This site is intended for health professionals only


‘Smoking foetus’ pics go viral, UK cancer survival rates ‘stuck in 1990s’ and raise a glass to the beer belly gene

Pictures of ‘grimacing’ foetuses in the wombs of smoking mothers, taken using 4D scanning technology, are being widely reported and makes the the Telegraph’s front page this morning.

Researcher Dr Nadja Reissland from the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, who took the photos, praised the brave women who volunteered for her study, saying they could help the 12% of UK pregnant women who still smoke to give up.

UK cancer survivial rates are ‘two decades behind’ compared to many other European countries, Macmillan Cancer Support has said. The charity said the statistics it unveiled in its study were ‘shameful’ with ‘people dying needlessly’, reports the Guardian.

Meanwhile the Daily Mail gives some hope to everyone with a beer belly or muffin top. It’s your genes, an American study has claimed. But the findings were more than cosmetic, says the paper, as the people with the plexin-1 gene were also worse at processing sugar and therefore more prone to diabetes.


          

Visit Pulse Reference for details on 140 symptoms, including easily searchable symptoms and categories, offering you a free platform to check symptoms and receive potential diagnoses during consultations.