Latest news with #BenBradley
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Exercise may stop colon cancer from returning — and more
For Monday, June 2, WGN's Ben Bradley and Lourdes Daurte have the latest on new medical information, including: More Coverage: WGN's Medical Watch Exercise may help prevent colon cancer from returning, according to results from a late-phase trial published Sunday, June 1 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study looked at people who followed an exercise program after undergoing surgery and chemotherapy for Stage 3, or high-risk Stage 2 colon cancer. It found exercise could reduce the risk of the cancer returning, a new cancer diagnosis, or death by 28 percent. The study participants who reduced their risk had a coach assist them in exercising over the eight-year study period. The CDC is urging Americans to cancel their upcoming flights if they're not vaccinated against measles. The agency upgraded its health travel warning after discovering the virus is spreading on US airplanes. Measles infections have been detected at the country's biggest airports in recent months during a resurgence of the virus linked to low vaccination rates. It's estimated that around 10 percent of adults may lack immunity, either because they never received a measles vaccine or because their immunity has diminished over time. Moderna has won FDA approval for a new version of the COVID-19 vaccine. It will be made available during the upcoming respiratory virus season to people aged 65 and older, and those aged 12 to 64 with at least one underlying health condition that puts them at severe risk. It's the first big approval by the FDA since it required drug companies to expand their testing. The new vaccine is called MNEXSPIKE. Sign up for our Medical Watch newsletter. This daily update includes important information from WGN's Dina Bair and the Med Watch team, including, the latest updates from health organizations, in-depth reporting on advancements in medical technology and treatments, as well as personal features related to people in the medical field. Sign up here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
U.S. fertility rates hover near record low — and more
For Wednesday, April 23, WGN's Ben Bradley and Lourdes Duarte have the latest on new medical information, including: More Coverage: WGN's Medical Watch According to a newly released report from the CDC, the U.S. fertility rate continues to hover near record lows. Statistics show just over three and a half million babies were born in the U.S. last year. That's only a one percent increase from 20-23, when birth rates hit a record low. The CDC report also shows a shift toward older mothers. President Donald Trump has called for a 'baby boom,' and Vice President J.D. Vance has notably criticized childless young Americans. Experts say the U.S is facing a maternal health care crisis, pointing to the high maternal mortality rate and the maternal health care deserts in more than a third of the country. The American Cancer Society reports that smoking-related cancers in the U.S. have dropped. In its latest report, the agency attributes the decline to decreasing smoking rates. But it also warns that cervical cancer screenings have dropped among women ages 21 to 65, leaving them at risk of not detecting the disease early. In addition, rates of HPV vaccination, which prevents cervical cancer, have stalled. The report also says cancers linked to excessive weight, like kidney, colon, and pancreatic cancers, are on the rise. Misinformation about measles is spreading fast. A new poll reveals that parents are uncertain about the safety of the measles vaccine. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has amplified some misconceptions about a link between the vaccine and the diagnosis of autism. An estimated 6 out of 10 adults have heard a false claim about the measles vaccine. Uncertainty has led some parents to delay or skip vaccinating their children. There have been 800 confirmed measles cases across 24 states in the United States so far this year. Sign up for our Medical Watch newsletter. This daily update includes important information from WGN's Dina Bair and the Med Watch team, including, the latest updates from health organizations, in-depth reporting on advancements in medical technology and treatments, as well as personal features related to people in the medical field. Sign up here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
BBC News
14-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Election campaign under way for Nottinghamshire County Council
Nottinghamshire has acted as something of a political bellwether in recent years - an indicator of trends across the UK as a 2017 county council election saw the Conservatives become the largest group but short of an overall majority - a mirror image of the snap general election of the same forward to 2021 - the last time the council was contested - and local Tories appeared to capitalise on the so-called "vaccine bounce" in the national polls as they secured the majority they were after.A lot has changed since then, but Nottinghamshire has seemed to stay roughly in step with the national won all but two of the county's parliamentary seats at the general election last summer as the party swept to after a turbulent period in government, do they still have the momentum to reclaim the council for the first time in 12 years, particularly in a county where there are so many other challengers?With less than three weeks until polling day, party leaders across Nottinghamshire have been telling us how they have been trying to convince people on the doorstep. At a glance, the Conservatives' victory in 2021 looked reasonably comfortable, winning more than twice as many seats as anyone else.A net gain of six saw them take charge of the authority outright, having previously run it in coalition with the Mansfield in the four years since, a combination of defections, by-elections and expulsions mean the maths in the council chamber is now rather Tory majority is wafer thin - lose just one seat and they would lose overall be without former leader Ben Bradley who stepped down in December, and whose absence could have bigger of the Tory gains in 2021 were in Mansfield - the town where Bradley was also Member of Parliament at the time - so any personal vote he had no longer exists in what could be a key Smith, who took over from Bradley in December, insists the Conservatives have a "proud track record of getting things done"."We've invested over £9m in rural bus connectivity, linking people up to towns like Newark but also jobs and leisure facilities," he said."We're investing over £17m into repairing our roads. We know it's the number one priority, we drive on the roads as well."He added they plan to build new schools and continue improvements in the council's Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services, which were criticised by inspectors in 2023. 2021 was a particularly tough election for lost eight seats in Nottinghamshire overall, with former leader Alan Rhodes among the churn in the council chamber over the last four years hasn't been to their benefit of their number was among a group who quit the party en masse earlier this year, and in doing so relegated Labour to third largest group on the they have enjoyed recent electoral success with two of their councillors becoming Members of Parliament last Michael Payne and Michelle Welsh - now the MPs for Gedling and Sherwood Forest respectively - are not seeking re-election to the council, Kate Foale said Labour would "run the council responsibly, but with a people focus".She said they would would not spend money on "more fancy, swanky projects" like the new council headquarters which opened last month."Labour really cherish public services. They want to properly fund and properly invest in health and social care, they want to properly invest in children and families," she said."If you want decent schools, if you want a health service where you don't have to wait you want all those things that quite often we take for granted, you need to vote Labour." The Ashfield Independents were big winners in 2021, taking all 10 of the Ashfield seats - doubling their number from the previous the years since, they have extended their influence beyond the borders of the district.A further five independent councillors now sit with their group in the council chamber, taking their total to 15 and making them the official Jason Zadrozny said he hoped they can continue to expand, with a message that "independents do things differently"."It's not just red or blue's turn to rule. We've seen that big party politics has not done anywhere any favours and people are tired of that," he said."Independents can look at the facts of the matter, they can use common sense and deliver real change. We've proven that in Ashfield and it's time to do it across Nottinghamshire."He added "the primary focus is to get the finances of the council back on track".Zadrozny is due to stand trial on charges of fraud and tax evasion next denied the charges when he appeared before magistrates in 2023. Reform UK already has a foothold in Nottinghamshire, both at parliamentary level and on the council, but the county is now one of their target with Labour and the Conservatives, they are standing candidates in all 66 seats at this that to 2021, when they only contested eight only current councillor, John Doddy, joined the party after being expelled from the Tories for standing against them at the general said Reform was offering "something different"."Whenever I go out to see people, all I see in their faces is despair and hopelessness," he said."We're going to take the councils which are broken, which are in are taxing people more but delivering services that get less and less and less, and people have just had enough."I'm saying to them Reform UK is the answer to those problems." The Liberal Democrats' strongest performance in Nottinghamshire came back in 2009, when they won nine then, the county has been a tough nut for them to crack, winning just a single seat at each of the last two after long-standing councillor Steve Carr quit the party in 2023, they currently don't have any at Dem candidate David Watts acknowledges his party "can't go down" from their current position locally, but buoyed by a strong performance at the last general election, he hopes to win enough seats to be "an effective voice"."We want to fix the potholes, because the state of the roads is dreadful," he said."We want to make sure there's honesty and integrity in politics, and protect the green belt because central government seems to think it's open season for building on it."He added the Lib Dems were "completely opposed" to the reorganisation of local councils. The Green Party has never won a seat on Nottinghamshire County making record gains in the other parts of the country in 2023, however, they feel they are on the up and are standing more candidates in Nottinghamshire than ever hopeful of turning seats they have on district councils such as Newark & Sherwood and Rushcliffe into seats at county council party co-chair Ben Gray said winning two or three would be a good result, but added "having a green in the room really makes a difference"."First and foremost the Green Party is going to stand up for you. The Green Party is going to demand fair funding for councils," he said."We're going to the tell the government to stop wasting time and money with re-arranging local councils."Your Green councillors are going to be out there working hard for you, day in, day out."Polling day for the Nottinghamshire County Council election is 1 information and a full list of candidates is available on the council website.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
U.S. has most measles cases since 2019's record wave
The U.S. now has more measles cases than were recorded in all of 2024, making the early tally of 2025 second only to the 2019 record tally in recent history. While most of the cases are part of the Texas outbreak, cases have now been confirmed in 14 states: Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Washington. The count includes only confirmed cases, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which notes probable cases in other jurisdictions. Two children have died, one with measles as the official cause of death and the other as a probable cause of death that's under investigation. In both cases, measles was confirmed. Thursday, Utah pathologist Dr. Ben Bradley, medical director of virology of Salt Lake City-based ARUP Laboratories, on a national briefing warned that the full effect of measles might not be seen for years, as a rare complication can appear even a decade after someone apparently recovers from the virus. Bradley is also an assistant professor in the pathology department at the University of Utah. The briefing sponsored by the College of American Pathologists, is titled "Measles Re-emergence and How it Becomes Deadly." Measles was officially eradicated in the U.S. in the year 2000, thanks in large part to 'strong public health programs bother nationally and in the states' that contributed to controlling the highly infectious virus," said Dr. Donald Karcher, president of the college and a professor at the George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, DC., during the briefing. Bradley noted a potential for serious complications in the form of either severe pneumonia that leads to respiratory failure and death, or acute encephalitis, where inflammation in the brain can be deadly. He said that the virus can infect children and wipe out their immune system's antibodies against previous illnesses, which some call 'immune amnesia.' Said Bradley, 'They get lower antibodies against previous infections.' And their immune systems can be weak for longer than just during the acute infection period, too. The other complication, which as noted is very rare, is called sub acute sclerosing panencephalitis or SSP, which he described as 'a progressive degenerative neurological condition that is uniformly fatal. Because it can happen about 10 years after the virus infection, that means 'the virus is no longer present in the person's system but is still causing severe disease at a community level." He also noted that babies are vulnerable to measles because they are too little to have vaccines. 'What I want to stress is this isn't just a one-time respiratory illness that comes and goes. There are many downstream implications from this infection both to the individual and to the community,' said Bradley. Bradley said even well-vaccinated communities will have pockets that aren't immune. 'You know when you have a large population and a very diverse population, there's risk that you can have that kind of tinderbox effect where someone comes in and causes big spread within a community.' He noted that vitamin A can be a supportive measure that can diminish mortality in children with measles, but does not prevent measles infection. And self-dosing can be dangerous, as well, because too much is toxic. The CDC surveillance count Friday reported that more than a third of the cases this year involve children younger than 5, while 42% were children ages 5 to 19. In 21% of cases, the person with measles is 20 or older. And i 3% cases, age is not known. Fifty of the 301 people with measles this year have been hospitalized; the age group with highest hospitalization are those under 5 years of age (27%). CDC reported that the majority of the 2025 measles cases involve people who either were have not received the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine or with unknown vaccination status. Three percent received one dose of the vaccine and 2% received both MMR vaccine doses. The vaccine is considered at least 95% effective at preventing someone from getting measles.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Long-awaited £35 million scheme to slash traffic on key Nottinghamshire route 'under review'
The Department for Transport has confirmed that it is reviewing a major £35 million scheme to ease congestion along a key Nottinghamshire route. Funding uncertainties have blighted a project to upgrade roundabouts and junctions along the A614/A6097 corridor between Ollerton and East Bridgford, which was first proposed back in 2019. The Government has now confirmed that it has received Nottinghamshire County Council's full business case for the scheme and that this is "currently being reviewed". The major project was originally due to get underway in August 2024, but the general election last year threw promised government funding into doubt. Nottinghamshire County Council previously said the overall scheme would cost £34.4 million, with the previous government pledging £24 million and the Conservative-run council investing £10 million. Former county council leader Ben Bradley has said every six months of delay on the project was costing £1 million and stretching the project's viability. READ MORE: All of Nottinghamshire's secondary schools ranked in our Real Schools Guide READ MORE: 'Unforeseen delays' in bringing national retailer to empty Broad Marsh units Councillor Neil Clarke, the cabinet member for transport and environment at the county council, therefore says the overall project could now cost between £45 million and £50 million. The Department for Transport says it does not recognise this figure. "We continue to work closely with Nottinghamshire County Council and will make any announcements in due course", the Department for Transport said. Councillor Clarke now hopes new investment by the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA), led by East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward, will act as a "catalyst". The EMCCA says its investment "will address a cost shortfall and thus enable the Department for Transport to consider the full business case and potentially allow the scheme to progress." Nottinghamshire Live previously revealed the county council had spent over £3,000 on banners to promote the project before government funding for it had arrived. The county council then took all 17 of the banners down in late 2024 after they had been damaged by weather conditions. The authority said it was hoping to reinstall the banners in February, but they are yet to reappear and the council has still not confirmed whether it will still put them back up.
