Credit: University of Birmingham
Leading cancer experts at the University of Birmingham have solved a long-standing question of how various types of mutations in just one gene cause different types of diseases.
A team of scientists at the University s Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, led by Professor Constanze Bonifer, studied a gene known as RUNX1, which is responsible for providing instructions for the development of all blood cells and is frequently mutated in blood cancers.
The results of their research has shown that the balance of cells types in the blood is affected much earlier than previously thought, which is particularly important for families that carry the mutant gene.
Medical staff transfer a patient from an ambulance to the Royal London hospital. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters
NHS bosses are set to cancel urgent surgery across London in a move that could mean cancer patients waiting months for potentially lifesaving operations, the
Observer can reveal.
NHS England chiefs are considering the drastic action because hospitals across the capital are becoming overwhelmed by people who are very sick with Covid-19.
The operations likely to be cancelled, known as “priority two” procedures, mainly involve surgery for cancer where specialists have judged that the patients need to be operated on within four weeks. Any delay could allow their tumour to grow, the disease to spread, or both, thus reducing their chances of survival.
27th December 2020
In ordinary times, the past year might well have seen a focus on the Duke of Kent celebrating his 85
th birthday and questions asked about how much longer this devoted cousin of the Queen would continue to serve the Royal Family. Instead, this most extraordinary time has seen the Duke reshape his working pattern around the challenges of the pandemic without a mention of retirement. In fact, the Duke of Kent has remained as integral to royal life as he has ever been throughout the difficult times of 2020.
For a man mid way through his ninth decade, the Duke of Kent packs a formidable royal punch. Not only is the Court Circular still peppered with engagements for the prince, once more he has taken on some of the most important and sensitive duties in the royal diary.