# Other health News 19/01/09



## Admin (Jan 19, 2009)

*New hope of a cure for blindness*
A revolutionary treatment could give millions their sight back. British scientists revealed yesterday that they have developed ?ground-breaking? new stem cell surgery which could cure corneal blindness. http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/80629/New-hope-for-a-cure-for-blindness

*Patients to get health budget*
Patients are to be given their own NHS budgets to allow them to pick and choose their own healthcare services, ministers announced yesterday. In a fundamental shift in the way the National Health Service funds are spent, millions of people could soon be allocated their own pots of money and asked to choose from a menu of different services to treat their condition. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ents-health-budget-choose-range-services.html

*Choice of schools linked to obesity*
A push by the Government to offer parents greater "choice" over education means that the school run is now more than two miles long for half of children. This has led to more children travelling to school by car, denying them vital exercise which can help prevent them becoming obese, said Roger Mackett, from University College London. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/educatio...hools-could-be-making-their-children-fat.html
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Memory pills to help you get ahead*
DRUG companies are developing a series of potentially memory-enhancing pills that it is claimed could soon be adapted to help people get ahead at work or in exams. The new medicines are currently aimed at treating Alzheimer?s disease but could be licensed for over-the-counter sales in a few years. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5537346.ece

*Alternative therapy 'crackdown'*
The head of the UK's first regulator for complementary medicine has promised to get tough with the industry and drive out cowboy therapists. Maggie Dunn, co-chairman of the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), said it was time customers were given proper assurances. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7828593.stm

*Asian heart disease found*
A gene mutation that almost guarantees the development of heart disease is carried by 60m people, researchers say. Around 4% people from the Indian subcontinent have the mutation, which increases the risk of heart disease seven-fold, Nature Genetics reports. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7833753.stm


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