Daily digest April 22 2015

Breast cancer drug could keep prostate patients alive

Men with advanced prostate cancer could benefit from a pioneering drug originally meant for women.

Clinical trials show that olaparib can delay the moment when the disease gets dangerously out of control.

The London trial of olaparib, which is owned by AstraZeneca, was led by researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden hospital.

They found 16 out of 49 men with advanced prostate cancer responded to the drug, also known as Lynparza.

Read more on the Daily Mail website: click here

Warning over hospitals ‘fiddling figures’ to meet targets

Many NHS hospitals appear to be ‘gaming’ the system to meet performance targets, in some cases changing the way they care for patients or deliberately ‘fiddling figures’, leading healthcare experts have said.

In a new report, the Dr Foster group, which pioneered transparency around hospital data in the NHS, warned that efforts to improve patient care were being ‘undermined' by performance measures that encouraged gaming, and were also demoralising frontline staff.

Key measures including the four-hour A&E waiting times target and the 18-week wait for specialist treatment, attract intense scrutiny from politicians and the media.

Read more on the Independent website: click here

Morning sickness link to ADHD and speech problems

Women who suffer extreme nausea in pregnancy are three times more likely to have children with developmental issues, including speech and language delays or ADHD, according to research.

The impact is particularly profound when hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) begins very early in pregnancy, before five weeks’ gestation.

The findings of the study, conducted by Marlena Fejzo, an associate researcher in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, contradicts the information currently given to most women with the condition who are told that, although they are suffering, their baby will be fine.

(£) Read more on the Times website: click here