HEALTH NOTES: Smartphone apps claiming to test for skin cancer may lead to avoidable deaths
Smartphone apps that test for skin cancer are inaccurate and could lead to avoidable deaths, according to scientists from Queen Mary University of London.
Researchers found that two apps to detect skin cancers – not named for legal reasons – identified rare and aggressive cancers as low-risk.
Working from users’ photographs, the apps issue an alert if they identify a possible sign of skin cancer, such as unusual moles or discoloured patches.
Research showed the apps, which claim a 95 per cent detection rate, classified as many as one fifth of some cancers as benign, rather than malignant, such as amelanotic melanoma and merkel cell carcinoma.
Smartphone apps that test for skin cancer are inaccurate and could lead to avoidable deaths, according to scientists from Queen Mary University of London
Blackcurrants easy gym aches
Blackcurrants could relieve post-workout sore muscles, a study suggests.
University of Surrey research showed concentrated blackcurrant reduced muscle soreness by half in those who frequently exercised vigorously.
The study involved men and women undergoing intensive exercise for eight days, including movements to build muscle – known as resistance training.
Half the participants took a 300mg capsule of concentrated blackcurrant every day, while half did not. They then graded their muscle soreness over four days. The blackcurrant group saw their muscle soreness reduce three times faster than those who did not take the pill.
Scientists say the ‘stark’ improvement was thanks to blackcurrant being rich in anthocyanins, a natural compound shown to reduce inflammation.
Prejudice against people with schizophrenia is rife, a survey has found. Almost half the 1,500 respondents to a national survey would not let someone with schizophrenia look after their children.
A third would not want a schizophrenic to be a medical doctor, and a tenth wouldn’t want them as a friend or neighbour, according to the poll for charity Esomar Foundation.
Schizophrenia is a severe, long-term mental health condition in which sufferers struggle to distinguish their own thoughts from reality.
However, patients receiving treatment – medication and psychological therapy – are able to live healthy, stable lives.
Doctors can now diagnose life-threatening brain and head injuries at the patient’s bedside thanks to Swoop, the UK’s first portable MRI scanner.
Usually MRI scanners, which use magnetic fields and radio waves to create detailed images that can show tumours or traumatic injuries in the brain, are so big they need their own dedicated rooms.
Dr Khan Siddiqui, of the medical tech firm Hyperfine behind Swoop, which produces a lower level of radiation than large MRI scanners, says patients can get a scan result within 90 minutes.
Usually MRI scanners, which use magnetic fields and radio waves to create detailed images that can show tumours or traumatic injuries in the brain, are so big they need their own dedicated rooms, pictured
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