co-proxamol

Painkiller ban 'has cut suicides'

Co-proxamol is linked to fatal overdoses

The controversial withdrawal of a common painkiller has dramatically cut suicides, say researchers.

A gradual phase-out of co-proxamol led to 350 fewer suicides and accidental deaths in England and Wales, a study in the British Medical Journal reports.
Regulators removed the drug's licence in 2007 after fears about the risk of overdose but the move proved unpopular with some patients and doctors.
Arthritis Care says some patients now struggle to control their pain.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency announced the withdrawal in 2005.

There is no robust evidence that co-proxamol offers any advantage over paracetamol or ibuprofen at normal doses MHRA spokesman

GPs were encouraged to move patients to other painkillers before the drug's licence was revoked in 2007.
After that time doctors could prescribe the drug on a "named patient basis" for those who could not manage their pain with alternatives but as it is unlicensed they did so at their own risk.
Study leader Professor Keith Hawton, director of the Centre for Suicide Research at Oxford University, said before the restrictions co-proxamol was responsible for a fifth of all drug-related suicides.
By the 2007 deadline, prescribing of the drug had fallen by 59%, his analysis showed.
Over the two-year period, deaths from co-proxamol fell by 62%.
Specifically there were 295 fewer suicides and 349 fewer deaths from the drug including accidental overdoses.
The research also showed that had been no increase in deaths from other painkillers, despite large increases in their use.
Initiative 'effective'
Professor Hawton said authorities in the US were now considering withdrawing co-proxamol, which is a mixture of paracetamol and an opioid drug.
"This marked reduction in suicides and accidental poisonings involving co-proxamol during this period, with no evidence of an increase in deaths involving other analgesics, suggests the initiative has been effective," he added.
In 2008, there were 380,831 prescription items for co-proxamol, showing some GPs are still prescribing the drug.
A spokesman for the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said prior to its withdrawal co-proxamol was involved in 300-400 self-poisoning deaths each year, of which around a fifth were accidental.
"Co-proxamol is extremely dangerous in overdose - only a small overdose can be fatal, and death can occur very rapidly - before medical attention can be sought."
He added: "There is no robust evidence that co-proxamol offers any advantage over paracetamol or ibuprofen at normal doses."
But Federico Moscogiuri, head of policy and campaigns at Arthritis Care, said many people who used to be prescribed co-proxamol were now struggling to control their pain.
A survey done last year by the charity found most people could no longer get prescriptions of the drug from their GPs and many said they had not found an effective alternative.
"For them, co-proxamol makes the difference between being able to perform simple everyday activities and living in chronic, debilitating pain.
"This is an intolerable situation for a society committed to high quality care for all.
"If the named patient system is to work, GPs should feel supported in prescribing co-proxamol for patients who really need it."

how many monkeys

Sea gives up Neanderthal fossil

The fragment of skull belonged to a young adult male

Part of a Neanderthal man's skull has been dredged up from the North Sea, in the first confirmed find of its kind.

Scientists in Leiden, in the Netherlands, have unveiled the specimen - a fragment from the front of a skull belonging to a young adult male.
Analysis of chemical "isotopes" in the 60,000-year-old fossil suggest a carnivorous diet, matching results from other Neanderthal specimens.
The North Sea is one of the world's richest areas for mammal fossils.
But the remains of ancient humans are scarce; this is the first known specimen to have been recovered from the sea bed anywhere in the world.
For most of the last half million years, sea levels were substantially lower than they are today.
Significant areas of the North Sea were, at times, dry land. Criss-crossed by river systems, with wide valleys, lakes and floodplains, these were rich habitats for large herds of ice age mammals such as horse, reindeer, woolly rhino and mammoth.

Even with this rather limited fragment of skull, it is possible to securely identify this as Neanderthal Jean-Jacques Hublin, Max Planck Institute

Their fossilised remains are brought ashore in large numbers each year by fishing trawlers and other dredging operations.
According to Professor Chris Stringer, from London's Natural History Museum, some fishermen now concentrate on collecting fossils rather than their traditional catch.
"There were mammoth fossils collected off the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts 150 years ago, so we've known for some time there was material down there that was of this age, or even older," Professor Stringer, a museum research leader, told BBC News. Indeed, some of the fossil material from the North Sea dates to the Cromerian stage, between 866,000 and 478,000 years ago.
It had been "only a matter of time", he said, before a human fossil came to light.
Professor Stringer added: "The key thing for the future is getting this material in a better context.
"It would be great if we could get the technology one day to go down and search (in the sea floor) where we can obtain the dating, associated materials and other information we would get if we were excavating on land."
Private collection
Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were our close evolutionary cousins; they appear in the fossil record some 400,000 years ago.
These resourceful, physically powerful hunter-gatherers dominated a wide range spanning Britain and Iberia in the west, Israel in the south and Siberia in the east.
Our own species, Homo sapiens, evolved in Africa, and replaced the Neanderthals after entering Europe about 40,000 years ago.
The specimen was found among animal remains and stone artefacts dredged up 15km off the coast of the Netherlands in 2001.

Neanderthals were our close evolutionary cousins

The fragment was spotted by Luc Anthonis, a private fossil collector from Belgium, in the sieving debris of a shell-dredging operation.
Study of the specimen has been led by Professor Jean-Jacques Hublin, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
"Even with this rather limited fragment of skull, it is possible to securely identify this as Neanderthal," Professor Hublin told BBC News.
For instance, the thick bony ridge above the eyes - known as a supraorbital torus - is typical of the species, he said.
The fragment's shape best matches the frontal bones of late Pleistocene examples of this human species, particularly the specimens known as La Chapelle-aux-Saints and La Ferrassie 1.
These examples, which were both unearthed in France, date from between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago.
The North Sea fossil also bears a lesion caused by a benign tumour - an epidermoid cyst - of a type very rare in humans today.
The research links up with the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain 2 (AHOB 2) project, which aims to set Britain's prehistory in a European context. Dutch archaeologist Wil Roebroeks, a collaborator on this study, is a member of the AHOB 2 research team.
Extreme ways
Dr Mike Richards, from the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, analysed different forms, or isotopes, of the elements nitrogen and carbon in the fossilised bone. This shed light on the types of foods eaten by this young male.
The results show he was an extreme carnivore, surviving on a diet consisting largely of meat.
"High in the food chain, they must have been quite rare on the ground compared to other mammals, which explains their rarity to some degree," said Wil Roebroeks from the University of Leiden.
The results of the stable isotope analysis fit with what is known about other examples of this species, though other research suggests that in Gibraltar, on the southern coast of Iberia, some Neanderthals were exploiting marine resources, including dolphins, monk seals and mussels.
Researchers decided against carbon dating the specimen; this requires the preservation of a protein called collagen.

A CT scan shows the find super-imposed on another Neanderthal skull

Professor Hublin explained that while there was some collagen left in the bone, scientists would have needed to destroy approximately half of the fossil in order to obtain enough for dating.
Professor Roebroeks told BBC News: "Dutch scientists - geologists and archaeologists alike - are hoping this find will convince governmental agencies that the Netherlands needs to invest much more in that... archive of Pleistocene sediments off our coast - and off the coast of Britain."
He said this submerged repository contained "high resolution information on past climate change and its environmental consequences, points of reference for how rivers 'worked' before any human interference and now, as this find shows, remains of people who once roamed these landscapes."
Professor Hublin said the individual was living at the extreme edge of the Neanderthals' northern range. While these hunting grounds would at times have provided plentiful sources of meat for a top carnivore, Neanderthals living in these areas would have been at the mercy of fluctuations in the numbers of big game animals.
Periodic dips in populations of mammals such as reindeer could have caused local extinctions of Neanderthal groups which hunted them, Dr Hublin explained.

home made

war

Waste not want not would be a useful maxim for the labour party and all those who have followed the financial
nonsense preached by Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, the huge lies around the green word is so irritating and now
we have the depression , the equality trade is unequal and far from global, practice what you preach you narrow
minded hypocrits,consumerism leads to huge amounts of rubbish and pollution , quality of life for all not
glutony for all, feminists need retail therapy, women have cupboards full of clothes made by all the poor
people of India and China , outsourcing labour , what a grotesque landscape you have painted , the Nhs of
great Britain highlights the waste and immoral times which Blair is responsible for, the man spoke to the pope
before he went to war, and Jack Straw reckons he is a Christian, lying bastads, they and europe are a bunch of
self serving assholes, everything they have touched is now in disaster, you want the answers then follow richimag.

The housing market has been the backbone of the U.k. economy, relying on inflation to cover the fact that nobody
valued agriculture as the mainstay of survival , nobody wanted to include the cost of accomadation in the inflation
figures, all these financial gurus messed up big time and now 28 March 2009 these experts want to tell everybody
they how to fix the mess that they have created, why ?
Fat glutinous bastads in the media love to show us posh nosh on their cookery programs and then they sit in baths
full of baked beans to supposedly help the starving people around the world if they do not understand that that is
obscene then it is about time they were reeducated,this is the world and again the european communists are
telling us we are all the same , well we are not

the archbishop

MPs' expenses: Tony Blair facing questions over the £296,000 mortgage - Telegraph

MPs' expenses: Tony Blair facing questions over the £296,000 mortgage

Tony Blair is facing fresh questions over how he funded his multi-million-pound property empire after details of the former Prime Minister's claims were leaked to The Sunday Telegraph.

View of Tony Blair's home in Connaught Square in Central London Photo: Christopher Pledger
The documents show that Mr Blair remortgaged his constituency home for £296,000, almost 10 times what he paid for it, months before he bought his town house in London for £3.65 million. Mr Blair was able to claim on his parliamentary expenses for the interest repayments on almost a third of the new mortgage on his constituency home.
The amount loaned was sufficient to cover the deposit on his house in Connaught Square, west London, one of five properties owned by the former prime minister, valued at £10 million in total.
Although Mr Blair did not break parliamentary rules, dozens of MPs appear to have used similar strategies to build property portfolios, which has given rise to suggestions that they "played the system".
Mr Blair, who has earned about £16 million since leaving office, through public speaking, directorships and a book deal, bought his constituency home in Trimdon, County Durham, shortly after he was elected as an MP in 1983.
He took out a £30,000 mortgage to buy the house, later remortgaging it for about £90,000 to cover the cost of improvements and renovations.
The parliamentary Green Book, which sets out the rules on what MPs can claim, states that members can increase their mortgages to pay for improvements if they have the prior permission of the fees office.
Mr Blair remortgaged the property for a second time at the end of 2003. He secured a loan of £296,000 from the Cheltenham & Gloucester, on a house that was worth an estimated £250,000 to £300,000 at the time. This suggests that the lender may have taken into account Mr Blair's ability to claim part of the interest on his expenses, when it agreed the mortgage.
The additional £206,000 which Mr Blair borrowed on top of the original purchase price and cost of renovations was enough to cover the £182,500 deposit he put down on Connaught Square, which was also bought with a Cheltenham & Gloucester mortgage.
David Hollingworth, a mortgage expert from London and County, said it was entirely possible that Mr Blair used the money raised on the Durham house to pay the deposit on Connaught Square.
"It would be possible to raise money on one property for the purpose of buying another," he said. "A lot of people remortgage their main home to obtain a buy to let mortgage, and others do it to raise a deposit for their sons or daughters, for example.Having said that, if someone came to me wanting to buy a £3.65 million property with a five per cent deposit which they had raised on another property, I would consider that a pretty tricky case."
The question of how Mr Blair was able to obtain a £3,467,500 mortgage on Connaught Square, which was more than 18 times his salary at the time, has always been surrounded in mystery.
The house took the couple's mortgage commitments to £4 million, which included the Durham property, and two flats in Bristol, one of which has since been sold.
Since leaving office, Mr Blair has bought an £800,000 mews house behind Connaught Square, which has been knocked through to make one property, and a £4 million house in Buckinghamshire, which was the home of the late Sir John Gielgud.
Mr Blair's parliamentary expense forms show that he claimed £387 per month in mortgage interest, just under a third of the total monthly interest payments on the Durham house. One claim form, for 2005-06, is covered with handwritten sums detailing each month's mortgage interest claim to the penny, which vary by around £20 per month as the interest rate changes.
His claim forms for the Additional Costs Allowance for 2004-2007, when he stepped down from parliament, also showed that he claimed £2,218 to pay his cleaner, £2,874.47 for utility bills, £177.13 for food and £15 to pay his window cleaner. He also claimed £1,399.22 for council tax, £458.79 for repairs and £131.50 for his television licence. Among the incidental expense claims are an annual newspaper bill of £1,167.48, regular bills for his Orange mobile phone and £515.75 for the delivery and installation of a Siemens dishwasher.
A spokesman for Mr Blair said yesterday: "Mr Blair only claimed back the interest repayments on the portion of the mortgage which covered the purchase price and improvements to the house. There was no cost to the taxpayer in the rest of the money raised against the property."

MPs' expenses: Tony Blair facing questions over the £296,000 mortgage - Telegraph

mental health understatement

Long wait for mental health help

Mental health problems could cost society £8bn, research has suggested

Some people seeking mental health services in Scotland are kept waiting for more than a year, the public spending watchdog has revealed.

Audit Scotland said there was a lack of information on national waiting times.

But "very long waits" in some areas may reflect a wider trend, its Overview of Mental Health Services report concluded.

It found waits of between 58 and 77 weeks for psychological therapies in two areas covered by NHS Highland.

In Tayside, 40% of older people referred to psychology services were waiting longer than 18 weeks.

There have been programmes to reduce the stigma of mental health problems but more needs to be done Caroline Gardner Audit Scotland 'Mixed picture' in the Highlands

However, the report said the overall situation in Tayside had improved between two visits in 2008 and this year.

Researchers also found "problems" with waiting times for young people in Tayside, Highland and Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

The report said up to 850,000 people experience mental health problems at any one time in Scotland. It said that although mental health problems can affect anyone, those living in deprived areas were at higher risk.

It also said there had been "significant developments" in mental health provision recently, and found strong support among health professionals for current policies.

Cost to society

But it added: "Basic management information on waiting times, staffing levels, vacancies and caseloads is needed for agencies to plan and manage mental health services more effectively.

"In areas where we carried out fieldwork, we found evidence of children and adolescents waiting a long time to access services.

"This is likely to reflect the picture across Scotland."

The NHS spends about £930m a year on mental health services but this is likely to be an underestimate, the report said.

The auditors said previous research indicated that the overall cost to society - including days lost at work - could total £8bn.

Deputy auditor general for Scotland Caroline Gardner said: "There have been programmes to reduce the stigma of mental health problems but more needs to be done.

"There is also a need to ensure that people can access the services they need as quickly as possible and that they can get help out-of-hours or at times of crisis." 

rich child theft ?

rich equality pay the father rich bitch

Madonna faces new rival over fight to adopt Chifundo ‘Mercy’ James in Malawi

Hannah Fletcher

A man who claims to be the biological father of Chifundo “Mercy” James, the Malawian girl that Madonna wants to adopt, has said that he will fight to raise her himself.

James Kambewa, 24, told a US television network that he wanted to raise four-year-old Chifundo, despite never having met her. Madonna will take her case for adoption to the Malawi Supreme Court tomorrow.

Mr Kambewa told CBS News: “I want to take care of her and I’m capable to take care of my baby.” He admitted that he had seen his daughter only “in newspapers and on TV, not face to face”, but said that he wore a necklace with his daughter’s name on it and insisted that she should be raised in Malawi.

“I need her to grow as a Malawian, as well as with our culture,” he said. “I don’t have the money to pay a lawyer, but I am looking for one so that I can issue an injunction stopping Madonna from continuing to seek to adopt my daughter.”

Related Links

• Malawi court refuses Madonna adoption

• COMMENT: Orphans face life of hardship

A Malawian court rejected Madonna’s request to adopt the child last month. The law states that foreigners seeking to adopt in Malawi must have been resident in the country for at least 18 months.

The residency restriction was waived when Madonna adopted four-year-old David Banda, also from Malawi, in 2006. Madonna’s Malawian lawyer said that the singer, 50, would give Chifundo a “good life”, as she had given to Banda.

Madonna’s spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, said that they had received no confirmation that Mr Kambewa was the real father of Chifundo. “All I know is that [she] has been in an orphanage since the day she was born,” Ms Rosenberg said.

Mr Kambewa said that he had abandoned the girl after her mother died giving birth to her. He said that the woman’s parents had accused him of killing their daughter.

He now works as a domestic worker in Blantyre, the financial capital and second-largest city of Malawi, earning around $80 (£55) a month.

He is waiting to hear whether Legal Aid, a government body that provides free legal services, will provide him with a lawyer.

madonna

When undercover investigators made their way onto Chinese fur farms recently, they found that many animals are still alive and struggling desperately when workers flip them onto their backs or hang them up by their legs or tails to skin them. When workers on these farms begin to cut the skin and fur from an animal's leg, the free limbs kick and writhe. Workers stomp on the necks and heads of animals who struggle too hard to allow a clean cut. When the fur is finally peeled off over the animals' heads, their naked, bloody bodies are thrown onto a pile of those who have gone before them. Some are still alive, breathing in ragged gasps and blinking slowly. Some of the animals' hearts are still beating five to 10 minutes after they are skinned. One investigator recorded a skinned raccoon dog on the heap of carcasses who had enough strength to lift his bloodied head and stare into the camera.

soldier blue

Veterans at 'higher suicide risk'

Young ex-servicemen are three times more likely to kill themselves than their civilian counterparts, a study has suggested.

Veterans aged under 24 are at greatest risk, with those in lower ranks and with shorter careers most vulnerable.

The Centre for Suicide Prevention linked military discharge data between 1996 and 2005 with details of suicides.

The MoD said veterans were entitled to mental health assessments and schemes had been introduced to improve access.

Of the 233,803 individuals who left the armed forces during the study period, 224 took their own lives, the report found.

The suicide risk was highest among young men leaving the armed forces within the first two years of discharge, it said.

'Already vulnerable'

The MoD-funded study found veterans had a low rate of contact with mental health professionals in the year before death, 14% for those aged under 20 and 20% for those under 24 years.

But the overall suicide risk was no greater for ex-military personnel than for civilians when all age groups were considered, from 16 to 49 years. Men aged 30-49 years had a lower rate of suicide than the general population.

The report's lead author, Professor Nav Kapur, said they could not prove why the increased rate occurred, but said there were three possible reasons.

One could be those joining the military at a young age were already vulnerable to suicide.

Whatever the explanation for our findings, these individuals may benefit from some form of intervention Prof Nav Kapur

"This would explain why those serving for a relatively short period of time before being discharged were most likely to take their own lives," Prof Kapur said.

A second explanation was the difficulty a minority of individuals experience making the transition to civilian life, he said.

The effect of exposure to adverse experiences during military service or active deployment was a third possibility.

Yet many of those most at risk had not completed basic training and had not deployed overseas, he said.

The risk of suicide was also higher in young women aged under 20 years compared with the general population, but the overall numbers were small.

Prof Kapur, professor of psychiatry and population health at Manchester University, said: "Whatever the explanation for our findings, these individuals may benefit from some form of intervention.

"Initial pre-recruitment interview, medical examination and training are important in ensuring military health but it should be recognised that those discharged at any of these stages may be at higher risk of suicide."

Support

The study compared the military discharge data with details of suicides collected by the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicides and Homicides.

It used mathematical models to compare the figures to the general population.

A spokesman for the MoD said all service-leavers were entitled to a package to help them re-settle.

Extra help was given to those assessed as vulnerable to help them find accommodation, employment and welfare assistance.

Six community mental health centres have been set up to make it easier for veterans to seek help, he said.

"All veterans are also entitled to a free assessment of their mental health at the Medical Assessment Programme at St Thomas' Hospital in London, he added.

"We are also trialling a mentoring scheme to provide individual support to leavers as they re-adjust to civilian life."

The report comes days after Britain's highest-decorated serving soldier criticised the government for failing to help ex-servicemen and women suffering mental health problems.

Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry called on the government to give more help to his comrades suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, depression and mental breakdowns.

britol v

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best veggie places to eat

These places are all exclusively vegetarian - no meat in any of these kitchens - but some diary options, so not exclusively vegan. No chance of meat contamination though.

If none of these take your fancy then we have more.

Royce Rolls

St Nicholas Market, Bristol

Read Reviews.

More details.

Last updated: Mon 19th May 2008

One Stop Thali Cafe

12a York Rd, Bristol, Avon

• Completely vegetarian.

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Last updated: Mon 19th May 2008

Demuths

2 North Parade Passage, Bath

• Completely vegetarian.

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Last updated: Mon 19th May 2008

Cafe Maitreya

89 St Marks Rd, Easton, Avon

• Completely vegetarian.

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Last updated: Fri 2nd Mar 2007

Riverside Garden Centre Cafe

Clift House, Southville, Bristol, Avon

• Completely vegetarian.

Read Reviews.

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Last updated: Mon 19th May 2008

Kebele Cafe

14 Robertson Road, Easton, Avon

• Completely vegan.
• Food rating 2.5/5 (2 votes)
• Service rating 2.0/5 (2 votes)
• Atmosphere rating 3.0/5 (2 votes)
• Overall rating 2.5/5 (6 votes)

Read Reviews.

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Last updated: Fri 2nd Mar 2007

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prostate is what

Vitamin D is an effective treatment for prostate cancer in some patients, a UK study suggests.

A once daily dose reduced PSA level - an indicator of severity of disease - by as much as half in 20% of patients.

There has been much interest in vitamin D in prostate cancer after studies linking risk of the disease to sunlight exposure, the researchers said.

One expert agreed the findings were encouraging but said it needed to be tested in a bigger population.

The trial - results of which are due to be published in the journal BJU International - was set up after one patient got better when his wife bought him some vitamin D tablets.

The role of supplements in the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer is an area which deserves a greater level of research attention John Neate, The Prostate Cancer Charity

Professor Jonathan Waxman, said the example had prompted him to assess the effects in a wider group of patients.

Out of 26 men with recurrent prostate cancer, who took a daily dose of vitamin D2 bought from the chemist, five responded to the treatment.

In two the PSA level, fell by more than half, in two by 25-50% and in one man it fell by less than 25%.

The effects in one man were sustained for 36 months.

Welcome addition

Study leader Professor Jonathan Waxman, from Imperial College London, said vitamin D therapy was effective and well-tolerated.

"It's very interesting - there has been no significant trial of vitamin D.

"This is a treatment which is unlikely to have significant toxicity and is a welcome addition to the therapeutic options for patients with prostate cancer."

He agreed that a further trial in a larger number of patients, comparing vitamin D with a dummy pill was warranted.

One theory is that vitamin D interferes with the effect of the androgen receptor, which is stimulated by hormones such as testosterone and implicated in prostate cancer.

John Neate, chief executive of The Prostate Cancer Charity, said it was not the first study looking at vitamin D in the disease but a consensus on the benefits had not been reached.

"This small scale study investigating the use of vitamin D as a 'stand alone' treatment for men with progressive prostate cancer provides a valuable additional perspective.

"Many men with prostate cancer may wonder whether they should take vitamin D supplements to control their disease.

"This study does not answer that question, but maintaining a good level of vitamin D is recommended as part of a generally healthy lifestyle.

"The role of supplements in the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer is an area which deserves a greater level of research attention."

Professor Malcolm Mason, Cancer Research UK prostate cancer expert based at Cardiff University agreed the results were encouraging but more evidence was needed.

"We advise men with prostate cancer to consult their doctor before taking vitamin D supplements."

animal / disease

Warnings as swine virus spreads Latest Q&A World ready? Reports map Economy alert In pictures

Infection control experts are scrambling to respond to outbreaks of swine flu in Mexico and the US, and suspected cases elsewhere. HOW SWINE FLU OUTBREAK EMERGED Flu viruses mutate over time causing small changes to proteins on their surface called antigens. If the immune system has met particular strain of the virus before it is likely to have some immunity; but if the antigens are new to the immune system, it will be weakened. The flu currently making headlines is a strain of H1N1 influenza A virus, which affects birds, some mammals and humans.

drugs/nhs again

Suicides 'unchanged by pill ban'

drug companies control over the NHS is open to debate and less is more

Prozac can still be used in teenagers with severe depression

Restrictions on teenagers' use of antidepressants have had no measurable impact on suicide rates, a study says.

In 2003, regulators warned against use of the drugs in the under-18s after concerns from clinical trials that some patients may become suicidal.

Bristol university analysis of suicide rates among 15 to 19-year-olds in 22 countries from 1990 to 2006 found no change in the wake of the restrictions.

Antidepressant use in young people in the UK fell by 50% after the warnings.

The expert committee put together to assess the safety of the drugs said at the time of the restrictions that the harmful effects of most SSRI antidepressants outweighed the benefits in young people.

There's no evidence it made things worse Professor David Cottrell, Young Minds

Only fluoxetine (Prozac) should be used and only then in severe cases, the committee said.

Some mental health experts have raised concerns that limits on prescribing antidepressants may have led to increased levels of untreated depression.

Research into the effects of the changing use of antidepressants has been hampered by the fact that suicide in teenagers is a relatively rare event and trends are subject to random fluctuations.

'A big red herring'

In an attempt to get a clearer picture, a team from the University of Bristol looked at suicide rates in 15-to-19 year olds from 22 countries between 1990 and 2006.

Overall, they could not detect any differences after antidepressant use was restricted, they reported in the journal Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety.

Study leader Dr Ben Wheeler said the team had set out with the hypothesis that restrictions on antidepressant use would have caused a reduction in the rates of suicide.

But the results showed "no clear beneficial effect" of the regulation on youth suicide rates, he said.

Some other studies in the US and Canada had suggested that falling use of the drugs had caused an effect of increasing teenage suicides after rates had previously been going down, but there was no evidence of that in this data, he added.

Professor Ian Wong, a paediatric medicines expert from the London School of Pharmacy, said a survey they had done a few years ago suggested that over half of specialists disagreed with the stricter regulations.

"The evidence is not that strong regarding SSRIs causing suicide but they restricted it because they said there's no clear evidence they work.

"We're just starting another survey to see if they have changed their minds."

Professor David Cottrell, spokesman for the charity Young Minds and dean of medicine at the University of Leeds, said the results could suggest the risk of suicide with antidepressants was all a "big red herring", but also that the change in advice and more careful monitoring had mitigated any risk associated with reduced prescribing.

"It depends which way you look at it but I think it's good news.

"There's no evidence of a rise in suicide which means young people are still being treated; there's no evidence it made things worse."

Dr. Mengele was

. Josef Mengele, nicknamed The Angel Of Death, and the other Nazi doctors at the death camps tortured men, women and children and did medical experiments of unspeakable horror during the Holocaust. Victims were put into pressure chambers, tested with drugs, castrated, frozen to death. Children were exposed to experimental surgeries performed without anesthesia, transfusions of blood from one to another, isolation endurance, reaction to various stimuli. The doctors made injections with lethal germs, sex change operations, removal of organs and limbs.

At Auschwitz Josef Mengele did a number of medical experiments, using twins. These twins as young as five years of age were usually murdered after the experiment was over and their bodies dissected.

Mengele injected chemicals into the eyes of the children in an attempt to change their eye color. He carried out twin-to-twin transfusions, stitched twins together, castrated or sterilized twins. Many twins had limbs and organs removed in macabre surgical procedures, performed without using an anesthetic.