Hospitals in England could be on the brink of collapse because of rising demand and the increasing complexity of patients’ conditions, doctors warn.The Royal College of Physicians’ report said the number of beds had been cut by a third over the past 25 years.It said at the same time emergency admiss

(Reuters Health) – People in developing countries with heart problems may not be able to afford new pacemakers, but a new study suggests devices removed during autopsies may have enough remaining battery life to be donated and used again.Researchers found that of 334 autopsies preformed at the Unive

The number of complaints made to the General Medical Council about doctors has risen 23% in the past year, the regulator says.The GMC report showed there were 8,781 in 2011 compared to 7,153 in 2010.The rise is similar to the one the year before and continues a trend which has seen complaints jump b

(Reuters Health) – The short-term benefits of weight loss surgery are well known in severely obese people, but a new study finds that improvements in diabetes and blood pressure may hold up for years after the procedures.At six-year patient follow-ups, three quarters of people who’d undergone gastri

(Reuters) – Scientists have grown a drug to treat a rare genetic disease inside corn plants, potentially offering a cheaper way to manufacture a treatment that currently costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for each patient.The move marks an advance for the emerging field of molecular farmi

Venomous reptiles may provide a good source for new drugs for human diseases, researchers in Liverpool say.Venom has already been used to create drugs, but the chemicals in it are often too deadly for human consumption.However, a study, published in the journal Nature Communications, has shown snake

A new oral medication to treat patients in the early stages of multiple sclerosis has shown considerable promise in two clinical trials, researchers announced on Wednesday.The medication is on track to become just the third oral drug available to M.S. patients, and potentially the safest and most ef

More dentists need to be checking their patients for mouth cancer, say experts.Cancer Research UK says oral cancer rates are going up and some dentists are missing an opportunity to spot those at risk.All dentists should be asking about risk factors like smoking or heavy drinking as well as early te

(Reuters Health) – A study of nearly 190,000 young women injected with Merck & Co’s human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil found no new safety concerns.Researchers said the only side effects they observed – rare cases of skin infections and fainting – were benign and expected.“This analysis was v

A painkiller as powerful as morphine, but without most of the side-effects, has been found in the deadly venom of the black mamba, say French scientists.The predator, which uses neurotoxins to paralyse and kill small animals, is one of the fastest and most dangerous snakes in Africa.However, tests o