This site is intended for health professionals only


Nurses flee the NHS, how antibiotics could make your baby fat and does having sex make women more fertile?

Nurses are flocking from the NHS, reported the Guardian this morning. New workforce figures form the NHS Information Centre show 4, 823 fewer nurses since 2010.

Ministers said it was inevitable that the numbers of nurses working in the community ‘will rise and the number of nurses working in hospitals will drop' and argued that overall the number of clinical jobs in the NHS has risen by 2400.

Trade unions and Labour said the job losses were a direct result of the Government's austerity measures.

Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary said: ‘David Cameron has cut the NHS budget for two years running and we are now seeing the effects of this on the ground in the NHS. On his watch, we have seen the NHS lose nurses at a rate of 200 per month as hospital trusts make kneejerk cuts to the frontline.'

The Telegraph led on a study which found that giving babies antibiotics raises the risk of obesity.

A study of more than 10, 000 children in the Bristol area, published in the International Journal of Obesity, found that giving babies younger than six months antibiotics increases their chance of being overweight by the age of three by almost a quarter.

The scientist who carried out the research said that the antibiotics could damage the babies' developing digestive systems.

Dr Leonardo Trasande, a paediatrician at the New York University School of medicine, said: ‘We typically consider obesity an epidemic grounded in unhealthy diet and exercise, yet increasingly studies suggest it's more complicated.

‘Microbes in our intestines may play critical roles in how we absorb calories, and exposure to antibiotics, especially early in life, may kill off healthy bacteria that influence how we absorb nutrients into our bodies, and would otherwise keep us lean.'

He added, however, that the study did not prove a link between antibiotics and obesity.

On the subject of obesity, The Telegraph also revealed that every dieter's dream has been developed by German scientists in the form of an ‘anti-hunger' powder.

Dow Wolff Cellulosics, the company behind the product, has developed a version of a food additive commonly used in ready meals and baked goods called methyl cellulose which they have modified so it turns into a gel in the stomach, triggering the feeling of fullness.

If further trials prove successful, the anti-hunger powder could be sprinkled into yoghurts, smoothies or shakes to help reduce overeating.

‘Does having sex make women more fertile?' The Daily Mail mused today, as a study found that semen may play a crucial role in triggering ovulation.

A protein in the male sexual fluid may trigger the release of hormones that signal the ovaries to release an egg.

The protein was found in a range of mammals from llamas to rabbits… to humans.The international team led by Gregg Adams at the University of Saskatchewan, said this implies it plays an important role in mammalian reproduction.