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Daily digest July 10 2015

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Daily digest

New strike laws to be unveiled in days

New strike laws are to be published ‘within days’ to help prevent a repeat of this week’s chaos caused by Tube workers, according to the Mail Online.

Ministers are fast-tracking the Trades Union Bill, following warnings that union leaders could call for a string of anti-austerity strikes this year.

The move will impose minimum turnout thresholds on strike ballots that would have outlawed three-quarters of the strikes seen in recent years.

A government source said the legislation is set to be published before parliament rises for the summer on July 21.

Under the proposals, unions would have to achieve a minimum turnout of 50% in a strike ballot for the walkout to be deemed legal.

Read more on the Mail Online website

NICE to go ahead with work on safe staffing levels

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will publish its recommendations on safe nurse staffing levels in emergency departments in England despite being told by the government to stop work in this area.

NICE, which is legally independent of the NHS, plans to release its work at the end of the month, according to the Guardian.

It is also continuing evidence reviews for staffing mental health care for both inpatients and those in the community, for learning disability services and for other community health services.

The move comes a month after news that NHS England, which is far more tightly controlled by the Department of Health, had decided to take such work in-house.

NICE’s work will not be billed as official guidance but will be sent to NHS England in any case.

Read more on the Guardian website

Smoking may trigger schizophrenia

Chemicals in tobacco may help trigger serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, a study suggests.

Research conducted by King’s College London shows that smoking can triple the chances of developing psychosis.

The researchers analysed data from 61 observational studies involving almost 15,000 tobacco users and 273,000 non-users.

Previously the fact that people with psychotic mental illnesses are more likely to smoke has been put down to non-causal factors, such as obtaining relief from distress or self-medication.

But the researchers believe something in tobacco might actually be responsible, alongside genetic and environmental influences.

Read more on the Telegraph website

Take aspirin to beat arthritis

A daily dose of aspirin could slow down damage to joints, an Australian study has found.

Scientists in Australia found patients with the same condition who took a small amount of aspirin every day lost less of this vital cartilage from inside their knee joints. It is believed to be the first time research has shown the drug could protect against the disease as well as soothe the pain from it.

The team at Monash University in Melbourne looked at the role of aspirin because the drug is widely used in the prevention of heart disease, where it works by reducing inflammation in the arteries that might contribute to a potentially fatal blockage.

The results of the two-year study of 117 patients are published in the journal Maturitas.

They show cartilage shrank by an average of just 1.9% a year in patients taking aspirin, but by 5.4% a year in those not taking it.

Read more on the Express website