Other health stories in brief
ASBESTOS LAW CHANGE: New regulations designed to protect workers from exposure to asbestos have been signed into law by Minister of State for Labour Affairs Tony Killeen.
The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Exposure to Asbestos) Regulations give effect to an EU directive which was to have been transposed into Irish law by April 15th last. The main changes to existing legislation focus on those most at risk, particularly workers who remove asbestos and those who accidentally come into contact with asbestos at work in the course of servicing and maintenance activities.
A single exposure limit value is introduced for all work activities where exposure to asbestos dust in the air at a place of work may arise. In addition, there is now a requirement for adequate training, and a requirement that people involved in demolition and asbestos removal activities be qualified to do this work in a safe way to protect their employees.
Detailed guidelines on the regulations are to be introduced shortly by the Health and Safety Authority.
ELECTRICAL HEALING: An international team of scientists has discovered two genes that enable cells to respond to electrical signals in the body to heal wounds. They also showed that by applying an electrical field to a wound they could change the movement of cells and speed up the healing process.
"Our studies show that electricity in the body is far more important than previously thought and that it has significant potential in wound healing and possibly also regeneration," said Prof Min Zhao, of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland,who headed the team.
Zhao and collaborators in America, Japan and Austria identified two genes called PI(3)Kgamma and PTEN that control a process known as electrotaxis -- the movement of cells in response to an electric current.
UCG DOCTOR FOR EVEREST: A lecturer at University College Galway is to be the expedition physician on a trek to Everest base camp being organised by west of Ireland charity Croí in May 2007.
Dr Gerard Flaherty will provide medical care throughout the three-week trek and will offer guidance and support to the Croí team as they prepare for high altitude. Dr Flaherty, who lectures in medicine at NUI Galway, was recently awarded a diploma in travel medicine by the Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Glasgow, for which he received the prestigious Sir Cameron Lockie Prize. He is one of the most qualified high-altitude specialists in Ireland.
Croí chief executive Neil Johnson said: "It is a non-technical trek and will coincide with the pioneering attempt by [Belfast mountaineer] Gavin Bate to traverse Everest without supplementary oxygen, climbing from the Tibet side in the north and descending to the south face in Nepal, where the Croí team will greet him at base camp."
Places on the expedition are limited and further information is available from Croí on 091-544 310 or 087-259 9979 or www.croi.ie
NEW HEAD LICE TREATMENT: The problem of head lice could soon be banished from schools and playgrounds in the Republic for good, the makers of a new treatment have claimed.
Hedrin, which was launched in Ireland last week, acts in a different way from traditional treatments to kill head lice, which affect an estimated one in 10 Irish children at any one time. Instead of using an insecticide to poison the head lice, which many lice are now resistant to, promoters of Hedrin say it encapsulates lice and effectively smothers them.
Dr David Buckley of the Irish Primary Care Dermatology Society said that resistance had become a major issue regarding the treatment for head lice, so the arrival of Hedrin on to the market was welcome.
CANCER RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP: A graduate of NUI Galway has been awarded the first Anne Ryan scholarship, set up to boost cancer research.
Dr Aoife Lowery graduated from the university with an honours degree in 2003 and is currently completing a masters of medical science focusing on angiogenesis in breast cancer.
The scholarship will enable her to join the National Breast Cancer Research Institute (NBCRI) team at the department of surgery at NUI Galway to begin an MD in breast cancer research.
The area of research she will be involved in will focus on tumour gene expression profiling and the identification of prognostic markers in breast cancer.
Anne Ryan, who died suddenly last year, campaigned for better care and screening for breast cancer sufferers in Ireland, in particular in the west. She was a member for 10 years of the board of the NBCRI, which established the scholarship in her memory.