# Other health news 3rd February 2010



## Northerner (Feb 3, 2010)

*PILL THAT WILL HELP YOU LIVE TO 100  Front page spread of the Daily Express *
A PILL to help people live to 100 free from debilitating health problems is set to "revolutionise" ageing, experts said yesterday. The breakthrough has come after scientists identified three "super-genes". People born with the genes are 20 times more likely to reach a century - and 80 per cent less likely to develop the senility disease Alzheimer's.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/155899/Pill-that-will-help-you-live-to-100 

*Lancet retracts 'utterly false' MMR paper*
The Lancet today finally retracted the paper that sparked a crisis in MMR vaccination across the UK, following the General Medical Council's decision that its lead author, Andrew Wakefield, had been dishonest. The medical journal's editor, Richard Horton, told the Guardian today that he realised as soon as he read the GMC findings that the paper, published in February 1998, had to be retracted. "It was utterly clear, without any ambiguity at all, that the statements in the paper were utterly false," he said. "I feel I was deceived."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/feb/02/lancet-retracts-mmr-paper

*Don't blame GPs for out-of-hours failings *

Stop making GPs the scapegoats for poorly-managed Primary Care Trusts, says Michael Ingram. Another day, another of the seemingly incessant attacks on "lazy, overpaid, inaccessible GPs". There they sit, runs the mantra, enjoying their 9-5 days and handsome recompense while lives are put at risk every night and weekend through second-rate or dangerous out-of-hours service. It wasn't like this in the old days.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/7134631/Dont-blame-GPs-for-out-of-hours-failings.html

*HEART RISK IN ENERGY DRINKS  *

CONSUMING just one energy drink could lead to increased risk of a heart attack, claim scientists. Researchers at Australia's University of Adelaide have found it can raise blood pressure and heighten the chance of a blood clot.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/155866/Heart-risk-in-energy-drinks

*Painless laser gets rid of fat*

BOFFINS have invented a laser which zaps away fat cells instantly.

Patients can drop two dress sizes in just two weeks - without having to exercise or diet. The painless Zerona treatment costs ?1,000 for six 40-minute sessions.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...less-laser-invented-that-gets-rid-of-fat.html

*Jon-Joe Stray is 9 stone aged 6 - but now he has ditched the junk food *

Jon-Joe Stray is only six years old and already wearing clothes made for a fully-grown man. He gets out of breath walking up the stairs and suffers cruel taunts from other children. Weighing just shy of nine stone, the Doncaster youngster personifies Britain's ticking time bomb of an obesity epidemic.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/02/03/9st-age-6-115875-22014912/


----------

