Cycle lanes, electric cars and other interventions have helped 19 global cities slash levels of pollutants by more than 20%

London, San Francisco and Beijing are among 19 global cities that have achieved “remarkable reductions” in air pollution, analysis has found, having slashed levels of two airway-aggravating pollutants by more than 20% since 2010.

The analysis found interventions such as cycle lanes, uptake of electric cars and restrictions on polluting vehicles had helped to drive the improvements.

Health justice charity Medact says data-sharing potential could be used for UK version of US immigration raids

Palantir’s NHS contract opens the door to the Big Brother-style data-sharing that Reform UK would use for a version of US immigration raids, health bosses have been told.

Palantir Technologies – the data analytics company founded by Peter Thiel and Alex Karp – won a £330m NHS England contract to deliver the Federated Data Platform in 2023.

‘Male by default’ clinical guidelines do not acknowledge sex-based differences, says Lancashire University research

Women are receiving worse treatment for back and neck pain because their experiences are not factored into “male by default” clinical guidelines in the UK, research has found.

The NHS fails to acknowledge sex-specific considerations such as pain being more common among women in its model of care for non-surgical management of chronic neck and back pain, according to research from the University of Lancashire.

Readers respond to an article by John Lanchester and a report on gen Z’s views on marriage

I enjoyed John Lanchester’s article on the generation gap (Did baby boomers eat all the pies? John Lanchester on the truth about the generation gap, 8 March). As a university lecturer, I spend a lot of time in class unpicking statistics and received wisdom, including narratives such as intergenerational rivalry, which is more complex than it first seems. I often feel that we are too shortsighted in our intergenerational discussions.

As a gen Xer, I’ve often discussed my experiences as a young adult, which, as Lanchester points out, share many parallels with today’s gen Z. In heritage management classes, I ask students about their parents and grandparents. We compare experiences with those of the first and second world war generations, then that of our great-grandparents. Mine were born in 1879, were lacemakers in Essex, had a pea field, made turnip dollies and sent their sons to Haberdashers’ School in London to better themselves.

Since the US has no federal mandate for hearing aid coverage, I found myself in a quandary – I couldn’t communicate with the hearing or the deaf

At the end of my second American Sign Language (ASL) class, during which I had fingerspelled my name Deborah as “F-E-B-O-R-A-H”, I thought it prudent to type a question into my Notes app rather than trying to fingerspell it. “How do I sign, ‘I’m hearing impaired?’” I wrote, showing the typed sentence to my teacher, Courtney Rodriguez. Then I pointed to one of my hearing aids.

Sixty per cent of ASL, Courtney had just taught us, consists of non-manual markers, meaning most of the communication in ASL comes from facial expressions. Puffed cheeks, for example, indicates something big. Pursed lips means small. From the puffed cheeks and pained look on my deaf teacher’s face, I could sense I had hit a big nerve.

Palestinians across the Gaza Strip fear for their health as piles of rubbish mixed with dirt and debris accumulate in the streets. Areas once filled with bustling markets are now covered with litter and there are limited resources to clear the waste

Reaching up to 100ft, these massive piles contain tonnes of salt that keep roads clear – but pose environmental risks

Most mountains take tens of millions of years to form. Toronto’s newest mountain took just days.

Towering atop the crowns of evergreens, it has no skeleton of limestone or granite. There are no spires, cornices or headwalls. It is simply piles upon piles of snow, mixed with a toxic cocktail of road salt, antifreeze, oil, coffee cups and lost keys. It is the final resting place for the forces of nature that have battered the city in recent weeks – and a daunting environmental hazard.

Veoza, also known as fezolinetant, will be offered to women for whom HRT is unsuitable

More than 500,000 women in England are to be offered a drug on the NHS that prevents hot flushes.

The green light for Veoza, also known as fezolinetant, comes after the medicines watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, on Wednesday authorised it for use.

Cheshire police and CPS say they were not told about inquiry into Prof Peter Hindmarsh before he gave evidence at nurse’s trial

The police force behind the prosecution of the former nurse Lucy Letby has said it was not informed by a key expert witness before he gave evidence at her trial that he was under investigation over serious concerns in his medical work.

The Crown Prosecution Service also told the Guardian it was not aware that Prof Peter Hindmarsh was subject to the formal investigation by the hospital that employed him, before his first appearance as a witness on 25 November 2022.

Woman, from west Africa, faces uncertain wait for indefinite leave to remain because of changes coming into force next month

The mother of a six-year-old cancer survivor has spoken of her “overwhelming” fear her daughter will be denied crucial treatment because of the government’s immigration crackdown.

The girl, from London, underwent two rounds of life-saving chemotherapy after being diagnosed at two with neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that mostly affects children.

‘Eye strokes’ that reduce blood flow to optic nerve likely to be side-effect of active ingredient semaglutide, says author

Patients taking Wegovy have nearly five times the risk of sudden sight loss of those on Ozempic, a large-scale study has found.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) medicines such as semaglutide (sold as Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus) and tirzepetide (sold as Mounjaro) help reduce blood sugar levels, slow digestion and reduce appetite, and have been linked to reduced risks of heart attack, fewer drug overdoses and other health benefits.