UK scientists have discovered a new gene linked to breast cancer. Women with a damaged copy of the gene called PALB2 have twice the risk of breast cancer, the Institute of Cancer Research scientists found. They estimate that faulty PALB2 causes about 100 cases of breast cancer in the UK each year. Two damaged copies of the gene also appears to cause a serious blood disorder in children, they report in Nature Genetics.
Up to a million children are missing out in the classroom because they find it hard to distinguish speech against background noise, a charity has warned. Some 500 of the 2,000 children aged 10 to 14 who took a telephone hearing check had the impairment, the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) said. The problem is due to the brain's inability to pick out speech against background noise and corrects with age.
Scientists have discovered the cause of a fatal form of brittle bone disease. All forms of the condition, also called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, weaken bones causing frequent fractures. But US National Institutes of Health researchers found a genetic defect in a protein which helps produce collagen causes a fatal form of the disease.
The TUC and the Royal National Institute for Deaf People have called on workers to make checking their hearing a New Year's resolution.
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:
