Media Monitoring

WHO launches guide to safely unlock benefits of the life sciences WHO issued the Global guidance framework for the responsible use of the life sciences Framework calls on leaders and other stakeholders to mitigate biorisks and safely govern dual-use research, which has a clear benefit but can be misused to harm humans, other animals, agriculture and the environment. This is the…

COVID infections in UK fall to lowest level since October 2021 The ONS stated that fewer than a million people had the virus in the last week of August, approximately one in 70 The represents a massive fall from mid-July, when one in 15 people had COVID This comes at a time when the booster jab rollout has begun –…

Breakthrough as genetic sequencing predicts severity of COVID variants Drexel University researchers have pioneered a new computer model which can aid health services in identifying new strains of the disease with the help of machine learning The new model analyses the genetic sequencing from the virus’s spike protein The machine learning algorithm can then compare this with patient data –…

Novel blood test measures pulmonary arterial hypertension severity The test developed by National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers, measures DNA fragments released by damaged cells Patients with the disease usually present with high levels of fragments in their blood, with higher levels correlating with disease severity Knowing the fragment levels in patients’ blood allows doctors to tackle the disease faster…

Novel womb cancer test less invasive and cuts diagnosis time Research published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology discovered that low-cost PCR tests which use samples from the cervix or vagina could successfully detect womb cancer Current testing for womb cancer is invasive or painful – such as a transvaginal ultrasound or a biopsy Early results showed effectiveness across all…

New blood test can predict death or disability in patients within 24 hours of head injury A simple blood test using a sample taken within 24 hours of a severe brain injury can ascertain the likelihood that a patient will survive or not, a new study has discovered Researchers discovered that there was a correlation between levels of GFAP and…

NHS Monthly Diagnostics data for June 2022 The total number of patients waiting six weeks or more from referral for one of the 15 key diagnostic tests at the end of June 2022 was 430,000. This was 27.5% of the total number of patients waiting at the end of the month Nationally, the operational standard of less than 1% of…

AI to be used by the NHS to identify patients who have increased risk of hepatitis C The NHS is to use artificial intelligence to detect, screen and treat people at risk of hepatitis C, as the health service aims to rid the UK of the disease by 2030 AI will identify patients who may have the virus by scanning…

MP report concludes that the NHS is facing its worst ever staffing crisis An MP report has claimed a shortfall in NHS staffing poses an immense threat to patient safety It discovered England is now short of 12,000 hospital doctors and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives – labelling it the worst workforce crisis the NHS has seen The government…

First ever Women's Health Strategy for England published Details the Government’s 10-year ambitions and the actions we are taking now to improve the health and wellbeing of women and girls in England BIVDA is analysing the policy paper to assess the role of IVDs in the Government’s plan and will release a relevant briefing/news shortly https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/womens-health-strategy-for-england   Transformational Border pilots…