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For many years weight loss clinics had a stigma. This was mainly because they used weight loss tablets that were effectively a type of speed. Worse still it became clear that the medication used increased the chance of developing a severe untreatable lung condition. Things are changing. In addition to a psychological and nutritional approach,Read more

The Coronavirus Vaccines There is great excitement currently about a series of new vaccines against COVID19 or more accurately the SARS-CoV2 virus. It is incredible to think that vaccines were being trialled in April of this year, only weeks after the pandemic was recognised. How is this possible? The answer is that a number ofRead more

i came upon a terrific article today that can be found here; https://tmblr.co/Z0_1woYYnLE0my00 It talks about the role of T cells in immunity and how they might impact natural resistance to SARS-CoV-2. Let me summarise some of the points made. First, T cells, what are they? There are two types of lymphocytes one rpduced inRead more

What do we know about COVID 19? COVID-19, is actually the infection caused by a virus called SARS-CoV-2. As we now know it spread rapidly from Wuhan in China to affect most of the world. Whilst some people with COVID-19 can have fever, cough, and trouble breathing. Many have a mild or completely symptom-free illness.Read more

Well it seems the best time to take our blood pressure pills is at bedtime. This is slightly counter intuitive, as our blood pressure falls at night and rises in the morning. The natural assumption, is that we should take out pills in the morning. However, a very large study gave half of people theirRead more

The bowels, the bowels A phrase of which Quasimodo was particularly fond. Although we do not generally discuss it, we all have a bowel habit. For some it might be once a day, others three times a day and yet others once a week. If there is a change in our habit, we can usuallyRead more

Yogi Berra was said to have used the phrase  ‘its deja vu, all over again’. Well, I feel the same. 15 or so years ago, two very large meta analyses were published that caused consternation in women and doctors. They suggested that the risks of HRT were greater than previously thought. Over the years, subRead more

Charlie Munger, is a sage and famously the business partner of Warren Buffett, the worlds greatest investor. He has said that he wants to know where he will die, so that he can ensure he never goes there! We cannot accurately predict where we will breath our last breath, but it seems we can quiteRead more

Genetic testing with your Private GP has increasingly become a possibility as testing gets more extensive and a little cheaper. It remains quite an expensive test and takes several weeks for results to become available as the testing of your saliva is a very laborious and time-consuming process. It does not require a blood test,Read more

Researchers in America have found the bacterium Veillonella to be much more common in the bowel of marathon runners, when compared to sedentary people. What is more, the numbers of Veillonella increase soon after a race. Using this information, the researchers fed mice pellets, containing Veillonella, that had been isolated from a marathon runner. Amazingly,Read more