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Pulse’s IT exclusive hits the headlines, failing hospital privatised, and the sticking power of a sexy voice

The Daily Telegraph has picked up yesterday's exclusive Pulse story on the hugely disasppointing enrollement of GPs and patients in NHS Connecting for Health pilot of the Communicator programme.

Only 89 patients have signed up to a scheme allowing them to contact their GP by email. Just 36 doctors have joined the pilot projects as some medical staff are concerned that correspondence has to be added to patients' notes. Ministers are under pressure to abandon the £7billion scheme aimed at computerising all patients' medical records.

A failings NHS hospital in Epsom is to be taken over by a stock market listed company as part of the government's privatisation agenda, The Guardian reports.

Circle Health has already been named the preferred bidder to take over Hinchingbrooke hospital trust in Cambridgeshire. Ali Parsa, the firm's founder, said that only better managers - like Circle - could help to ensure the NHS finds £20billion in savings required by the government.

Shadow health spokesman John Healey disagrees and says this is another example of the Coalition's broken promises - Prime Minister David Cameron of course pledged in May there would be no more privatisation in the NHS.

The Times reports that high-fat, processed diets and a more sedentary Western lifestyle is a major contributing factor to a huge increase in the number of people worldwide suffering from diabetes.

The International Diabetes Federation estimates that 366 million people have the illness as a result of a poor diet and lack of exercise. The United Nations are holding a health summit next week where they will discuss how to tackle the rise of non-communicable diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

A clinical trial involving 1,000 elderly people will take place in Britain next year to see whether taking vitamin B supplements can reduce the chances of developing  dementia, reports The Independent.

Scientists hope taking dietary supplements might delay the onset of dementia, says The Daily Telegraph. Dr Celeste de Jager of the University of Oxford said the trial had 'definitively' shown that the vitamins were a good way of preventing mental decline.

The Independent also reports that Mr Umraz Khan, a plastic surgeon at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, has replaced a man's lost thumb with his big toe. Mr Byrne, who accidently cut his thumb off, said 'I am just happy that it works'.

A Health Select Committee warns today that hospitals and care homes are only being inspected every two years, putting patients and residents at risk, reports The Independent.

The Care Quality Commission has directed resources towards a new registration scheme and inspected 70% fewer hospitals, clinics and care homes in the six months following October 2010 compared to the previous six months.

The Daily Mail  reports that nutritionists at Illinois University have said that adding horseradish or wasabi to broccoli can revive broccoli's cancer-fighting properties due to the enzyme myrosinase in the spicy sauce.

Broccoli contains the precursor to the anti-cancer agent sulforaphane, and spicy sauces such as horseradish produces sulforaphane which boosts broccoli's benefits.

Finally scientists at the University of Aberdeen recently discovered women use the pitch of a person's voice to assess genetic traits as well as behavioural traits when looking for a long-term partner.

The research shows, as reported by the Daily Mail, shows that women prefer low-pitch voices - or at least, they remembered events more accurately when they had been described to them by a man with a deep voice.