Paying people with severe mental illnesses to take medication may encourage some to stick to their drug regime, a team of London doctors says. They have quoted four cases where payments reportedly increased use of medication and cut hospital admissions.
Ahead of the Liberal Democrats' major campaign on crime in 2007, Shadow Home Secretary Nick Clegg sets the scene:
Long-term use of some of the most common drugs prescribed to tackle stomach acid problems may be weakening people's bones. Researchers found a significantly increased risk of hip fracture among UK patients taking 'proton pump inhibitors' for more than a year. They said doctors should consider the risk when prescribing such drugs. The University of Pennsylvania study findings appear in the Journal of the American Association.
Patients with the earliest symptoms of Alzheimer's disease could be diagnosed using an advanced scanning technique. A team at the University of California, Los Angeles, says it has found a way to highlight distinctive brain changes linked to Alzheimer's.
Some women with osteoporosis can stop taking a bone-protecting drug after five years without increasing their risk of fractures, say scientists. The class of drugs, bisphosphonates, are given to strengthen the bones of women who have gone through the menopause and risk fractures.
The manager of a care home has been told she will face a jail term for an "abhorrent" reign of terror over patients in a home. Diane Butler's "despicable" staff - ill-treated mentally and physically patients in their care. One carer tried to stage a fight between a Down's Syndrome patient and another resident with autism. Butler, 47, of St Loys Road, Haringey, north London, was found guilty of one count of wilful neglect.
