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Seasonal Flu Epidemics: Why Do They Happen and Could this One Turn Into a Killer ?

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  The UK's 2025-26 influenza epidemic is now well underway and is taxing the NHS to its limits, as predicted. One additional ‘wild-card’ for this year comes courtesy of the junior doctors (or ‘Residents’ as they now like to call themselves), who decided to strike for yet more pay over what will probably be one of the busiest periods in the run-up to Christmas, and have just voted for an extension to their strike mandate till July 2026. A bold move by the membership who voted for it, you might say, but not one which will earn them many ‘brownie points’ with the rest of us, or with the government. Perhaps more seriously for them, there is strong possibility that they, and they alone, will be blamed for any excess deaths that result of the previous, and any future, strikes. Whether a particularly ‘gung ho’ BMA leadership will be able, or even prepared , to defend them from the consequences of their actions is another matter…. Adverse circumstances aside, this would be a good tim...
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On The Perils of Pill-Boxes...

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Despite the rather arresting title, anyone expecting an exciting cautionary tale about the dangers of World War 2 fortifications and over-adventurous offspring from this blog article will, I’m afraid, be disappointed.... The Pill-boxes I refer to are those clever little inventions many of us now use to ensure we remember to take our medications at the right time on the right day . Younger readers might think this is a task that should be easy enough for anyone of sound mind without external aid; they may even scoff at the need for something so pedestrian and 'low tech', given that the only medication they ever need is the occasional paracetamol or ibuprofen for a headache. What we need to remember, though, is that the average age of our UK population is increasing rapidly, and its general health is continuing to decline in the face of a failing health service, which is now, sadly, forced to ration its care by availability, poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle.  As a res...
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Weight Loss Therapies using GLP-1 Agonists - Efficacy and The Side Effects

Weight loss therapies using GLP-1 agonists have been implicated in the news recently as causing gallstones, and in some cases more serious gall-bladdder damage.  Should we have expected this, and what might be the consequences ? The short answer to this question is …Yes - this particular side effect was predictable, particularly after longer-term exposure..... To explain this more fully, we first need a little background. GLP-1 agonists are one of the most successful weight-loss inducing agents produced by Big Pharma of recent times. Originally designed and developed as anti-diabetic agents, their ability to suppress appetite soon became the main focus of drug developers, resulting in regulatory approval of the first in class Semaglutide (marketed by Novo Nordisk as Wegovy) and then Tirzepatide (Mounjaro; Ely-Lilly). {Note the parallel here with Viagra, which was originally developed as a heart drug, but quickly morphed into the world's most frequently-used treatment for er...
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