Inside Health

Following the latest figures on deaths from alcohol, Dr Mark Porter talks to liver transplant expert Dr Varuna Aluvihare from King's College London, the largest liver transplant centre in Europe.Targeted cancer therapies - thousands of people with cancer are to have their genes mapped as part of a new drive towards treatment tailored to the individual. But what's in it for the patient? Mark discusses with Prof Peter Johnson, chief clinician for Cancer Research UK.Mark talks to Dr Paul Farrant about caffeine - is there a benefit to having it in your shampoo?Halitophobia - fear of bad breath and what can be done to help. Tim Hodgson and Claire Daniel from the Eastman Dental Hospital in London explain.

New research suggesting that the ban on smoking in public places has led to a sharp fall in the number of children admitted to hospital with asthma.Sunbeds and cancer Dr Mark Porter examines claims by some tanning salons that their machines do not increase the risk of developing skin cancer despite UV tanning devices being classified as carcinogenic to humans.Plus we visit a leading expert to answer a listener's query about why she is waking up with a very dry mouth.And why your body mass index may not be the best way to work out if you are overweight.

Dr Mark Porter goes on a weekly quest to demystify the health issues that perplex us.

Dr Mark Porter explores Dementia Challenge - the Department of Health's much publicised campaign to improve dementia care, including a new scheme to test everyone over 75 who's admitted to hospital for signs of the condition. Will this lead to overdiagnosis or will it get people treated early? And prescribing sleeping tablets for those unable to rest on a noisy hospital ward may seem like a quick fix but there is strong evidence that they are linked to side effects including an increase in falls. Mark Porter investigates and finds some simple solutions to getting a good night's kip in hospital. Plus a leading expert on the thyroid gland answers a listener's concerns about the use of the hormone thyroxine.

Dr Mark Porter discovers that three quarters of people with diabetes who are likely to benefit from an insulin pump are not on one. He talks about the cancer that no one talks about - cancer of the penis. And he learns why you shouldn't wake your child during a night terror. GP and regular contributor Margaret McCartney investigates the growing incidence of self harming amongst the young as a new report on it is published.

Felix Baumgartner's record-breaking freefall from the edge of space was witnessed online by 8 million people around the world this week. The jump was well-planned and included equipment to enable him to breathe at high altitude and low pressure. Dr Kevin Fong is the Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Fellow, and Associate Director of the Centre for Altitude, Space and Extreme Environment Medicine at University College London. He says that a pressurised suit would prevent his blood from "boiling" at the so-called Armstrong line - where pressure in the atmosphere means that boiling point of water is the same as body temperature. A previous attempt in the 1960s almost failed - when the pressurised suit leaked, causing swelling in one hand. The chances of surviving a common type of emergency abdominal surgery are lower if you have the operation at night or over the weekend. The first report produced by the UK Emergency Laparotomy Network shows that the odds of survival vary tremendously between hospitals too - from a 96% chance of pulling through in the best units, to just 58% in the worst. The study involved 2,000 patients who had undergone the surgery at 35 different NHS hospitals. The patients who need this operation are often very sick - with a blocked bowel or suspected bleeding in the abdomen. Mike Grocott, who's Professor of Anaesthesia and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Southampton believes that this type of case should be given the best care possible - by a consultant surgeon and consultant anaesthetist. The published results are anonymised - but Dr Dave Murray who's a Consultant Anaesthetist at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, says data will be collected nationally and published in 2015, including the names of the hospitals. One listener - a former artist and puppeteer - emailed Inside Health about his recent diagnosis of essential tremor. He's finding the shaking of his hands embarrassing and wonders what can be done about it. Professor Leslie Findley, who's Consultant Neurologist at the Essex Neurosciences Unit at Queens' Hospital in Romford, describes the options - from beta blockers to deep brain stimulation. If you've ever spent time in hospital you may have worn an open-backed hospital gown - which often gapes in an undignified manner. But if you are a man on the urology wards at Solihull hospital in the West Midlands then you are in for a treat - pyjamas designed by the staff to preserve dignity and reduce the likelihood of complications. Consultant urological surgeon Mr Dev Sarmah is one of the team who came up with new design in response to a spate of blocked catheters in patients wearing conventional pyjamas.

As the Nobel Prize for Medicine announced this week recognises stem cell research, Dr Mark Porter asks if it's already making a difference to patients.And imagine waking up with numbness in your face, by the end of the day with paralysis in your leg, all tests are normal and there's no apparent cause - Margaret McCartney reports from Edinburgh on a burgeoning field of medicine - functional disorders.Plus an Inside Health listener who has been taking epilepsy treatment for 35 years asks when is it safe to stop taking her medication? And do 'stop-smoking' campaigns really work? Kamran Abbasi looks at the evidence.

The latest addition to the burgeoning ranks of health magazines on the newsagent's shelves is called What Doctors Don't Tell You. The headlines on the front of this month's edition promise to help you sunbathe your diabetes away, end your child's wheezing without drugs, reverse bone loss for good, and avoid hysterectomy by changing your diet. Lynne McTaggart who edits the magazine with her husband responds to the views of Inside Health's resident GP, Dr Margaret McCartney. The commonest cause of hepatitis in the UK isn't A,B or even C - it's Hepatitis E. Although it may not have the profile of the better known strains it is causing more than its fair share of problems. Dr Harry Dalton who's a consultant gastroenterologist at The Royal Cornwall Hospital is a senior lecturer at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health and a world authority on Hepatitis E. He says we still don't fully understand what the long term effects of hepatitis E may be, particularly on the brain and nervous system. A listener contacted Inside Health about unpleasant dizziness that happens when she turns over in bed or straightens up after bending down. She wanted to know whether it was likely to be low blood pressure, or a problem with her ears. Dr Mike Jeffreys, a Consultant physician in the Department of Healthcare for Older People at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital explains how benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, or BPPV could be behind her symptoms. And how it can be effectively treated with a simple series of movements to the head called the Epley manoeuvre.

In Inside Health this week Dr Mark Porter asks whether headlines identifying a 'SARS Like' virus may cause unnecessary alarm. While this new virus and SARS are both members of the same family, virologist John Oxford explains that they are more like cousins that behave differently. And should you be worried about the shape of your baby's head? Lots of parents are. Margaret McCartney questions the growing trend for corrective helmets to treat so called 'flat head syndrome'.Plus Mark Porter visits the first NHS hospital to offer a new approach to treating heartburn.

Ovarian cancer is known as the silent killer - because its symptoms can often be vague - bloating, abdominal discomfort and feeling full after eating. An American medical body says that screening all women for this cancer does not save lives - and may cause more harm than good. The US Preventive Services Task Force were responding to the latest results from the PLCO study - which included 80,000 women over 55. There was no difference in outcome between the women who were offered screening and those who just carried on as normal. Around a thousand of the women who were screened had surgery after testing positive - only to find they didn't have cancer. And 1 in 7 of them had at least one serious complication following their unnecessary surgery. Professor Usha Menon from University College London says that screening could be used in women with abdominal symptoms to help spot the cancer. One Inside Health listener got in touch about his risk of developing cardiovascular disease - after his GP based his risk on his very high blood pressure reading - despite the fact that he's managed to reduce it by taking medication and exercising more. Dr Margaret McCartney says that charts in the the British National Formulary's charts are often used to assess these risks - but that other resources like QRISK can be used instead. A niggling dry cough or a constant feeling like you need to clear your throat may have been diagnosed as a post-nasal drip. But cough expert Professor Alyn Morice says many people plagued by these symptoms are in fact affected by a "leaky" valve at the top of their stomach - creating a mist of partly-digested food which triggers the cough reflex. The benefits of a vegetarian diet are often publicised - but how much does not eating meat improve your health? Dr Kamran Abbassi searches the medical literature and finds that there are modest benefits to cardiovascular risk, blood pressure and Body Mass Index. For parents who may be anxious when their children announce they want to turn veggie - one Vietnamese study found no difference between the growth rates of vegetarian and meat-eating children. Another listener Georgina Abrahams emailed to ask about treating gallstones. Does the gallbladder need to be removed surgically or can dietary changes help to alleviate symptoms? At least 1 in 10 of us will develop gallstones at some stage. Professor Hugh Barr is an upper gastrointestinal specialist in Gloucester. He explains how a low fat diet can help to prevent gallstones - which are usually deposits of cholesterol - but that once they're causing symptoms surgery is the most effective solution.