Donie's Ireland daily Blog Tuesday

New NRSF report finds a link between the recession and suicide in Ireland

            

A new report from the National Suicide Research Foundation has said that frequently reported factors in suicides are significant loss of relationships, bereavement and finances. The project was funded by the HSE

A report from the National Suicide Research Foundation has said that frequently reported factors in suicides are significant loss of relationships, bereavement and finances.

It has found an association between the impact of the recession and suicide.

This is the first report of its kind from the foundation.

It examined 190 consecutive suicides in Cork city and county between September 2008 and March 2011.

The report points to a link between suicide and the impact of the recession and said there is a need to prioritise suicide prevention programmes during the recession.

Of those who died by suicide, 38% were unemployed and over 32% had been working in construction.

Over 68% of those who died had experienced past suicidal behaviour by family members or friends.

In the year prior to death, over 80% of people who died by suicide had been in contact with their GP or a mental health service.

The researchers also identified a cluster of 19 suicides involving adolescent and young adult men in a small area in Cork.

The project was funded by the HSE’s National Office for Suicide Prevention.

Anyone concerned about issues surrounding suicide can contact Samaritans Ireland on 1850-60-90-90 or Aware on 1890-30-33-02.

Meanwhile, figures also show that over 9,800 people attended hospital emergency departments last year due to deliberate self-harm, a 4% reduction on the previous year’s figure.

Ulster Bank Ireland to pay out ‘millions’ to its customers

 

Ulster Bank said it was ‘business as usual’ for the majority of its customers today

Ulster Bank is planning to pay out “tens of millions of euros” in compensation to customers affected by a technical problem at the bank.

Chief executive Jim Brown above right said bank was talking to the Financial Regulator about how to apply the compensation,

But admitted a considerable sum of money, valued at “tens of millions of euros”, had been set aside. Details of the compensation scheme will be announced shortly.

He said customers had been severely inconvenienced as a result of the problem and the bank would refund any incorrectly applied fees and charges and ensure customers’ credit ratings were not damaged.

Mr Brown said it could take several more weeks to finally clear the backlog of transactions built-up during the technical fault.

He said most Ulster Bank customer accounts were now up-to-date, although a “small percentage” of outstanding transactions and incidents of double-charging were still being processed.

For the majority of customers it was “business as usual”, with all the bank’s systems now running as normal.

“Given the scale of the incident, the clean up continues and a small percentage of outstanding transactions are being processed over the next couple of days,” he said.

“There is no doubt that there will be reconciliations to some customer accounts that also need to take place over the coming days and weeks.”

The bank has promised to refund all fees and charges that had been incurred by its customers or those of other banks as a result of the computer glitch that occurred last month and caused delays in transactions and left some customers without access to funds for more than three weeks.

That includes overdraft fees and interest, late payment fees and interest on mortgages, loans and credit cards, and interest wrongly charged on late payments.

Customers would also be awarded all the interest on missing savings or current account payments, including interest on cash customers withdrew from savings accounts when wages were not paid on time.

Credit ratings would also be protected, the banks said.

“We know that this is a significant concern for customers and we are working with the credit reference agencies to ensure that no customer’s credit rating is affected as a result of this incident.”

Green tea compound new therapy cure for prostate cancer

      

An unlikely therapy derived from green tea and gold can successfully treat prostate cancer, a study has shown.

Scientists used a compound found in green tea to deliver tiny particles of radioactive gold dust to cancer sites.

The early research, conducted in mice, showed that the treatment shrank tumours by 80%.

Further studies are now planned on dogs with prostate cancer before moving on to human trials.

Lead scientist Professor Kattesh Katti, from the University of Missouri in the United States, said: “In our study, we found that a special compound in tea was attracted to tumour cells in the prostate.

“When we combined the tea compound with radioactive gold nanoparticles, the tea compound helped ‘deliver’ the nanoparticles to the site of the tumours and the nanoparticles destroyed the tumour cells very efficiently.”

The research is reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Scientists believe it could pave the way to new and more effective treatments for patients with aggressive, spreading prostate cancer.

Each year around 41,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the UK and just under 11,000 die from the disease.

The injected gold nanoparticles are just the right size to destroy tumours by zapping them with radiation while not harming surrounding healthy tissue. With a half-life of 2.7 days, their radioactivity is depleted within around three weeks.

Donegal community shocked by tractor death of popular young boy Jamie (11)

     

The young boy killed in a farm accident in Co Donegal at the weekend was due to begin his last year in primary school in a few weeks’ time.

The young boy killed in a farm accident in Co Donegal at the weekend was due to begin his last year in primary school in a few weeks’ time.

Popular Jamie Toner died when he became trapped under a tractor at his uncle’s farm in Glenvar, Kerrykeel, on Saturday afternoon. He was rushed to Letterkenny General Hospital for surgery, but died a short time later.

The 11-year-old was a hugely popular pupil at Stramore National School at Glendowan, on the outskirts of the village of Churchill Letterkenny.

A spokesperson for the board of management at the tiny school said they are devastated by Jamie’s death.

“He was a bright and popular lad and never caused his teachers one minute of bother,” she added.

Last night Jamie’s heartbroken parents Roisin and James, and older sister Lynn, from Cruckraw, Churchill, were being comforted by family and friends.

Local county councillor Ciaran Brogan said that he knows Jamie’s parents and they were highly-respected in the community. “Everyone’s thoughts and prayers are with them at this very trying time,” he said.

Local priest Fr Michael McKeever of St Colmcille’s Church, where prayers were offered for young Jamie’s family yesterday morning, said that everyone in the community was just numb at his sudden death. “The community is doing their best to help (the family) in any way they can but it is a very difficult time for all,” he said.

The Health and Safety Authority has launched a full investigation into the circumstances of the accident.

Chemical testing without animals

‘gladly very close now’

   

Scientists are very close to being able to predict which products cause skin allergies without the need to first test the substances on animals, the Euroscience Open Forum has been told.

Research in the area is being carried out by Seurat-1, a public-private partnership established by the European Commission and cosmetics companies to find ways to end the need for testing products on animals.

The aim of the project, which has a budget of €50 million, is to end animal testing for all chemicals from cosmetics to medicines and household chemicals. Scientists are working on using stem cells to test products, which would obviate the need to use animals.

A ban on testing finished cosmetic products on animals has been in place in Europe since 2004. A ban on testing cosmetic ingredients on animals came into force in 2009. Companies have got around these measures by testing elsewhere in the world.

However, a Europe-wide ban will come into place next March which will outlaw the sale of any cosmetic product which has been tested on animals anywhere in the world since 2009.

Irish scientist Maurice Whelan, who works at the EU’s Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy, as head of the system toxicology unit, said ending the need to test skin products on animals would go a long way to ensuring cosmetics could be tested without cruelty.

However, the six-year project has a much wider approach, according to Dr Whelan.

“From our point of view, from a scientific point of view, we are looking at molecules from the safety of medicine, cosmetics or a consumer product in the home,” he said.

“It is not saying that we’re going to solve everything in five years and that we are never going to test a product on animals again – it is not true.

“We have to look towards the long term and lay down a solid foundation.”

Eighteen months into the Seurat-1 project, there have already been solid results. Reseachers have already developed a “liver on a chip” device to detect chemicals that are potentially toxic.

Sensors in the “biochip” device allow measurement of the toxicological effects of substances on tissue that are manifest only after long-term exposure.

The ultimate aim of the Seurat-1 project is to understand the molecular and cellular pathways that make a substance toxic.

Health Minister James Reilly names the areas where money can be saved in Roscommon today

     

The Health Minister Dr James Reilly says resolving issues of overtime, sick pay and the use of agency workers will help to reign in the overspend by the Department of Health.

The troika warned the Government last week that a 280 million euro overspend must be addressed urgently.

Minister James Reilly’s told Shannonside radio that there are clear areas where money can be saved

Minister Reilly commits today to bringing HIQA level health services to the Shannonside region

    

The Health Minister has made a commitment to develop rather than cut any sub-standard health services in the Shannonside Region.

James Reilly was speaking in Longford this morning at the Padre Pio ward in the centre which has recently been refurbished to comply with HIQA standards.

In what may be a disappointment to activists on the Roscommon Hospital campaign for the reinstatement of their 24 hour A&E unit; the minister indicated that upgrading facilities like this one would be the way forward rather than closing services in future.

The Minister has invited the management team at St Joseph’s in Longford to submit a business proposal to the department for extra beds for a potential short stay care service.

The beds would cater for people who require hospitalisation but not necessarily access to the full facilities of the regional hospital in Mullingar.

The Minister opened the door to the proposal saying there was an appetite for GPs to become involved in this sort of care to assist with suitable cases.

The Minister also officially opened a new state of the art facility at St Mary’s in Mullingar today.

It includes 50 “psychiatry for later life” beds as well as capacity for 48 long stay residents from the original St Mary’s building.