Transgender Teen Care 'Needs Urgent Regulation'

Young transgender people are being let down by the "terrible" quality of evidence underpinning their treatment and care, a leading researcher warns. Prof Carl Heneghan, from Oxford University, said there was an "urgent" need for a new regulator in the field. He said much more "rigorous" and "robust" research was needed into the effects of drugs given to young transgender people. But...

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Type-2 Diabetes: 'Weight Loss Arrests Disease for Years'

Consuming 850 calories a day for three months and then keeping the weight off can arrest type-2 diabetes for at least two years, a study suggests. The GP-led programme worked for more than a third of participating patients. The study report builds on earlier work suggesting weight loss is one key solution and offers more time off medication than previously thought. Experts say...

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Canada Appeals Court Orders Tobacco Firms to Pay Billions in Damages

A Canadian court has upheld the bulk of a decision that ordered three tobacco companies to pay billions in damages. The judgment involves class action suits that were consolidated against Imperial Tobacco Canada, Rothmans Benson & Hedges and JTI-MacDonald. The companies had appealed a 2015 ruling in favour that ordered them to pay over C$15bn (£8.5bn; $11bn). The plaintiffs...

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Quick Pregnancy is Safe After Stillbirth, Study Finds

There is no reason to delay having another baby after a stillbirth, research in the Lancet suggests. Although women are often told to wait for a year before getting pregnant again, there is little evidence to back up this advice. This international study of 14,000 births found no increased risk of problems if conception happened earlier. A UK stillbirth expert said the findings...

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Experimental Treatment Offers Hope to Restore Cells Damaged in Parkinson's Disease

A pioneering clinical trials program that delivered an experimental treatment directly to the brain offers hope that it may be possible to restore the cells damaged in Parkinson's disease. The study investigated whether boosting the levels of a naturally-occurring growth factor, Glial Cell Line Derived Neurotrophic Factor (GDNF), can regenerate dying dopamine brain cells in patients with Parkinson's...

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Almost Half of All Childhood Cancer Cases Go Undiagnosed

A new study published in The Lancet Oncology estimates that almost half of all children in the world who have cancer are not diagnosed or treated, leaving them to "die at home." The study found that around 400,000 new cases of childhood cancer arise every year, but only 200,000 of these are diagnosed and therefore recorded. The study authors say this can occur due to a lack of access to...

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Morning Walks Could Be Better Than Drugs At Lowering Blood Pressure

According to a new study published in the journal Hypertension, just half-an-hour of walking in the morning could be as effective as medication at lowering blood pressure. Researchers at the University of Western Australia found that 30 minutes of walking on a treadmill in the morning improved participants' blood pressure readings for the rest of the day. They say that for some individuals,...

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