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      UK membership of Dignitas soars by 24% as assisted dying in Scotland moves closer

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Yesterday - 05:00

    Bill being laid before Scottish parliament could, if approved, allow people in Britain to take their own lives within the law

    UK membership of Dignitas, the Swiss assisted dying association, has jumped to 1,900 people – a 24% rise during 2023 – as an assisted dying bill is laid before the Scottish parliament.

    People from the UK now make up the second largest group who have signed up to the organisation, which is based near Zurich and helps people take their own lives. The largest group is currently Germans, although they can now get help to end their lives at home after a 2020 court ruling .

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      The virus that infects almost everyone, and its link to cancer and MS – podcast

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Yesterday - 05:00

    On 28 March it is the 60th anniversary of the discovery of Epstein-Barr virus, the most common viral infection in humans. The virus was first discovered in association with a rare type of cancer located in Africa, but is now understood to be implicated in 1% of cancers, as well as the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis, among others. Ian Sample meets Lawrence Young, professor of molecular oncology at Warwick Medical School, to hear the story of this virus, and how understanding it might help us prevent and treat cancer and other illnesses.

    Read an obituary of Sir Anthony Epstein, who died in February 2024

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      Hormone medication could increase risk of brain tumours, study finds

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 2 days ago - 22:30

    Patients taking certain progestogens as a contraceptive or for gynaecological conditions may be more likely to develop growths, researchers say

    Millions of women around the world who use certain hormone drugs for contraception and to manage conditions such as endometriosis may have a raised risk of rare, usually benign, brain tumours, researchers say.

    Scientists found that prolonged use of certain progestogen medications was linked to a greater risk of meningioma, which are tumours (usually noncancerous) that form in tissues around the brain.

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      The assisted dying debate: Paola’s story

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 2 days ago - 03:00

    Paola Marra ended her life last week in Switzerland after being told by doctors she could not be guaranteed a pain-free death from bowel cancer in the coming months. Robert Booth reports

    Last week Paola Marra arrived in Zurich for the last journey she would ever make. She was in the final months of her life with stage-four bowel cancer and had an appointment with Dignitas for an assisted death. She had gone alone, partly because she wanted peace in her final moments, but also because of the legal risk to her friends or family who could be seen to be assisting her.

    She spoke several times over the final days of her life to the Guardian’s social affairs editor, Robert Booth . He tells Hannah Moore about Paola’s decision to take control of her death and why she was so disappointed that she didn’t have the option to stay in the UK for it.

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      The Guardian view on the Princess of Wales: she has the right to heal privately | Editorial

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 4 days ago - 18:39 · 1 minute

    Curiosity about Catherine’s condition was inevitable. Now we know she is being treated for cancer, her family must be left alone

    A cancer diagnosis is shocking for anyone, but particularly for younger people, in whom cancer is much rarer. In the UK, adults aged 25 to 49 account for 9% of new cases . For people with dependent children, this dreadful news can be even harder to manage ; sometimes the person most upset by bad news is not the patient. It was clear from Friday’s video recording of the Princess of Wales that the impact of her illness on her three children – aged 10, eight and five – was foremost among the reasons why the news was kept from the public until then. Her explanation resonated with millions of people, whatever their opinions about the royal family.

    The sharing of more details about the future queen’s health was inevitable. Her three-month absence, after a 13-day hospital stay and abdominal surgery in January, led to an information vacuum. The coincidence of the king’s cancer diagnosis – and the fact that the pair were in the same private London hospital at the same time – served to magnify interest in the royal family’s health.

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      I had cancer when my children were young. This is what Kate should know | Marina McIntyre

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 4 days ago - 09:00

    Three great pieces of advice helped us get through a horrible situation

    The summer before last, I was getting ready to leave my family on holiday in France while I came home to England. My children, who were seven and four, held on to me tightly, looking pale and serious. But they were too frightened to protest, the way they would have done if I’d been leaving them with a babysitter for the evening. We all knew there was something wrong with me, and I was heading off into the unknown.

    About eight weeks earlier, my face had become swollen and puffy. Then my neck had followed, and eventually my whole upper body. I looked weird, I felt faint, I could hardly stay awake. I was 39.

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      What is preventive chemotherapy and how effective is it?

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 5 days ago - 15:49


    As Princess of Wales begins treatment after cancer diagnosis, we answer some key questions

    The Princess of Wales has begun preventive chemotherapy after her doctors discovered she had cancer following major abdominal surgery in January. What is preventive chemotherapy and how effective can it be?

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      Speculation about Princess of Wales was worst I’ve ever seen, says former adviser

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 5 days ago - 13:58

    Paddy Harverson said rumours had fed ‘permanent doom loop’ before Catherine’s cancer announcement

    The pressure and speculation about the Princess of Wales’s health before she disclosed her cancer diagnosis was “the worst I’ve ever seen”, one of her former advisers has said.

    Catherine, 42, said in a video message on Friday that she was having “preventative chemotherapy” after major abdominal surgery in January.

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      Princess of Wales’ diagnosis: cancers in young are rising, but so are survival rates

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 5 days ago - 08:00

    Early diagnosis and better awareness mean tumours can be caught early – and when disease is found, under-45s can often tolerate chemotherapy better

    Prof Andrew Beggs of Birmingham University runs a special clinic for young people with cancer and has noted, as have other experts, that more and more people under the age of 45 are being diagnosed with some form of the condition.

    “There are a number of reasons for this rise,” he told the Observer . “For one thing, we are simply getting better at spotting cancer at earlier and earlier stages. In addition, special awareness is involved. Young people are much more perceptive about their health than previous generations and so they are more willing to seek help at an early stage when their symptoms have first appeared.”

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