Daily digest September 29 2015

Blind woman receives pioneering embryonic stem-cell treatment

Surgeons have carried out groundbreaking stem-cell treatment on a woman aged 60 to help restore her sight, BBC News reports. 

Doctors planted a patch of specialised cells at the back of the woman's retina, hoping it will grow and allow her to see again.

The procedure is part of the London Project to Cure Blindness, set up ten years ago to tackle vision loss among people with age-related macular degeneration.

Surgeon Lyndon Da Cruz of Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, said: ‘If we can deliver the very layer of cells that is missing and give them their function back this would be of enormous benefit to people with this sight-threatening condition.’

Read more on the BBC website. 

Hunt in crisis talks with BMA over junior doctors’ strike threat

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt will meet British Medical Association officials in an attempt to head off strike action by junior doctors. 

The government plans to impose a new contract on junior doctors, and the BMA argues this will bring pay cuts and lead to extra work, the Independent reports.

One proposal would lead to doctors working evenings and on Saturdays for no extra pay, the BMA says.

BMA council chair Mark Porter said: ‘The threat to impose a new contract on junior doctors goes beyond one country or one branch of practice, it’s an attack on the values we all cherish.’

Read more on the Independent website. 

Scientists establish link between high blood pressure and diabetes risk

People with high blood pressure are at a 60% increased risk of developing diabetes, researchers state.

They made their conclusions after examining the link between blood pressure and diabetes incidence among 4.1 million people.

As reported in the Guardian, Kazem Rahimi, deputy director of the George Institute for Global Health UK in Oxford, which conducted the study, said: ‘This is potentially a game-changer in the understanding and treatment of diabetes. Understanding the link will help us better communicate risks to patients and can provide another motivation for patients and doctors to aim for tight blood pressure control.’

Read more on the Guardian website.