Inside Health

Dr Mark Porter asks whether headlines identifying a 'SARS Like' virus may cause unnecessary alarm. While this new virus and SARS are both members of the same family, virologist John Oxford explains that they are more like cousins that behave differently. And should you be worried about the shape of your baby's head? Lots of parents are. Dr Margaret McCartney questions the growing trend for corrective helmets to treat so called 'flat head syndrome'. Plus Mark Porter visits the first NHS hospital to offer a new approach to treating heartburn.

US research says screening all women for ovarian cancer does more harm than good. And listeners' emails on gallstones, vegetarianism and a constant urge to clear one's throat.

The truth behind the headlines that crippling viral infections cause asthma. Osteoarthritis is usually put down to ageing and the result of wear and tear, but as Mark Porter finds out, it should be seen as a disease in its own right and treated accordingly. And a technique using human stem cells that will allow doctors to replace damaged cartilage.

Dr Mark Porter and regular contributor GP Dr Margaret McCartney explore the incidence of HIV in the UK today and why a new home-testing kit in the States is a bad idea. New research shows that Vitamin D alongside antibiotics assists in treating TB. Why a growing number of people believe deficienty in B12 is underdiagnosed and undertreated. And what can be done to help people plagued with recurrent attacks of mouth ulcers.

Dr Mark Porter goes to Hull to watch botox being used on a patient who suffers from severe chronic migraine. He also looks at surgical options for boosting fertility in women whose fibroids can make it difficult for them to have children. And why GPs should allow patients to see their own notes.

Dr Mark Porter asks whether doctors can try too hard in the early detection of disease and investigates the overdiagnosis of high blood pressure.

Dr Mark Porter finds out that some medical conditions are overdiagnosed and therefore over-treated, because of the results of certain tests.

Dr Mark Porter discovers new approaches to helping people who have strokes in rural areas Apart from a few cases that hit the headlines, the use of anabolic steroids is rare among the athletes in the Olympic village. But the in wider society abuse has exploded, according to an expert from Liverpool John Moores University. Jim McVeigh - who's Deputy Director at the Centre for Public Health - says that anabolic steroid abusers are the largest group using needle exchanges. It's has been dubbed the Killing Season by some sections of the media - but Dr Margaret McCartney believes that August isn't as risky a time to be in hospital as the headlines claim. Inside Health listener and keen pianist Roger emailed the programme about Dupuytren's contracture - where the fingers curve into the hand and can't be straightened. A new treatment is becoming available on the NHS for this common problem which affects 1 in 10 people's hands.

Recent headlines suggest that the growing increase in deaths from liver disease is entirely down to excessive alcohol consumption, but it's estimated that two thirds of liver-related deaths are caused by other conditions. Dr Mark Porter investigates two liver conditions that do not hit the headlines but could be silently creeping up on millions of people in the UK.

Do you have trouble getting an appointment to see your GP? Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners Dr Clare Gerada offers some insight. Telehealth - providing health monitoring or advice at a distance using technology - has been heralded as a cost effective way to better medical care. Is it delivering benefits? The importance of getting sedation right in intensive care - Dr Mark Porter finds out why so many seriously ill people dream they are on a space ship run by aliens. And beware the hazards lurking in the water in hot weather. Inside Health investigates sewage levels in the sea at Weston-Super-Mare in Somerset.

The return of Whooping Cough. The pros and cons of screening young people for silent heart problems. How the latest computer games are being harnessed to help people recover from strokes and brain injury. The science behind adding antibacterial agents to household products. And the latest self-care campaign by the NHS.

Dr Mark Porter debates whether the recent lung cancer awareness campaign on TV, radio and the internet, hits the spot or is scaremongering. He discovers new research suggesting some people with exercise induced asthma are being given the wrong diagnosis and treatment. And GP Margaret McCartney investigates rumours this week that children's toys are to be thrown out of the doctors' surgery in the ongoing battle against infection.

GI bleeds, Pregnancy & working, Frozen shoulder, Patient surveys

A special programme about the links between nature and mental health. Includes the nature writer, Richard Mabey, ecotherapy training in an Essex woodland, a men’s allotment group and discussion of the latest research on “green care” and “green therapies” with Dr Rachel Bragg.

Death while detained on a psychiatric ward; Does having children make you happy? Club Drug Clinic