Research

A pill for every ill?

Research by Professor Joan Busfield from the Department of Sociology shows a marked rise in expenditure on prescription drugs and in the number of prescribed medicines being dispensed in recent years.
 
The research published in Social Science and Medicine showed an increase in expenditure on drugs by the NHS in England of 60 per cent over a ten-year period, while the number of prescribed medicines dispensed increased from an average of eight per person in 1989 to 16.4 in 2008 - a doubling over 20 years, with annual increases now running at around 4-5 per cent.
 
The article, A Pill for Every Ill, calls into question the standard progressive view of this growth in terms of the development of new, improved medicines, and provides an alternative framework for understanding the expansion.
 
Commenting on her findings, Professor Busfield said the pharmaceutical industry played a significant role in driving the increases, but other groups were also important.
 ‘Whilst the pharmaceutical industry’s intensive marketing to medical professionals, its control over the science underpinning drug development and testing and its disease mongering are key aspects, doctors have not generally constrained the industry’s commercial power but, for a variety of reasons, have largely played the role of handmaiden to the expansion,’ she explained.
 
Joan Busfield also said the general public, policy makers and insurance companies had done little to stem the tide: ‘People seem to have increased expectations of health and the evolution of a consumerist ethos have encouraged medicine use.’
 

Breakthrough in understanding how our body repairs itself

From rays of sunlight to harmful tobacco smoke, our bodies are constantly bombarded by a range of environmental toxins which damage our DNA.
 
Our bodies work hard to find this damage and repair it, but how the damage is found in the first place is one the great unanswered questions in the repair field.
 
However, new research led by scientists at the University of Essex has given an insight into how the body finds damage in the DNA code to repair it.
 
The findings, published in journal Molecular Cell, reveal an important breakthrough in how proteins working together offer a faster, more effective way of finding the damaged DNA.
 
As lead researcher Dr Neil Kad, from the Department of Biological Sciences, explained, understanding the processes of how the body repairs itself can lead to a greater understanding of cancer and the ageing process, two leading health issues in the UK.
 
This research was also the focus of a presentation Dr Kad gave recently at the House of Commons as part of a SET (Science Engineering Technology) for Britain event, which gives scientists the chance to present their work to their local MPs and their scientific peers. 

TETRA study finds no link to ill health

Researchers from the University have found no evidence that short-term health effects like headaches, rashes and nausea are caused by exposure to TETRA mobile radio masts.

The study, led by the Department of Psychology, is the first to report on short-term effects of TETRA mast emissions on human health and well-being.

The TETRA signal is used in Airwave, the new communications system being rolled out across the UK for the police and emergency services.

A total of 48 people who had previously reported sensitivity to mobile technology, and 132 control participants, were tested without knowing whether the signal was on or off. The researchers found there were no differences in physiological responses, or the reported severity of symptoms, between the on and off tests in either the sensitive or control groups.

The research, funded by the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research programme, has been published online by Environmental Health Perspectives.

 

Also in the printed May edition of Wyvern:

• 'Jamie' research in media spotlight
• ISER research cited in social care debate