Tragedy as NHS hero who made room light up found dead at Christmas He made the whole room light up. He was just beautifully unique - it s such a shame that he s not here any more.
07:52, 24 FEB 2021
Updated
Matthew Blackmore from Wavertree was working as a children s nurse in Brighton when he took his own life (Image: Abby Blackmore)
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When we think of the devastating toll that plastic pollution can have, it is usually images of turtles caught in single-use bags or piles of plastic bottles in landfill that we conjure up for most of us, it is an environmental problem.
But there is emerging evidence that plastic waste could become a health issue, too.
The problem lies with plastic as it breaks down into tiny particles so-called microplastics, which are 5 mm in length (the size of a lentil), or less.
These tiny particles are everywhere: they are produced from the breakdown of bags and bottles, the wear and tear of the soles on our shoes as we walk, and the tyres on our cars as we drive.
Giannis Alexopoulos/NurPhoto/PA Images
A new kind of coronavirus test that is being widely used to screen people without symptoms had very low levels of accuracy at the University of Birmingham, UK, one of the few places where it was directly compared with a more accurate kind of test in a real-world setting.
Among Birmingham students, only 3.2 per cent of those infected with the virus were correctly given a positive result from the lateral flow tests being used there, according to preliminary data from the university.
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This is much lower than previously reported sensitivity levels for this type of test. The sensitivity was 57 per cent when it was used in a mass-screening pilot in Liverpool, UK, and more than 70 per cent when it was checked in UK government laboratories, according to a spokesperson for the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care.