10 Monday June 13 2022 | the times
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SHANE ANTHONY SINCLAIR/BFC/GETTY IMAGESFashion fusion Models backstage before a catwalk show by Ahluwalia in London yesterday. The British label, launched in 2018, combines elements of its founder Priya Ahluwalia’s Indian and Nigerian heritage
A £20 device that delivers “tingling”
electric pulses to the ears and can be
worn at home could be almost twice as
effective as drugs at reducing blood
pressure, a neuroscientist has said.
Early trials suggest that wearing the
small electrodes clipped to the ears for
half an hour per day over two weeks
while relaxing, watching TV or eating
can reduce blood pressure by up to
15mm of mercury (mm Hg), compared
with 8mm Hg to 10mm Hg for drugs
such as Ace inhibitors or beta-blockers.
The gadget, which has had funding
for human trials from the National
Institute for Health and Care Research,
was presented at Cheltenham Science
Festival by Professor Alexander Gour-
ine from the division of biosciences at
University College London (UCL). He
was introduced on stage by Professor
Mark Lythgoe, a neurophysiologist at
Companies applying for NHS con-
tracts have more chance of success if
they adopt Stonewall’s transgender
ideology, a leaked document suggests.
A whistleblower supplied a tender
document from Lewisham and Green-
wich NHS Trust setting out the ques-
tions companies are asked when seek-
ing to deliver stoma services.
A stoma, the opening made in the
stomach during a colostomy or ileosto-
my, is a vital procedure for some cancer
£20 electronic ear-clips train the
body to decrease blood pressure
Kaya Burgess Science Reporter UCL, as “one of the most internation-
ally recognised neuroscientists”.
The device, which will cost £20, may
initially be available by 2024 and more
widely available by 2026, according to
the scientists working on trials.
As people age, blood flow through
the brain decreases by about 5 per cent
every decade. There is a theory that this
leads the brain to become “selfish”,
demanding that the body increase its
blood pressure by 5 to 7 per cent per
decade to force more blood to the brain.
The gadget, called AffeX, is a small
box with two clips that attach to the tra-
gus, the small piece of cartilage at the
front of the ear, closest to the cheek.
The device sends electrical signals to
the brain stem via the vagus nerve,
which runs past the ear and controls
many body functions that operate sub-
consciously, such as the beating of the
heart and the dilation of blood vessels.
Gourine said: “A small branch of the
vagus nerve projects to the regions of
the outer ear and we can control some-
thing our body does subconsciously by
applying low-current pulses... [from]
our proof-of-concept study it looks like
we can control your blood pressure by
applying stimulation for half an hour
per day for a couple of weeks.”
The device can re-train the body, he
said. “It controls the heart and changes
over a long time how your heart is
operating and also your blood vessels,
lowering blood pressure.”
Gourine and his team are recruiting
more than 60 people for clinical trials,
and said that early-stage trials on 30
people had shown that the device could
reduce blood pressure by between
10mm Hg and 15mm Hg.
“Any single drug will drop your blood
pressure by not more than 8 or 10mm,”
he said, suggesting that for those with
very high blood pressure the device
could be used with one or more drugs.A volunteer who wore the device at
the festival said it produced a “gentle
tingling sensation”.
Gourine said the effect would last for
several months, after which the patient
could use the device “again to relearn”.
A key problem in treating blood pres-
sure, he said, is that people do not
remember or do not want to take their
drugs regularly. The device will moni-
tor usage to ensure compliance.
Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, medical
director at the British Heart Founda-
tion, called the device an “experimental
treatment” and urged patients to take
any medication prescribed by their GPs.
Professor Naveed Sattar from the
University of Glasgow said: “While it’s
exciting, I would say preliminary and
robust trial evidence [is still] required.
Until these report, lifestyle changes
and, where required, blood pressure-
lowering drugs remain the best options
for treating high blood pressure.”Stonewall questionnaire for health contract bidders
patients. The contract leaked to Fair
Cop, the whistleblower organisation,
grades bidders from zero to four de-
pending on answers to 35 questions.
Five questions are titled Stonewall
UK Workplace Equality Index and ask
about “diversity and inclusion strate-
gies”. Bidders are asked “Are you a
member of the Stonewall UK Work-
place Equality Index?” and if they have
a “ ‘transitioning at work’ policy”.
The Stonewall questions are given an
equal rating to health queries.
Harry Miller, the head of Fair Cop,said: “If you want to move up the Stone-
wall league table you will do everything
to gain those extra points. When that
comes at the expense of patients, that’s
when it turns from a farce to a tragedy.
The scheme needs shutting down.”
The whistleblower said: “The NHS
might accept a tender from a company
offering an inferior product. The NHS
is willing to compromise on patient
care to promote Stonewall.”
The Sunday Telegraph reported that
although ministers and many public or-
ganisations had quit the charity’s diver-sity schemes, six NHS bodies featured
in Stonewall’s “top 100 employers” list
this year.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Founda-
tion Trust, which runs Lewisham and
Greenwich’s procurement group, said:
“Under national guidance, NHS trusts
are required to apply 10 per cent social
value weighting for tenders. This... is
one of a number of things we consider
when procuring services.”
The NHS could not confirm whether
the questions were being used in other
London trusts.Ben Ellery
Patients ‘are
excluded’ by
GP webchats
Kaya BurgessThe NHS has still not found a balance
between face-to-face and remote ap-
pointments as the pandemic recedes,
with some patients at risk of “digital ex-
clusion”, health service chiefs have said.
Consultations conducted by tele-
phone, video, email or webchat are fast-
er and easier to book than those held in
person but some patients “really don’t
like them”, a panel of health officials
said at Cheltenham Science Festival.
About 25 million GP appointments
were held in April. Of these, about
15 million were face to face, an increase
of two million on the same month in- About 63 per cent of GP appoint-
ments in April were in person, up from
47 per cent in April 2020 but down from
80 per cent before the pandemic.
Dr Shera Chok, deputy chief medical
officer at NHS Digital and a GP in
Tower Hamlets, said: “We’re trying to
find our way back to the right balance.
I don’t think we’re there yet. Some
patients really like remote consulta-
tions, [where] they’re typing queries at
10 o’clock at night and get somebody to
call them within a few days. Other
patients really don’t like it.”
Another panellist, Jenny Chong, a
non-executive director on the board of
Medway NHS Foundation Trust in
Kent, said that appointments conduct-
ed remotely could lack “context” and
exclude people without digital access
but that they also brought benefits, such
as reducing the wait for appointments.
“You don’t have to travel in; there’s
less of a carbon footprint. We can now
access a wider demographic of doctors
and clinicians [because] we can see our
patients through the virtual appoint-
ment system,” she said.