"Life improved when I left London": readers on tackling air pollution

About 40 million people in the UK are living with illegal air pollution levels, according to analysis commissioned by the Labour party.

Earlier this month the Guardian reported thousands of children across England and Wales are exposed to illegal levels of air pollution from diesel traffic, putting the health of young children at risk in the long term.

Under pressure to lower pollution levels and improve the quality of the country’s air, the government is facing criticism for a last-minute bid to delay the publication of its clean-air plan, which the high court had said must be produced by 24 April.

After a call-out asking readers for their experiences of air pollution, some of them tell us how they’re tackling the issue.

‘Despite being let down by our council we are determined to fight on’

A march attended by Aire Valley Against Incineration (AVAI) supporters.

We currently have quite high levels of air pollution in the areas around Bradford and Leeds. Our council has given the go-ahead for a private company to build an incinerator in the bottom of the Aire Valley – near homes, schools and a sports facility. The incinerator is not for household waste, but for industrial waste that will be shipped in from all over the country by 70 HGVs a day. One of the roads that these lorries will use is Hard Ings Road, Keighley, which is already on the Greenpeace energy desk’s map as being over the legal pollution limits.

We are campaigning hard to stop the building of this incinerator. We are also very concerned about the location – at the bottom of a valley that experiences regular temperature inversions which will make it very difficult for the pollution to disperse. We have nearly 6,000 members on our Facebook group, more than 8,500 signatures on the online petition and more than 2,100 objections have been made on the council’s planning portal. A recent march that we organised was attended by over 600 local people. Despite the fact that our council has let us down, we are determined to fight on!

Rachel Shimbles, 47, from Keighley

‘I’d encourage people to seriously consider leaving London. My quality of life shot up when I did’

As an ex-Londoner, I know how bad air pollution can be in the capital. Kendal air is much cleaner – but we still have places where legal levels of pollution are being routinely breached. I campaign with 20’s Plenty for Kendal as a way to encourage people to walk and cycle more in our compact little town – to make Kendal less congested, safer, cleaner, quieter and even more attractive as a place to live and to visit.

I’d encourage anyone to seriously consider leaving our capital. My quality of life shot up when I moved up here – and clean air was definitely a part of that. But – and it’s a big but – no one should be under the illusion that everything is rosy outside our big cities. It isn’t.

Paul Holdsworth, 57, from Kendal

‘I have lobbied local politicians, Defra and my MP’

We live in a densely populated urban environment and have been badly affected by the smoke and particulate pollution from a neighbour’s wood burner coming into our home for months at a time. As a result and after investigating the associated pollution issues we have become acutely aware of the significant health risks and damage regularly breathing this pollution causes, its effect on our quality of life and the long-term health risk. However, after we complained to our local authority we have found our hands have been tied behind our backs with the council failing to act.

I am active on Twitter, have lobbied local politicians, Defra, our MP, and contacted Gary Fuller (the senior lecturer in air quality measurement at King’s College, London). Having grown up during the implementation of the Clean Air Act, we mistakenly believed it had put an end to the blight of air pollution. A new Clean Air Act for the 21st century is needed to impose proper balanced controls. Pollution is a choice, breathing is not.

cleanairforall2, 55, from London

‘I switch off air fresheners when I can’

Cecilia taking part in a vintage bike parade. Photograph: Rita Platts

I set up a campaign called Gasp in 1980 (Group Against Smoking in Public). We achieved most of our goals but my intolerance to other forms of air pollution has caused me to run one-woman campaigns against other unwanted forms of air pollution. More recently I have campaigned against so-called “air fresheners” which pump out noxious fumes in an effort to cover everyday smells. They make me heady and nauseous. I often go into local shops and switch them off if I can find them hidden. I now won’t go to a hotel or get in a taxi that uses plug in air fresheners. I wish there was a national campaign to stop the sale and use of these things. I’m also a lifelong cyclist and have campaigned over many years on the benefits of cycling including the positive impact of cycling on air pollution.

Cecilia Farren, 67, from Bristol

‘We’re in the process of moving away to get away from the traffic’

The road on which we live has very high levels of traffic. It is a poor area, with many families renting their accommodation. My wife’s asthma has definitely worsened and the noise from the road is constant, as the traffic includes many HGVs and buses. Recently, the road was closed for a month to replace the mini-roundabout at one end with a traffic-light system.

The month was bliss for the residents, but once the road reopened the traffic worsened with a corresponding effect on the quality of air. We are now in the process of moving away to a location that is quiet, but one that we are not sure we can afford. Right now, we feel like the gamble is worth it to get away from this road.

Craig Hambling, 34, from Colchester

"Life improved when I left London": readers on tackling air pollution

Overlooked Benefit of Healthy Lifestyle Programs is ‘Improved Quality-of-Life’

A healthy lifestyle has more value than just the numbers on a scale or a blood pressure reading.  An often-overlooked benefit of a healthy lifestyle is measured through an improved “health-related quality-of-life.”

Scientists are able to show that people who participate in community-based behavioral lifestyle intervention programs to improve their health not only helped them lose weight, increased their physical activity levels, and reduced their risk of diabetes and heart disease — but these programs also increased their health-related quality of life.

Healthy Lifestyle Programs Improve Quality of Life

In the August issue of the journal Quality of Life Research, scientists from the University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health published an analysis that showed an important, overlooked benefit of community-based behavioral lifestyle intervention programs designed to improve health.

Researchers demonstrated that these programs could be measured through improved “health-related quality of life,” in addition to weight loss, increased physical activity, and reduced risk of diabetes and heart disease.

In a recent press release, lead author Yvonne L. Eaglehouse, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at Pitt Public Health, briefly elaborated on the findings of this new research.

“These community-based lifestyle intervention programs have additional valuable benefits, beyond the improvement of risk factors for type 2 diabetes and heart disease.  Our study demonstrates that these programs, delivered in diverse community settings such as senior centers and work-sites, simultaneously and significantly improved the quality of life of the participants.”

Impact of the Group Lifestyle Balance Program

Dr. Eaglehouse and a team of researchers investigated the impact of the Group Lifestyle Balance program, modified from the lifestyle intervention program used in the highly successful U.S. Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP).

The Group Lifestyle Balance Program provides education, encouragement and the tools necessary to help people reach their healthy lifestyle goals. The program is designed for non–diabetic, overweight individuals age 18 and older who have pre–diabetes and/or the metabolic syndrome. These conditions are noted for increasing the risk for developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease — and the Group Lifestyle Balance program is designed for overweight adults who are at risk for developing diabetes.

Group Lifestyle Balance is a 22-session program, which is administered over a one-year period.  The primary aim of the program is to help people make lifestyle changes to improve their risk for diabetes and heart disease. The goals of the program are to help participants reduce their weight by at least seven percent and increase their moderate-intensity physical activity — like brisk walking — to 150 minutes per week.

A total of 223 participants were enrolled in this latest research to test the effectiveness of the Group Lifestyle Balance program at a work-site and three community centers in the Pittsburgh area. The participants averaged 58 years of age and had pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome, or both.

Before beginning the program, each participant ranked his or her current health on a scale from 0 “worst imaginable health state” to 100 “best imaginable health state.” The U.S. average is 79.2, whereas the participants averaged 71.5 at baseline.

Research Results

After completing the yearlong Group Lifestyle Balance program, the research participants increased their average health-related quality-of-life score to 78.2. When looking at only those with baseline health-related quality of life below the U.S. average, there was an even greater degree of improvement, from 61.8 at baseline, to 74 at the end of the program.

Senior author Andrea Kriska, Ph.D., professor in Pitt Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology and principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) study, shared in the excitement with respect to the health improvement for the research participants.

“It is exciting that we were able to document an improvement in health-related quality of life in addition to improvement in risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.  This important benefit was most evident in those who started the intervention program having a relatively lower quality of life — in other words, those who needed to improve the most.”

Improved Lives for Millions

The University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, founded in 1948, is now one of the top-ranked schools of public health in the United States.  Scientists and researchers from the school conduct research on public health and medical care that improves the lives of millions of people around the world.

The University of Pittsburgh’s Public Health department is a leader in devising new methods to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases, HIV/AIDS, cancer and other important public health problems.

This new research titled, “Impact of a community-based lifestyle intervention program on health-related quality of life,” is published in the August issue of the journal Quality of Life Research, funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Overlooked Benefit of Healthy Lifestyle Programs is ‘Improved Quality-of-Life’

Statins individuals at improved chance after warnings more than flaws ignored

Sir Rory explained he initial highlighted the error to the editor of the BMJ in December, but it had taken months to be corrected.

He stated massive scale placebo trials of much more than one hundred,000 individuals have proven that statins are normally secure, with a low threat of side effects.

John Abramson, of Harvard medical college, has admitted claims contained in his paper that 20 per cent of sufferers on statins suffered side effects were flawed. He has now withdrawn the statements.

Aseem Malhotra, a cardiologist in Croydon, repeated the findings and has now also redacted claims submitted in a paper to BMJ.

Sir Rory additional: “They overestimated the side results of statins by a lot more than 20 instances.”

He explained: “By misrepresenting this it might have meant men and women stopped taking them or large danger sufferers really don’t start off taking them in the initial spot.

“It’s a shame that this correction hasn’t been more warm hearted and appropriate.”

Fiona Godlee, editor in chief of the BMJ, said the journal had manufactured a public retraction so individuals who could advantage from taking statins were not deterred from doing so simply because of the flawed claims.

“I’ve invited a panel to make a selection about regardless of whether we want to do a lot more than we have accomplished,” she said. “

She stated that the error was contained in one particular statement which was published in two separate articles or blog posts, which had been edited and peer reviewed.

However despite admitting the flaw in the research, she mentioned she felt much more required to be accomplished just before statins could be declared protected.

“This is a quite serious public health concern speaking about massively extending the use of these medicines to healthier individuals,” additional Dr Godlee.

Dr Abramson’s main declare, that healthier sufferers did not reduce their risk of death by taking statins, has not been withdrawn but will also be regarded by the independent panel.

Statins individuals at improved chance after warnings more than flaws ignored

Improved Survival For Males With Localized Prostate Cancer: 6 Months Hormonal Therapy Combined With Radiation

Based mostly on new research, guys with localized prostate cancer but at substantial risk for metastasis, have far better outcomes if they are taken care of with radiation combined with androgen deprivation treatment which decreases testosterone, thus decreasing opportunity for tumor spread and growth.

The investigation was presented at the 33^rd conference of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO-33) in Vienna on April seven. Findings from the research could represent a new strategy to remedy of localized prostate cancer that is at higher danger for spread.

“Although we need to have longer comply with-up to assess the influence on these men’s overall survival”, said Dr. Michel Bolla, a professor of radiation oncology at Grenoble University Hospital, “these findings require to be taken into account in everyday clinical practice.”

“They display that three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy,” Bolla explained, “whether intensity modulated or not, and regardless of the dose degree, has to be combined with short-term androgen deprivation therapy in purchase to receive a significant lessen in the danger of relapse”. “Therefore, for the duration of multidisciplinary crew meetings to examine a patient’s treatment method, this combined remedy technique ought to be one particular of the alternatives proposed for males with localized prostate cancer that has an intermediate or higher risk of increasing and spreading,” additional Bolla.

Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) is a model of three-D radiation therapy that employs computer-generated photos to demonstrate the dimension and shape of the tumor. This allows the size, form, and intensity of the radiation beam to be altered to conform to the dimension, form, and spot of the patient’s tumor, decreasing injury to close by healthful tissue.

Bolla and colleagues evaluated 819 men at 37 web sites in 14 countries. The patients had early stage prostate tumors (as confirmed by amounts of prostate specific antigen (PSA) and biopsy) that had been at moderate or high danger of metastasis.

The sufferers had been randomized to obtain both radiation alone or radiation and two injections of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone analogues (LH-RH analogues), which minimize ranges of testosterone to result in reversible chemical castration. Every single drug injection lasted three months the very first drug was provided on the first day of radiation and the 2nd three months later.

When LH-RH analogues are at first administered, testosterone increases for a brief period prior to dropping to reduced ranges. This leads to ranges to sharply enhance, (referred to as flare”. To decrease this response, individuals took an oral anti-androgen (bicalutamide, 50 mg per day) for 15 days before the first injection.

In the research, treating doctors picked amongst 1 of three irradiation doses, 70, 74 or 78 Grays (Gy).  Follow-up was for an typical of seven.2 many years. Findings indicate that the 403 males who had been taken care of with radiation combined with anti-androgen treatment had been significantly less probably to have suffered a relapse and progression of their cancer than the 407 men who had been handled with radiation alone, irrespective of the radiotherapy dose and no matter whether it was intensity modulated or not.

Compared to guys treated with radiation only, sufferers who acquired the combined method had nearly half the danger (47%) of biochemical progression of their condition. In contrast with 201 males in the radiation only group, only 118 males in the combined remedy group had a biochemical progression of their disease. (Biochemical progression is defined by PSA values being elevated above the lowest level plus two nanograms per ml).

Soon after five years, males in the combined treatment group were faring considerably greater. “They had far better survival without biochemical progression,” stated Bolla. “Among these obtaining the combined treatment method, 17.five% had progressed compared to thirty.seven% receiving radiotherapy alone.”

In contrast with 80.eight% of men obtaining radiotherapy alone, results  from the review demonstrated that 5 many years after treatment method, 88.7% of the men in the combined therapy group had not progressed.

Urinary troubles had been observed in 5.9% of patients acquiring the combined treatment versus three.six% of individuals on radiation alone. Erectile dysfunction was greater in the mixed treatment method group, versus radiation alone. (27% versus 19.4%.

“These final results demonstrate that, in men with localized prostate cancer that is at chance of recurring and spreading, the addition of 6 months of hormonal remedy to radiotherapy improves the time these males survive without having their disease progressing,” stated Bolla. “It is essential to guarantee that the radiation treatment is of the very best quality further clinical study is required to optimize radiation strategies and to find new hormonal treatment options.”

Improved Survival For Males With Localized Prostate Cancer: 6 Months Hormonal Therapy Combined With Radiation

Boys" cancer danger improved without having identical vaccine as ladies, say overall health groups

The HPV vaccine is routinely offered to women of 12 and 13 to decrease the risk of cervical cancer, but overall health groups say boys not given the vaccine are at higher threat of viruses linked to other cancers Photograph: Burger/Phanie/Rex

Boys are becoming denied protection towards the chance of cancer simply because they are not routinely provided the very same vaccination as girls, a coalition of 25 patient groups and health organisations has claimed.

The coalition has launched an on-line petition for a “gender-neutral” technique with the HPV vaccine, which is previously presented to ladies of twelve and 13 to lessen the risk of cervical cancer.

Numerous backbench MPs backed the idea final year and vaccination advisers to the United kingdom government have currently pledged to consider the move but now HPV Action is stepping up the strain on ministers to adhere to the example of the US, Australia and some Canadian provinces.

The vaccination combats a family members of viruses that are also linked to a variety of cancers prevalent in guys such as anal and penile cancer and genital warts. Peter Baker, campaign director for HPV Action, stated: “Vaccinating girls alone is not ample to tackle HPV. Guys can even now get the virus from unvaccinated females from the United kingdom and other countries or from other men.

“It is basically unfair to deny boys in the Uk the identical level of safety as ladies or as boys in Australia and other countries in which the two sexes are now routinely vaccinated. The HPV vaccination is one of the easiest approaches of stopping cancer.”

An on the web poll of one,336 parents by YouGov for the organisation final month located 64% agreed with boys and women currently being vaccinated, with 11% disagreeing and 25% uncertain, stated HPV Action, which contains the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, the British Dental Association, the Terrence Higgins Trust and the Throat Cancer Basis.

Boys" cancer danger improved without having identical vaccine as ladies, say overall health groups