Saturday July 8 2017

Kenyans mark World Cancer Day on February 4, 2016 in Eldoret town. Tiny errors in DNA code can lead to cancer and other illnesses. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

A revolution in the search for cancer treatments has been proposed by Englands chief medical officer.

Prof Sally Davies wants gene-testing to be introduced on a routine basis.

I want the National Health Service to be offering genomic medicine, that means diagnosis of our genes, to patients where they can possibly benefit, she said.

GENETIC TESTS Testing, she said, should be standard across cancer care as well as some other areas of medicine, including rare diseases and infections.

Doctors are already using genetic tests to identify and better treat different strains of the infectious disease, tuberculosis.

Humans have about 20,000 genes, bits of DNA code or instructions that control how our bodies work.

Tiny errors in this code can lead to cancer and other illnesses.

Gene-screening can reveal these errors by comparing tumour and normal DNA samples from the patient.

Professor Davies says in about two-thirds of cases, this information can improve their diagnosis and care.

Doctors can tailor treatments to the individual, picking the drugs most likely to be effective.

Currently, genetic testing in England is done at 25 regional laboratories, as well as some other small centres.

Professor Davies wants to centralise the service and set up a national network to ensure equal access to the testing across the country.

She said one hurdle could be doctors themselves, who dont like change.

Patients should persuade them to move from a local to a national service. *** Joe Furness was in Newcastle upon Tyne when he was invited to a party in London.

A three-hour, one-way train trip would cost him 78.50 (Sh10,517) and a plane flight 106, but Joe, aged 21, is a poor student and didnt have much money.

What he did have however was time. So Joe decided to take a detour via Spain.

CAR HIRE Flying from Newcastle to the Spanish island of Menorca cost him 16.00.

There he hired a car for 7.50 and spent the night in it, while sipping a 4.50 cocktail.

Next morning he flew to London for 11.00, joined the party, then grabbed a lift home with a pal afterwards.

Total cost of 39 was a saving of 39.50 on a train journey from Newcastle and 67 on a flight.

Distance travelled was 2,350 miles, against 290 miles from the North to London. *** Bradley Lowery is a six-year-old boy who won the hearts of the nation by campaigning for his beloved Sunderland Football Club and for its top scorer, Jermaine Defoe.

TV film of Defoe holding a smiling Bradley in his arms before a recent game appeared on nationwide television.

What everyone knows, of course, is that Bradley is dying from the childhood cancer neuroblastoma.

A fund-raising campaign raised money for him and will be used for other sick children when Bradley dies.

Now it seems fraudsters have been setting up pages on the internet claiming to be collecting for the boys cause.

His family have warned against them. Please be vigilant, they said in a message on Facebook.

You have to wonder, how low can some people stoop?

*** Some 400 plastic bottles are sold per second in this country and millions end up, along with other garbage, in the worlds oceans.

In fact, scientists calculate that by 2050, the oceans will contain more plastic by weight than fish.

The opposition Labour party is pressing for the introduction of a money-back return scheme, which has been introduced in many other countries and has proved successful in reducing the scale of littering.

You pay a bit extra for your drink but you get it back if you return the bottle, which the drinks company then recycles.

Coca-Cola, among others, is backing the idea. *** Famous one-liners:

Doctors recommend eight glasses of water per day. Why does this seem impossible when eight glasses of beer is so easy? Anonymous.

If you want to know what God thinks of money, look at the people he gave it to. American writer Dorothy Parker.

The two most beautiful words in the English language are Cheque enclosed. Dorothy Parker.

PLAGIARISM I asked God for a bike but I know He doesnt work that way, so I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness. Internet.

I wouldnt say I was the best football manager in the business, but I was in the top one. Brian Clough, British football manager.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research. Anonymous

England and America are two countries separated by a common language. Irish writer George Bernard Shaw.

If I agreed with you, then we would both be wrong. Internet.

Interior Cabinet Secretary collapsed in his house and was rushed to hospital by family and

He is becoming the Presidents go-to-guy when things need to be fixed.

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UK's chief medical officer calls for gene testing revolution in cancer treatment - Daily Nation