The Health News UK April 30 2018
- Virtual consultations with doctors could be more common than seeing medics in person within a decade. Geneticist Dr. Eric Topol has been commissioned by the Health Secretary to examine the NHS approach to genomics, robotics and artificial intelligence. And he said remote monitoring of conditions, online consultations and telemedicine is set to become the norm within a decade – predicting they will soon outnumber face-to-face consultations.
- A new study has found that almost half of people mistakenly believe factors such as stress and food additives cause cancer. Researchers at University College London and the University of Leeds surveyed 1,330 people in England and found that mistaken belief in mythical causes of cancer is rife. More than 40% wrongly thought that stress (43% to be exact) and food additives (42%) caused cancer, while one third incorrectly believed that electromagnetic frequencies (35%) and eating genetically modified food (34%) were risk factors.
- Research suggests that teenage girls who use social media suffer more emotional and social problems than boys. The happiness levels of nearly ten thousand girls and boys were tracked between the ages of ten and fifteen. Girls who spent more than an hour a day on social media from the age of ten were more likely to suffer problems.
Virtual consultations with doctors could be more common than seeing medics in person within a decade. Geneticist Doctor Eric Topol has been commissioned by the Health Secretary to examine the NHS approach to genomics, robotics and artificial intelligence. And he said remote monitoring of conditions, online consultations and telemedicine is set to become the norm within a decade – predicting they will soon outnumber face-to-face consultations.
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Doctor Topol said advances in technology meant patients would increasingly be monitored with sensors. His review, which reports in July will look at how the NHS can pioneer modern treatments and embrace innovation and technology. Health officials said that tens of thousands of staff will be trained as a result of the plans. Doctor Topol also said the workforce would need to change to make best use of technology, requiring an expansion in the number of data scientists, who can map the information about patients.
But he said some professions could see numbers reduce, as artificial intelligence takes on some of the role performed by doctors and scientists. Jeremy Hunt said: “Every week we hear about exciting new developments surfacing in the NHS which could help provide answers to some of our greatest challenges such as cancer or chronic illness. These give us a glimpse of what the future of the whole NHS could be, which is why in the year of the NHS’ seventy birthday I want to empower staff to offer patients modern healthcare more widely and more quickly.”
A new study has found that almost half of people mistakenly believe factors such as stress and food additives cause cancer. Researchers at University College London and the University of Leeds surveyed one thousand three hundred thirty people in England and found that mistaken belief in mythical causes of cancer is rife. More than forty percent wrongly thought that stress (forty three percent to be exact) and food additives (forty two percent) caused cancer, while one third incorrectly believed that electromagnetic frequencies (thirty five percent) and eating genetically modified food (thirty four percent) were risk factors.
Meanwhile nineteen percent thought microwave ovens caused it and fifteen percent said drinking from plastic bottles did too, despite a lack of good scientific evidence. Among the proven causes of cancer, eighty eight percent of people correctly selected smoking, eighty percent picked passive smoking and sixty percent said sunburn. Belief in mythical causes of cancer did not mean a person was more likely to have risky lifestyle habits. But those who had better knowledge of proven causes were more likely to avoid smoking.
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Clare Hyde from Cancer Research UK said: “Around four in ten cancer cases could be prevented through lifestyle changes so it’s crucial we have the right information to help us separate the wheat from the chaff. Smoking, being overweight and overexposure to UV radiation from the sun and sunbeds are the biggest preventable causes of cancer.”
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Research suggests that teenage girls who use social media suffer more emotional and social problems than boys. The happiness levels of nearly ten thousand girls and boys were tracked between the ages of ten and fifteen. Girls who spent more than an hour a day on social media from the age of ten were more likely to suffer problems.
However, boys appeared not to be affected in the same way, possibly because girls have a greater tendency to compare themselves to others and look at the number of “likes” they receive on Facebook and Instagram. According to the researchers, fear of cyber-bullying and disrupted sleep could also affect happiness levels. They called for time limits on children’s use of social media and tobacco-style health warnings.
The study by the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at Essex University and University College London is among the first to show the social and emotional impact by sex of regular social media use. Doctor Cara Booker, of the ISER, said: “Young people need access to the internet for homework, for watching TV and to keep in touch with their friends, but a body of evidence is emerging to show that substantial amounts of time spent on social media on school days is far from beneficial, especially for girls.”
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The study found ten percent of ten-year-old girls spent one to three hours a day on social media, compared to seven percent of boys. At fifteen this rose to forty three percent of girls and thirty one percent of boys. For boys and girls, happiness levels fell from the age of ten to fifteen, but the drop was greater for girls. Well-being among older girls was associated with how much they interacted on social media at the age of ten. This was not the case for boys.
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