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Deodorant firm sorry after ‘itchy, burning armpits’ claims
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Best and worst-performing NHS Trusts in England named
Critics question the usability of new league tables meant to inform the public and let them exercise choice.
Dr Xand: NHS league tables don’t tell you how you’ll be treated
An NHS Trust with a low ranking could still provide good care, the doctor and BBC medical expert says.
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The disposable vape ban is designed to reduce environmental damage and protect children’s health.
Masterchef Unveils New Judging Line-Up After Gregg Wallace And John Torode’s Exits
The new presenting and judging team for the BBC series MasterChef has been announced.
For the last few months, the long-running show has been at the centre of controversy, after both Gregg Wallace and John Torode were dropped as judges following an external investigation earlier this year.
On Monday evening, their replacements were officially confirmed, with former regular guest critic Grace Dent being appointed a full-time judge moving forward.
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She’ll be joined at the helm by chef Anna Haugh, who previously served as a judge on one series of Masterchef: The Professionals in 2022.
Grace enthused: “I’m over the moon to be coming back to the MasterChef kitchen and unearthing what culinary skills people have been cooking up behind closed doors.
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“It’s a joy to be working with Anna, who brings all her incredible experience to the table. I am in for such a treat with this series, I can’t wait to get started.”
Anna agreed: “I’m delighted to be back on MasterChef and judging alongside the wonderful Grace Dent, whose writing and wit I’ve admired for years.
“MasterChef has long inspired and resonated with cooks in home kitchens and of course in my industry. I can’t wait to get into the studio for what will be a great competition.”
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Prior to that, it was revealed that Saturday Kitchen host Matt Tebbutt would be taking over Gregg Wallace’s old slot on Masterchef: The Professionals.
Gregg was fired as the host of MasterChef in July, after almost 20 years at the helm, following claims that were upheld in a report alleging the use of sexual language and one case of unwanted physical contact.
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He has since apologised for “any distress caused” by his behaviour, while also noting that he was cleared of what he described as “the most serious and sensational accusations”.
John was then dropped after a complaint of alleged racist language was upheld, though he has since claimed he has “no recollection of what I’m accused of”.
The most recent season of MasterChef was filmed last year, featuring both Gregg and John as usual, although the BBC made the decision to greatly reduce their screen-time.
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Two of the most recent contestants requested that they be edited out of the show in light of the controversy.
Labour Deputy Leadership Hopeful Warns Starmer Party ‘Can’t Out-Reform Reform’
Keir Starmer has been warned to stop trying to “out-Reform Reform” by an MP running to be his deputy.
Left-winger Bell Ribeiro-Addy hit out at the prime minister after throwing her hat into the ring to replace Angela Rayner as Labour’s deputy leader.
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She has been joined in the race by education secretary Bridget Phillipson, who becomes the first minister to run.
HuffPost UK also understands Lucy Powell – sacked by Starmer in last week’s reshuffle – will announce today that she is standing after encouragement from allies.
Labour MPs have until 5pm on Thursday to get the 80 nominations they need to get on the ballot paper.
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On Radio 4′s Today programme this morning, Ribeiro-Addy said the Labour leadership had got it wrong on the situation in Gaza, the winter fuel allowance and welfare cuts.
Instead, she accused No.10 off becoming more right-wing in an attempt to win back Reform voters.
Ribeiro-Addy said: “We are currently haemorrhaging votes to the Lib Dems, to the Greens, and ultimately all we seem to want to do at the moment is chase down Reform, and we cannot do that. We are not good at out-Reforming Reform, but we can do so much better at being Labour.
“If we keep going down in this direction we are not going to be able to attract or even to retain voters, and I think most people would agree that the most important thing is to make sure that Labour members have confidence in their deputy leader.”
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Phillipson, the MP for Houghton and Sunderland South, said she was running “to unite our great party and deliver for working people”.
She said: “I’ve taken on powerful vested interests in the education sector – and even as they threw everything at me, I have never taken a backwards step. I will bring that same determination to every battle ahead of us.
“Because make no mistake: we are in a fight. We all know the dangers Reform poses our country. But not only am I ready for it: I’ve proven we can do it. I’ve shown we can beat Farage in the north-east, while staying true to the Labour party’s values of equality, fairness and social justice.
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“With me as deputy leader we will beat them right across the country and unite to deliver the opportunity that working people across this great country deserve.”
Dame Emily Thornberry is also trying to drum up support, but Rosena Allin-Khan has decided not to stand.
Ayo Edebiri Swoops In To Save Co-Stars During Tense Interview Moment
Ayo Edebiri’s facial expressions are about to take you on a journey.
The Emmy-winning star of The Bear recently went viral thanks to the way she navigated a very tense interview moment.
Meanwhile, an Italian journalist who was interviewing Ayo was forced to release a statement Sunday, writing on Instagram that she has “been subjected to personal insults and attacks because of a question that, for some reason, was not well received by some members of the public”.
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The incident occurred last week while Ayo and her co-stars, Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield, were speaking to the Italian outlet ArtsLife Tv about their upcoming movie After The Hunt.
During the interview, reporter Federica Polidoro asked the actors what they felt had been “lost during the politically correct era” of America.
“What [do] we have to expect in Hollywood after the Me Too movement and the Black Lives Matter [movement] are done?” she asked.
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Although the question might have made some sense within the context of the film – considering that the Luca Guadagnino-helmed project explores both those themes – what made the question odd was that the Italian journalist specifically addressed Julia and Andrew, but not Ayo, who is a Black woman.
“The two of you,” she said immediately after she asked the question, clarifying she was speaking specifically to the white actors.
Screenshot ArtsLife Tv via YouTube
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In response to the question, a stunned Andrew dramatically turned to his co-stars and let out a flabbergasted laugh.
“Um, well, OK,” a shocked Ayo began as Julia, who appeared perplexed, turned to her co-star apologetically.
Julia then tried to give the reporter an out.
“Uh, can you repeat that?” Roberts asked. “With your sunglasses on, I can’t tell which one of us you’re talking to, so—”
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Screenshot ArtsLife Tv via YouTube
“So, the question was for Julia and Andrew,” Polidoro clarified before repeating her question.
In response, a range of emotions flashed across Ayo’s face, ending in disgruntled acceptance.
“It’s not done,” Julia began.
“Yeah, I know that [question’s] not for me, and I don’t know if it’s purposeful [that] it’s not for me, but… I don’t think it’s done,” Ayo said of Americans fighting for racial and gender equality.
She added: “Maybe if there’s not mainstream coverage in the way that there might have been, daily headlines, in the way that it might have been eight or so years ago. But I don’t think it means that the work is done. That’s what I would say.”
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“I don’t think it’s done at all,” she continued. “I think, maybe, hashtags might not be used as much.
“But I do think that there’s work being done by activists, by people, every day, that’s beautiful, important work that’s not finished. [That work is] really, really, really active for a reason, because this world is really charged, and that work isn’t finished at all.”
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When a clip of the moment made its way to social media platforms like X and Reddit, some users praised Ayo for how she handled the situation.
“Jesus look how hard she’s working to make sure she can speak up for herself and others without seeming difficult. That must be fucking exhausting,” a Reddit user pointed out.
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“The way Andrew spun around to face Ayo, and the way Julia called that woman out for wearing her sunglasses…I love that disgusted, united front,” another Redditor said.
In her Instagram statement Sunday, Polidoro did not address why she excluded Ayo in her question. Instead, she wrote that she found it “striking” that people “who unjustly accuse me of racism and consider themselves custodians of justice” think it’s OK to send her messages that include “violent language, personal attacks, and cyberbullying”.
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“Censoring or delegitimising questions considered ‘uncomfortable’ does not fall within the practice of democracy,” she wrote.
“To those who unjustly accuse me of racism, I would like to clarify that in my work I have interviewed people of every background and ethnicity, and my own family is multi-ethnic, matriarchal, and feminist, with a significant history of immigration.”
She added: “In my view, the real racists are those who see racism everywhere and seek to muzzle journalism, limiting freedom of analysis, critical thinking, and the plurality of perspectives.”
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Smog in the brain: Dirty air speeds Alzheimer’s decline
Exposure to high concentrations of air pollution may worsen Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by accelerating the buildup of toxic proteins in the brain and speeding up cognitive decline. For the first time, post-mortem tissue from people with AD revealed that those who lived in areas with higher concentrations of fine particulate matter in the air even just one year had more severe accumulation of amyloid plaques and tau tangles — hallmarks of Alzheimer’s pathology — compared to those with less exposure. These individuals also experienced faster cognitive and functional decline, including memory loss, impaired judgment, and difficulty with personal care, according to research published today (September 8) in JAMA Neurologyfrom the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
“This study shows that air pollution doesn’t just increase the risk of dementia — it actually makes Alzheimer’s disease worse,” said Edward Lee, MD, PhD, co-director of Penn’s Institute on Aging. “As researchers continue to search for new treatments, it’s important to uncover all of the factors that contribute to the disease, including the influence of the environment in which they live.”
Health risks from tiny air particles
Air pollution is made up of fine particulate matter, or the tiny, inhalable particles, ranging from 10 micrometers to less than 2.5 micrometers wide, about half the width of a single strand of spider web. It can come from wildfire smoke, car exhaust, construction site debris, or combustion from factories. Particulate matter 2.5 micrometers and smaller (PM2.5) is so small that when inhaled, the particles can be absorbed into the blood stream and cause health concerns. Previous research has linked air pollution containing PM2.5 with dementia, loss of cognitive function, and accelerated cognitive decline.
The researchers examined brain samples from over 600 autopsies from the Penn Medicine Brain Bank. Using data from satellites and local air quality monitors, the researchers modeled the amount of PM2.5 in the air based on where each person lived. They found that for every increase of 1 microgram per cubic meter of PM2.5, the risk for worse Alzheimer’s disease amyloid and tau buildup increased by 19 percent.
Further, when they examined the clinical records of these individuals, researchers found that those who lived in areas with high concentrations of PM2.5 with advanced pathology also had greater cognitive impairment and more rapid onset of symptoms, including memory loss, difficulty with speech, and diminished judgement, compared to people who lived in areas with lower concentrations of air pollution.
While this study focused on exposures to PM2.5 based on geographic location, researchers acknowledgethat they could not account for individual-specific exposures to air pollution, such as exposure to second-hand smoke in the home, or working with potentially dangerous chemicals.
“In the United States, air pollution is at the lowest levels in decades, but even just a year living in an area with high levels of pollution can have a big impact on a person’s risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease,” said Lee. “It underscores the value of environmental justice efforts that focus on reducing air pollution to improve public health.”
This research is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (P30AG072979, P01AG066597, U19AG062418, P01AG084497, and P30ES013508).
The sleep switch that builds muscle, burns fat, and boosts brainpower
As every bodybuilder knows, a deep, restful sleep boosts levels of growth hormone to build strong muscle and bone and burn fat. And as every teenager should know, they won’t reach their full height potential without adequate growth hormone from a full night’s sleep.
But why lack of sleep — in particular the early, deep phase called non-REM sleep — lowers levels of growth hormone has been a mystery.
In a study published in the current issue of the journal Cell, researchers from University of California, Berkeley, dissect the brain circuits that control growth hormone release during sleep and report a novel feedback mechanism in the brain that keeps growth hormone levels finely balanced.
The findings provide a map for understanding how sleep and hormone regulation interact. The new feedback mechanism could open avenues for treating people with sleep disorders tied to metabolic conditions like diabetes, as well as degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
“People know that growth hormone release is tightly related to sleep, but only through drawing blood and checking growth hormone levels during sleep,” said study first author Xinlu Ding, a postdoctoral fellow in UC Berkeley’s Department of Neuroscience and the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. “We’re actually directly recording neural activity in mice to see what’s going on. We are providing a basic circuit to work on in the future to develop different treatments.”
Because growth hormone regulates glucose and fat metabolism, insufficient sleep can also worsen risks for obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The sleep-wake cycle
The neurons that orchestrate growth hormone release during the sleep-wake cycle — growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) neurons and two types of somatostatin neurons — are buried deep in the hypothalamus, an ancient brain hub conserved in all mammals. Once released, growth hormone increases the activity of neurons in the locus coeruleus, an area in the brainstem involved in arousal, attention, cognition and novelty seeking. Dysregulation of locus coeruleus neurons is implicated in numerous psychiatric and neurological disorders.
“Understanding the neural circuit for growth hormone release could eventually point toward new hormonal therapies to improve sleep quality or restore normal growth hormone balance,” said Daniel Silverman, a UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow and study co-author. “There are some experimental gene therapies where you target a specific cell type. This circuit could be a novel handle to try to dial back the excitability of the locus coeruleus, which hasn’t been talked about before.”
The researchers, working in the lab of Yang Dan, a professor of neuroscience and of molecular and cell biology, explored the neuroendocrine circuit by inserting electrodes in the brains of mice and measuring changes in activity after stimulating neurons in the hypothalamus with light. Mice sleep for short periods — several minutes at a time — throughout the day and night, providing many opportunities to study growth hormone changes during sleep-wake cycles.
Using state-of-the-art circuit tracing, the team found that the two small-peptide hormones that control the release of growth hormone in the brain — GHRH, which promotes release, and somatostatin, which inhibits release — operate differently during REM and non-REM sleep. Somatostatin and GHRH surge during REM sleep to boost growth hormone, but somatostatin decreases and GHRH increases only moderately during non-REM sleep to boost growth hormone.
Released growth hormone regulates locus coeruleus activity, as a feedback mechanism to help create a homeostatic yin-yang effect. During sleep, growth hormone slowly accumulates to stimulate the locus coeruleus and promote wakefulness, the new study found. But when the locus coeruleus becomes overexcited, it paradoxically promotes sleepiness, as Silverman showed in a study published earlier this year.
“This suggests that sleep and growth hormone form a tightly balanced system: Too little sleep reduces growth hormone release, and too much growth hormone can in turn push the brain toward wakefulness,” Silverman said. “Sleep drives growth hormone release, and growth hormone feeds back to regulate wakefulness, and this balance is essential for growth, repair and metabolic health.”
Because growth hormone acts in part through the locus coeruleus, which governs overall brain arousal during wakefulness, a proper balance could have a broader impact on attention and thinking.
“Growth hormone not only helps you build your muscle and bones and reduce your fat tissue, but may also have cognitive benefits, promoting your overall arousal level when you wake up,” Ding said.
The work was funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), which until this year supported Dan as an HHMI investigator, and the Pivotal Life Sciences Chancellor’s Chair fund. Dan is the Pivotal Life Sciences Chancellor’s Chair in Neuroscience. Other co-authors of the paper are Peng Zhong, Bing Li, Chenyan Ma, Lihui Lu, Grace Jiang, Zhe Zhang, Xiaolin Huang, Xun Tu and Zhiyu Melissa Tian of UC Berkeley; and Fuu-Jiun Hwang and Jun Ding of Stanford University.
Seven blood molecules that could explain why you’re always sleepy
Mass General Brigham researchers identified seven molecules in the blood linked to excessive daytime sleepiness, including factors related to diet and hormones.
Approximately one in three Americans reports experiencing overwhelming drowsiness during the day — a condition known as excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS). EDS is linked to an increased risk of serious conditions such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes. A new study led by investigators from Mass General Brigham and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center identifies several molecules in the blood, known as metabolites, that are linked to EDS. Findings suggest that risk of the condition may be influenced by both internal body processes, such as hormone levels, and external factors such as diet. Results are published in Lancet eBioMedicine.
“Our study suggests diet and genetics may play an important role in EDS,” said lead author Tariq Faquih, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system. “As we learn what’s happening biologically, we are beginning to understand how and why EDS occurs, the early signs that someone might have it, and what we can do to help patients.”
Researchers collected data on 877 metabolites, naturally occurring molecules in the body influenced by diet and hormones. The team used blood samples from 6,000 participants in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. The team also used data from a questionnaire that assesses how often a person dozes off during the day in various scenarios. The team replicated the findings in The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) study and studies in the UK and Finland.
They identified seven metabolites associated with EDS. An additional three metabolites were identified that varied by sex. The team found that omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, which are commonly found in foods that make up Mediterranean-like diets, were associated with lower risk of EDS. Other metabolites, such as tyramine, which is found in fermented and overripe foods, were associated with increased daytime sleepiness, particularly in men. Sex steroid metabolites, such as progesterone, were associated with sleep-related processes such as melatonin production.
Researchers note that the results suggest potential treatment targets for EDS and that dietary changes or medications may lead to better treatment. They also note some limitations to the study, including difficulty in interpreting exact values of metabolites and using a sleep questionnaire instead of bringing participants into a sleep lab for tests.
Future directions could include conducting a clinical trial to see if dietary changes or supplements can help reduce daytime sleepiness. Additionally, the authors identified some unknown metabolites that they plan to explore further.
“Conducting a clinical trial would be a big next step and could help us understand if omega-3s and omega-6s obtained from diet could help lower risk of EDS,” said Faquih.
Authorship: In addition to Faquih, MGB authors include Kaitlin S. Potts, Pavithra Nagarajan, Hanna M. Ollila, Tianyi Huang, Clary B. Clish, Susan Redline, Tamar Sofer, and Heming Wang.
Disclosures: Redline discloses consulting relationships with Eli Lilly Inc., Jazz Pharma, and Apnimed Inc. Additionally, Redline serves as an unpaid board member for the Alliance for Sleep Apnoea Partners and has received loaned equipment for a multi-site study: oxygen concentrators from Philips Respironics and polysomnography equipment from Nox Medical.
Funding: This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (R01HL153814, R01HL161012 and 7R01HL161012) and the JLH Foundation.
