Paralysed Dogs Cured By Scientists

A study of pet dogs with severe spinal injuries suffered in accidents offers new hope for paralysed human patients.

Scientists restored movement to the dogs' hind legs by bridging breaks in the spinal cord using olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) taken from their noses.

The cells support nerve fibre growth that maintains a communication pathway between the nose and the brain.

One previously crippled dachshund, Jasper, was described by its owner "whizzing around the house" after undergoing the treatment.

The randomised controlled trial is the first to demonstrate effective spinal cord repair in "real life" injury cases.

Professor Robin Franklin, one of the study leaders from Cambridge University, said: "Our findings are extremely exciting because they show for the first time that transplanting these types of cell into a severely damaged spinal cord can bring about significant improvement."

In the trial, scientists studied 34 pet dogs that had all suffered spinal cord injuries as a result of accidents and back problems. None were injured deliberately for the sake of research.

One group of dogs had the OEC cells taken from the lining of their own noses and injected into the injury site. Another was only injected with the liquid in which the cells were suspended.

Dogs were tested for neurological function at one month intervals and had their walking ability assessed on a treadmill.

Those that had been injected with the OEC cells showed improved movement.

However Prof Franklin warned patients and their loved ones not to expect too much from the approach.

"We're confident that the technique might be able to restore at least a small amount of movement in human patients with spinal cord injuries, but that's a long way from saying they might be able to regain all lost function," he said.

"It's more likely that this procedure might one day be used as part of a combination of treatments, alongside drug and physical therapies, for example."

Jasper's owner, May Hay, from Cambridge, said: "Before the trial, Jasper was unable to walk at all. When we took him out we used a sling for his back legs so that he could exercise the front ones. It was heartbreaking.

"But now we can't stop him whizzing round the house and he can even keep up with the two other dogs we own. It's utterly magic."

Professor Geoffrey Raisman, chair of neural regeneration at University College London, said: "This is not a cure for spinal cord injury in humans - that could still be a long way off. But this is the most encouraging advance for some years and is a significant step on the road towards it."

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Report: Young Brits More Likely To Get Drunk

By Becky Johnson, North of England Correspondent

Young people in the UK are more likely to have been drunk by the age of 13 than those in almost any other country.

A report has also found that 15 and 16-year-olds are more likely to have been drunk in the last month than their foreign counterparts.

The survey carried out for the charity Alcohol Concern found only youngsters in Estonia, Malta and the Isle of Man drink more than young people in the UK.

Sixteen-year-old Charmaine McGivern, from Wythenshawe in Greater Manchester, told Sky News she started drinking when she was 13 with a group of older friends.

"They were saying to me 'drink' and because I was younger I took the drink and I was drinking and it was in one of my mate's houses. They were persuasive and everything, telling me to drink, telling me that it was fun but then I got the hang of drinking."

She described how she ended up in hospital when she was 14 because she was so drunk she fell and broke her ankle.

Campaigners say cheap alcohol is largely to blame for the drink problem

"It wasn't a nice feeling being hospital because I had to be on a drip. And it was from there I noticed that I was turning into an alcoholic and basically I was on the booze… and I found out I had alcohol poisoning."

She no longer drinks and says the damage alcohol did to her health has put her off it for life.

But the study found in general young people "drink to get drunk" with 63% of 16 to 24-year-olds agreeing that cheap alcohol promotions encourage then to drink to excess.

In March 1,000 young people aged between 16 and 24 were interviewed by research agency YouthSite for the study. They repeatedly told researchers it is "cheaper to buy a three-litre bottle of cider than buy a ticket to go to the cinema".

Other surveys have shown that many teens start drinking alcohol at 13

The study is being published to mark the start of Alcohol Awareness Week. It claims that alcohol is 44% more affordable now in relative terms than it was in 1980.

It also found that there has been a 25% increase in the number of off-licensed premises, which means "cheap" alcohol is more available.

Alcohol Concern's programme policy manager, Tom Smith, said: "This report is further proof of the impact cheap alcohol is having on the health and wellbeing of our young people.

"They have told us loud and clear that the way in which alcohol is priced influences the way they drink. We also know that our young people are more likely to have experienced being drunk by the age of 13 than their peers in almost any other European country."

Campaigners say it is time to set a minimum price on alcohol

"This survey shows just how urgent action on minimum unit pricing is and we're calling on the Government to set a 50p minimum unit price without delay."

Alcohol Concern chief executive Eric Appleby said: "Having open and frank conversations as a society about the way we drink has never been more important and this report highlights that.

"We know that as a nation we love talking about alcohol and we all have an opinion about it, but are we having the right conversations?

"We've really got to get this right for the sake of future generations. I hope people will embrace this opportunity to get talking and thinking about their drinking."

A Home Office spokesman said: "This is further evidence that cheap alcohol contributes to irresponsible drinking. Introducing a minimum unit price is just one of a range of measures the Government is taking to tackle the minority who cause alcohol-related crime and disorder in our local communities.

"We have already introduced early morning restriction orders to curb alcohol sales, a late night levy to ensure those selling alcohol help pay towards the costs of policing and we have made it easier for local authorities to tackle problematic licensed premises."

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Benefits Cap 'Immoral And Socially Divisive'

Plans for a £500-a-week cap on household benefits have been criticised in an savage attack by the former coalition minister for children and families.

Sarah Teather accused ministers of seeking to "gain popularity at the expense of children's lives" by pushing through a measure they knew was popular but ineffective.

The Lib Dem faced calls for her sacking as children's minister in February after she missed a key vote on the reforms which she had publicly questioned.

She eventually departed from the government ranks in September's reshuffle.

Speaking to The Observer, she said: "I think deliberately to stoke up envy and division between people in order to gain popularity at the expense of children's lives is immoral.

"It has no good intent."

She went on: "There are all sorts of things you have to do when times are tight that have negative consequences but you do them for good purposes.

"But to do something for negative purposes that also has negative consequences - that is immoral."

She added: "I don't think it was even remotely conceived as a financial cost-cutting device. I think it was conceived as a political device to demonstrate whose side you are on."

She said she was "terrified" about the prospects for many families who would be forced to move to cheaper areas where they would find it harder to find work.

"My fear is that a lot of people will effectively just disappear from the area in which they were living. I think some very horrible things are going to happen," she said, questioning how well child protection and education services would keep track of youngsters.

But a spokesman for Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith accused Ms Teather of hugely-misinformed scaremongering.

"The criticisms Sarah Teather is levelling against the Government's welfare reforms are hugely misinformed and therefore result in needless scaremongering," he told the newspaper.

"It's not fair or right that benefits claimants receive higher incomes than hard-working families who are striving to get on in life.

"Our reforms bring fairness back to the system while ensuring we support the most vulnerable."

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Energy Bill: The Plan To Keep UK's Lights On

By Gerard Tubb, Sky News Correspondent

Crucial plans to ensure the UK's lights stay on for the next twenty years are due to be published shortly by the Government.

The energy and climate secretary, Ed Davey, has to balance the need to create new generating capacity with commitments to a low carbon future and more electricity from renewable sources.

Many power stations are coming to the end of their life and the government estimates it will cost £110bn to replace and improve electricity infrastructure over the next decade.

Researcher Malcolm Grimston, from Imperial College and Chatham House, said it is essential that the Energy Bill is a success.

Researcher Malcolm Grimston said it is essential the bill is a success

"We've hardly built any new power stations for over 10 years now and a lot of our existing ones are coming to the end of their lives.

"We used to have a lot of our own gas reserves, they've pretty much gone so were now dependent on imports."

Electricity use is increasing, with suggestions that demand could double by 2050.

Advances in generating technology are increasing capacity, but planning concerns have the potential to derail industry targets.

At Ovenden Moor in West Yorkshire, Yorkshire Wind Power wants to replace 23 wind turbines generating 9.2MW of power with nine turbines generating up to 23MW.

But the size of the new turbines has led to campaigners in nearby Haworth, home to the Bronte Museum, complaining that the environment will be blighted - while denying charges of nimbyism.

"This is everyone's back yard, this is heritage landscape," said Chris Gwent, the heritage and conservation officer for the Bronte Society.

"We don't want them dominating this unique landscape."

The UK is signed up to providing 15% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020 and to reducing to zero the amount of carbon pumped into the atmosphere from electricity generation.

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Tube Passengers Ignore Man Collapsed On Floor

Video footage shows a man who collapsed unconscious on the floor of a busy London tube train apparently being ignored for several minutes by fellow passengers.

A member of the public, who claimed he was unable to help, filmed the incident on his mobile phone and later uploaded the footage to YouTube.

In the video the man can be seen clutching onto a handrail before his legs suddenly give way and he collapses in a heap on the floor of the train.

He lies there for several minutes and is ignored by the other passengers, apart from one woman who appears to pull the train emergency alarm.

When the train stops at the station he is guarded by tube staff, but is not put in the recovery position.

The incident took place at approximately 12.40pm on Wednesday on a train travelling towards Great Portland Street.

Transport for London told Sky News that TfL staff had received basic medical training but the man was not put in the recovery position because they were requesting an ambulance.

Staff had "checked the customer was breathing", a spokeswoman added.

After a number of minutes the man was finally helped off the train

"It is distressing to see a passenger fall ill and in this case the member of staff responding needed to request more advanced medical support than the basic training that all our staff receive," she said.

"He immediately requested an ambulance then made an announcement to ask whether there was anyone with professional medical expertise and began to clear the train of passengers.

"Medically trained British Transport Police officers, who were brought to the Tube network earlier this year to improve our response to this sort of incident, arrived quickly to assist Tube staff who remained on the scene at all times."

But the video provoked an angry reaction from YouTube viewers and Twitter users.

One tweeted: "Passengers and train staff do nothing and step over him! Disgusting!" While another commented: "That makes me feel sick. Man collapses on Tube and people walk over him."

One poster on YouTube commented: "The London transport staff are shameful they have a duty of care for their customers . It's obvious that the whole organisation needs to look at their training."

The London Ambulance Service, who later gave medical assistance to the man, said he was diabetic and had passed out due to a lack of insulin.

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Young Most At Risk Of Death Behind The Wheel

By Richard Suchet, Sky News Reporter

Young people accounted for 25% of all car deaths and injuries in 2011, new figures reveal ahead of Road Safety Week.

More than 1,500 17 to 24-year-olds in the UK were killed or seriously injured while driving a car last year, according to the Department for Transport.

Kelly Phillips, 17, from Surrey, died in 2005 when the car she was a passenger in hit a tree at 80mph.

She had been sitting in a car listening to music with a 17-year-old boy who did not yet have his licence.

Kelly's sister, Abi (left), and mother, Della

The decision to go for a drive on the public road cost them both their lives.

Kelly's mother, Della Phillips, told Sky News: "I try to hide behind this facade of strength. But inside I'm crying all the time, I'm missing her all the time.

"It's like a craving, you're not seeing the memories you expected to see when you have a child."

Ms Phillips is now backing a free education campaign called Driver IQ - an online education programme that puts pre-drivers and novices through potentially hazardous road scenarios. 

The Driver IQ campaign

Some 350 schools and 30,000 young people already use the programme but it could be rolled out to thousands more.

She said: "When it comes to young people being safer in cars, lack of knowledge can kill. I know that only too well.

"We want every mum and dad out there to ensure their child and their child's school/college uses Drive IQ straightaway as it addresses attitude and behaviour.

"We have to tackle this issue right now." 

Road Safety Week runs from November 19 to November 25. For more information visit the website.

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Syria 'Terrorism Suspect' To Appear In Court

A 24-year-old man is to appear in court charged in connection with alleged terrorist activity in Syria, including the kidnapping of two journalists.

Jubayer Chowdhury will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court, police

He was arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command at Heathrow Airport on Monday morning after arriving on a flight from Bahrain.

Chowdhury is the second man to be charged over the alleged abduction of British photographer John Cantlie and Dutch journalist Jeroen Oerlemans.

The police spokesman said: "Officers from Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command have tonight, 15 November, charged a second man in connection with an investigation into travel to Syria in support of alleged terrorist activity.

"Jubayer Chowdhury, 24, together with Shajul Islam and others, within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court, between 17 July 2012 and 26 July 2012, unlawfully and injuriously imprisoned John Cantlie and Jeroen Oerlemans against their will.

"Contrary to common law and Section 63B of the Terrorism Act 2000."

Mr Cantlie, who worked for various newspapers including the Sunday Times, and Mr Oerlemans were held captive for about a week after travelling to the country to report on the ongoing civil war.

Islam, a trainee NHS doctor, is accused of acting as a medic for the group which abducted them.

He was arrested at Heathrow Airport last month after arriving from Egypt.

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Antibiotics Resistance A Growing Health Threat

By Thomas Moore, Health and Science Correspondent

The Chief Medical Officer has raised the prospect of a future without cures for common infections - unless antibiotics are used more responsibly.

In a stern warning to doctors and patients, Professor Dame Sally Davies said antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to modern health.

"Antibiotics are losing their effectiveness at a rate that is both alarming and irreversible," she said.

"Bacteria are adapting and finding ways to survive the effects of antibiotics, ultimately becoming resistant so they no longer work.

"The more you use an antibiotic, the more bacteria become resistant to it."

In 2000, 4% of serious bloodstream infections of E coli were resistant to the powerful antibiotic ciprofloxacin. That has now risen to 21%.

Penicillin is no longer effective against wound infections caused by the bug staphylococcus.

Professor Dame Sally Davies

And doctors are alarmed by the emergence of an untreatable form of the sexually-transmitted infection gonorrhoea.

Pharmaceutical companies are struggling to find new drugs.

Prof Davies said doctors should take care to prescribe antibiotics appropriately.

And she urged patients not to demand antibiotics for winter ailments.

She told Sky News: "When we get coughs, colds, and sore throats, mostly they are viruses. Antibiotics don't help.

"GPs should help decide when they are needed, prescribe the right drug, and right dose and we as patients need to take the whole course."

A campaign launched to mark European Antibiotic Awareness Day, which features a hedgehog, warns patients not to "get prickly" if doctors refuse to give them a prescription.

According to the Health Protection Agency, 6% of patients keep unused antibiotics to use in future.

But antibiotics should only be used when prescribed by a doctor and should never be shared with anyone else.

Anna Luhar, a London lawyer, developed a deadly form of tuberculosis (TB) that is highly resistant to antibiotics.

She was isolated in hospital for nearly five months while doctors used a cocktail of six drugs to control the infection. It took 18 months to finally eradicate the bug.

She told Sky News: "They really had to search high and low to find drugs that would work.

"Some had to be imported from Germany and the US. One of them - streptomycin - is usually not used.

"They were really at the last line of defence."

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Alcohol In Pregnancy 'Can Lower Child's IQ'

Women who drink even moderate amounts of alcohol while pregnant may risk harming their child's intelligence levels, according to a new study.

Advice to pregnant women about drinking is contradictory, with some guidelines recommending no alcohol at all and others suggesting the odd drink now and then is safe.

But researchers using genetic analysis of more than 4,000 mothers and children found that drinking between one and six units of alcohol a week during pregnancy can lead to lower Intelligence Quotient (IQ) scores by the time a child is eight.

"Even at levels of alcohol consumption which are normally considered to be harmless, we can detect differences in childhood IQ which are dependent on the ability of the foetus to clear this alcohol," Sarah Lewis of Bristol University, who led the study, said.

"This is evidence that even at these moderate levels, alcohol is influencing foetal brain development."

Mother-of-one Toni Denholme, 26, from Newcastle, said doctors gave her mixed messages on drinking during pregnancy.

"The doctors kind of said it was OK to drinking in moderation, it wasn't as harmful as smoking or anything, but ideally not to, but there wasn't a 'don't, definitely don't drink'."

Gwen Jones, who is expecting her first child in April, said: "There's so much ambiguous advice out there what you can do what you can't do what you should and shouldn't do, so something that comes out medically and says 'definitely do not do it, it's going to harm your child', I think is brilliant."

The study used genetic data from women and children who were part of another study called the Children of the 90s study.

Since the individual genetic variations that people have in their DNA are not connected to lifestyle and social factors, this kind of study avoids potential complications.

"This is a complex study but the message is simple, even moderate amounts of alcohol during pregnancy can have an effect on future child intelligence," said Ron Gray of Oxford University, who was part of Ms Lewis's team.

David Nutt, a professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, said: "Even though the IQ effects are small, if at all possible women should avoid ethanol in pregnancy as it's a known toxin."

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April Jones Search Expected To End In Weeks

The search for April Jones is understood to be approaching its final stages.

Officers are still searching areas around the town of Machynlleth, where the five-year-old went missing, but police say it is now expected to last weeks rather than months.

Community leaders are preparing to celebrate Christmas as normally as possible, despite the fact that April's body has still not been found.

But they accept that her disappearance has had a profound effect on life in the town.

Machynlleth became the focus of national media attention when April went missing six weeks ago.

Now it is trying to strike a balance between remembering the schoolgirl and moving on for the sake of hundreds of other children in the town.

Mayor Gareth Jones said it was important to make efforts to recapture the routine of normal life.

"I think by now people have a sense that they wish to try to move on as much as possible," he said.

"Obviously that doesn't mean that April and her family are any further away from our thoughts than they were at the very beginning.

"There's just a sense that people see that we owe it to our young people to try to get some semblance of normality back into the way we are living our lives."

Pink ribbons can be seen throughout Machynlleth

Pink ribbons still adorn the town as a mark of support for April Jones' family.

Hundreds are tied to fences, gateposts and door handles. Many people in the town still wear one every day.

Mr Jones said that the effect on the people of Machynlleth remains profound and will probably last a generation.

"People have become a little more wary of their children's whereabouts," he said.

"They are thinking twice about letting their children play outside. It will take a time for people to get back to the way it was."

The sentiment was echoed at Wheeler Fabrics in the centre of town, the store that supplied most of the pink ribbons.

Sam Wheeler said:  "The way that families treat their children, what they let them do and the freedom that they let them have.

"It's going to be talked about in more detail than it used to be, which is a shame because future generations of kids might lose out on the freedom that they had."

A pink candle has been lit at St. Peter's Church where five weeks ago hundreds of people gathered for a service in April's memory.

Vicar Kathleen Rogers say it will remain lit until April's body is found. 

Referring to the huge turnout of volunteers who helped with the search for April, she said: "At the beginning there was a lot of urgency.

"It was a hive of activity. Now there is a deep sense of sadness. People are preparing for Christmas and it will go ahead as it always does, but there will be a part of every [church] service that will be for April."

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