Ralph M. Steinman
http://lab.rockefeller.edu/steinman/dendritic_intro/
Born: 1943, Montreal, Canada
Died: 30 September 2011 (Cancer pancreas)
Affiliation at the time of the award: Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
Prize motivation: "for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity"
(Never received recognition from Canadian Government and Quebec)
04 October 2011
UK DAILY MAIL: ENGLISH TEST FOR FOREIGN DOCTORS
Language test for all foreign doctors: Law will bar medics who can't speak English
By Daniel Martin
Foreign doctors will be barred from treating patients unless they have a good grasp of English under tough rules to be announced by Andrew Lansley today.
The Health Secretary will pledge to end the scandal which has seen 23,000 doctors from Europe registered to work in the NHS – despite never having been asked if they can speak the language properly.
A new law will give trusts the statutory duty to check the English language skills of all new overseas doctors before they are employed by the Health Service.
Failure to pass the language test will see them prevented from taking a job in an NHS hospital or a GP surgery – ensuring patients are treated by doctors they can understand, and who can understand them.
Last year, a report by the Commons Health Select Committee concluded that the failure to ensure GPs on out-of-hours shifts can speak English had cost lives.
Three years ago, pensioner David Gray died after being treated by out-of-hours locum Dr Daniel Ubani, who was exhausted after having flown in from Germany. He was allowed to treat patients despite having a poor grasp of English.
Doctors’ language skills are not yet routinely tested because Britain sticks rigidly to an EU directive which outlaws checks on overseas GPs’ language skills – while France flouts it.
More...'Sometimes doctors do things that patients don't think necessary': What GP 'told disabled patient as he indecently assaulted her'
15,000 NHS nurses fear redundancy as they reveal cuts are damaging patient care
The ban is even enshrined in British law: The 1983 Medical Act, brought in by Margaret Thatcher. Mr Lansley will repeal the parts of the Act which stop trusts from testing foreign doctors’ English.
Under the new scheme, all trusts will have to appoint a ‘responsible officer’ whose job will be to test the language skills of all foreign doctors applying to work there.
He or she must also ensure the applicant is trained to UK standards and understands how the NHS works.
Minister: Andrew Lansley is set to introduce new rules for foreign doctors
Ministers are confident the new rules will be drawn up in such a way that Britain will be able to circumvent the EU directive – and protect the safety of patients.
Mr Lansley said: ‘There is considerable anxiety amongst the public about the ability of doctors to speak English properly.
‘After 13 years of inaction from Labour to tighten up language controls, we will amend the legislation to prevent all foreign doctors with a poor grasp of English from working in England. If you can’t speak adequate English, you can’t treat patients.’
Currently only doctors from outside Europe are routinely scrutinised for their language skills before being able to register with the General Medical Council, the doctors’ watchdog.
But European law prevents the GMC from vetting the language skills of doctors from within Europe, because it conflicts with the European ideal of the free movement of people.
It has led to the farcical position where doctors from English-speaking countries such as Australia and Canada face tougher language tests than those from Italy and Lithuania.
Ministers plan to sidestep the directive by putting the onus on trusts – and not the GMC – to check language skills.
The ‘responsible officers’ will also have to ensure that the doctor has the right qualifications to work in the NHS – and that appropriate references are obtained and checked.
Consultation: Rigorous new tests will ensure that GPs can speak sufficient English (picture posed by models)
There will also be a new power for trusts to refer a doctor to the GMC if they have concerns that their poor language skills could put patients at risk.
Mr Lansley plans to legislate to give the GMC explicit new powers to take action against doctors when there are concerns about their ability to speak English.
In his speech, the Health Secretary will say: ‘We will amend the Medical Act to ensure that any doctor from overseas who can’t use a decent level of English is not able to treat NHS patients.
‘This is not about discriminating: We’ve always appreciated how much overseas doctors and nurses give to our NHS.
‘It is simply about our absolute commitment to put patients’ safety first.’
Currently 23,033 doctors from Europe – almost 10 per cent of the total – are registered to work in the NHS.
France has managed to get round the rules by not testing doctors’ language per se, but inviting applicants to interview. Those deemed not to have the requisite language skills will not get a job.
The Department of Health said it was in talks with the Nursing and Midwifery Council to consider testing the language skills of foreign nurses as well.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2044925/Language-test-foreign-doctors-Law-bar-medics-speak-English.html#ixzz1ZoiWpYQe
By Daniel Martin
Foreign doctors will be barred from treating patients unless they have a good grasp of English under tough rules to be announced by Andrew Lansley today.
The Health Secretary will pledge to end the scandal which has seen 23,000 doctors from Europe registered to work in the NHS – despite never having been asked if they can speak the language properly.
A new law will give trusts the statutory duty to check the English language skills of all new overseas doctors before they are employed by the Health Service.
Failure to pass the language test will see them prevented from taking a job in an NHS hospital or a GP surgery – ensuring patients are treated by doctors they can understand, and who can understand them.
Last year, a report by the Commons Health Select Committee concluded that the failure to ensure GPs on out-of-hours shifts can speak English had cost lives.
Three years ago, pensioner David Gray died after being treated by out-of-hours locum Dr Daniel Ubani, who was exhausted after having flown in from Germany. He was allowed to treat patients despite having a poor grasp of English.
Doctors’ language skills are not yet routinely tested because Britain sticks rigidly to an EU directive which outlaws checks on overseas GPs’ language skills – while France flouts it.
More...'Sometimes doctors do things that patients don't think necessary': What GP 'told disabled patient as he indecently assaulted her'
15,000 NHS nurses fear redundancy as they reveal cuts are damaging patient care
The ban is even enshrined in British law: The 1983 Medical Act, brought in by Margaret Thatcher. Mr Lansley will repeal the parts of the Act which stop trusts from testing foreign doctors’ English.
Under the new scheme, all trusts will have to appoint a ‘responsible officer’ whose job will be to test the language skills of all foreign doctors applying to work there.
He or she must also ensure the applicant is trained to UK standards and understands how the NHS works.
Minister: Andrew Lansley is set to introduce new rules for foreign doctors
Ministers are confident the new rules will be drawn up in such a way that Britain will be able to circumvent the EU directive – and protect the safety of patients.
Mr Lansley said: ‘There is considerable anxiety amongst the public about the ability of doctors to speak English properly.
‘After 13 years of inaction from Labour to tighten up language controls, we will amend the legislation to prevent all foreign doctors with a poor grasp of English from working in England. If you can’t speak adequate English, you can’t treat patients.’
Currently only doctors from outside Europe are routinely scrutinised for their language skills before being able to register with the General Medical Council, the doctors’ watchdog.
But European law prevents the GMC from vetting the language skills of doctors from within Europe, because it conflicts with the European ideal of the free movement of people.
It has led to the farcical position where doctors from English-speaking countries such as Australia and Canada face tougher language tests than those from Italy and Lithuania.
Ministers plan to sidestep the directive by putting the onus on trusts – and not the GMC – to check language skills.
The ‘responsible officers’ will also have to ensure that the doctor has the right qualifications to work in the NHS – and that appropriate references are obtained and checked.
Consultation: Rigorous new tests will ensure that GPs can speak sufficient English (picture posed by models)
There will also be a new power for trusts to refer a doctor to the GMC if they have concerns that their poor language skills could put patients at risk.
Mr Lansley plans to legislate to give the GMC explicit new powers to take action against doctors when there are concerns about their ability to speak English.
In his speech, the Health Secretary will say: ‘We will amend the Medical Act to ensure that any doctor from overseas who can’t use a decent level of English is not able to treat NHS patients.
‘This is not about discriminating: We’ve always appreciated how much overseas doctors and nurses give to our NHS.
‘It is simply about our absolute commitment to put patients’ safety first.’
Currently 23,033 doctors from Europe – almost 10 per cent of the total – are registered to work in the NHS.
France has managed to get round the rules by not testing doctors’ language per se, but inviting applicants to interview. Those deemed not to have the requisite language skills will not get a job.
The Department of Health said it was in talks with the Nursing and Midwifery Council to consider testing the language skills of foreign nurses as well.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2044925/Language-test-foreign-doctors-Law-bar-medics-speak-English.html#ixzz1ZoiWpYQe
02 October 2011
HUMAN MOLECULAR GENETICS: Genetic basis of schizophrenia & bipolar disorder.
From NEW SCIENTIST
Human Molecular Genetics
hmg.oxfordjournals.org
September 9, 2011
Disease-associated epigenetic changes in monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
Emma L. Dempster1,†, Ruth Pidsley1,†, Leonard C. Schalkwyk1, Sheena Owens2, Anna Georgiades2, Fergus Kane2, Sridevi Kalidindi2, Marco Picchioni2,3, Eugenia Kravariti2, Timothea Toulopoulou2, Robin M. Murray2 and Jonathan Mill1,*
+ Author Affiliations
1MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre and
2Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK and
3St Andrew's Academic Centre, Northampton NN1 5BG, UK
↵*To whom correspondence should be addressed at: SGDP Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK. Tel: +44 2078480859; Fax: +44 2078480866; Email: jonathan.mill@kcl.ac.uk
↵† These authors contributed equally to this work.
Received July 12, 2011.
Accepted September 7, 2011.
Abstract
Studies of the major psychoses, schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD), have traditionally focused on genetic and environmental risk factors, although more recent work has highlighted an additional role for epigenetic processes in mediating susceptibility. Since monozygotic (MZ) twins share a common DNA sequence, their study represents an ideal design for investigating the contribution of epigenetic factors to disease etiology. We performed a genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation on peripheral blood DNA samples obtained from a unique sample of MZ twin pairs discordant for major psychosis. Numerous loci demonstrated disease-associated DNA methylation differences between twins discordant for SZ and BD individually, and together as a combined major psychosis group. Pathway analysis of our top loci highlighted a significant enrichment of epigenetic changes in biological networks and pathways directly relevant to psychiatric disorder and neurodevelopment. The top psychosis-associated, differentially methylated region, significantly hypomethylated in affected twins, was located in the promoter of ST6GALNAC1 overlapping a previously reported rare genomic duplication observed in SZ. The mean DNA methylation difference at this locus was 6%, but there was considerable heterogeneity between families, with some twin pairs showing a 20% difference in methylation. We subsequently assessed this region in an independent sample of postmortem brain tissue from affected individuals and controls, finding marked hypomethylation (>25%) in a subset of psychosis patients. Overall, our data provide further evidence to support a role for DNA methylation differences in mediating phenotypic differences between MZ twins and in the etiology of both SZ and BD.
© The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Human Molecular Genetics
hmg.oxfordjournals.org
September 9, 2011
Disease-associated epigenetic changes in monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
Emma L. Dempster1,†, Ruth Pidsley1,†, Leonard C. Schalkwyk1, Sheena Owens2, Anna Georgiades2, Fergus Kane2, Sridevi Kalidindi2, Marco Picchioni2,3, Eugenia Kravariti2, Timothea Toulopoulou2, Robin M. Murray2 and Jonathan Mill1,*
+ Author Affiliations
1MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre and
2Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK and
3St Andrew's Academic Centre, Northampton NN1 5BG, UK
↵*To whom correspondence should be addressed at: SGDP Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK. Tel: +44 2078480859; Fax: +44 2078480866; Email: jonathan.mill@kcl.ac.uk
↵† These authors contributed equally to this work.
Received July 12, 2011.
Accepted September 7, 2011.
Abstract
Studies of the major psychoses, schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD), have traditionally focused on genetic and environmental risk factors, although more recent work has highlighted an additional role for epigenetic processes in mediating susceptibility. Since monozygotic (MZ) twins share a common DNA sequence, their study represents an ideal design for investigating the contribution of epigenetic factors to disease etiology. We performed a genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation on peripheral blood DNA samples obtained from a unique sample of MZ twin pairs discordant for major psychosis. Numerous loci demonstrated disease-associated DNA methylation differences between twins discordant for SZ and BD individually, and together as a combined major psychosis group. Pathway analysis of our top loci highlighted a significant enrichment of epigenetic changes in biological networks and pathways directly relevant to psychiatric disorder and neurodevelopment. The top psychosis-associated, differentially methylated region, significantly hypomethylated in affected twins, was located in the promoter of ST6GALNAC1 overlapping a previously reported rare genomic duplication observed in SZ. The mean DNA methylation difference at this locus was 6%, but there was considerable heterogeneity between families, with some twin pairs showing a 20% difference in methylation. We subsequently assessed this region in an independent sample of postmortem brain tissue from affected individuals and controls, finding marked hypomethylation (>25%) in a subset of psychosis patients. Overall, our data provide further evidence to support a role for DNA methylation differences in mediating phenotypic differences between MZ twins and in the etiology of both SZ and BD.
© The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
01 October 2011
U.British Columbia Emeritus Prof Psychology Robert D.HARE CM PhD on PSYCHOPATHS
Original idea of post from READER'S DIGEST article
readersdigest.ca/september
http://www.hare.org/
HARE Psychopathy Checklist revised (PCL-R)
Prof Hare estimates a 1% psychopathy prevalence` rate: a problem for Clinicians.
readersdigest.ca/september
http://www.hare.org/
HARE Psychopathy Checklist revised (PCL-R)
Prof Hare estimates a 1% psychopathy prevalence` rate: a problem for Clinicians.
30 September 2011
ISID NEWS
The SEPTEMBER 2011 of the ISID NEWS (the official newsletter of the International Society for Infectious Diseases) is now available online.
15th International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID)
The 15th ICID will be held in Bangkok, Thailand on June 13-16, 2012
For more information, go to http://www.isid.org/icid/ or Join the 15th ICID Mailing List
ISID Neglected Tropical Diseases Meeting
Slide presentations of many of the symposia and plenary talks are now posted as pdf files online at http://ntd.isid.org/
Any individual interested in infectious diseases may become a member of the Society for FREE.
Subscription to the online International Journal of Infectious Diseases is free from June 2011 through May 2012.
15th International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID)
The 15th ICID will be held in Bangkok, Thailand on June 13-16, 2012
For more information, go to http://www.isid.org/icid/ or Join the 15th ICID Mailing List
ISID Neglected Tropical Diseases Meeting
Slide presentations of many of the symposia and plenary talks are now posted as pdf files online at http://ntd.isid.org/
Any individual interested in infectious diseases may become a member of the Society for FREE.
Subscription to the online International Journal of Infectious Diseases is free from June 2011 through May 2012.
29 September 2011
UK :SUN Paracetamol liver failure from self-medication
from UK: SUN
A young mum battling what she thought was a lingering cold died after continually guzzling paracetamol pills and LEMPSIP (paracetamol+phenylephrine).
Fitness instructor Donna Bishop, 25, kept up her daily cocktail of over-the-counter remedies despite her GP diagnosing a chest infection.
The mum of one — who had caught a cold two weeks earlier — would wash the tablets down with the hot drink, an inquest heard yesterday.
LEMPSIP also contains paracetamol (650 mg)— and her health slowly deteriorated as she unwittingly overdosed on the painkiller.
A pal told how even when Donna, of Warndon Villages, Worcester, kept being sick she was convinced the remedies would help her — and took more. Days after her doctor put her on antibiotics Donna went to hospital complaining of mouth ulcers and difficulty swallowing.
She was prescribed co-codamol — which also contains paracetamol. Next day her sister found her woozy and jaundiced.
Donna went to hospital where a senior registrar advised tests, including one for paracetamol poisoning. She went home BEFORE having the tests, only to be re-admitted hallucinating hours later. Donna died of liver failure the same day.
A nurse told the inquest in Stourport-on-Severn how up until the end the mum denied taking paracetamol.
Donna's mum Nicky, 46, said after a coroner's narrative verdict that the paracetamol killed her: "It's horrible. I don't want other families to go through this."
A young mum battling what she thought was a lingering cold died after continually guzzling paracetamol pills and LEMPSIP (paracetamol+phenylephrine).
Fitness instructor Donna Bishop, 25, kept up her daily cocktail of over-the-counter remedies despite her GP diagnosing a chest infection.
The mum of one — who had caught a cold two weeks earlier — would wash the tablets down with the hot drink, an inquest heard yesterday.
LEMPSIP also contains paracetamol (650 mg)— and her health slowly deteriorated as she unwittingly overdosed on the painkiller.
A pal told how even when Donna, of Warndon Villages, Worcester, kept being sick she was convinced the remedies would help her — and took more. Days after her doctor put her on antibiotics Donna went to hospital complaining of mouth ulcers and difficulty swallowing.
She was prescribed co-codamol — which also contains paracetamol. Next day her sister found her woozy and jaundiced.
Donna went to hospital where a senior registrar advised tests, including one for paracetamol poisoning. She went home BEFORE having the tests, only to be re-admitted hallucinating hours later. Donna died of liver failure the same day.
A nurse told the inquest in Stourport-on-Severn how up until the end the mum denied taking paracetamol.
Donna's mum Nicky, 46, said after a coroner's narrative verdict that the paracetamol killed her: "It's horrible. I don't want other families to go through this."
27 September 2011
UK: DAILY STAR Possible poisoning of three Hospital patients
By Daily Star Reporter
POLICE probing the deaths of three hospital patients by poisoning have called in a top pathologist who investigated the 1997 death of Princess Diana.
Prof Robert Forrest has joined officers who suspect two saboteurs may have hit Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, Gtr Manchester.
Tracey Arden, 44, Arnold Lancaster, 71, and Derek Weaver, 83, all died after being given saline drips contaminated with insulin.
Prof.Forrest told Diana’s inquest tests on the blood of her driver Henri Paul suggested “cock-up or conspiracy”.
POLICE probing the deaths of three hospital patients by poisoning have called in a top pathologist who investigated the 1997 death of Princess Diana.
Prof Robert Forrest has joined officers who suspect two saboteurs may have hit Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, Gtr Manchester.
Tracey Arden, 44, Arnold Lancaster, 71, and Derek Weaver, 83, all died after being given saline drips contaminated with insulin.
Prof.Forrest told Diana’s inquest tests on the blood of her driver Henri Paul suggested “cock-up or conspiracy”.
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