‘Now I do weight training’: how exercise helped one patient stay free of cancer
A landmark study shows exercise can reduce the risk of cancer patients dying by more than a third.The world’s first randomised clinical trial specifically evaluated if a structured exercise regime after treatment could reduce the risk of recurrence or new cancers in patients.Hailed as game-changing by experts, the results show it could.The trial found patients had a 37% lower risk of death and a 28% lower risk of their cancer coming back or new cancers developing, compared with patients who received only health advice.Margaret Tubridy was one of 889 patients with colon cancer recruited to the trial from six countries – the UK, US, Australia, France, Canada and Israel.
Originally from Northern Ireland, Tubridy, a retiree who worked as a receptionist for Mercedes Benz for 26 years, was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 64.Having previously never exercised, the grandmother of five joined the trial after her treatment.She was among 445 patients randomly assigned to participate in a structured exercise regime, seeing a personal trainer twice a month, and later once a month, for three years.The other 444 patients in the trial were given a booklet with healthy lifestyle advice.The exercise group were coached and supported to help them achieve set goals.
Their weekly target was the equivalent of three to four walks of between 45 and 60 minutes, but patients could choose how to be more active.Some, for example, went kayaking or skiing.Today, Tubridy, now 69, is free of cancer, healthy and shows no signs of the disease coming back.“I wanted to take part in the trial to help other people living with cancer.I had never exercised in my life, but with the right support and encouragement I was able to walk more and more.
“From there I started going to classes at the gym, and now I do weight training twice a week, pole walking, and I’m in a walking group,I had never been to a gym before, but once I was shown how to use the machines and do the exercises, I loved it,“It’s been almost five years since my cancer diagnosis and if I meet anyone, I tell them I am doing great,Taking part in the trial helped me so much,I am stronger, fitter, and my anxiety is better.
I never thought at 69 years of age I would be able to do all of this.I am chuffed to bits.”Prof Vicky Coyle, the UK lead researcher for the trial and a clinical professor at Queen’s University Belfast, said: “During the trial, we supported people to reach their weekly exercise target in a way that worked for them.This could be a brisk walk for around 40 minutes every day, but some patients were also doing circuit classes, cycling, swimming and many other activities.”The results provided “clear, encouraging evidence” that exercise could reduce the risk of cancer returning, she said.
“We now need to work with policymakers and healthcare providers to embed exercise into treatment plans where appropriate.”
Facebook and Instagram owner Meta to enable AI ad creation by end of next year
The owner of Facebook and Instagram is to help advertisers to fully create and target campaigns using artificial intelligence tools by the end of next year, in a move that sent shock waves through the traditional marketing industry.Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, which also owns WhatsApp, aims to directly target brands’ marketing budgets, posing a threat to the advertising and media agencies that handle client campaigns and budgets.The AI tools under development, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, will allow brands using Meta’s advertising platform to create ads using a product image and a planned marketing spend.Meta’s platform already offers some AI tools that allow advertisers to tweak existing ads before they appear on Facebook and Instagram.However, the new tools could disintermediate the traditional advertising creation, planning and buying roles played by agencies, as well as open up a long tail of advertisers with small budgets that cannot afford to retain marketing services companies
‘Humanity deserves better’: iPhone designer on new partnership with OpenAI
The designer of the iPhone has promised his next artificial intelligence-enabled device will be driven by a sense that “humanity deserves better”, after admitting feeling “responsibility” for some of the negative consequences of modern technology.Sir Jony Ive said his new partnership with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, would renew his optimism about technology, amid widespread concerns about the impact of smartphones and social media.In an interview with the Financial Times, London-born Ive declined to give details about the device he is developing with OpenAI, but indicated unease about people’s relationship with some tech products.“Many of us would say we have an uneasy relationship with technology at the moment,” he said. He added that the device’s design would be driven by “a sense of ‘we deserve better
More than 130 official suppliers willing to sell cloned UK number plates, experts find
More than 130 official suppliers of vehicle number plates in the UK are willing to sell cloned versions that could thwart police and avoid congestion charges, according to an investigation by government advisers.The alleged abuse of the system is described by the academics as a risk to law enforcement, road safety and the country’s critical national infrastructure.The expert group, which includes Dr Fraser Sampson, who was the government’s biometric surveillance camera commissioner until 2023, warns that the country is dependent on the “humble number plate”, but “anyone can become a DVLA-registered number plate scheme (RNPS) member on payment of £40.”They write: “There is no vetting, no trading history requirement and no monitoring of members’ practices.“To date we have found over 135 DVLA-registered RNPS members nationally who were prepared to make cloned plates … and there will undoubtedly be more
What is the most common mental health misinformation on TikTok?
Thousands of influencers peddle mental health misinformation on social media platforms – some out of a naive belief that their personal experience will help people, others because they want to boost their following or sell products.As part of a Guardian investigation, experts established clear themes to the misinformation contained in videos posted with a #mentalhealthtips hashtag on TikTok.Several videos about borderline personality disorder suggest symptoms that are everyday experiences – such as feeling anxiety when people change plans, experiencing mood swings, a fear of abandonment and mirroring people’s behaviour to be liked.Another video purports to show how depression manifests in the workplace as a lack of concentration, feeling tired, having low energy levels, a loss of appetite and irritability.“While some of the ‘symptoms’ overlap with depression, these can be attributed to a range of afflictions and struggles,” said Liam Modlin, a therapist and psychology researcher at King’s College London
Starmer says Farage would spook the City and give us Truss 2 – he could be right
The message Zia Yusuf wanted to send was clear. With a backdrop of the City of London behind him, from the 34th floor of the Shard, the Reform UK chair laid out an economic policy designed to show his party meant business.In a briefing over a full English breakfast for some of the nation’s journalists on Friday morning, Yusuf reiterated an announcement the Reform leader, Nigel Farage, had made overnight from another hotel 5,000 miles away in Las Vegas: the party would now accept donations in bitcoin, and if elected to power would make tax and regulatory changes to bolster Britain’s adoption of cryptocurrency.As far as settings go for a press conference, commanding views over St Paul’s Cathedral and the banks and asset managers of the Square Mile, it is straight out of the Westminster playbook, even if the policy idea is pure Donald Trump.However, the trouble with Yusuf’s message to the City was not the questionable credibility of crypto – viewed with unease at the Bank of England as the wild west of finance – but the party’s broader tax and spending policies
‘One day I overheard my boss saying: just put it in ChatGPT’: the workers who lost their jobs to AI
Mateusz Demski, 31, journalist, Kraków, PolandI’ve been a freelance journalist for 10 years, usually writing for magazines and websites about cinema. I presented a morning show on Radio Kraków twice a week for about two years. It was only one part of my work, but I really enjoyed it. It was about culture and cinema, and featured a range of people, from artists to activists. I remember interviewing Ukrainians about the Russian invasion for the first programme I presented, back in 2022
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