Sports Calendar

Two heroin users dead from anthrax-laced drug

Heroin users have been warned over a contaminated batch as two users who died in Glasgow test positive for anthrax

Have-a-go hero regains sight in stem cell trial

Russell Turnbull lost most of the sight in one eye 15 years ago. Now, thanks to British doctors, he can now see again

Family of ‘orgasm’ doctor in plea for law reform

The family of a gynaecologist falsely accused of sexual assault has called for law reforms to protect the reputations of innocent defendants

Libel gag on talk of 'medical hurricane'

Healthcare firm is seeking to silence a Danish academic from expressing doubts about one of its products by using England’s libel laws

Libel laws quash drug scandal

General Electric uses London libel courts to gag a radiologist after he raised the alarm over the potentially fatal risks of one of its drugs

Smokers are mutating their genes

The genetic map of a 55-year-old man’s tumour revealed 22,910 mutations, most caused by the carcinogens in cigarette smoke

Genomics offers hope of targeted cancer drugs

Cancer treatment could be made more precise and less brutal with gene research, but the NHS must invest now to benefit

Aids research suffers setback

Efforts to create a drug that can protect people against HIV are set back as “infection blocking” gel fails trial

Keyhole surgery could cut risk of strokes

Surgeons say a new technique to cover a pocket in the heart could remove the need for patients to take blood-thinning drugs

Patients 'missing out on simple cancer test'

The introduction of powerful therapies is being held up by poor access to critical genetic tests, Sir John Bell claims

Sisters lose stomachs to beat family risk

Meeta and Ravindra Singh are both expected to lead almost normal lives, but can eat only small amounts of food at a time

Scientists urge reform of ‘lethal’ libel law

Suppression of vital medical debate by fear of being sued in English courts could result in loss of life, experts say

Research throws up doubts over Tamiflu

There is no clear evidence that Tamiflu prevents complications in people with flu, new research suggests

Unlocking the cruellest prison

New research is giving hope to people such as the man who spent 23 years ‘locked’ in his body and unable to communicate

‘Bionic eye’ allows blind man to read again

Doctors at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital stunned by the results of a trial using a camera that sends signals to the brain

Boots defends marketing of homeopathy as effective

Chief pharmacist at Boots said responsibility to regulate marketing of homeopathic products lay with UK drug regulator

Mint tea 'as effective as aspirin' scientists find

Research showed the herb known as Brazilian mint reduced pain as much as a soluble form of the conventional painkiller.

‘Locked-in’ man renews calls for coma brain scans

Reports of Rom Houben’s 'reawakening' have raised fears that many British patients have been wrongly judged to be in coma

Mystery as coma survivor finds voice at fingertips

Experts are casting doubt on the veracity of Rom Houben’s 'reawakening' through a 'Ouija board' communication technique

Man in 'coma' for 23 years was awake all along

Rom Houben was paralysed in a car accident and presumed comatose but he was conscious – just unable to communicate

Scientists grow substitute skin from cells

French scientists have successfully coaxed master cells from human embryos to form immature skin cells to use for grafts

World-first stem cell therapy for eye disease

Trials for treatment of Stargardt's disease to begin in spring if world's first embryonic stem cell therapy is approved

Men’s heavy drinking ‘is good for heart’

Research on 41,000 people in Spain showed that alcohol — in any quantity — was linked to a lower risk of heart disease

Risk of bed shortage for swine flu children

As winter unfolds, the combination of swine flu and respiratory infections could lead to a paediatric bed crisis