Detecting problems with motor coordination could be a simple way to predict the long-term severity of psychosis. The Neurological Evaluation Scale (NES) is a quick and useful tool for examining sensory-motor issues such as restlessness, tremors, and problems with coordination and balance. A new study used the scale to assess patients after their first psychotic episode. ...

Stroke is a medical emergency that often results in serious disability. A drug treatment called thrombolysis improves the chance of recovery in some patients but can only be given in hospital in the first few hours after a stroke. A coordinated emergency response involving ambulance and hospital services is needed to identify the patients who ...

A simple, low-cost blood test offers great potential as a tool for diagnosing womb cancer, and for screening high-risk women. The test gives almost instant results and in a new study, it picked up changes in the womb that could lead to cancer (pre-cancerous growths). In the UK, womb cancer is the fourth most common ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) predicted the development of a leading cause of blindness in new research. A collaboration between Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and Google’s DeepMind and Google Health found that AI predicted the development of wet age-related macular degeneration (wet-AMD) more accurately than clinicians. Wet-AMD can lead to rapid and severe loss of sight. ...

In the early 2000s, bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics were widespread in UK hospitals and a strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) posed a major threat to public health. This led to nationwide infection control programmes in the mid-2000s, with a rapid decline in rates in NHS hospitals over the following decade. This study ...

People with glaucoma in both eyes, high pressure in the eyes and small amounts of bleeding in the eye (disc haemorrhages) have an increased risk of sight loss. These risk factors for sight loss were revealed in new analysis of study data. Glaucoma is a common eye condition in which the optic nerve connecting the ...

Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments may be a cost-effective location for testing for hepatitis, new research has found. Rates of hepatitis are higher among A&E patients than in the general population. This is because hepatitis is more common among marginalised communities - including people who are homeless or who inject drugs - and they attend ...

Detecting cancer at the earliest opportunity can improve the chances of successful treatment.  New research suggests that a routine blood test could help find cancers early. Researchers have previously shown that high levels of platelets – cells in the blood that help stop bleeding – can be a sign of cancer. But now they have ...

Liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health burden. The World Health Organisation is aiming to eliminate HCV as a public health problem by 2030 and testing in prisons is central to this campaign. People entering prison are asked to have a test for blood-borne viruses including HCV, but ...

A new study found a wide variation in how men with prostate cancer are managed in different hospitals. Current NICE guidelines recommend that prostate cancers are broadly classified into those at low, intermediate or high risk of spreading. A more precise system for classifying risk revealed that hospitals may have different approaches for managing men ...