Author: Stacey O'Keefe
Blue pill or pink pill? Why gender matters in medicines
By Virginia Watson, NAWP We have all heard the expression Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, taking the position that women and men are as different as beings from different planets. But how different are men and women when it comes to medicine? How much gender matters in […]
Vitamin D deficiency in babies in UK
By Oliver Gillie BSc PhD FRSA, Health Research Forum Breast milk would be perfect for babies if we lived like our distant ancestors in central Africa where the sun shines brightly almost everyday and we wore only light clothing or perhaps nothing at all. As it is breast milk of […]
Aspirin – a cure all?
By Sotiris Antoniou, Consultant Pharmacist Cardiovascular Medicine, St Bartholomews Hospital, London Every day there seems to be new research about aspirin, much of it contradictory. Interest in aspirin has never been greater, but is it really the cure-all it’s sometimes portrayed as in the media? And what should pharmacists be […]
Do food supplements help or hinder cancer treatment?
By Steve Williamson, Consultant Pharmacist in Cancer Services In March 2013, Professor Watson (one half of the Nobel prize winning team of Watson and Crick who co-discovered of the structure of DNA in 1953) published his new theory regarding the role of antioxidants in resistance of cancers to drug therapy. […]
How to get the most out of your medicine
by Heidi Wright, RPS Practice and Policy Lead for England. Getting the best out of your medicines is important. Medicines stop us getting ill, help us stay healthy, control our illnesses or cure them. But using them isn’t always easy. Between 30-50% of people don’t take their medicines as recommended, […]
Panic attacks and how they are treated
by Professor David Taylor, Director of Pharmacy and Pathology, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Professor of Psychopharmacology at King’s College London. Panic attacks are a frightening experience and can affect people of all ages and backgrounds. They can be triggered by a specific situation or phobia. During […]
Expiry dates on medicines
by Neal Patel, MRPharmS and RPS Head of Corporate Communications Are you one of those people who take no notice of expiry dates on food? Do you take a chance and eat it anyway after the expiry date as you’ve had no problems so far? If you take the same […]
Why asthma still kills
By Professor Anna Murphy, Consultant Respiratory Pharmacist Every year approximately 1400 people die from asthma in the UK, more than the number of deaths from asthma in Austria, Finland, Sweden, Poland and Portugal combined. Approximately 5.6 million people live with asthma in UK. Asthma symptoms and exacerbations have shown to […]
Personalised medicine – is it really new?
by Professor Jayne Lawrence, RPS Chief Science Advisor Personalised medicine is the practice of using an individual’s genetic profile to inform decisions made about an individual’s treatment plan. It’s regularly hailed in the media as the next great medical revolution, but hasn’t it always been with us in one way […]
Pharmacy behind bars – the challenges
By Cathryn Richards, Head of Pharmaceutical Services, HMP Swansea Being a prison pharmacist has its own set of challenges but challenges tend to reap their own rewards. Most of the time I feel like I’m making a positive difference to the lives of some of the most vulnerable in society. […]
