# Health news 5th April 2011



## Northerner (Apr 5, 2011)

*Fasting for 24 hours 'may cut your risk of heart disease and diabetes'*
 Regularly going a day without food may reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes, research has suggested. Doctors studied the health and habits of more than 200 residents in the state of Utah, where fasting for at least one day a month is a way of life for many Mormons.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...asting-lower-risk-heart-disease-diabetes.html 

*GPs 'should not get sole control of NHS budget'*

MPs have heaped more pressure on the government for its overhaul of the NHS in England by suggesting GPs should not be allowed to take control of the budget all by themselves. The House of Commons' health committee said they should be joined by a range of staff including nurses and hospital doctors to decide how funds are spent.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12962003

*Working long hours 'raises heart attack risk'*

Working more than 11 hours a day rather than the usual 9am to 5pm markedly increases heart disease risk, say UK experts. The magnitude of risk goes up by 67% for people who work long hours, they say in Annals of Internal Medicine. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12961179

*Chemical found which 'makes bone marrow repair skin'*

The chemical which summons stem cells from bone marrow to the site of a wound has been discovered by scientists in the UK and Japan. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, identified the distress signal - HMGB1.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12956636

*?2.50 a day pill to beat strokes: A million Britons could benefit from drug available for use within weeks*
A ?2.50 a day stroke drug hailed as the biggest step forward in blood-thinning treatments for 50 years could be available within weeks. An estimated 1.2million Britons could benefit from Pradaxa, which is billed as safer, better and easier to take than warfarin, the gold standard blood-thinner.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...nefit-1million-Britons.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

*Andrew Lansley scrambles to save coalition's NHS reforms*
The health secretary, Andrew Lansley, is to launch a last-ditch attempt to rescue his controversial NHS reforms by accepting that the membership of new GP-led consortiums needs to be widened. Lansley will on Tuesday agree with the broad principles of proposals made by the health select committee, chaired by John Major's last health secretary, Stephen Dorrell, although he will resist many of the detailed recommendations.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/apr/05/andrew-lansley-scrambles-to-save-nhs-reforms


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