A round-up of this week's other health stories in brief
HADD HELP:The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday launched a new website for health workers and parents of children living with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
The HADD (Hyperactive Attention Deficit Disorder) family support group says the website will be a tool for parents with questions about the condition and its symptoms. Links and contact details to local support networks throughout the State are also available on the site.
HADD also launched an evening course for adolescents from 16-19 years of age who are living with ADHD. This course will commence on February 6th for six weeks and cater for approximately six to eight teenagers per course.
For further information log on to www.hadd.ie
VACCINE UNDER SCRUTINY:European regulators will monitor the safety of a cervical cancer vaccination after two girls died suddenly.
The Department of Health has been advised to introduce a national childhood vaccination programme against the Human Papilloma Virus, which causes cervical cancer.
Gardasil is being monitored by the European Medicines Agency, which received reports of deaths in females given the jab, including "two reports concerning the sudden and unexpected deaths of two young women". One of the young women died in Germany while the other died in Austria.
AGEING WORKOUT:People who exercise regularly appear to be biologically younger than those who lead sedentary lifestyles, scientists have found.
Inactivity not only leads to a greater risk of ageing-related diseases, but it may also influence the ageing process itself, researchers believe.
A study of twins found there was a difference of about nine years of ageing between those who exercised regularly and those who did not, even after considering other influences, including body mass index, smoking and socio-economic status.
Researchers at King's College London and in the US studied ageing in 2,401 twins by analysing telomeres, which cap the end of chromosomes in cells and protect them from damage.
Telomeres shorten with age, leaving people increasingly susceptible to cell damage which causes disease.
DIVING BELL LAUNCH:This week will see the Dublin premiere of a film othe life of stroke victim Jean-Dominique Bauby. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is based on a novel by Bauby, written after he had suffered a massive stroke at the age of 43, which left him paralysed with the exception of one eyelid.
Proceeds from the premiere of the film at the Irish Film Institute, Eustace Street in Dublin, will be used to fund a music therapy research project being run by Tallaght Hospital and Trinity College Dublin for those who have suffered from a stroke.
The premiere will be preceded by a reception in Trinity at 6.30pm with the screening at 8pm at the IFI on February 7th. Subscription will be €€50, and tickets can be bought from Catherine Talbot, The Meath Foundation, AMNCH, (tel: 01-4142432) or Marian Hughes at 087-2864527.
RADIOLOGY RECALL:The French health service is recalling thousands of patients who might have been wrongly diagnosed or infected at five substandard radiology clinics.
Health experts said it was the largest such recall in France, adding the case had revealed severe failings in the health system. Authorities closed the five clinics in the north of France last December after discovering a string of serious problems.
"Inspections showed major malfunctions, notably with regard to record-keeping and personnel qualification, and with respect to the rules of hygiene and equipment safety procedures," the health ministry said.
"The vast majority are patients who may have falsely received a clean bill of health after undergoing a mammogram or chest X-ray," said ministry spokeswoman Geraldine Dalban-Moreynas.
HSE APPOINTMENTS:Two new appointments to the board of the HSE have been announced. They include Joe Mooney, a recently retired senior official of the Department of Finance, and Pat Farrell, chief executive of the Irish Banking Federation and a member of the board of the VHI, from which he resigns.