Speedy finger-prick tests to diagnose strokes trialled in Cambridgeshire
Ambulance crews in Cambridgeshire are piloting the use of finger-prick blood tests to diagnose the deadliest form of stroke, with preliminary data suggesting they may be up to twice as effective as relying on patients’ symptoms alone.The tests, which work on a similar principle to the lateral flow tests (LFTs) used to detect Covid, are designed to rapidly identify whether someone suspected of having a stroke has suffered a large vessel occlusion (LVO), where a blood clot blocks a major artery in the brain.Although LVOs account for about a third of strokes, they are responsible for 95% of disabilities and deaths.However, a patient’s chances of recovery are markedly improved if they undergo a thrombectomy procedure to manually remove the clot within hours of symptom onset.The problem is that there are only 24 hospitals in the UK that can provide thrombectomy treatment, and LVO is difficult to diagnose without a brain scan because many other conditions show similar symptoms.
Unless a patient is lucky enough to live near a specialist centre, they will usually be assessed at a general hospital and then transferred.According to national audit data from 2022-23, it takes an average of three hours or more from arriving at a first hospital to arriving at a thrombectomy centre.“Early identification of LVO strokes by ambulance clinicians could offer opportunities for fast-tracking patients to thrombectomy-capable hospitals, avoiding delays to care when taken to other non-specialist hospitals,” said Larissa Prothero, an advanced research paramedic at the East of England ambulance service NHS trust (EEAST), which is involved in the feasibility study.The test, which consists of two lateral flow cartridges, was developed by the Cambridge-based firm UpFront Diagnostics, and is designed to detect two molecules in the blood: The first is a clot-related protein called D-dimer.The second, called GFAP, is associated with bleeding in the brain; its absence helps to rule out a haemorrhagic stroke, where a blood vessel ruptures and bleeds.
Earlier studies suggest that the kit can detect LVO within 15 minutes, with about 90% accuracy.This is “more than double that of current methods used in the ambulance, which involve checking [symptoms]”, said Gonzalo Ladreda, UpFront’s chief executive officer.Dr Louise Flanagan, the head of research for the Stroke Association, which helps to fund the early development of the LVOne test, said: “When it comes to diagnosing a stroke, there’s a window of about four to six hours to deliver a thrombectomy or a thrombolysis [where drugs are used to dissolve the clot], but the faster the better.“Having a rapid test that can be administered by the ambulance crew would mean that that person can get the right treatment for them quicker, which is going to save brain cells and hopefully limit the disability afterwards.”Sign up to Headlines UKGet the day’s headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morningafter newsletter promotionEEAST is rolling out the tests to paramedics in south Cambridgeshire to assess the feasibility and safety of integrating them into real-life clinical settings.
The data will be submitted to regulators to help assess their suitability for use within the UK,The Stroke Association is also sponsoring a separate trial of a saliva-based stroke test, which recently launched in the West Midlands,As well as saving lives, such tests also have the potential to save the NHS money, said Flanagan,“There could be direct cost savings in terms of ambulance journeys and imaging,If that person is leaving hospital with fewer disabilities and fewer side-effects from that stroke, there are also going to be long-term savings in terms of rehabilitation and social care.
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Sunday with Nigel Havers: ‘We’ll take the dog for a walk, she’s a rare poodle-poodle’
The actor talks about breakfast, dinner, dogs and horses, and shares his tips on racing and learning linesUp early? I like to listen to Paddy O’Connell at 9am on Radio 4. It’s a semi-political, opinionated show, with guests talking about the news. It’s amusing, witty… and I’ve been a guest, so obviously highly intelligent.What’s next? We’ll take the dog for a walk. She’s called Charlie and she’s a very rare breed – a black poodle-poodle
On my radar: Bobby Baker’s cultural highlights
The artist Bobby Baker was born in Kent in 1950 and studied painting at St Martins School of Art. In her work, which combines performance with drawing and installation, she highlights the undervalued aspects of women’s lives, often with reference to food and cooking. In 1995, she founded Daily Life Ltd to make art that “explores and celebrates everyday life and human behaviour”. Her artwork An Edible Family in a Mobile Home, originally created in 1976 and featuring a family composed of cakes, biscuits and meringues, is at the Whitworth, Manchester, until 20 April. Baker lives and works in London
Bill Dare obituary
Bill Dare, who has died aged 64 as a passenger in a road accident, was an influential force in TV and radio satire for almost 40 years. He was the puppet master – literally – producing eight series of Spitting Image for ITV in the 1990s, then figuratively in creating Dead Ringers for BBC radio.“We know how far we can go – as long as we are only upsetting some of the people some of the time,” Dare said during his time on Spitting Image (1990-94). He held back on featuring Woody Allen when the Hollywood star was accused of sexually abusing his adopted daughter Dylan (“It is a very difficult, very sensitive subject,” he said). But he had no qualms about introducing Jesus Christ as a drug-smoking hippy, only to discover that it provoked protest from both Christians and Muslims (who revere Christ as a holy prophet)
The Guide #181: TV has given up on live music – but social media won’t let it die
Whenever, in a weak moment, I find myself mindlessly scrolling on Instagram, it usually isn’t long before I encounter a compellingly fuzzy video of a band performing on a long-since-cancelled TV show: Shaun Ryder with a bowl cut swaying awkwardly to Happy Mondays’ Step On on a 1990 edition of Top of the Pops; or Cedric and Omar from At the Drive-In thrashing away to One-Armed Scissor on Later with Jools Holland; or riot grrrlers Huggy Bear mounting an impromptu feminist protest against the lads and ladettes of The Word after their performance of Her Jazz.On Instagram, X and TikTok there are tons of these accounts, dedicated to clipping and uploading live studio performances from the 80s, 90s and 00s, and saddos like me ready to lap them up (I won’t link to them here because I suspect lots of them might be violating copyright). The appetite for these old performances clearly hasn’t gone unnoticed by the TV networks that used to host them. Last week there was much excitement online as Paramount Plus added 50 episodes of MTV Unplugged to its platform, featuring everyone from Nirvana to Mariah Carey (though only, it seem, in the US – curse you, Paramount Plus!). In the UK the iPlayer continues to share vintage episodes of Top of the Pops at a steady clip, shortly after their BBC Four rebroadcast
Noel Clarke has made ‘wild allegations’ against his abuse accusers, court told
Noel Clarke has made “wild allegations” against women who have accused him of sexual misconduct but has not explained why they would lie about him, the high court heard on the first day of his libel claim against the Guardian.The 49-year-old actor is suing Guardian News and Media (GNM) over seven articles and a podcast published between April 2021 and March 2022 in which more than 20 women accused him of sexual misconduct.In written submissions, Gavin Millar KC, for GNM, said: “[The defendant] will adduce evidence from 16 women who experienced C’s [the claimant’s] misconduct first-hand, some of them on multiple occasions. There is no motive for them to lie and [the claimant] has not suggested any, beyond making wild allegations as to an alleged conspiracy.“These witnesses have remained willing to give their evidence voluntarily despite the fact that, over the course of litigation, [the claimant] has published a number of statements on social media and elsewhere expressly or impliedly denigrating those who have made allegations against him, no doubt in the hope of deterring women from cooperating with [the defendant]
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s tariffs: ‘Can you believe we’re shaking down Canada?’
Late-night hosts recapped another week of mixed messages on Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs, government cuts and chaos from the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge).Donald Trump moved ahead with his plan to dismantle the Department of Education this week, as its secretary, Linda McMahon, confirmed her “final mission” to dissolve the agency in a staff email. “WWE co-founder Linda McMahon will supervise the important work of dismantling the Department of Education,” Jimmy Kimmel marveled on Thursday evening. “Another genius tactical move, I’ll tell you why: he keeps getting attacked by all these smart people. What does he do? He outlaws smart
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