder, told the 231st American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington DC.
voracious【形】食欲旺盛な、貪り［ガツガツ］食う〔行動が〕貪欲な、飽くことを知らない
"There are a lot of examples of black holes with single burps emanating out, but we discovered a galaxy with a supermassive black hole that has not one but two burps."
emanate【自動】〔光などが〕～から発［発散］する
The burp itself consists of a stream of high-energy particles that is kicked back from the black hole.
Supermassive black holes are the largest type and are found at the centres of nearly all big galaxies. X-ray emission from the galaxy in question - called SDSS J1354+1327 - was picked up by the Chandra telescope, allowing researchers to pinpoint the location of its central black hole.
Hubble was able to show them that a cloud of blue-green gas extending away from the black hole represented the aftermath of an earlier burp. They found that electrons had been stripped from atoms in the cone of gas and surmise that this was caused by a burst of radiation from the vicinity of the black hole.
aftermath【名】〔災害や不運などの〕余波、後遺症、影響
surmise【自他動】〈正式〉〔既知の情報や証拠などに基づいて未知の事実・人の心中・意図などを〕推量［推測］する、～ではないかと考える
In the meantime, it had expanded 30,000 light-years away from the black hole itself.
But the astronomers found a little loop in the images; the sign of a new belch emerging from the cosmic sinkhole.
"This new burp is actually moving like a shockwave that is coming out very fast," said Dr Comerford.
"I thought of an analogy for this and I was debating whether to use it or whether it's a little too gross... imagine someone eating dinner at their kitchen table and they're eating and burping, eating and burping.
analogy【名】類推
debate whether or not to
～しようかどうしようかと迷う［思案する］
"You walk in the room and you notice there's an old burp still hanging in the air from the appetiser course. Meanwhile, they're eating the main course and they let out a new burp that's rocking the kitchen table."
She said the black hole was going through a cycle of feasting, burping and napping, before starting over.
start overもう一度やり直す
The observations are important because they support previous theories - not demonstrated until now - that black holes should go through these cycles. The black holes were expected to become very bright in the process of feasting and burping and then go dark during the nap phase.
"Theory predicted that black holes should flicker on and off very quickly and this galaxy's evidence of black holes does flicker on timescales of 100,000 years - which is long in human timescales, but in cosmological timescales is very fast," said Julie Comerford.
The researchers think the black hole erupted twice because it consumed two separate meals. The reason for this might lie with the fact that the galaxy it's in had collided with another galaxy nearby. This would provide plenty of cosmic gas on which a black hole could feast.
"There's a stream of stars and gas connecting these two galaxies. That collision led gas to stream towards the supermassive black hole and feed it two separate meals that led to these two separate burps," said the University of Colorado researcher.

20180112

Pharma giant Pfizer pulls out of research into Alzheimer's
Drug company Pfizer has announced it is pulling out of research into drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease.
The US-based pharmaceutical giant said it would be ending its neuroscience discovery programmes following a review, and 300 jobs would be lost.
review見直す
The Alzheimer's Society called the news "disappointing" and a "heavy blow" to those living with dementia.
Companies should be encouraged to invest in research into neuroscience, Alzheimer's Research UK said.
The move means Pfizer will also stop looking for treatments for Parkinson's disease, but the company said it planned to create a new fund dedicated to neuroscience research in the future.
A statement from the company said: "We have made the decision to end our neuroscience discovery and early development efforts and re-allocate funding to those areas where we have strong scientific leadership and that will allow us to provide the greatest impact for patients."
Complex brain
Prof Tara Spires-Jones, a neuroscientist at Edinburgh University, told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 that despite the decision, there was still a lot of hope.
"Not all pharmaceutical companies are pulling out and there are over 100 clinical trials at the moment.
"There is a lot going on in the basic science - we need to understand the complexity of the brain."
She said Pfizer's decision was understandable because of the failure rate of clinical trials.
"More than 99% of trials for Alzheimer's drugs have failed in past 15 years.
"So companies are justifiably cautious, but we are making great advances on the scientific front."
justifiably【副】正当に
Prof Spires-Jones added: "We've learned from these failures of trials that we need to take a step back and understand brain changes.
take a step back一歩退く
"At the moment we don't fully understand how memory and thinking work fully in a healthy brain."
Pharmaceutical companies including Novartis, Janssen, Biogen, Abbvie and Eli Lilly are still developing medicines to treat Alzheimer's disease and a spokesman for the ABPI (Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry) said they continued "to make progress in unravelling the complexities of the brain and identifying the underpinnings of the disease".
Dr James Pickett, head of research at Alzheimer's Society, said: "Of course it's disappointing to hear that Pfizer, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, will be terminating their research efforts in neuroscience, including Alzheimer's disease drug discovery.
"The brain is the most complex organ in the body and developing drugs to treat brain diseases is a tremendous challenge, but with no new drug for dementia in the last 15 years, this will come as a heavy blow to the estimated 46.8 million people currently living with the condition across the globe."
Long-term commitment
The Alzheimer's Society said it had committed ￡50m to fund new research at the UK Dementia Research Institute alongside Alzheimer's Research UK and the Medical Research Council.
Dr Matthew Norton, director of policy at Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "We hope that pharmaceutical companies will look at the long-term potential when deciding whether to participate in this effort.
"It is vital that all of us - charities, government and industry alike - make long-term commitments to dementia research if we are to bring an end to the fear, harm and heartbreak of dementia."
Currently, about 850,000 people in the UK have a form of dementia.
One million people are predicted to be living with the condition by 2021, and this could rise to two million by 2051.

20180108

Alaskan infant's DNA tells story of 'first Americans'
The 11,500-year-old remains of an infant girl from Alaska have shed new light on the peopling of the Americas.
Genetic analysis of the child, allied to other data, indicates she belonged to a previously unknown, ancient group.Scientists say what they have learnt from her DNA strongly supports the idea that a single wave of migrants moved into the continent from Siberia just over 20,000 years ago.
Lower sea-levels back then would have created dry land in the Bering Strait.
It would have submerged again only as northern ice sheets melted and retreated.
The pioneering settlers became the ancestors of all today's Native Americans, say Prof Eske Willerslev and colleagues. His team has published its genetics assessment in the journal Nature.
The skeleton of the six-week-old infant was unearthed at the Upward Sun River archaeological site in 2013.
The local indigenous community have named her "Xach'itee'aanenh t'eede gay", or "sunrise girl-child".
The science team refers to her simply as USR1.
"These are the oldest human remains ever found in Alaska, but what is particularly interesting here is that this individual belonged to a population of humans that we have never seen before," explained Prof Willerslev, who is affiliated to the universities of Copenhagen and Cambridge.
affiliate【自動】提携する
"It's a population that is most closely related to modern Native Americans but is still distantly related to them. So, you can say she comes from the earliest, or most original, Native American group - the first Native American group that diversified.
"And that means she can tell us about the ancestors of all Native Americans," he told BBC News.
Scientists study the history of ancient populations by analysing the mutations, or small errors, that accumulate in DNA down through the generations.
These patterns, when combined with demographic modelling, make it possible to draw connections between different groups of people over time.
demographic【名】人口統計学データ
During the height of the last ice age, lower sea-levels would have opened a land bridge
The new study points to the existence of an ancestral population that started to become distinct genetically from East Asians around 34,000 years ago, and which had completed the separation by roughly 25,000 years ago.
This separation is indicative of the Bering land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska having been crossed, or, at the very least, of the ancestral population having become geographically isolated in north-east Siberia.
indicative【名】示す、表す、表示する
The analysis further suggests that a group of Ancient Beringians, represented by USR1, then subsequently began to diverge from the pioneer migrants. This genetic separation occurs at about 20,000 years ago and is the result of these people staying put in Alaska for several thousand years.
Others in the pioneer wave, however, moved south to occupy territories beyond the ice.
This onward-moving branch ultimately became the two genetic groups that are recognised as the ancestors of today's indigenous populations.
Prof Willerslev said: "Before this girl's genome, we only had more recent Native Americans and ancient Siberians to try to work out the relationships and times of divergence. But now we have an individual from a population between the two; and that really opens the door to address these fundamental questions."
More definitive answers would only come with the discovery of further remains in north-east Siberia and Alaska, the scientist added.
That is complicated in the case of the north-west American state because its acidic soils are unfavourable to the preservation of skeletons and in particular their DNA material.

20180106

AI early diagnosis could save heart and cancer patients
Researchers at an Oxford hospital have developed artificial intelligence (AI) that can diagnose scans for heart disease and lung cancer.
The systems will save billions of pounds by enabling the diseases to be picked up much earlier.
The heart disease technology will start to be available to NHS hospitals for free this summer.
National Health Service〈英〉国民健康保険
The government's healthcare tsar, Sir John Bell, has told BBC News that AI could "save the NHS".
"There is about ￡2.2bn spent on pathology services in the NHS. You may be able to reduce that by 50%. AI may be the thing that saves the NHS," he said.
Recommendation
Currently cardiologists can tell from the timing of the heartbeat in scans if there is a problem. But even the best doctors get it wrong in one in five cases. Patients are either sent home and have a heart attack or they undergo an unnecessary operation.
An artificial intelligence system developed at the John Radcliffe Hospital diagnoses heart scans much more accurately. It can pick up details in the scans that doctors can't see.
It then gives a recommendation - positive - which means that it believes that there is a risk of the patient having a heart attack
The system has been tested in clinical trials in six cardiology units. The results are due to be published this year in a peer-reviewed journal after they have been checked by experts, but Prof Paul Leeson, a cardiologist who developed the system, says that the data indicates that the system has greatly outperformed his fellow heart specialists.
peer-reviewed【形】同業者による論評の対象となる
outperform【他動】～よりパフォーマンス［性能・機能］が優れている
If confirmed, it will be available for free to NHS hospitals across the country.
"As cardiologists, we accept that we don't always get it right at the moment. But now there is a possibility that way may be able to do better."
The results from the clinical trials indicate that the system can do a lot better than consultants. There are 60,000 heart scans carried out each year and 12,000 of these are misdiagnosed.
CT heart scan心臓CTスキャン
This is estimated to cost the NHS ￡600m in unnecessary operations and the treatment of people who had heart attacks following an all-clear scan.
all-clear 危険が去ったという問題なしという判断
The trial results suggest that the AI system could save the NHS more than ￡300m a year.
The system, called Ultromics, was trained to identify potential problems by being fed the scans of 1,000 patients who Prof Leeson had treated over the past seven years, along with information about whether they went on to have heart problems.
The lung cancer system can give very early warning of the disease.
Another AI system is looking for signs of lung cancer. It searches for large clumps of cells called nodules. Doctors can't tell whether these clumps are harmless or will go on to become cancerous and so patients go on to have several more scans to see how the nodules develop.
However, clinical trials have shown that this AI system can rule out the harmless cases - saving the NHS money and patients several months of anxiety. And it can also diagnose lung cancer much earlier.
The system is also being commercialised by a start-up company called Optellum. Its chief science and technology officer, Dr Timor Kadir, says the resources freed up by the system could be redirected to early lung cancer screening, which would allow more than 4,000 cancer patients a year to be diagnosed much earlier and so have a greater chance of survival.
redirect【他動】〔方向を〕向け直す《コ》リダイレクトする、出力先を変更する◆コンピューターで命令を実行した結果作られる情報の出力先を変更すること。再尋問する
"Rather than focus on cost savings, within a resource-constrained system such as the NHS, we're really looking at how to offer better healthcare to more people for the same proportion of GDP. This is the potential of AI in the UK."Dr Kadir estimates that the lung cancer diagnosis system could save ￡10bn if it was adopted in the US and the European Union.
 

​20171228

Breakthroughs put diseases on the back foot
on the back foot 劣勢
Peter has Huntington's disease and his siblings Sandy and Frank also have the gene
It has been a remarkable year of promise in medical science.
Incurable diseases from sickle cell to haemophilia now look as though they can be treated. Here are the highlights.
Huntington's
The defect that causes the devastating degenerative disease Huntington's has been corrected in patients for the first time.
It has been called the biggest breakthrough in neurodegenerative diseases for 50 years.
The disease is caused by an aberration in a section of DNA called the huntingtin gene.
aberration異常
The error corrupts a healthy protein and turns it into a killer of brain cells.
The therapy silences the gene by blocking the messages it sends to the cell's protein-making factories.
The study has generated a huge amount of excitement. It could be the first treatment to slow or prevent any degenerative brain disease.
New skin
Hassan has been given a new genetically modified skin that covers 80% of his body.
He was born with a genetic disease called junctional epidermolysis bullosa that leaves his skin as fragile as a butterfly's wings.
junctional epidermolysis bullosa接合部型表皮水疱症
表皮と真皮の接合部に裂隙が生じます。この接合部にはヘミデスモソームと呼ばれる表皮－真皮間接着装置が存在していますが、ヘミデスモソームを構成する17型コラーゲン、ラミニン332、α6β4インテグリンなどのタンパクの遺伝的な異常が原因となって起こります。“ヘルリッツ型”はラミニン332が完全に欠損することにより発症します。生まれた頃から全身に水疱やびらんを形成し、次々と皮疹が出現します。“非ヘルリッツ型”はラミニン332の不完全な欠損、あるいは17型コラーゲンの完全欠損により発症します。頭部の脱毛や爪の変形、歯の異常などを伴います。“幽門閉鎖症合併型”はα6β4インテグリンの遺伝子変異により発症します。全身に水疱やびらんを認め、さらに胃の出口である幽門部の閉鎖を合併します。
A piece of his skin was taken, its DNA was repaired in the laboratory and the modified skin grafted back on.
graft【自動】移植する
After nearly two years, the new skin appears completely normal.
'Butterfly child' given life-saving skin
Butterfly child From the fragility of the skin, likened to the wings of a butterfly.
Haemophilia
Doctors say they have achieved "mind-blowing" results in an attempt to rid people of haemophilia A.
The disease is caused by a genetic defect that means they do not produce a protein needed to stop bleeding.
Thirteen patients, including Jake Omer, were given the gene therapy at Barts Health NHS Trust.
All are now off treatment with 11 producing near-normal levels of the protein.
Haemophilia A trial results 'mind-blowing'

Heart
Vanellope Hope Wilkins survived being born with her heart outside her body after surgery at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester.
The condition, ectopia cordis, is extremely rare, with only a few cases per million births, of which most are stillborn.
ectopia cordis《病理》心臓転位症
She has had three operations to place her heart back in her chest.
The hospital says it knows of no other case in the UK where the baby has survived.
Baby has heart put back inside chest

Sickle cell gone
A French teenager's sickle cell disease was reversed using a pioneering treatment to change his DNA.
Blood cells should be round, but in the disease they become deformed and lock together to block the flow of blood around the body.Scientists altered the genetic instructions in his bone marrow so it made healthy red blood cells.
So far, the therapy has worked for 15 months and the child is no longer on any medication.
The world-first procedure at Necker Children's Hospital in Paris offers hope to millions of people with the blood disorder.

Type 2 diabetes halved
Nearly half of patients have reversed type 2 diabetes in a "watershed" trial, say doctors in Newcastle and Glasgow.
watershed分水嶺, 分水界.分岐点，転機.
People, including Isobel Murray, spent up to five months on a low-calorie diet of soups and shakes to trigger massive weight loss.
The more weight people lost the more likely they were to put their disease into remission.
remission緩解、軽減
The charity Diabetes UK says the trial was a landmark and had the potential to help millions of patients.
'I beat type 2 diabetes with 200-calorie drinks'

Embryos edited
Scientists have, for the first time, successfully freed embryos of a piece of faulty DNA that causes deadly heart disease to run in families.It potentially opens the door to preventing 10,000 disorders that are passed down the generations.The US and South Korean team allowed the embryos to develop for five days before stopping the experiment.A gene editing technology called Crispr was used to make precise changes to the genetic code.
Its applications in medicine are vast and include the idea of wiping out genetic faults that cause diseases from cystic fibrosis to breast cancer.
嚢胞性線維症のうほうせいせんいしょう
原因は塩素イオンチャネル（CFTR）の遺伝子異常で、水分の流れに異常をきたし粘液の粘度が高くなる。鼻汁の粘性が強くなると副鼻腔に痛みを感じ、痰の粘性が強くなると、気道を閉塞し肺炎を繰り返すようになり、ついには気管支拡張症をきたす。アレルギー性気管支肺アスペルギルス症も併発しやすい。胆汁の粘性が強くなると、胆石をおこしたり、膵炎をおこしたり、肝機能障害からついには肝硬変をきたす。ただし軽い場合は成人後発病することもある。

20171223

Shingles vaccine 'has cut cases by a third' in England
shingles帯状疱疹
帯状疱疹は、身体の中に潜んでいたヘルペスウイルスの一種、水痘・帯状疱疹ウイルスによって起こる。
Cases of shingles have reduced by 35% in England since a vaccine was offered to 70-year-olds, Public Health England says.
But it is urging more people in their 70s to get their free injection against the painful condition.
They are most at risk of shingles and more likely to develop complications, such as severe nerve pain.
Shingles is caused by the reactivation of the chicken pox virus and results in a nasty skin rash and fever.
水痘ウイルス鶏痘
reactivation【名】再活性化
The vaccine programme started in England in 2013 and 5.5m people were eligible for the free single injection over the first three years.
eligible【形】資格のある
single injection一回投与
A report in the Lancet Journal of Public Health on how much difference the jab has made between 2013 and 2016 found that roughly 17,000 GP visits for shingles had been avoided.
And another 3,300 consultations were avoided for one of the main complications of shingles - post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN) or long-term pain.
post herpetic neuralgia    帯状疱疹後神経痛、ヘルペス後神経痛　　帯状疱疹の皮膚病変が治ったあとも、 罹患りかん部位に残る神経痛様の疼痛です。
神経痛（しんけいつう、Neuralgia）とは、人の体においてさまざまな原因により、末梢神経が刺激されることに起因する痛みのことである。強い針で刺したような、あるいは焼け付くような痛みが特徴。末梢神経への圧迫や炎症などが直接的な原因と考えられる。特に秋から冬にかけて増える傾向がある。
'Nasty disease'
From the data collected, PHE estimate that the vaccine is 62% effective against shingles and between 70-88% effective against PHN.
Despite the reduction in shingles cases, however, the numbers taking up the offer of the vaccine have gone down slightly since 2013.
take up the offer of～するという提案に乗る、（人）からの申し出を受け入れる
Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisations at Public Health England, encouraged all those eligible to make an appointment at their GP practice to get the shingles vaccine.
"It's the best way to avoid this very nasty disease and the long-term complications that can develop from having it," she said.
"Our population is aging and the risk from getting shingles and complications is higher as you get older.
"Immunisation is the best way to protect yourself from this painful, sometimes debilitating condition."
debilitating brain condition《a ～》消耗性脳疾患
More than 50,000 cases of shingles occur in people aged 70 years and over each year in England and Wales - and around 50 cases are fatal.
Who can have the shingles vaccination?
All those aged 70, or at 78 as part of a catch-up option
Also, anyone who missed out up until their 80th birthday
The shingles vaccine is not available on the NHS if you are aged 80 or over
See if you are eligible for the shingles vaccine here
What is shingles?
It is a form of the chicken pox virus which has been hiding in the body and been reactivated
Symptoms are a skin rash on one side of the body, sharp stabbing pain and burning of the skin, headache and fever
It can last for two to four weeks and be very debilitating
Shingles can sometimes lead to complications, including severe nerve pain lasting for several months or more
It is not contagious, but it is possible to catch chickenpox from someone with shingles if you haven't had chickenpox before

20171222

Drug overdose deaths drive US life expectancy down for second year
Life expectancy in the U.S. decreased for the second year in a row in 2016, largely because of rising drug overdose deaths in younger Americans, the CDC said.
American life expectancy is now 78.6 years, down by 0.1 years from 2015 and also down from 2014, according to new data released Thursday by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. 
The last time life expectancy decreased for two years in a row was 1963.
The decline in life expectancy appears to be caused by rising death rates for Americans ages 15-64. Death rates of Americans ages 25-34 by 10.5 percent between 2015 and 2016, and other young age groups also have increased death rates.
“It seems to be driven by the increase in drug overdose death,” Bob Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch at the CDC told ABC News. “This is the key factor.”
Anderson noted the “dramatic rise in drug overdose deaths,” a 30 percent spike between 2015 and 2016, among young adults.
Overall, more than 63,600 people in the U.S. died from drug overdose in 2016, up from about 52,400 in 2015.
But, experts say the picture may be even worse than it seems.
“In some ways, this is a total underestimate of the death and disability caused by drugs because it is just overdose death,” said Cleveland Clinic addiction specialist Dr. David Streem, who was not involved with the report. “We are seeing a lot of body infections, particularly heart infections, that are extremely lethal and related to opioid injection.”
infection 【名】《医》感染（部）、感染症  〔人から人にうつる〕影響
Unintentional drug overdose deaths, which Anderson said are about 86 percent of drug overdoses, are categorized under “unintentional injuries” - a category that has become the third-leading cause of death in the U.S.
Synthetic opioids, such a fentanyl and similar drugs, appear to be involved in many of these overdoses. Deaths from synthetic opioids have risen a startling 88 percent per year from 2013 to 2016. Anderson said most of the fentanyl-related deaths are from illegally manufactured fentanyl, rather than pharmaceuticals.
Deaths related to heroin and semi-synthetic opioids, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, have also increased.
Drug combinations are responsible for many drug overdose deaths, Anderson and Streem both noted. Fentanyl is frequently combined with heroin and cocaine in street drug formulations.
According to the new report, drug-overdose deaths were highest in West Virginia, Ohio, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. Though it is not entirely clear why, experts suggest it may be related to drug trafficking patterns, population characteristics, frequency of opioid prescriptions and delayed prescription monitoring systems in these states.
In an effort to combat the opioid epidemic, health care providers, health agencies and officials have enact new policies, but so far none have stemmed the tide of opioid addiction.
stem【他動】〔～の流れをダムなどで〕せき［食い］止める
Efforts to increase the capabilities of first responders at the scene of the overdose, increase access to treatments and train doctors to appropriately diagnose and treat drug addiction have been made, Streem said.
Limiting the number of opioids prescribed has also been encouraged in CDC guidelines for doctors.
Though the volume of prescription opioids has decreased in recent years, there's some concern that fewer prescribed opioids may push patients towards using heroin and other dangerous unregulated street drug formulations.
formulation 【名】剤形、処方、製剤
Doctors can also monitor how often and from whom patients get their opioid prescriptions through state and national prescription drug databases.
Medications to help patients quit opioids, like Suboxone and methadone, provide low potency opioids in a safer formulation, preventing withdrawal. But the number of prescribers is limited and not yet enough for the growing numbers of opioid-addicted patients. 
Additionally there may be “missed opportunities” for transitioning patients to these medications, according to addiction specialist Dr. Jeanmarie Perrone, professor of emergency medicine and director of medical toxicology at the University of Pennsylvania. 
“We need to initiate the treatment when we have the opportunity,” she said, such as when patients are in the hospital or immediately after an overdose. “We need to meet patients where they are.” 
Perrone said that measure like safe injection sites, which allow the opioid-addicted to use in monitored, safe environments -- a controversial practice not commonly adopted in the U.S. -- could save lives.
“We need to quadruple our efforts to help these people,” she said.
 Though it’s hard to know with certainty what will happen in the future, Anderson said “2017 doesn’t look good.” "We may expect to see life expectancy decrease for a third year in a row,” he said, “and we haven’t seen that since the Spanish Flu in 1916, 1917 and 1918.”

20171221

How long could we live?
How long do you want to live - to 85, 90, 100 or beyond? More important than how long we live is the state of our health in old age. 
The oldest verified person to date was Jeanne Calment of France, who died in 1997 aged 122.
Now scientists in the United States believe drugs could be on the horizon that delay the diseases of old age and increase the healthy years of life.
But could such treatments also mean we live longer? 
Undoubtedly, according to Aubrey de Grey, a biomedical gerontologist and probably the world's leading advocate of life extension - the belief that medical advances will enable humans to live for hundreds of years.
gerontologist【名】老年［老人］（病）学者
He has ploughed millions of pounds of his own money into ageing research, and is chief science officer of the SENS Research Foundation, which has laboratories in Silicon Valley, California.
plow【他動】～をすきで耕す、耕作する  〔雪かきを〕する 設備投資をする
He told me: "I've yet to meet someone who wants to get Alzheimer's - ill health as a result of ageing is the biggest problem facing the world."  
He believes medicine is close to solving the problem: "There will certainly be no limit on how long people might live when we bring ageing under control.
"People will still die - there are still trucks to be hit by - but the fact is people will on average live much longer unless some bizarre thing happens like we get hit by an asteroid." 
Crucially, Dr De Grey believes medical advances will mean we will spend those extra years in robust good health.
But if there is anywhere in the world that it could gain ground, it is Silicon Valley.
gain ground しっかりした足掛かりを得る、勢いを得る、確実な地歩を得る［築く］、立場が強固なものとなる
The billionaire tech entrepreneurs there are used to thinking outside the box and challenging accepted wisdom.
think outside the box
既成概念［既存の枠組み］にとらわれずに物事を考える、これまでとは全く違った観点で考える［思考する］
In 2013 Google set up Calico, the California Life Company, whose mission is to "enable people to live longer and healthier lives". 
Calico does not court publicity for its research and is based in an anonymous building, without even so much as a nameplate.
court【他動】 ～の機嫌を取る、機嫌を伺う
～に求愛する、言い寄る、～を口説く、誘う、誘惑する
〔称賛などを〕求める、得ようと努める
In 2016 Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg vowed to "cure, prevent or manage all disease" by the end of the century.
Laura Deming, a venture capitalist in California, set up the Longevity Fund, which invests in companies trying to solve the problems associated with ageing. 
She told me: "Silicon Valley is driven by curiosity - the same curiosity that drives a 14-year-old to programme computers in their bedroom, drives someone in their 20s and 30s to apply their minds and cash to what makes us age and die and what can we do about it to reverse the process."  
Extending lifespan is certainly possible in simple organisms like yeast, fruit flies or worms. 
But it gets harder as you climb the evolutionary ladder. 
Prof Gordon Lithgow of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging runs a lab that studies how to lengthen life in microscopic worms and in human cell cultures. 
He told me: "Ageing is really plastic in simple lab organisms - we can increase lifespan by 500%.
plastic【形】柔軟な、可塑性の、創造的な、塑性体の
"In more complex animals like the mouse we've been able to increase lifespan by 20-30% but we don't know what's possible in humans."  
The Buck Institute regards speculation about increasing longevity as a distraction from its main goal - to enable more of us to live a healthy old age.
distraction  【名】  気を散らすこと、気持ちをそらせること、注意散漫
注意をそらすもの、気を散らすもの
気晴らし、娯楽、気分転換をはかれるもの［こと］
Of course, we should not expect medicine to solve all our health problems but try to meet science halfway.
There are things we can already do to increase our chances of a healthy old age.
Near the top of any to-do list is exercise - if it were a drug it would be a blockbuster medicine.
blockbuster
【名】
《軍事》ブロックバスター（爆弾）
All the superagers I met had some physical activity they enjoyed.    
The Sun City Poms in Arizona perform acrobatic dance routines and have a parade marching unit. 
Peggy Parsons, 76, told me: "I ache every morning, but when you march you forget about it - the more exercise I do, the better I feel."  
Ginger Price, 84, said: "I love the Poms - it keeps me physically active and keeps my brain working. You have to learn the dance routines and that helps my memory."
It also helps the women stay socially connected - another important aspect of healthy ageing. 
Keeping the mind active is vital: this can build "cognitive reserve" and reduce the chances of developing dementia.
cognitive reserve
認知的予備力、知的経験の蓄積◆長期間、知的刺激を受けてきた人は認知症の発症が遅いが、発症してしまうと進行は速いという仮説で使われる概念。
A balanced diet will also help. 
There is no guaranteed formula for a healthy old age but follow that advice and you too might become a superager.