With Australia’s Covid cases per capita among the highest in the world, new antivirals such as Paxlovid and Lagevrio as well as intravenous treatments like sotrovimab are offering some hope for the severely ill, elderly and immunocompromised. However Australia’s peak body for GPs says some people at greatest risk of dying from Covid are being prevented from accessing these treatments.Medical...
Studies of ischaemic stroke patients open up possibility of treatments to prevent condition and improve recoveryScientists have identified specific groups of gut microbes that could increase or decrease someone’s risk of suffering the most common type of stroke. The research, presented at the European Stroke Organisation Conference (ESOC) in Lyon, France, adds to growing evidence that...
Davina McCall documentary highlights benefits and postcode lottery of previously rejected utrogestanA sought-after hormone replacement therapy is being reassessed for use in Scotland after TV presenter and menopause campaigner Davina McCall revealed a postcode lottery in its prescription across the UK.Amid an ongoing supply crisis of HRT products, McCall spoke to specialists about the benefits of...
Cambridge scientists say robot is capable of ‘tasting’ and checking whether balance of flavours is right The culinary robots are here. Not only to distinguish between food which tastes good and which doesn’t, but also to become better cooks.A robot chef designed by researchers at Cambridge University has been trained to taste a dish’s saltiness and the myriad of ingredients at different...
Chinese capital ramps up efforts to control Omicron outbreak and avoid lockdownsSee all our coronavirus coverageBeijing has reopened a mass isolation centre as authorities seek to contain an outbreak of Covid-19 in the city.The Xiaotangshan Fangcai hospital, which holds at least 1,200 beds and testing facilities, was first opened during the 2003 Sars epidemic, and used again in early 2020 to treat...
Winlaton Mill, Gateshead: The landscape here is vast and exhilarating, but a close look reveals a curious plant with a link to the area’s coal pastWhen the 12th Earl of Strathmore, a 19th-century nimby who made an immense fortune from coal, refused to allow trains across his Gibside estate, the North Eastern Railway adopted an expensive alternative route via four viaducts and a cutting. After...
This fascinating, touching look at phalloplasty (and the ways having an arm-penis can make life tricky) has many moments of levity – and thankfully a happy endingIf, when you saw the title of this documentary, The Man With a Penis on His Arm (Channel 4), your first thought was: “Wait – like the mouse with the ear on its back? But a man and a penis and an arm?” the answer is ineluctably:...