Some women with osteoporosis can stop taking a bone-protecting drug after five years without increasing their risk of fractures, say scientists. The class of drugs, bisphosphonates, are given to strengthen the bones of women who have gone through the menopause and risk fractures.
The manager of a care home has been told she will face a jail term for an "abhorrent" reign of terror over patients in a home. Diane Butler's "despicable" staff - ill-treated mentally and physically patients in their care. One carer tried to stage a fight between a Down's Syndrome patient and another resident with autism. Butler, 47, of St Loys Road, Haringey, north London, was found guilty of one count of wilful neglect.
Hormone therapy might be an effective heart disease treatment, despite a major US study which suggested it caused harm, scientists say. The Women's Health Initiative study was stopped in 2002 amid concerns over raised heart disease and cancer risk. But now other US experts say the WHI may have covered the wrong age group and used the wrong dose of HRT.
Care homes are being warned that they may be breaking the law and putting patients' lives at risk by hiding drugs in food or drink, the BBC has learned. The Mental Welfare Commission is concerned that the practice of giving medicine secretly is being over-used. Under Scots law, medical staff can intervene in a patient's treatment if the person is incapable of acting in his or her own best interests.
Scientists at Cardiff University have developed a potential treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Researchers say they have created an antibody which could block the production of brain chemicals linked to the debilitating disease.
Most physiotherapy graduates have struggled to get a job this year due to NHS cutbacks, industry leaders say. A Chartered Society of Physiotherapy poll found that seven out of every 10 physios who graduated in 2006 had not yet found a job. The society said if this group does not find employment it will mean £40m of taxpayers money will have been wasted on training them.