Dr David Cox

Senescent cells power the body’s ageing process, and scientists are developing treatments to annihilate them
At St Jude children’s research hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, an unusual clinical trial is under way that, if successful, could have wider ramifications for the vast field of age-related chronic diseases. At first glance, childhood cancer survivors may seem like an unusual population in which to study ageing, but as Greg Armstrong, principal investigator of St Jude’s Childhood Cancer ...

As an NHS oncologist who treats breast cancer patients, Dr Saif Ahmad and his colleagues have noticed a rather alarming trend in recent years. While breast cancer is still a disease which predominantly affects older women, with the highest incidence of cases in 65 to 69-year-olds according to Cancer Research UK (CRUK), Ahmad and his team have found themselves seeing increasing numbers of patients in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
“We’ve certainly felt like there are more younger women presenting wit...

A pioneering new treatment promises to tackle a wider range of cancers, with fewer side-effects than conventional radiotherapy. It also takes less than a second.
In a series of vast underground caverns on the outskirts of Geneva, Switzerland, experiments are taking place which may one day lead to new generation of radiotherapy machines. The hope is that these devices could make it possible to cure complex brain tumours, eliminate cancers that have metastasised to distant organs, and generally...

In the summer of 2020, 15 recognized leaders in US public health gathered to author an article in The Lancet—one of the world’s most eminent medical journals—decrying Donald Trump’s intention to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization, a decision that was later reversed by President Biden before it took effect.
Nearly five years later, one of the opening salvoes of Trump’s second term has been to again initiate the process of withdrawing...

With vape shops popping up on high streets in even the most rural communities, an entire generation is steadily becoming hooked on e-cigarettes, with recent data from Cancer Research UK (CRUK) highlighting a worrying trend.
Vapes or e-cigarettes were originally devised as a safer alternative for chronic smokers, helping them to transition away from more harmful, conventional cigarettes. But it’s becoming apparent that their proliferation is also actively drawing in non-smokers, who are becomi...

For the more than 90,000 people in the UK who are newly diagnosed with cancer of the lung, liver, brain, oesophagus, pancreas or stomach every year, the prognosis is uniquely grim.
According to data released by the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce, more than half of these patients will die within just 12 months. For these diseases, progress has largely stood still, even though for cancer as a whole, survival rates continue to improve dramatically. When all cancers are considered, the one-yea...

The makers of a device that delivers small electrical impulses to the brain are hailing the technology as a groundbreaking mental health treatment, but others are sceptical
“Flow helps the vast majority of people to improve their depression,” reads the latest marketing email from Flow Neuroscience, a Swedish-based company that has been making headlines over the past year with what it describes as an “innovative brain-stimulation treatment” that patients can use in their own homes.
Flow’s user...

As head of one of the world’s only dedicated research labs focused on human metapneumovirus, John Williams used to spend most of his time attempting to convince skeptical doctors the virus was real. So when the recent outbreak in northern China was met with widespread alarm, Williams allowed himself a wry smile. The forgotten burden of public health was finally being taken seriously.
Human metapneumovirus, or hMPV, was first identified 24 years ago by a ...

In a basement office in central London, I am poring over a scan showing an alarmingly high amount of visceral fat in my body; layers of fat cells deep within the body, especially around my stomach and vital abdominal organs.
Why is it so alarming? Because the wider dangers of this have been brought to light recently by a new study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis. It showed that having more visceral fat in your 40s and 50s places you at greater risk of ...

Prevention has long been regarded as the best strategy for tackling Alzheimer’s disease – a degenerative condition which leads to the progressive loss of brain cells, affecting memory and other cognitive functions. But until relatively recently, researchers have been at a loss for potential ways of halting it in its tracks.
Now, however, doctors are turning to a drug more commonly associated with weight loss to tackle loss of anot...

Before Long Covid there was post-viral fatigue – a mysterious set of illnesses caused by other infections. Now scientists are starting to unravel their secrets.
Since an acute infection with Covid-19 in the summer of 2023, Rachael Edwards has been battling a fatigue so crippling that it has left her bedridden for weeks at a time. A previously healthy 31-year-old marketing manager living in Amsterdam, she describes feeling like she is "weighted down by an anchor".
"Long Covid fatigue differs f...

Questions raised about potential for undue influence after appointment of Ruth Dempsey, formerly of Philip Morris
A former director at the tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI) was handed a role on an influential expert committee advising the UK government on cancer risks, the Observer can reveal.
Ruth Dempsey, the ex-director of scientific and regulatory affairs, spent 28 years at PMI before being appointed to the UK Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Produ...

Disease-causing microorganisms churn in the floodwaters after a hurricane and grow in people's homes long after the first danger has passed. But knowing when to seek medical attention can help limit the spread of disease after a storm.
Over the last seven years, Naresh Kumar and colleagues at the University of Miami have been steadily collecting data on hurricanes, from Maria in 2017 to Irma, Ian, Michael, Dorian and now the recent Hurricanes Helene and Milton, deadly storms which have all in...