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A new powerful antibiotic, isolated from bacteria that could not be studied before, seems capable to combat harmful bacteria and even multi-resistant ‘superbugs’. Named Clovibactin, the antibiotic appears to kill bacteria in an unusual way, making it more difficult for bacteria to develop any resistance against it. Researchers from Utrecht University, Bonn University (Germany), the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Northeastern University of Boston (USA), and the company NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, USA) now share the discovery of Clovibactin and its killing mechanism in the scientific journal Cell.
Urgent need for new antibiotics
Antimicrobial resistance is a major problem for human health and researchers worldwide are looking for new solutions. “We urgently need new antibiotics to combat bacteria that become increasingly resistant to most clinically used antibiotics,” says Dr. Markus Weingarth, a researcher from the Chemistry Department of Utrecht University.
However, the discovery of new antibiotics is a challenge: few new antibiotics have been introduced into the clinics over the last decades, and then they often resemble older, already known antibiotics.
“Clovibactin is different,” says Weingarth. “Since Clovibactin was isolated from bacteria that could not be grown before, pathogenic bacteria have not seen such an antibiotic before and had no time to develop resistance.”
Antibiotic from bacterial dark matter
Clovibactin was discovered by NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals, a small US-based early-stage company, and microbiologist Prof. Kim Lewis from Northeastern University, Boston. Earlier, they developed a device that allows to grow ‘bacterial dark matter’, which are so-called unculturable bacteria. Intriguingly, 99% of all bacteria are ‘unculturable’ and could not be grown in laboratories previously, hence they could not be mined for novel antibiotics. Using the device, called iCHip, the US researchers discovered Clovibactin in a bacterium isolated from a sandy soil from North Carolina: E. terrae ssp. Carolina.

The prevalence of colorectal cancer in people under the age of 50 has risen in recent decades. One suspected reason: the increasing rate of obesity and high-fat diets. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute and UC San Diego have discovered how high-fat diets can change gut bacteria and alter digestive molecules called bile acids that are modified by those bacteria, predisposing mice to colorectal cancer.
In the study, published in Cell Reports on August 22, 2023, the team found increased levels of specific gut bacteria in mice fed high-fat diets. Those gut bacteria, they showed, alter the composition of the bile acid pool in ways that cause inflammation and affect how quickly intestinal stem cells replenish. Bile acids are molecules produced by the liver and used by the gut to help digest food and absorb cholesterol, fats, and nutrients.
“The balance of microbes in the gut is shaped by diet, and we are discovering how alterations in the gut microbial population (the gut microbiome) can create problems that lead to cancer,” says co-senior author and Professor Ronald Evans, director of Salk’s Gene Expression Laboratory. “This paves the way toward interventions that decrease cancer risk.”
In 2019, Evans and his colleagues showed in mice how high-fat diets boosted the overall bile acid levels. The shift in bile acids, they found, shut down a key protein in the gut — called the Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) — and increased the prevalence of cancer.
However, there were still missing links in the story, including how the gut microbiome and bile acids are changed by high-fat diets.
In the new work, Evans’ group teamed up with the labs of Rob Knight and Pieter Dorrestein at UC San Diego to examine the microbiomes and metabolomes — collections of dietary and microbially derived small molecules — in the digestive tracks of animals on high-fat diets. They studied mice with a genetic mutation that makes them more susceptible to colorectal tumors.
The scientists discovered that although mice fed high-fat diets had more bile acids in their guts, it was a less diverse collection with a higher prevalence of certain bile acids that had been changed by gut bacteria. They also showed that these modified bile acids affected the proliferation of stem cells in the intestines. When these cells don’t replenish frequently, they can accumulate mutations — a key step toward encouraging the growth of cancers, which often arise from these stem cells.

A team of University of Minnesota Medical School researchers successfully tested a new antifungal therapy to treat fungal meningitis. The trial results were published today in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
The research team tested a new oral formulation of the antifungal medication amphotericin among people who had HIV and cryptococcal meningitis — a common fungal infection around the brain. Cryptococcal meningitis is the most common cause of central nervous system infection in people living with HIV worldwide. Conventional amphotericin B can only be administered directly into veins and is highly toxic. The new lipid nanocrystal formulation — which was tested in the EnACT trial — can be taken orally and is non-toxic.
“An orally administered amphotericin that is effective against nearly all fungus and non-toxic sounds like the holy grail of antifungal medicines. While further clinical trials are needed in other fungal conditions, the EnACT trial establishes proof of concept for the safe and effective treatment of invasive fungal infections,” said David Boulware, MD, MPH, an infectious disease physician and professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School and M Health Fairview. Dr. Boulware is also the senior investigator of the EnACT trial.
In this randomized trial, 141 HIV-positive people with cryptococcal meningitis received the oral amphotericin combined with oral flucytosine. This combination was found to be promising for cryptococcal meningitis in regard to antifungal activity, similar survival and less toxicity in comparison to intravenous amphotericin B. Statistically fewer lab abnormalities occurred with the six weeks of LNC-enabled oral amphotericin B compared to one week of intravenous amphotericin B. In the group given two IV loading doses then the experimental oral amphotericin formulation, 90% of participants survived >4 months compared to 85% who received one week of standard intravenous amphotericin.
“With the rising incidence of life-threatening fungal infections, our currently available conventional methods are limited by rising rates of drug resistance and toxicities,” said Mahsa Abassi, DO, assistant professor at the U of M Medical School and co-investigator on the trial. “The development of new antifungal regimens that are orally available, less toxic, and can treat highly resistant fungal infections is crucial.”
The trial was conducted in partnership with researchers from the U of M’s Medical School, School of Public Health, the Infectious Diseases Institute of Makerere University in Uganda and Matinas BioPharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company.
“We are very pleased that the important EnACT data are being shared with the clinical and scientific community at large through publication in this peer-reviewed journal,” said Theresa Matkovits, PhD, and Chief Development Officer of Matinas. “The results from EnACT in cryptococcal meningitis and our experience with patients enrolled in our ongoing Compassionate/Expanded Use Access Program support our belief that MAT2203 has the potential to become an important part of the regimen for treatment of invasive fungal infections, including in the highest-need patients who require longer-term treatment and have limited or no treatment options. The publication of the EnACT data in Clinical Infectious Diseases is yet another milestone for our development program. We would like to thank all the EnACT participants, our dedicated investigators, and the entire clinical study team in Uganda for their commitment to this important clinical trial.”
Funding for the EnACT trial was provided by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

A new study led by investigators from Mass General Brigham has found that ChatGPT was about 72 percent accurate in overall clinical decision making, from coming up with possible diagnoses to making final diagnoses and care management decisions. The large-language model (LLM) artificial intelligence chatbot performed equally well in both primary care and emergency settings across all medical specialties. The research team’s results are published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
“Our paper comprehensively assesses decision support via ChatGPT from the very beginning of working with a patient through the entire care scenario, from differential diagnosis all the way through testing, diagnosis, and management,” said corresponding author Marc Succi, MD, associate chair of innovation and commercialization and strategic innovation leader at Mass General Brigham and executive director of the MESH Incubator. “No real benchmarks exists, but we estimate this performance to be at the level of someone who has just graduated from medical school, such as an intern or resident. This tells us that LLMs in general have the potential to be an augmenting tool for the practice of medicine and support clinical decision making with impressive accuracy.”
Changes in artificial intelligence technology are occurring at a fast pace and transforming many industries, including health care. But the capacity of LLMs to assist in the full scope of clinical care has not yet been studied. In this comprehensive, cross-specialty study of how LLMs could be used in clinical advisement and decision making, Succi and his team tested the hypothesis that ChatGPT would be able to work through an entire clinical encounter with a patient and recommend a diagnostic workup, decide the clinical management course, and ultimately make the final diagnosis.
The study was done by pasting successive portions of 36 standardized, published clinical vignettes into ChatGPT. The tool first was asked to come up with a set of possible, or differential, diagnoses based on the patient’s initial information, which included age, gender, symptoms, and whether the case was an emergency. ChatGPT was then given additional pieces of information and asked to make management decisions as well as give a final diagnosis — simulating the entire process of seeing a real patient. The team compared ChatGPT’s accuracy on differential diagnosis, diagnostic testing, final diagnosis, and management in a structured blinded process, awarding points for correct answers and using linear regressions to assess the relationship between ChatGPT’s performance and the vignette’s demographic information.
The researchers found that overall, ChatGPT was about 72 percent accurate and that it was best in making a final diagnosis, where it was 77 percent accurate. It was lowest-performing in making differential diagnoses, where it was only 60 percent accurate. And it was only 68 percent accurate in clinical management decisions, such as figuring out what medications to treat the patient with after arriving at the correct diagnosis. Other notable findings from the study included that ChatGPT’s answers did not show gender bias and that its overall performance was steady across both primary and emergency care.
“ChatGPT struggled with differential diagnosis, which is the meat and potatoes of medicine when a physician has to figure out what to do,” said Succi. “That is important because it tells us where physicians are truly experts and adding the most value — in the early stages of patient care with little presenting information, when a list of possible diagnoses is needed.”
The authors note that before tools like ChatGPT can be considered for integration into clinical care, more benchmark research and regulatory guidance is needed. Next, Succi’s team is looking at whether AI tools can improve patient care and outcomes in hospitals’ resource-constrained areas.
The emergence of artificial intelligence tools in health has been groundbreaking and has the potential to positively reshape the continuum of care. Mass General Brigham, as one of the nation’s top integrated academic health systems and largest innovation enterprises, is leading the way in conducting rigorous research on new and emerging technologies to inform the responsible incorporation of AI into care delivery, workforce support, and administrative processes.
“Mass General Brigham sees great promise for LLMs to help improve care delivery and clinician experience,” said co-author Adam Landman, MD, MS, MIS, MHS, chief information officer and senior vice president of digital at Mass General Brigham. “We are currently evaluating LLM solutions that assist with clinical documentation and draft responses to patient messages with focus on understanding their accuracy, reliability, safety, and equity. Rigorous studies like this one are needed before we integrate LLM tools into clinical care.”

Besides causing offense, the phrase may contribute to the underdiagnosing of treatable problems associated with menopause.When Heather Corinna started a Facebook support group in 2019 for people going through menopause and perimenopause, one phrase came up again and again. Members of the group had read about it online, heard it from their doctors and seen it in their medical notes. “Everybody had a bad reaction to it,” said Mx. Corinna, a queer sex educator and founder of the sex education site Scarleteen.The phrase? Vaginal atrophy.Amid the many unfamiliar terms and bodily changes that people were facing, “vaginal atrophy” seemed to encapsulate a host of fears around sexuality and aging. “I mean, atrophy,” said Mx. Corinna, 53, who is nonbinary. “Like, I’m getting older, bodies change. My elbows certainly don’t look or act like they used to, but you don’t hear anybody talking about my elbow atrophy.”Officially, the phrase was phased out years ago. In 2013, the Menopause Society and the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health convened a panel of medical experts to replace the term, which was increasingly seen as outdated. Atrophy “has negative connotations for midlife women,” they wrote. Also, they added, “vagina” was “not a generally accepted term for public discourse or the media.”But as Mx. Corinna has learned, the phrase continues to haunt the medical literature, as well as the health and medical care of people going through menopause. In medicine, “atrophy” commonly refers to a loss or thinning of tissue. In this case, it refers to tissues that rely on estrogen, and so become thin and lose elasticity in menopause, when levels of the hormone decline. But the vagina and vulva aren’t the only body parts affected by these hormonal changes; the urethra and bladder also require estrogen to function properly.To many patients, the focus on the vagina alone makes it seem as if all their genital symptoms are being sexualized. In reality, problems that are often associated with penetrative intercourse — dryness, irritation, thinning of tissue — also cause discomfort and pain with other everyday activities.Dr. Stephanie Faubion, director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women’s Health, hears from patients who find it difficult to sit in the car, put on jeans or wipe after going to the bathroom. But because estrogen therapy is often marketed primarily for sexual pain, many patients don’t realize that these symptoms can also be addressed with vaginal estrogen.“It is weird that there just is a focus on the sex part of it,” said Dr. Faubion, who is also the medical director of the Menopause Society. “These are not lifestyle drugs, like Viagra. They’re treating many more symptoms other than having this just be about sex.”An over-focus on the vagina also obscures the fact that urinary problems — including incontinence, increased frequency of urination and urinary tract infections — are often related to menopause. For many, these symptoms can be just as bothersome as genital ones: U.T.I.s are responsible for 15 percent of hospitalizations of older adults, and can lead to delirium or even death.“I spent my 20s and early 30s in a nonstop urinary tract infection, I can’t go back to that,” said Mx. Corinna, who is the author of the book “What Fresh Hell Is This? Perimenopause, Menopause, Other Indignities, and You.” “If something changes with my vulva and I need to learn different ways to have sex or I need to sit on a donut, I can deal with that. But I can’t deal with having a U.T.I. all the time anymore.”In other words, the phrase “vaginal atrophy” wasn’t just potentially offensive, it was also clinically misleading. Millions of women and other people going through menopause go undiagnosed for treatable symptoms, said Dr. James Simon, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and a member of the panel reconsidering the term. “We felt that one of the reasons was bad terminology,” he said.In 2014, the panel agreed on a new term incorporating these insights: genitourinary syndrome of menopause, or G.S.M. It wasn’t particularly catchy, but it brought the urinary system to the party, and unlike the term vaginal atrophy, it “didn’t have shame, wasn’t something that women did wrong or brought upon themselves,” Dr. Simon said. “It was just a natural process of aging that had a constellation of symptoms that could be lumped together as a syndrome.”There was precedent for rebranding a genital condition to make it more palatable to patients. In 1992, the National Institutes of Health replaced the term impotence with erectile dysfunction, or E.D. The reasoning was similar: Impotence was considered to be disparaging and imprecise, and was thought to imply that the condition was mainly psychological, adding to barriers in communication between patients and health care providers.Yet while E.D. has become firmly established in both the medical and popular lexicon, G.S.M. hasn’t had the same success. Vaginal atrophy is still the primary term used by most estrogen therapy companies, as well as many providers. “I don’t know that it’s commonly known,” said Dr. Faubion, who often finds herself having to explain the term to colleagues.Even doctors who don’t want to subject their patients to the term can find it difficult to avoid. Dr. Robin Noble, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Portland, Maine, tries to focus her conversations with patients on specific symptoms such as dryness and irritation. Yet when she prescribes vaginal estrogen, she still has to choose “vaginal atrophy” from a drop-down menu of diagnoses on her hospital computer system, and patients might end up seeing it in their medical notes. “I can’t avoid it entirely,” she said.Only a decade ago did gynecology shift from being a male-dominated field to one in which providers were primarily female. Given that history, it is perhaps unsurprising that much of the terminology feels archaic: Consider the phrases ovarian failure, incompetent cervix and senile uterus (really).In OB-GYN literature, women ages 15 to 49 are often categorized as “reproductive-aged” or “of reproductive age.” Going through menopause marks “the end of the childbearing phase of a woman’s life,” as the NAMS website puts it, and “the end of their reproductive years,” according to the World Health Organization. (Both are better than the choice of wording in one 2015 paper: “the end of reproductive competence.”)Besides being vague — there’s quite a difference between a 15-year-old and a 49-year-old — these phrases carry an implicit assumption that all women will, or should, reproduce. Such language can be jarring to people who can’t have children or choose not to, and to those who don’t want to be defined by their reproductive capacity. It has also caused some people to believe that they can’t get pregnant in perimenopause; they can.It may be more useful, and less presumptuous, to define menopause simply by what is happening inside your body, said Dr. Judith Joseph, a psychiatrist at NYU Langone Health who is on the medical board of Let’s Talk Menopause, a nonprofit organization. “Your ovaries are no longer ovulating,” Dr. Joseph said she tells her patients. “That has a totally different sound compared to ‘reproductive years,’” she said, adding, “You’re teaching people about what’s happening in their bodies, not what they’re capable of doing.”Of course, meanings change over time, and depend on who is holding the medical chart.Many people consider “vaginal atrophy” derogatory because there is no equivalent term for male genitals. While penises and testicles also shrink with age, medicine rarely describes them as atrophying, “and so no woman wants that diagnosis, either,” Dr. Faubion said. But testicular atrophy is not unheard-of; the term can describe genital shrinkage after steroid use, prostate cancer treatment or testosterone-blocking hormones for gender affirmation.For some doctors, atrophy is a neutral term that has no bearing on the value and dignity of the patient before them. Dr. Kathleen O’Banion, an OB-GYN and faculty member at Cooper University Hospital in New Jersey, remembers using the phrase in a lecture on estrogen loss and sexual function 30 years ago. During her talk, a sex therapist in the audience raised her hand and objected to the language.Dr. O’Banion was taken aback. “I saw that the term ‘atrophy’ upset her, but it had no such meaning for me,” she said in an email. In her view, “an atrophic labia is as wonderful and deserving of my concern and care” as any other.

A new study projects nearly 1 billion people will be living with osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, by 2050. Currently, 15% of individuals aged 30 and older experience osteoarthritis. The research, published today in The Lancet Rheumatology.
, analyzes 30 years of osteoarthritis data (1990-2020) covering more than 200 countries and was led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) as part of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.
The study found that cases increased rapidly over the past three decades because of three main factors: aging, population growth, and obesity. In 1990, 256 million people had osteoarthritis. By 2020, this number rose to 595 million people, which was a 132% increase from 1990. By 2050, this number is projected to approach the 1 billion mark.
“With the key drivers of people living longer and a growing world population, we need to anticipate stress on health systems in most countries,” explains Dr. Jaimie Steinmetz, the paper’s corresponding author and lead research scientist at IHME. “There is no effective cure for osteoarthritis right now, so it’s critical that we focus on strategies of prevention, early intervention, and making expensive, effective treatments like joint replacements more affordable in low- and middle-income countries.”
2050 projections of joint pain
The most common areas for osteoarthritis are knees and hips. By 2050, osteoarthritis is projected to increase by the following percentages based on problem areas of the human body. Knee +74.9% Hand +48.6% Hip +78.6% Other (e.g., elbow, shoulder) +95.1%More women than men are expected to continue grappling with this condition. In 2020, 61% of osteoarthritis cases were in women versus 39% in men. There is a combination of possible reasons behind this gender difference.

The REIMAGINE study, published today in BMJ Oncology, is the first study to use MRI scans with prostate specific antigen (PSA) density to assess the need for further standard NHS tests. Of the 29 participants found to have serious prostate cancer, 15 had a ‘low’ PSA score that would have meant they were not referred for further investigation under the current system.
Currently, men over 50 in the UK can ask for a PSA test if they are experiencing symptoms or are concerned about prostate cancer. Previous screening studies have used a PSA level of 3ng/ml or above as the benchmark for performing additional tests to look for prostate cancer, such as a biopsy.
Though previous research found that the combination of a PSA test and/or digital rectal examination, followed by a biopsy if disease is suspected, helped to reduce prostate cancer mortality by 20% after 16 years, this approach has also been linked to overdiagnosis and overtreatment of lower risk cancers.
In recent years, the introduction of MRI as a first step in investigating men at higher risk of prostate cancer has spared one in four men from an unnecessary biopsy, which is invasive and can lead to complications.
It is hoped that using MRI as a screening tool that is offered to men without them needing to ask for it could further reduce prostate cancer mortality and overtreatment.
For this study, researchers invited men aged 50 to 75 to have a screening MRI and PSA test. Of the 303 men who completed both tests, 48 (16%) had a positive screening MRI that indicated there might be cancer, despite only having a median PSA density result of 1.2 ng/ml1. 32 of these men had lower PSA levels than the current screening benchmark of 3ng/ml, meaning they would not have been referred for further investigation by the PSA test currently in use.
After NHS assessment, 29 men (9.6%) were diagnosed with cancer that required treatment, 15 of whom had serious cancer and a PSA of less than 3ng/ml. Three men (1%) were diagnosed with low-risk cancer that did not require treatment.

Early data on activities that will be unsafe to undertake in automated vehicles has been released. From doing work to watching the world, from social media to resting — preliminary results are in.
Research led by RMIT University looked at what happens if a driver is suddenly required to take control of an automated vehicle, such as in an emergency.
The series of papers examines how experience and three types of distractions (work, social media and rest) impacted on the driver’s ability to respond.
Study lead author in the School of Engineering, Dr Neng Zhang, said authorities need to begin drafting policies to regulate the responsible use of automated vehicles before Level 3 and 4 automated vehicles appear on Australian roads.
While the National Transport Commission has outlined a regulatory framework for automated vehicles in Australia, driver training, licensing and obligations are still being considered.
Laying the road to regulation
There are five levels of vehicle automation. Already, Level 1 and Level 2 are common through features such as lane keeping, automated parking and cruise control. More advanced automated vehicles — what we think of when we say ‘driverless cars’ — are currently being trialled but are not yet commercially available in Australia.

Published21 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Natalie Truswell BBC NewsConduct guidelines for UK doctors are being updated to spell out what constitutes workplace sexual harassment, amid concerns abuse is going unchallenged. The General Medical Council, which regulates doctors to ensure they are safe and fit to care for patients, says it is adopting a zero-tolerance policy. The new advice explains it is not just physical acts that can be a breach. Verbal and written comments or sharing images with a colleague count too. It is difficult to say precisely how common sexual harassment is within the NHS and private medical practice, because, as in other workplaces, not all cases are reported. 35,000 cases of misconduct or violence in NHS in five yearsFormer surgeons wants NHS MeToo movementWelsh paramedics share sexual harassment experiencesMcDonald’s workers speak out over sexual abuse claimsA recent survey of 2,500 doctors by the British Medical Association (BMA) found a third of female and a quarter of male respondents had experienced unwanted physical conduct in the workplace.Image source, Dr Amy AttwaterDr Amy Attwater, an accident-and-emergency doctor in Warwickshire who is the lead for equality, diversity and inclusivity at the non-profit campaign group Doctors Association UK, said: “Sexual harassment is always serious and it can have a long-term impact on people. “The level of which it’s happening is hugely under-reported. It is very infrequent that people actually report sexual harassment.”Speaking out about her own experience for the first time, Dr Attwater told BBC News: “I’ve been a doctor now for 12 years and as a medical student and as a doctor, particularly earlier in my career, I have unfortunately experienced sexual harassment myself. “To be honest, it is actually quite difficult to talk about, because, as you get older, you feel very naive and you think, ‘Why didn’t I report it?’ “My first thought was that I didn’t want to talk about this – but I feel I have a duty to speak out against these things and hopefully help other people to speak out. “Early in my career, I was sent sexual text messages by a senior colleague and I wasn’t sure what to do, as they were senior. “There was also a male nurse when who would touch me inappropriately without asking me, including massaging my shoulders and making comments about my body. He has since been fired. “Then, there was another time, when I worked in a department where there wasn’t a lot of space, and at times, I would be standing there, for example writing notes, and a more senior male doctor would come behind me and almost slowly rub their genitals against my bottom and then say something like, ‘I enjoyed that.’ It was seen as a joke – but it’s not OK.” Baby killerThe new guidance sets out what doctors should do if they witness bullying or harassment, including:offering support to the victim, including letting them know the behaviour witnessed is unacceptablechallenging the behaviour by speaking to the person responsible, either at the time, if safe to do so, or at an appropriate time and placereporting the behaviour in line with workplace policies, making sure the person targeted is aware of and supports that intentionAnd it says leaders and managers must make sure bad behaviours are addressed, dealt with promptly and escalated if necessary.There have been calls to overhaul the NHS whistleblowing system in the wake of the Lucy Letby trial, after it emerged hospital bosses had ignored senior doctors who had raised concerns about the baby killer.Existing guidance already warns doctors must not act in a sexual way towards patients or use their professional position to “pursue a sexual or improper emotional relationship”.The GMC says it heard from thousands of doctors, patients and members of the public during a consultation on the guidelines. Supporting victimsThe new guidance will not come into effect until the end of January, after a five-month familiarisation period for staff. And some say there is still a long way to go. Dr Chelcie Jewitt, an emergency-medicine doctor who is part of the Surviving in Scrubs campaign group, which aims to raise awareness of sexism, harassment and sexual assault in the healthcare workforce, said: “We have spoken with the GMC about the guidelines and we do think that they are a step in the right direction – but there is still a long way to go on this journey to eradicating the culture of sexual misconduct within healthcare. “The GMC has the potential to make a real difference and we need to see them supporting victims when they report perpetrators.”We need their reporting processes to be transparent and clearly explained to victims.”We need cases to be thoroughly investigated rather than dismissed.”And we need appropriate, proportionate sanctioning of perpetrators.” Prof Phil Banfield, BMA council chair, said: “Encouraging individuals to speak up and report bullying and harassment, for example, will not be effective if doctors do not trust those who they are complaining to or if complaints are not taken seriously when people do.” Provide guidanceDr Caroline Fryar, from the Medical Defence Union, which represents doctors over medical and legal matters, said: “We are calling on employers to ensure they give medical professionals time to digest it and the GMC to do all they can to make sure doctors can easily understand the main changes.”Doctors shouldn’t be getting homework at a time when they are already working incredibly hard, around the clock, to deliver safe and effective patient care.” The GMC offers support and information on addressing sexual misconduct in the workplace at its dedicated ethical hub. Those affected by sexual harassment in the workplace can also call its confidential helpline on 0161 923 6399, between 09:00 and 17:00 Monday to Friday.It says: “We can provide guidance on how to raise concerns you might be struggling with and you can remain anonymous. “Although our staff aren’t trained to provide legal or counselling support in relation to sexual misconduct, they can signpost you to other organisations.”The BBC Action Line website has information and support for anyone affected by sexual abuse. More on this story35,000 cases of sexual misconduct in NHS in five yearsPublished23 MayMcDonald’s workers speak out over sexual abuse claimsPublished18 JulyNHS needs MeToo moment, says former surgeonPublished11 JulyParamedic ‘expects to be sexualised’ by colleaguesPublished4 AugustRelated Internet LinksSurviving in ScrubsGMCThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Published23 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Fergus WalshMedical editor A 10-minute MRI scan could be used to screen men for prostate cancer, according to a new study.The scans proved far more accurate at diagnosing cancer than blood tests, which look for high levels of a protein called PSA.MRI picked up some serious cancers that would have been missed by PSA alone.At present there is no national screening programme because PSA is considered too unreliable, although men over 50 can request a PSA test. What is prostate cancer?Part of the male reproductive system, the prostate gland, about the size of a walnut, is in the pelvis, below the bladderIt surrounds the urethra – the tube that takes urine out of the body through the penisCancer is abnormal and uncontrolled cell growthBut in the prostate, it usually develops slowlyThere may be no signs or symptoms for yearsAnd some never develop any problems from itBut in others, the cancer can be aggressive and deadlyEarly diagnosis and treatment is keyFor the Reimagine study, which is published in BMJ Oncology, men aged 50 to 75 in London were invited for screening MRI and PSA tests, which were carried out at University College Hospital.Of the 303 who had both tests, 48 had a positive MRI that indicated cancer and of these 25 were diagnosed with significant cancer after further tests, including biopsies. More than half the men whose cancer was picked up on MRI had low PSA test scores below 3ng/ml, which is considered normal, and so would have been falsely reassured they were free of disease.Prof Caroline Moore, consultant urologist UCLH and chief investigator of the study at University College London, said: “Our results give an early indication that MRI could offer a more reliable method of detecting potentially serious cancers early, with the added benefit that less than 1% of participants were ‘over-diagnosed’ with low-risk disease.” Image source, UCLHPaul Rothwell, 62, had his prostate cancer diagnosed as a result of being on the trial. It was caught early and he was successfully treated. He feels fortunate because his PSA test was negative and so would have given false reassurance had it not been for his MRI. Paul, from Hertfordshire, told the BBC: “If I’d just had the blood test I would be carrying on life as normal walking around unaware that there was some sort of ticking time bomb inside me of a cancer slowly growing, and by the time I did find out, presumably it would have been much harder to treat and much more dangerous to me.”PSA tests are considered useful but unreliable indicators of prostate cancer. High levels, which can indicate cancer, can also be caused by a recent infection or vigorous exercise and sex. This can lead to overdiagnosis of cancer and, as the trial showed, a low PSA score might miss cancer. The authors of the study suggest that prostate MRI could be used for screening, though they say a larger study would be needed to assess this. For the trial, black men were five times less likely to come forward for screening than white men, even though they have a higher risk of prostate cancer. Saran Green, another study author from King’s College London, said: “One in four black men will get prostate cancer during their lifetime, which is double the number of men from other ethnicities. Given this elevated risk, it will be crucial that any national screening programme includes strategies to reach black men and encourage more of them to come forward for testing.”Errol McKellar, 66, from Essex, was diagnosed with prostate cancer 13 years ago. After successful treatment he returned to work as a car mechanic and began offering customers a discount if they got their, or their partner’s, prostate checked.He now runs a charity, the Errol McKellar Foundation, which aims to raise awareness of prostate cancer and to ensure more men come forward for testing.He told the BBC: “When they brought their car in I’d ask men, ‘When was the last time you had a service and MOT on yourself?’.”There’s a massive mistrust of the medical system among the African-Caribbean community, and that has to be dealt with. But also there’s two elements that we find that come up very often: one is fear, and the other one is ignorance.”When prostate cancer turns up at your front door, it doesn’t care whether you’re black, whether you’re white – if you ignore it, it will kill you. In the end this is about all men, and leaving no-one behind.”Prof Mark Emberton, senior author of the study, said a screening programme could be up and running within the next decade: “The UK prostate cancer mortality rate is twice as high as in countries like the US or Spain because our levels of testing are much lower. Given how treatable prostate cancer is when caught early, I’m confident that a national screening programme will reduce the UK’s prostate cancer mortality rate significantly.”Simon Grieveson, assistant director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “When a man’s prostate cancer is caught early, it’s very treatable. Sadly, more than 10,000 men each year are diagnosed too late, when their cancer has already spread. “MRI scans have revolutionised the way we diagnose prostate cancer, and it’s great to see research into how we might use these scans even more effectively. These results are extremely exciting, and we now want to see much larger, UK-wide studies to understand if using MRI as the first step in getting tested could form the basis of a national screening programme.”What symptoms should people check for?The common ones are:needing to urinate more frequently – particularly at nightdifficulty starting to urinate, weak flow and it taking a long timeblood in urine or semenThese symptoms can be caused by other conditions too – but it is important to have any changes checked by a doctor.More on this storyMen left embarrassed by urinary incontinence tabooPublished1 day agoBBC presenter Nick Owen reveals cancer diagnosisPublished7 AugustYearly prostate tests advisable for some menPublished20 October 2021Prostate screening could be ready in five yearsPublished27 December 2021Turnbull saved lives, says prostate cancer charityPublished2 September 2022Cancer patient urges men to get prostate testedPublished14 JuneRelated Internet LinksBMJ OncologyUniversity College London Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.