'As a service provider to the Medical Profession, we feel it is useful to have a topical web page where busy doctors would have the opportunity to catch up with information and views covering subjects which affect their world.

We would welcome additional contributions from active doctors as well as from other sources.

Spring 2010

Dr Frank Says......

Breast Cancer Vaccine?
A team from The Cleveland Clinic Learner Research Institute has developed a vaccine that prevents breast cancer from developing in mice. They report in the journal Nature Medicine that they are now proposing trials in humans but stress that a vaccine for general use is perhaps five years away. The US at present has approved two anti-cancer vaccines, one for cervical cancer and the other for liver cancer.

Junior Hospital Doctor shortage leads to Recruitment in India
Tighter immigration controls over the last few years has lead to many doctors from the Indian sub-continent returning home or working in the US. This shortage has been made more acute by the European Working Time Directive. The NHS now finds there will not be enough junior doctors to fill all the posts in August. The need for juniors is most acute in rural areas. The first interviews have been by The Welsh Deanery and the interviews were held in Kolkata.

Plans for Free prescriptions
Professor Ian Gilmore, president of The Royal College of Physicians has been looking at the present system and presented his findings, the most important of which is that anyone with a condition likely to last for six months or more should get free prescriptions. The coalition government has said that it will not make a decision until the autumn spending review.

Heart Attacks fall after Smoking Ban
A team from Bath reports in The BMJ that hospital admissions for myocardial infarction fell by 1200 admissions in the year ending July 2007. The study, the largest to date, was the most comprehensive of any smoke-free legislation anywhere in the world. The team also says it expects the benefits to improve in the coming years

New uses for Two Drugs
A study reported in The BMJ shows that bevacizumab (Avastin), used to treat Ca bowel is of great use in the treatment of age related macular degeneration. A study in the Lancet shows that Allopurinol, used in the treatment of gout, is also beneficial in the treatment of angina.

Breast implant problems again
Poly Implant Prostheses (PIPs) made in France, have been found to be filled with an unapproved gel and are missing protective barriers. About 50,000 women in the UK have these devices. The French company has gone into administration.

Liver grown in the laboratory
A team from The Massachusetts General Hospital reports in Nature Medicine that it has grown a rat liver. The team used the same technique as that used in Spain to produce a larynx in 2008 - which was the first human tissue engineered whole organ transplant.

NHS e-records
A team from University College London has found that early evidence from users shows little benefit and that to fulfill its potential the system will require an enormous effort and be of very high cost.

A new simple test for Down's soon
A team from The Netherlands has reported at the annual meeting of The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology that it has developed a maternal blood test for fetal chromosome disorders. It uses the same basic technique as currently used in amniocentesis.

Call to stop NHS funding of homeopathy
By a large majority, delegates at the annual BMA conference in Brighton have voted to stop funding on the NHS. The Department of Health says a review in under way.

Vetting of foreign graduates
Also at the BMA meeting delegates expressed concern over doctors with a poor command of English being allowed to work in the UK.

And finally…………….
The psychiatrist shows the patient an ink blot and asks what he sees. "Two big breasts" is the reply. Then another ink blot. "What do you see this time?" "A naked woman bending over" is the reply. "Wow you're really sex obsessed", says the psychiatrist. "No more than you," says the patient. "You're the one showing me the dirty pictures."

Please let us let us have your constructive observations on this page and any views covering other subjects. E-mail, website@locumlink.uk.com or drfrank@locumlink.uk.com . These can be published under a pseudonym for further comment.

Ed