Women who have had ovary transplants to maintain their fertility could also benefit from a greater life expectancy. Ovarian transplants usually only take place after a woman has received cancer treatment, to allow her the chance of re gaining her fertility. Although the success rate of conceiving naturally is sadly extremely rare, the transplant may now prove to have added benefits.

Studies carried out on mice have shown a 40% increase in extended life span. Excitement is occurring after the ovaries of younger mice were transplanted into older mice creating such positive results. Now, research into whether the same will occur in humans needs to begin.

One of the researchers Dr Noriko Kagawa from the Kato Ladies Clinic in Tokyo said, “At present, ovarian transplants are performed with the aim of preserving a woman’s fertility after cancer treatment for instance, or of extending her reproductive lifespan. However, the completely unexpected extra benefit of fertility-preserving procedures in our mouse studies indicates that there is a possibility that carrying out similar procedures in women could lengthen their lifespans in general”

The experiment changed the level of hormones in the mice, thus rejuvenating them. All of the mice that received the transplant not only regained their fertility, but also tremendously increased their longevity.

Like all scientific experiments and research, this one is likely to take many years until it is proved and able to be put into practice. However, the amount of time we have to wait must not detract from the fact that this is an exciting result. It will be intriguing to see what the future brings.

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It’s a problem that worries hundreds of thousands of women worldwide. How long do they have to conceive a child? With the increase of women having more prolific careers and working longer hours, in line with their male counterparts, the decision of when to have children can be a difficult one to make.

Scientists at a medical centre in Tehran are conducting a study to try to assertain the onset of menopause and give women a ‘deadline’ of such, as to when their fertility will decrease. The ideal would be a simple blood test that measures the concentrations of hormones in the ovaries, which would give women an accurate (within four months) date of the menopause.

The average women reaches menopause in her early to mid fifties, however a small number of women will suffer from early onset menopause and for these women, the test could be significantly life changing.

Dr Dagan Wells from Oxford University said, “Remember fertility can be dramatically reduced in the years leading up to the menopause, for five years or more.

Where this test might be particularly useful, even if it’s not super-accurate, could be where women are unaware they might experience a very premature menopause. It could give them a heads-up.”

Even if the test can’t give an exact date for menopause, it could go a long way to putting peoples minds at rest and is likely to bring a lot of happiness to a vast number of women.

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A baby boy has had life saving treatment following a heart operation. Finley Burton was chilled for four days after he suffered complications. The baby, who was sixteen weeks old at the time, developed a hole in his heart and a narrowed aorta and was taken for surgery at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.

Although the operation was a success, the tiny boy developed a heart rhythm of around 200 beats per minute. The possibility of the accelerated rate becoming fatal were exceedingly high, so doctors decided to chill the sedated child in a specially adapted blanket to allow his heart rate to slow.

The hole in Finley’s heart caused his lungs to work too hard which in turn left him breathless and unable to eat properly. Paddy Walsh, a specialist children’s nurse at the hospital where Finlay was treated said, “Obviously, if babies were awake and conscious throughout, they would be very uncomfortable. But they are kept very sedated, so they are not fighting it and are asleep.”

The treatment was a complete success and Finley is now at home with his parents. His mother Donna Link-Emery said, “Now he’s doing really well and has already put on lots of weight.”

There is a website for the Freeman Hospital Children’s Heart United Fund for anyone wishing to make a donation. www.justgiving.com/Donna-Link-Emery.

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A lack of sewer pollution and dry weather has allowed Britain’s beaches to be the cleanest they’ve been for the last ten years. According to the Environment Agency a record number of resorts in England and Wales have achieved the highest possible standard. A spokesperson for the agency, Chris Tuckett said, “We want cleaner bathing water for everyone and these early results are the best for a decade. Nearly 97% received the highest EU rating and 99% met the mandatory standards.”

Holidaymakers are giving the beaches a thumbs up with thousands of visitors swarming to the coast in the period of hot weather we’ve had recently. Some like Katie Clark from Southampton even braved the 12C water this weekend calling it “lovely”.

The threat of contamination is forever imminent and not something the Environment Agency takes lightly. Chris Tuckett went on to say, “Run-off from urban and agricultural sources and sewer overflows remains a risk, particularly after heavy rain. We are using the latest techniques to identify and tackle all sources of pollution. We are also working with surfers, swimmers, farmers and water companies to ensure the quality of our bathing water continues improving.”

The monitoring of 494 designated bathing sites has found that 97% reach the blue flag standard. Of course there is always room for improvement, with a small number of beaches falling short of “Excellent” and being attributed with “Good” and in a few cases “Poor”. It’s a good start to the summer though, and with more and more people flocking to the coast, it is bound to bring a boost for local businesses and for Britain as a whole.

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So many of us work through our lunch breaks, don’t take coffee breaks and stay late at work. Often it is simply get through the amount of work piled on our desks, sometimes it’s to accumulate flexi time or to prove our worth. Whatever the reason working through breaks has sadly become an all too common occurrence in our working lives. A new study however, shows that all this ‘solid’ working can actually be counter productive.

The study was attempting to prove that caffeine helped improve workers memory and concentration levels. It showed that caffeine had a similar effect to having a power nap, for those working long overnight shifts. The results came from a culmination from thirteen worldwide studies involving shift workers. All the volunteers were asked to perform tasks to test their concentration, memory, and use of words and reasoning. It’s said that the caffeine caused the participants to make less errors.

The research was carried out at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Lead researcher, Katherine Ker said, “The results of the trials suggest that compared to no intervention, caffeine can reduce the number of errors and improve cognitive performance in shift workers. It seems reasonable to assume that reduced errors are associated with fewer injuries, although we cannot quantify such a reduction.”

The majority of the volunteers were in their twenties, so further research is needed to ascertain if similar results occur in older participants.

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We all know how vital organ donation is yet many of us are still not registered as donors. It’s easy to forget or have all the intentions of registering, but life gets in the way and the good intentions go out of the window. The idea of an opt out system, whereas everyone would be a potential donor unless they specifically registered not to be has been banded about for decades now, and it looks like finally it may become a reality.

This is good news for the 8,000 people currently waiting for a transplant. A television campaign in Wales will begin this month starring twenty-two year old Kerrianne Phillips who suffers from liver disease. The advert plays on the fact that having the disease is like being a prisoner in a cell. “I have spent half my life in hospital,” Kerrianne says. “This time it’s been seven months. Every tiny infection and I’m back in – it’s horrendous.”

Only 28% of Britons are on the donor register and in figures published last week by the British Medical Journal, the number would rise by 30% if the opt out system was introduced. Wales is trying to pave the way and become the first British country to change the law and have the system in place. When speaking to the Observer, Carwyn Jones, the first minister for Wales said, “We have decided on soft presumed consent, where relatives can veto organ donation, because we want to make it as easy as possible.” It’s hoped that the new system could be in place before the Welsh assembly elections in spring 2011.

Sadly the process, if successful will take months if not years to be put into practice, and thousands of people on the transplant list will die waiting. If the system isn’t approved then at the very least let’s hope that the media campaign will encourage more of us to get a donor card or register online.

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