For many years the hunt has been on to find an effective way to treat cancerous tumours using physical rather than chemical means. That hunt may now be over with the latest breakthrough made by Dr. Jennifer West at Rice University in Houston, Texas. West has done tests on animals using a non-chemical procedure known as Photothermal Ablation. She injected millions of nanoparticles, which can absorb infrared light, into the animals’ bloodstreams. These particles go straight to the tumours because, unlike healthy tissue, tumours have abnormal blood capillaries that will let them through. A few hours later an optical fibre is inserted into the tumour and a blast of infrared light is passed down the fibre, which heats the particles and effectively cooks the tumour

Work-related stress is one of the biggest causes of sick leave in the UK. If you’ve noticed you always seem to be rushing about, or miss meal breaks, take work home or don’t have enough time for relaxation, for your family or for exercise, then you may well find yourself under stress, especially at work. There is often no single cause of work-related stress, but it can be caused by poor working conditions, long hours, relationship problems with colleagues, or lack of job security. Stress is often the result of a combination of these factors that builds up over time. Work-related stress can result in both physical problems, such as headaches, muscular tension, back or neck pain, tiredness, digestive problems and sweating; or emotional problems, such as a lower sex drive, feelings of inadequacy, irritability and lack of concentration. According to recent surveys, one in six of all working individuals in the UK said their job is very stressful, and thirty percent of men said that the