If you struggle to lose yourself in your studies, this might help motivate you – people who are more educated ‘live longer’ claim a team of Swedish researchers.

According to scientists from the Centre of Health Equity Studies and the Swedish Institute for Social Research, people who are educated for at least nine years have a lower mortality rate after the age of 40 than those who study for eight years or less.

The research, based on the study results of 1.2 million Swedish people, found a link between education and life expectancy. They discovered that those exposed to an additional year of education adopted a more positive outlook on life during their ninth year of education, meaning they were more likely to look after their health and wellbeing.

“If your life is a little better, you take a little better care of yourself,” explains lead researcher Anton Lager in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, as reported by HealthDay.

“If you make a little more income, have a job with a little more flexibility, more control of time, then maybe you use less tobacco and alcohol," says Lager.

The researchers looked at data from 1949 to 2007, and discovered that people who received nine years of education as opposed to eight years and under, were less likely to die from all types of cancer (particularly lung cancer) and accidents.

Women with nine years of education behind them were less likely to die from heart disease.

If you can’t get through the day without a can of fizz, two sugars in your tea or a junk food binge, you are not only ruining your waistline - you could be dumbing down your brain, too.

A team of scientists from the University of California discovered that the brains of people who eat large amounts of sugar for as little as six weeks, could experience a sharp decline in learning and memory ability as a result.

Researchers came to this conclusion after giving lab rats a high-fructose corn syrup solution in place of drinking water for six weeks.

Fructose corn syrup is commonly found in fizzy drinks and processed junk foods and is an artificial type of fructose found naturally in fruit.

Prior to the study, the rats were fed a standard diet and trained to complete complex mazes twice a day for five days. After six weeks of being fed the high-fructose solution, researchers noticed a significant reduction in the rats’ ability to navigate through the maze.

"Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think," lead researcher Fernando Gomez-Pinilla said in a statement. "Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain's ability to learn and remember information.”

Gomez-Pinilla believes that insulin - the hormone that is central to regulating carbohydrates and fat metabolism in the body - is key to these findings.

"Insulin is important in the body for controlling blood sugar, but it may play a different role in the brain, where insulin appears to disturb memory and learning," explains Gomez-Pinilla.

"Our study shows that a high-fructose diet harms the brain as well as the body. This is something new."

In contrast, another group of lab rats were fed a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which help protect against damage to the brain’s synapses (the structure that allows neurons to communicate with the brain).

Researchers discovered these rats navigated their way through the mazes much faster than those on a high-fructose diet.

SEE ALSO: Is Sugar Toxic? Scientist Claims Fructose Is Just As Dangerous As Poison

"The DHA-deprived animals were slower, and their brains showed a decline in synaptic activity. Their brain cells had trouble signaling each other, disrupting the rats' ability to think clearly and recall the route they'd learned six weeks earlier,” explained Gomez-Pinilla.

In short, researchers believe that if you have a high-sugar diet, derived mainly from processed food – the damage can be reversed if you swap fructose with foods high in omega-3.

"Our findings suggest that consuming DHA regularly protects the brain against fructose's harmful effects," said Gomez-Pinilla. "It's like saving money in the bank. You want to build a reserve for your brain to tap when it requires extra fuel to fight off future diseases."

Foods high in omega-3 fatty acids include salmon, walnuts, sardines, tuna, tofu and soybeans.

Swedish people might be good girls and boys who brush their teeth each day, but according to new research, only one in 10 are doing it in a way that effectively prevents tooth decay.

In two separate studies, researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg recently discovered that Swedes need to brush up on their technique.

Most Swedes regularly brush their teeth with fluoride toothpaste. But only a few know the best brushing technique, how the toothpaste should be used and that fluoride prevents tooth decay, reported Pia Gabre and her colleagues.

After studying the toothbrushing habits of 2013 Swedes aged between 15 and 80, the team determined there were fundamental flaws in brushing times, regularity and the amount of fluoride toothpaste used.

"Swedes generally do brush their teeth, but mostly because of social norms and to feel fresh rather than to prevent tooth decay," said Gabre in a statement.

Scroll Down To Find Out How To Brush Your Teeth Properly

Swedes could improve their oral health considerably by learning how to maximise the effect of fluoride toothpaste, according to Gabre.

Yet the study shows that 80% of volunteers were generally happy with how they take care of their teeth.

"Most of the interviewed subjects learned to brush their teeth as children, by their parents. Even if they have been informed about more effective techniques later in life, they continue to brush their teeth like they always have," said Gabre.

Yesterday, the British Dental Health Foundation launched the UK's largest annual oral health campaign - National Smile Month to help combat similar issues.

Dr Uchenna Okoye, Oral-B dental director, told Huffpost Lifestyle: ‘‘In Britain, we have seen dramatic improvements in the state of our teeth, but research shows that as a nation we still have poor brushing habits. It is hard to break bad habits and people don’t like to change the way they brush.”

Despite ongoing education in Britain, new research by Oral-B has exposed the nation’s bad brushing habits.

Over 75% of Brits are currently not using the right brushing technique, which may result in plaque build-up and tooth and gum decay. And according to their research, 35 to 44-year-olds are the worst offenders when it comes to brushing.

Dr Carter of National Smile Month said: "Getting people to talk and think about their teeth and dental habits is vital to our goal of improving the state of oral health not only in the UK but worldwide.

"The impact of poor oral hygiene is often underestimated and someone's poor oral health can be a pre-cursor to a number of serious health issues such as stroke, coronary heart disease, diabetes and low birth weight babies.

“National Smile Month is about encouraging people to take better care of their smile and ultimately their general health.”

Cycling may be good for a woman’s health – but it is less so for her sex life. Women who spend a lot of time in the saddle can experience decreased genital sensation, a study by Yale has found.

Published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, the paper found women whose handlebars are lower than the saddle were especially at risk, as the position results in increased pressure on the nerves and blood vessels surrounding the genitalia.

“Modifying bicycle setup may help alleviate neuropathies (nerve damage) in females,” the authors recommended.

The study involved 48 cyclists who rode at least 10 miles a week and measured genital sensation, perineal and total saddle pressures using specialised equipment.

Participants were asked to ride their own cycles whilst mounted on a stand, the New York Daily News reported. They were then asked if they had experience “soreness, tingling and other sensations” in their pelvic regions.

It builds on previous research by Yale published in 2006 that found female cyclists had less genital sensation than female runners.

In 2009 a paper published by Professor Diana Vaamonde, from the University of Cordoba Medical School, Spain, said male triathletes who did the most cycling training had the worst sperm morphology.

As Medical Daily points out, cycling has also been linked to numbness of genitalia and erectile dysfunction in males, especially if the handlebars to the bike are parallel or higher than the saddle

If you find yourself irresistibly drawn to the vending machine after daydreaming about that bar of chocolate, you may soon be able to pop a pill that’ll make your junk food craving disappear – the only downside is it could contain lizard spit.

A team of researchers from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg discovered that reptile saliva from the Gila monster lizard could help combat food cravings in humans, after testing its power during a series of taste tests on rats.

Scientists created a drug called Exenatide, which contains a natural compound called exendin-4 that is found in the saliva of the scaly Gila lizard.

The lab rats showed a reduction in food cravings after being given the pill, which could be due to the exendin-4 in saliva affecting the reward and motivation regions of the brain, says assistant professor Karolina Skibicka.

It's also believed that it is able to control blood sugar levels, too.

"This is both unknown and quite unexpected effect," professor Skibicka said in statement. “Our decision to eat is linked to the same mechanisms in the brain which control addictive behaviours.”

SEE ALSO

• The Psychology Behind Your Junk Food Cravings
• Does Eating Too Fast Trigger Diabetes?
• Are You A Pleasure Eater?

Researchers are hopeful that this drug could help treat those with eating disorders, type 2 diabetes and even alcohol cravings.

"It is the same brain regions which are involved in food cravings and alcohol cravings, so it would be very interesting to test whether exendin-4 also reduces the cravings for alcohol," adds professor Skibicka.

Doreen Virtue, author of Constant Craving added that this pill could help keep people on track with their diet.

"Overwhelming food cravings are the culprit behind every broken diet and dietary-related disease," Virtue told HuffPost Lifestyle.

If you don't fancy popping a lizard saliva pill, find out other ways you can battle the food cravings...

Want to see the Gila monster lizard up close? Watch this...

A drug to treat advanced prostate cancer should be given to patients on the NHS, a health watchdog has said.

Abirateron, marketed as Zytiga, can extend the lives of late-stage cancer sufferers by more than three months.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) revised its recommendations after fresh information from manufacturer Janssen, and the new draft guidance was welcomed by experts.

Professor Alan Ashworth, chief executive of the Institute of Cancer Research, said: "We are delighted by today's decision to allow patients with advanced prostate cancer to receive abiraterone on the NHS.

"This drug was discovered at the Institute of Cancer Research and is the result of more than two decades of dedicated work by our scientists and collaborators.

"In clinical trials of men with advanced prostate cancer who have already tried chemotherapy, it has been shown to extend life by an average of four months and improve quality of life."

Each year around 37,000 men in the UK are diagnosed with prostate cancer and 10,000 die from the disease. It is the second most common cause of cancer death in men, accounting for 13%.

See Also

• Record Low Number Of 50-Year-Olds Dying Of Cancer
• 10-Year-Old Girl Has 3kg Tumour Removed

Sir Andrew Dillon, chief executive of Nice, said: "During the consultation on the draft guidance Janssen, the manufacturer of the drug, submitted further information for the committee to consider.

"This included a revised patient access scheme which involves providing the drug to the NHS at a discounted price, further information on which patients would benefit most and clarification on how many patients could receive the drug.

"These factors enabled the committee to revise its preliminary recommendation and now recommend the drug for use on the NHS.

"We are very pleased that Janssen's submission to our consultation means that we are able to produce draft guidance recommending abiraterone - it is an effective treatment, potentially extending life by more than three months, and it also allows patients to be treated at home as it can be taken orally."

As Nice has not issued final guidance there is a chance the decision could be appealed against, and NHS bodies should make decisions locally on the funding of specific treatments.

Nice recommended the use of abiraterone in combination with prednisone or prednisolone for the treatment of castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer that has progressed after one docetaxel-containing therapy.

The Prostate Cancer Charity also welcomed the recommendation, but called for the guidance to be issued across the whole of the UK - including Scotland - because Nice covers just England and Wales.

Owen Sharp, chief executive of the charity said: "This announcement represents a resounding triumph for each of the thousands of men with advanced prostate cancer in England and Wales who know just how much the prospect of precious extra time with their loved ones really means.

"We are delighted that Nice has overturned its earlier decision after reviewing the evidence. We are also pleased that the manufacturer responded to our call to deliver a further reduction in price.

"Although today marks a very welcome advancement, it has to be remembered that abiraterone remains out of reach to men in Scotland on the NHS.

"We need to see every man who needs this drug receive it on the NHS, regardless of where they live in the UK."

An 83-year-old man has achieved a double by becoming the oldest living kidney donor in the UK and the oldest person in the country to give a kidney to a stranger.

Nicholas Crace is the latest member of an exclusive club known as altruistic donors - someone who gives a kidney to somebody on the NHS waiting list whom they do not know.

The former charity director, from Overton, Hampshire, said: "I knew that 7,000 people are waiting for a kidney and that one person dies almost every day while waiting.

"I couldn't have lived with myself with the knowledge that I had had the chance of changing someone's life and turned it down."

The operation, which took three hours, was carried out recently at the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth.

Tests at the hospital revealed that the widower's kidneys functioned as well as those of someone in their 40s.

Crace said: "The surgeon congratulated me on the perfection of my kidneys.

"In fact, given a halter, he would gladly have led me into the winner's enclosure at the Smithfield Show to have a rosette pinned on."

Annabel Ferriman, chairwoman of Give a Kidney - One's Enough, a charity dedicated to raising awareness of altruistic donation, said: "Altruistic donors are very special people.

"They have the imagination to understand the suffering that people go through on dialysis while waiting for a transplant and the courage and generosity to do something about it."

Crace explained that his thoughts turned to donating a kidney after his wife Brigid died last summer.

He also realised he was too old to be a bone marrow or blood donor, having given blood 57 times previously.

Crace, who is a volunteer driver for a local hospice, said: "I cannot remember quite what put the idea of being a living kidney donor into my mind but in September 2011 I thought that it might be worth investigating.

"After all, I was in good health, had no dependants and had plenty of time at my disposal.

"Giving a small part of me to someone else will make little difference to my life but a huge difference to someone else's - it was an easy decision for me to make.

"I was lucky to be in a position to help someone else less fortunate than myself."

The process involved Crace undergoing a number of tests during 14 hospital visits in a six-month period.

Consultant surgeon Sam Dutta, who performed the operation, said: "We know from numerous studies that a living donor kidney performs better, works quicker and lasts longer than one from a deceased donor.

"All the detrimental factors related to being on dialysis are completely taken care of by a good, functioning kidney.

"An altruistic donor coming forward is an amazing thing for us. The recipient just gets a new lease of life."

Almost 100 people have donated a kidney since the altruistic living donor scheme was launched in the UK in 2006 and in 2011 a further 1,000 people gave a kidney to a relative or friend.

When the US police officers who tasered seven-month pregnant Malaika Brooks three times won their right ‘not’ to be sued last October, you might have expected them to thank their lucky stars and creep away.

But no. Unhappy that the court highlighted their use of excessive force when they tasered a Seattle mother, stopped for driving 32 miles per hour in a school zone (the speed limit was 20) as she took her 11-year-old to school - the three Seattle police officers have asked the Supreme Court to hear an appeal that will establish whether their actions were ‘constitutional’.

The New York Times states: While the ruling left the three officers in the clear, it did put them and their colleagues on notice that some future uses of Tasers would cross a constitutional line and amount to excessive force.

Although they have already avoided being sued - as the court decide the law on the question was not clear - the cops are still keen to protect with they call “a useful pain technique”.

See Also: Alzheimer's Man 'Tasered' By UK Police

According to jezelbel.com, in the cops' defence, they thought Brooks was not pregnant, but simply ‘fat’.

After Brooks refused to sign the notice issued by the cops, assuming wrongly that signing was an acknowledgment of guilt, she was arrested - but would not leave her car.

They put the taser in "drive-stun mode," which delivers a "localised pain compliance option," which they said they knew was safe for pregnant women from their training. They then tased her once in the thigh, once on the arm, and once in the neck, reports Jezebel.com

Happily, in the months that followed, Brooks gave birth to healthy baby girl.

Speaking to The New York Times, the mother's lawyer, Michael F. Williams, said: “The officers are trying to defend inexcusable conduct. They inflicted enormous pain on a woman who was especially vulnerable over what was essentially a traffic violation.”

The justices of the Supreme Court are due to make decision on whether to hear the appeal next week.

According to a new study to be presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, prophets of doom may have to revise their forecasts that technology is killing good quality human communication.

In a statement, the team from the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research say their preliminary findings suggest text messaging is a more effective way to elicit candid responses to sensitive questions from individuals, than a phone call.

"The preliminary results of our study suggest that people are more likely to disclose sensitive information via text messages than in voice interviews," said Fred Conrad, a cognitive psychologist and director at the University of Michigan.

Although the team are in the early stages of analysing their findings, according to Michael Schober of The New School for Social Research, who conducted the study with Conrad, it seems that texting may reduce some respondents tendencies to ‘shade the truth’ or present themselves in the best possible light.

“What we cannot yet be sure of is who is most likely to be disclosive in text. Is it different for frequent texters, or generational, for example?" said Schober.

According Ofcom, 13% of the UK population has a mobile phone but no landline. In the US, the rate goes up to one in five households.

For the study, the researchers recruited approximately 600 iPhone-users on Craigslist, through Google Ads, and from Amazon's Mechanical Turk, offering them iTunes Store incentives to participate in the study.

Respondents answered more honestly via text than speech on questions such as exercise habits and alcohol consumption.

And researchers noted their volunteers remained thoughtful in their answers despite the likelihood they were multitasking while texting.

A computer game which improves and overcomes the physical symptoms of a stroke using circus tricks has been launched as an innovative way of helping people overcome a stroke.

Stroke experts from Newcastle University have teamed up with a professional game studio, Limbs Alive, to develop the first in a set of titles which will train patients to regain hand or arm control.

After a stroke, a patient can recover control of the weak arm or hand even after a long time but this requires many months of expert, daily therapy. Providing the support and motivation to enable people to carry out such a demanding programme is costly and difficult and this often limits recovery. This is where the newly-developed suite of computer games called “Circus Challenge” can make a real difference.

Scroll down to see other life-changing medical breakthroughs

Players use wireless controllers to try their hand at virtual circus acts such as lion-taming, being a trapeze artist, juggling or plate spinning.

Former ship-builder Danny Mann, from Dudley, Northumberland, has tried the game and was impressed.

The 68-year-old grandfather who had a stroke in February said: "This is the first time I've ever played a video game - I mean, I don't even own a computer.

"It was good fun though it did feel like I was doing exercise and I worked up a sweat.

"The therapy exercises I normally have to do are dull but necessary but this game is something different which encourages me to keep going with my therapy.

"When I got the controllers I tried being a trapeze artist - something I never expected to try at my time of life.

"I would really like to play with my grandchildren - I can't think of a better motivation than sharing a game with them to help me on my road to recovery."

This is the first game designed as a therapy to be played at home while still being fun, Newcastle University said.

SEE ALSO

• Simple Drawing Test 'Could Predict Stroke Risk'
• 'A Stroke Made Me Gay'

Janet Eyre, Professor of Paediatric Neuroscience at the university, said: "The brain can re-learn control of the weak arm but this needs frequent therapy over many months and there are not enough therapists to provide this on a one-to-one basis.

"80% of patients do not regain full recovery of arm and hand function and this really limits their independence and ability to return to work.

"Patients need to be able to use both their arms and hands for most every day activities such as doing up a zip, making a bed, tying shoe laces, unscrewing a jar.

"With our video game, people get engrossed in the competition and action of the circus characters and forget that the purpose of the game is for therapy."

Circus Challenge gets more difficult as players' recovery and strength improve.

The tasks require both gross and fine motor skills and can be played by someone in a wheelchair.

Gamers of varying abilities can play together, meaning stroke patients can challenge relatives and friends.

The company now hopes to develop games to assist in therapies for other conditions such as cerebral palsy, chronic lung disease, type 2 diabetes and dementia.

Professor Eyre said: "Patients who have played the games find them easy to use, challenging and fun.

"They can be easily set up and played at home since they are designed by a professional games studio to be played on a laptop or PC.

"Patients forget they're doing therapy and just enjoy the challenge of playing."

The project received £1.5 million from the Health Innovation Challenge Fund, a partnership between the Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health, to allow further development.

In the UK, 150,000 people have a stroke leading to a cost of care and loss of income of £4 billion every year.

The Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, said: "Recovering from a stroke can be a very long and painful process.

"I am delighted that this example of remarkable innovation in the NHS will bring real benefits to patients.

"The Government is committed to supporting such work and bringing breakthroughs from every area - even video gaming - to the front line of patient care."

The Stroke Association welcomed the game's development - as long as it does not replace traditional physiotherapy.

The association's director of research, Dr Peter Coleman, said: "New technologies and games like this one can be used by stroke survivors in their own homes.

"However, it's important that they do not replace physiotherapists but instead support the vital work they do.

"We believe in life after stroke and campaign for every stroke survivor to access the support they need after leaving hospital so that they can make their best possible recovery."

Take a look at other life-changing medical breakthroughs...

An 83-year-old man has achieved a double by becoming the oldest living kidney donor in the UK and the oldest person in the country to give a kidney to a stranger.

Nicholas Crace is the latest member of an exclusive club known as altruistic donors - someone who gives a kidney to somebody on the NHS waiting list whom they do not know.

The former charity director, from Overton, Hampshire, said: "I knew that 7,000 people are waiting for a kidney and that one person dies almost every day while waiting.

"I couldn't have lived with myself with the knowledge that I had had the chance of changing someone's life and turned it down."

The operation, which took three hours, was carried out recently at the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth.

Tests at the hospital revealed that the widower's kidneys functioned as well as those of someone in their 40s.

Mr Crace said: "The surgeon congratulated me on the perfection of my kidneys.

"In fact, given a halter, he would gladly have led me into the winner's enclosure at the Smithfield Show to have a rosette pinned on."

Annabel Ferriman, chairwoman of Give a Kidney - One's Enough, a charity dedicated to raising awareness of altruistic donation, said: "Altruistic donors are very special people.

"They have the imagination to understand the suffering that people go through on dialysis while waiting for a transplant and the courage and generosity to do something about it."

Mr Crace explained that his thoughts turned to donating a kidney after his wife Brigid died last summer.

He also realised he was too old to be a bone marrow or blood donor, having given blood 57 times previously.

Mr Crace, who is a volunteer driver for a local hospice, said: "I cannot remember quite what put the idea of being a living kidney donor into my mind but in September 2011 I thought that it might be worth investigating.

"After all, I was in good health, had no dependants and had plenty of time at my disposal.

"Giving a small part of me to someone else will make little difference to my life but a huge difference to someone else's - it was an easy decision for me to make.

"I was lucky to be in a position to help someone else less fortunate than myself."

The process involved Mr Crace undergoing a number of tests during 14 hospital visits in a six-month period.

Consultant surgeon Sam Dutta, who performed the operation, said: "We know from numerous studies that a living donor kidney performs better, works quicker and lasts longer than one from a deceased donor.

"All the detrimental factors related to being on dialysis are completely taken care of by a good, functioning kidney.

"An altruistic donor coming forward is an amazing thing for us. The recipient just gets a new lease of life."

Almost 100 people have donated a kidney since the altruistic living donor scheme was launched in the UK in 2006 and in 2011 a further 1,000 people gave a kidney to a relative or friend.

Keeping track of how many calories and fat in our lunch would be easier if popular high-street sandwich brands clearly labelled the nutritional value, consumer watchdog Which? has warned.

The report claims confusing and contradicting labels on lunchtime favourites are making it hard for consumers to make correct comparisons when choosing the healthier option.

Tesco, Aldi, Greggs, Morrisons and Caffe Nero were all criticised for their lack of ‘traffic light labelling’ on pre-packed sandwiches.

The standard labels, created by the Foods Standards Agency, should include a colour-coded wheel indicating the salt, saturated fat and calorie content – with red, amber and green measuring how high or low the nutrient levels.

Food retailers who do use the traffic light labelling system include Asda, M&S, Sainsbury’s and Boots.

As portion size and nutritional content vary from sandwich to sandwich, Which? point out consumers could be eating three times as much fat and double the amount of salt in apparently 'equivalent' meals.

Shocked? Take a look at other hidden fat traps lurking in your everyday food…

To illustrate their concerns, Which? focused on three popular sandwiches – chicken salad, egg mayonnaise and bacon, lettuce and tomato (BLT).

They discovered a chicken sarnie from Morrisons contained 11.7g fat compared to one from Waitrose which contains 6.0g fat. A BLT from Lidl racks up 3.36g of salt, whereas in Boots, the same sandwich contains 1.5g salt.

Incidentally, the sandwiches with the highest levels of fat and salt were the ones without the traffic light labelling.

SEE ALSO

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• Unveiled: 'Pizza Dog' Complete With Hot Dog Stuffed Crust
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"With obesity levels reaching epidemic proportions, it's more important than ever that consumers know exactly what they're eating,” Richard Lloyd from Which? said in a statement.

“Many retailers are already using traffic-light labelling, but the rest need to catch up and do what works best for consumers. We want to see the government insist that all food companies use traffic lights on their labels, so there's a clear, consistent system that makes it easier for people to make informed choices about what they eat."

A father who lost his son to leukaemia has called for a new law to give school and college students lessons about donating blood, organs and stem cells.

Adrian's Law would ensure every pupil over 16 would be given at least one session on becoming a donor.

It would be named after Adrian Sudbury, a 27-year-old reporter, from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, who died in August 2008 after a two-year battle with leukaemia.

His campaigning father, Keith Sudbury, has been backed by blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan.

Sudbury said: "We urgently need more people willing to donate blood and stem cells.

"By taking this message to students aged 16 years and over we can grow the first generation of potential lifesavers who really understand what it means to donate blood, organs and stem cells."

Although his son received a transplant, he died.

The Huddersfield Examiner journalist spent the last two years of his life campaigning for better education about stem cell donation.

He took a petition of 11,300 signatures to Downing Street, inspiring then Prime Minister Gordon Brown to write to celebrities to raise awareness of the campaign.

Every 20 minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer, such as leukaemia, according to Anthony Nolan.

There are nearly 1,600 people in the country in need of a blood stem cell transplant - usually their last chance of survival - the charity said.

Nearly three-quarters of patients (70%) will not find a matching donor from within their family, it added.

Young people can donate blood at 17, join the Anthony Nolan register at 18 and join the NHS Organ Donor Register at any age.

Young people are much more likely to be selected as a match for a stem cell donation but 18 to 30-year-olds make up 12% of the register, according to Anthony Nolan.

The charity is campaigning to dramatically increase the number of young people on its register.

There are 430,000 people on the register.

In memory of their son, Sudbury and Adrian's mother Kay Sudbury developed a school education programme called Register And Be A Lifesaver (R&Be) which Anthony Nolan delivers in collaboration with NHS Blood and Transplant.

If your most important meeting of the day is with a barista, you're not alone, as the average Brit consumes 500g of coffee a year (around 200 cups).

Although high coffee intake has been loosely linked to high levels of cholesterol and the risk of coronary heart disease, recent research claims it may have one major health benefit that trumps them all – it could make you live longer.

A new 14-year study by the National Cancer Institute (the largest ever analysis of the link between coffee consumption and mortality) claims that men who drink at least six cups of coffee a day reduce their risk of dying by 12%.

For latte-loving women (those who guzzle four to five cups a day), the risk of dying was 15% lower than non-coffee drinkers. Even one cup a day makes a difference, as the study found a 5% decrease in mortality in those who drank a single cup daily.

Researchers added that this ‘coffee effect’ was seen across all causes of death, including heart and respiratory disease, stroke, accidents and diabetes.

However, this was in the exception of cancer, as cancer-related deaths were slightly higher among male coffee drinkers.

"There have been concerns for a long time that coffee might be a risky behaviour," explains study leader Neal Freedman in a statement.

"The results offer some reassurance that it's not a risk factor for future disease."

The study reviewed the coffee habits of more than 402,000 people between 1995 and 2008.

Although the initial study contradicted the findings above by discovering a higher risk of death among coffee drinkers, this was only because so many of them smoked cigarettes too.

Once researchers took out the smoking element, they found a link between coffee and low mortality.

SEE ALSO

• 'Coffee And A Cat' Trend Emerges In Tokyo
• Could Decaffeinated Coffee Preserve Memory Function?
• Green Coffee Beans Trounce Green Tea In Weight Loss Stakes

Interestingly, it didn’t matter whether the coffee contained caffeine, leading researchers to question whether the main reason was the caffeine or the act of making, serving or drinking coffee that protects people from death.

For example, making coffee may be a soothing ritual or it could engender more social contact among some people.

Despite the findings, researchers stressed that this study was purely “observational” and could not determine whether or not coffee was the ultimate cause of low mortality.

"Given the observational nature of our study, it is not possible to conclude that the inverse relationship between coffee consumption and mortality reflects cause and effect,” explained Dr Freedman.

"However, we can speculate about plausible mechanisms by which coffee consumption might have health benefits. Coffee contains more than 1000 compounds that might affect the risk of death.”

Dr Euan Paul from The British Coffee Association told HuffPost Lifestyle: “This important research adds to the overwhelming weight of evidence which demonstrates that moderate coffee consumption of 4-5 cups of coffee per day is safe and may be associated with certain health benefits.

“Whilst more research is required to determine whether the inverse association seen in this study is causal, these results are particularly encouraging because they build on previous research which has also suggested an inverse association between coffee consumption and total and cause-specific mortality.”

Not convinced? Take at look at other health benefits of coffee discovered by scientists…

Mental distraction really can reduce pain, and the effect is not just in the mind, research has shown.

Scientists carried out scanning studies which showed how a distracting memory test blocked incoming pain signals.

Volunteers were asked to complete either a hard or easy letter memory task while having a painful level of heat applied to their arms.

While distracted by the harder task, they perceived less pain. This was reflected by lower activity in the spinal cord which could be seen in the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans.

"The results demonstrate that this phenomenon is not just a psychological phenomenon, but an active neuronal mechanism reducing the amount of pain signals ascending from the spinal cord to higher-order brain regions," said study leader Dr Christian Sprenger, from the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany.

The findings are reported online in the journal Current Biology.

Giving the volunteers the opioid-blocking drug naloxone reduced the pain-relieving effect of distraction by 40%.

This was evidence that endogenous opioids - the brain's natural equivalent of morphine - played an essential role.

"Our findings strengthen the role of cognitive-behavioural therapeutic approaches in the treatment of pain diseases, as it could be extrapolated that these approaches might also have the potential to alter the underlying neurobiological mechanisms as early as in the spinal cord," the researchers wrote.

Take a look at HuffPost Lifestyle's round-up of foods that fight pain...

A physicist has teamed up with a bakery to create the first ever formula for making the ultimate sandwich – with no sogginess.

It just looks like a mathematics nightmare to us, but we are assured this set of squiggles is the holy grail to making the perfect sandwich.

Dr Mark Hadley, a researcher at the University of Warwick's Department of Physics, explained: “In principle, this formula will also describe the butter seeping into the bread, particularly as it warms up because D can depend upon temperature.

Scroll down for an equation key, a poll and a gallery of "sandwich personalities"

"At the interfaces we have a physical and chemical reaction of absorption. The reaction rates depends upon the concentration in the air and the activation energy, Ea, and the area exposed to the air.”

While this groundbreaking collaboration between bakeries and boffins is no doubt a ploy to sell more bread, it seems these tips could actually work.

Thankfully, for those of us left flummoxed by the formula, Hovis, the bakery in question, has simplified things:

• Pressure: Don’t apply unnecessary pressure (the p(x,t) term) it squeezes out the water
• Freshness: The equations describe the deterioration with time due to slow diffusion of the moisture, so eat your sandwich while it is fresh
• Butter: Use a thick layer of butter, it is hydrophobic and keeps moisture away from the bread
• Moisture: Control the loss, or uptake, of moisture from the air into the bread, butter protects the top, crusts are good; they stop the edges drying out (φair
• Temperature: Most equations are temperature dependent particularly viscosity and absorption rates, keep it cool to reduce the reaction rates.
• Bread: Use the right bread, a thicker slice like in Hovis British Farmers Loaf (fancy that!), has a greater resistance to dampness and can’t dry out so quickly either

The formula comes in the back of a survey that revealed the average Briton wolfs up to 240 sandwiches a year, equating to a staggering 19,200 sandwiches in a lifetime.

It may be a full 250 years since the fourth Earl of Sandwich is said to have demanded cuts of beef be brought to him between slices of bread so he needn't take a break from gambling, yet the bread-based snack has since become one of Britain's most popular and enduring culinary creations.

The survey of 2,000 Brits was commissioned by Hovis to mark a search for the Ultimate British Sandwich, celebrating British Sandwich Week and the launch of the brand’s all new Hovis British Farmers loaf.

Sarnie, butty, bap, cob, whatever you call it, Brits are sandwich mad with over a third (33%) choosing to chow down on one at least four times a week, often forming the backbone of many a lunch break.

When it comes to the "perfect" sandwich the majority of Brits agree it’s got to be homemade (62%), cut in triangles for optimum taste (45%), with the crusts left on (78%) and butter, not margarine, is the spread of choice (41%).

SEE ALSO: Sandwich Labels ‘Are Misleading Consumers' Warns Watchdog

Traditional cheese and pickle (16%) topped the fillings poll, closely followed by the classic BLT (12%). The quintessentially British cucumber sandwich came in last place with just 1% naming it their favourite filling.

Almost three quarters (71%) cite soggy bread as the top sandwich bug-bear along with the bread falling apart (38%) or it being packed with too many fillings so it becomes messy to eat (22%).

These butty faux pas have lead to over a quarter of Brits (26%) developing precise rituals when preparing their perfect sandwich.

Taking care to avoid sogginess, a fifth (20%) ensure the entire surface of the bread, right to the corners, is covered evenly with spread and a further tenth (10%) dry ingredients, like tomatoes, on a slice kitchen roll (9%).

Other sandwich quirks and foibles include: always using butter and mayo together (12%), using different utensils for every condiment (11%) and uniformly cutting all the fillings to such certain thickness (10%).

Click below to view a slideshow of “key sandwich personalities” as identified by bread-maker Warburtons last year.

You can blame promiscuity on the weather (but not the men), according to findings from surveys by extra-marital affairs websites undercoverlovers.com and illicitencounters.com.

According to illicitencounters.com, as Britons battled against the wind and rain of the coldest April since 1989, they naturally found warmth and solace in the arms of partners. Just not necessarily their own.

The site, which has over 670,000 members, has seen a huge surge in activity over the past six weeks, with a 300% increase in traffic. And since the beginning of April an extra 5,600 new members have flocked to the site (on top of the average 20,000 expected new profiles).

Rosie Freeman-Jones, spokesperson for Illicit Encounters, said: “Like the weather, our membership levels have also been unexpected, but unlike the temperature, the number of members has been soaring.

“The activity of our regular members is also up. Clearly people are taking this opportunity to enjoy themselves online because they’re stuck indoors due to recent downpours.”

Yet, before you start checking your husband’s activities online, take note.

According to another new study by undercoverlovers.com, Britain’s female adulterers are apparently more promiscuous than their male counterparts, having had on average 2.3 affair partners compared to the mere 1.8 of male members.

Figures given to Huffpo Lifestyle by illicitencounters.com mirrored this trend, with 1.2 women to every man joining up during their recent rainy boom time.

The UK Adultery Survey 2012 by undercoverlovers.com also uncovered dramatically different reasons between men and women for playing away - among the 4,000 members who took part.

While men cited the pursuit of sexual excitement, boredom with their marriages and the need of an ego boost as their main reasons for cheating, women were more likely to be seeking emotional fulfilment, an improvement to their self esteem and romance when they strayed.

Female adulterers are also far more prone to falling in love with their affair partner than their male equivalents, says the results of the site's survey.

The common belief that pregnant women can eat for two has been scotched by research suggesting dieting during pregnancy can be beneficial.

Experts found that weight management was not only safe but could also reduce complications for pregnant women and be advantageous to the baby.

The risk of pre-eclampsia - which causes high blood pressure - diabetes and premature birth can all be reduced if the mother-to-be sticks to a healthy, calorie-controlled diet, the study published on bmj.com found.

In contrast, excessive weight gain during pregnancy was linked to a number of serious health problems.

SEE ALSO

• Could This Gene Get You Pregnant?
• Is A Painful Childbirth All In Your Head?
• Why There Are 20,000 Pregnant Men In Britain

In the UK, more than half of women of reproductive age are said to be overweight or obese, and across Europe and the US up to 40% of women gain more than the recommended weight in pregnancy.

But the team of researchers from Queen Mary, University of London, who carried out the study found weight management interventions in pregnancy were effective in reducing weight gain in the mother.

Dietary intervention resulted in the largest average reduction in weight gain (almost 4kg) compared with 0.7kg for exercise and 1kg for a combination of the two.

Diet also offered the most benefit in preventing pregnancy complications, the study found.

Researchers concluded: "Dietary intervention is effective, safe and potentially cost effective and dominates physical activity-based intervention."

But experts at St Thomas' Hospital in London suggested there was not yet sufficient evidence to support any particular intervention.

Lucilla Poston, director of the maternal and fetal research unit, and Lucy Chappell, clinical senior lecturer in maternal and fetal medicine, said it would be "premature" for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to reassess its guidelines, which do not advise regular weighing of pregnant women.

The researchers analysed the results of 44 randomised controlled trials involving more than 7,000 women.

Almost one in three diabetic hospital patients are victims of medication errors that can cause dangerous blood glucose levels, a report has found.

Hospitals in England and Wales made at least one mistake per inpatient in the treatment of 3,700 diabetes sufferers in one week, data showed.

During this period, the affected patients succumbed to more than double the number of severe hypoglycaemic, or "hypo", episodes that patients without errors suffered, according to the National Diabetes Inpatient Audit.

Hypos occur when blood glucose levels drop dangerously low and if left untreated can lead to seizures, coma or death.
In addition, 68 patients developed diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) during their stay in hospital.

DKA occurs when blood glucose levels are consistently high and can be fatal if not treated.

This suggests that insulin treatment was not administered for a significant period of time, the report said.

According to the findings, 32% of patients (3,430) experienced at least one medication error in the previous seven days of their hospital stay.

This was a small improvement on the previous year, when the figure was 36.6%, or 4,120.

The most common errors involved failing to sign off on the patient's bedside information chart that insulin had been given, which happened to 11.1% of patients (440), and failing to appropriately adjust medication when the patient had a high blood sugar level, which happened to 23.9% (800).

More than 17% (600) of patients with medication errors had a severe hypoglycaemic attack while in hospital, compared to 7.5% (550) of patients who did not suffer medication errors.

The report also found:

Almost a third (30.6%) of patients who responded to a patient experience questionnaire said they had not been able to take control of their own diabetes while in hospital as much as they would have liked to.

More than 13% of patients said the hospital did not provide the right type of food to manage their diabetes.

Almost 10% of inpatients with diabetes had been on an insulin infusion in the past seven days of the audit period but the healthcare professionals collecting the data suggested that 10% of these patients were inappropriately given the infusions.

Specialist staffing levels were lower than recommended.

Audit lead clinician Dr Gerry Rayman, consultant physician and head of service at Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust Diabetes and Endocrine Centre, said: "Although it is pleasing to see there have been improvements in medication errors since the last audit, there is a long way to go and indeed the majority of hospital doctors and ward nurses still do not have basic training in insulin management and glucose control.

"Training needs to be mandatory to improve diabetes control and reduce the frequency of severe hypoglycaemia.

"It is also needed to prevent diabetic ketosis occurring in hospital, for which there can be no excuse.

"Its occurrence is negligent and should never happen."

Diabetes UK said the findings were an indictment of how hospitals were failing to care for people with diabetes.
Chief executive Barbara Young said: "The fact that there are so many mistakes and that for some people a stay in hospital means they get worse should simply not be happening.

"Poor blood glucose management, caused by errors in hospital treatment, is leading to severe and dangerous consequences for too many people.

"Although we know that some excellent steps have been taken, including courses and online tools, to increase knowledge and education among healthcare staff for the treatment of people with diabetes on hospital wards, we are not seeing good enough results from this yet.

"The fact that the situation has barely improved in the last year shows that the NHS is not yet taking this seriously enough.

"Urgent action is needed to make sure that general ward staff are competent and confident about treating inpatients with diabetes."

The audit was managed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre in partnership with Diabetes UK, and commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership.

It examined bedside data for 12,800 patients and 6,600 patient questionnaires, covering subjects including medication errors and patient harm over a seven-day period in October 2011.

It involved 11,900 patients in 212 English hospitals and 900 patients in 18 Welsh hospitals.

The Department of Health (DH) said medicine management has improved since 2010 but admitted there are still too many errors.

A DH spokesperson said: "We will continue to work with clinicians to reduce errors so patients can be confident that the medicines they receive are safe and appropriate."

Weight may depend as much on when you eat as what, research suggests.

The body clock's effect on metabolism could be an overlooked factor driving obesity, say scientists.

New evidence from studies of mice suggests that 24-hour snacking, especially at night, can pile on the pounds.

Restricting eating to sensible meal times, on the other hand, may help fight the flab - even with big helpings.

Researchers compared mice fed the same amount of high-fat food round the clock or over a period of eight hours.

The mice given a restricted time in which to eat were protected against obesity, and also suffered less liver damage and inflammation.

SEE ALSO

• Slow Down! Does Eating Too Fast Trigger Diabetes?
• Are You A Pleasure Eater?
• ‘Slimming Specs’ That Makes Food Look Bigger (And Taste Better)

Lead scientist Dr Satchidananda Panda, from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in the US, pointed out that every organ has a "clock".

Livers, intestines and muscles worked at peak efficiency at certain times and were more or less sleeping at others.

These metabolic cycles were critical for a wide range of biological processes, from cholesterol breakdown to glucose production.

"When we eat randomly, those genes aren't on completely or off completely," said Dr Panda.

He added there was evidence that eating patterns had changed, with people having greater access to food and reasons to stay up late, for instance to watch TV. When people were awake, they tended to snack.

The timing of food consumption should be given more consideration by obesity experts, said Dr Panda.

"The focus has been on what people eat," he said. "We don't collect data on when people eat."

The research is published in the journal Cell Metabolism.

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