Inside Health

Women with endometriosis often spend years searching for answers. On average, it can take around a decade to get a diagnosis.
So could a new generation of tests, which are far less invasive than what's available today, help cut that wait from years to days? Inside Health is looking at what those tests involve and how well they might work in the real world.
We'll also hear from one couple about their difficult journey to starting a family - and explore why many queer couples still face huge hurdles when trying to access fertility treatment here in the UK.
And as the clocks go back, Laura looks at why a change of just one hour can result in 'social jet lag' or 'first class sleep'.
Why are the first few days the hardest - and what we can do to make 'falling back' into autumn and 'springing forward' in March easier on our bodies?
Presenter: Laura Foster
Producer: Gerry Holt
Editor: Ilan Goodman
Production coordinator: Stu Laws
Sound engineer: Sue Maillot
The show was made by the BBC’s Audio Science Unit in collaboration with The Open University.

We investigate how self-injecting is leading to people being hospitalised and is creating new challenges for support services.
Laura Foster meets NHS endocrinologist Dr Bonnie Grant, criminologist at the University of Lincoln Dr Luke Turnock and Jon Findlay, Harm Reduction Lead at Waythrough.
They discuss the problems they are seeing from self-injecting on hospital wards, at needle exchanges and talked about in online discussions.
Also this week, scientists have identified a protein that provides one of the strongest clues yet as to why two conditions that are major causes of stillbirth and severe health risks for pregnant mothers occur.
It could be a breakthrough for predicting pre-eclampsia and foetal growth restriction and Laura talks to Dr Gordon Smith, head of the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Cambridge University, about how they identified a little known protein and how the discovery could help millions of women every year.
And there has been a lot of headlines around the idea that making medicines in space could improve cancer treatment. British company BioOrbit has just had a mini drugs factory return back from manufacturing crystrals for cancer antibody treatments on the International Space Station. We'll be asking whether this could be something that becomes part of day to day medicine in the not-too-distant future.
Presenter: Laura Foster
Producer: Tom Bonnett
Editor: Martin Smith
Sound engineer: Tim Heffer
Production coordinator: Stu Laws
The show was made by the BBC’s Audio Science Unit in collaboration with The Open University.

We investigate the growing business of full-body MRI scans.
The clinics argue they can spot diseases and problems early before people feel unwell - but critics say it’s a waste of thousands of pounds and creates unnecessary anxiety about things that may never become a problem.
Laura visits a clinic to learn more and also hears about the risks.
Also this week, new research shows strokes are increasing among black African and black Caribbean people in the UK at a faster rate in than in white people - and it’s mainly being driven by high blood pressure.
Laura meets Dr Iain Marshall, a GP who researches stroke risk factors, and Sheila Chingono, who had a stroke aged 32, to talk about why this is happening and what can be done to prevent it.
And most of us hear the phrase ‘emergency food stockpile’ and think of a sad-looking kitchen cupboard full of tins we’d rather not eat.
Laura speaks to a nutritional scientist about how you can still have a healthy and tasty meal with non-perishable goods, even if you’ve got no running water or way of cooking food.
And crucially she learns that it doesn’t involve giving up biscuits...
Presenter: Laura Foster
Producer: Gerry Holt
Editor: Ilan Goodman
Sound engineer: Mary Stone
Production coordinator: Stu Laws
The show was made by the BBC’s Audio Science Unit in collaboration with The Open University.

Right now, research is gathering pace in revolutionising our understanding of inflammation, which could transform the treatment of so many chronic diseases - cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease, depression, type 2 diabetes and many more.
So, what is inflammation, how is it implicated in these diseases and can we do anything about it?
Immunologist Professor Eleanor Riley at the University of Edinburgh explains what inflammation actually is and how chronic inflammation can get stuck in a self-perpetuating loop.

We speak to Professor Charlie Swanton, who is the Francis Crick Institute’s Clinical Director. He explains how his research into inflammation is leading to a radical new approach to lung cancer-prevention.
Professor Tara Spires-Jones, Director of the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, outlines the conundrum of inflammation in Alzheimer’s. We know it plays a key role, but how to intervene remains a mystery.
And can we as individuals do anything to bring down inflammation? Professor Sarah Berry from the nutrition department at Kings College London explains how what we eat can heighten or reduce inflammation in our bodies.

Presenter: James Gallagher
Producer: Hannah Robins

Insulin has been used to treat type 1 diabetes for more than a century but now there is a new treatment being rolled out on the NHS that can delay the onset of the disease for years. Alongside, screening is gathering pace, identifying those that could benefit. So, is this the beginning of a new era for type 1 diabetes treatment?
Dima and his mum Elena explain what it was like to be told that he had tested positive for developing type 1 diabetes and what it was like taking part in the trial for this new drug, teplizumab. Parth Narendran, a Professor of Diabetes Medicine at the University of Birmingham, and Consultant Paediatric Endocrinologist Dr Renuka Dias at Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital, reveal how these changes are transforming treatment.
In July, the NHS announced plans to incentivise us to walk a marathon a month by offering vouchers and discounts. But with scant detail on how the plan will actually work, we ask Joan Costa-i-Font, Professor of Health Economics at London School of Economics, what makes schemes like this succeed or fail.
Plus, why are horse fly bites so painful? Dr Erica McAlister, an entomologist at the Natural History Museum, explains how the flies break into our skin, while consultant dermatologist Dr Alexandra Banner describes what’s happening in our bodies.
Presenter: James Gallagher
Producer: Hannah Robins