How a new brain tumour test could transform cancer diagnoses | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast from. the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver. Conway and this is what we have coming. up. A new test for brain tumors slashes. diagnosis time to just 2 hours. >> Ultra rapid genomic testing means the. result comes while the patient is still. on the operating table. >> President Zilinski says the US will. allow Ukraine to produce Patriot. missiles despite a previous U-turn. A. Filipino maid who narrowly escaped. execution in Indonesia has been.

pardoned. Also in this podcast, Pope Leo issues a. warning about AI and assisted dying on a. visit to France. And the month after the. devastating floods in Nepal, its prime. minister warns the world about climate. change. >> I must speak about death and destruction. of epic proportion, about families. waiting for loved ones who will never. come home. >> [music]. >> A new rapid test for brain tumors can.

slash diagnosis time to just two hours, meaning patients no longer have to wait. weeks for news. Surgeons can get results. even while they're operating. Hospitals. in the UK are triing the test as our. medical editor Fergus Walsh reports. >> Just going to go with head first in 22. >> Steve Palmer is on his way to theater at. Queens Medical Center Nottingham. The. 55year-old collapsed a few weeks ago and. was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

>> Hopefully all of it removed would be. great. Um, then I can get on with. recovery and whatever comes next and. then it's getting back to hopefully some. normality of assessment. >> Neurosurgeon Stuart Smith shows me a. scan of Steve's brain. >> This is the right frontal lobe where the. the white area represents the tumor. within his brain. >> How big is that? was about about five or. six centimeters across in total. See the. ventricles bottom right there. You see, >> more than 12,000 people a year in the UK.

are diagnosed with a brain tumor. But. surgeons often can't be sure what. they're dealing with until now. There. are around 150 different types of brain. tumor and a definitive diagnosis can. take 6 to 8 weeks after surgery. Now, ultra rapid genomic testing means the. result comes while the patient is still. on the operating table. >> So, this is the sample for the smear. >> Once Steve's tumor is exposed, the.

surgeons carefully select tissue. samples. These contain all the genetic. information needed to grade and diagnose. his tumor. They're bagged up and taken. to the pathology labs. The rapid genomic. test was developed by scientists at the. University of Nottingham in partnership. with hospital clinicians. The samples are fed into this ultra. rapid sequencing machine. Molecules of. DNA pass through a nanopore or tiny hole.

which reveals the tumor's unique genomic. fingerprint. >> The nanopore is running now. It's been. running for about 20 minutes. The. results are fed back to the operating. theater. >> Given the bigger picture and those copy. number changes, I think this would be. most in keeping with the gllastoma. >> Yeah, I think uh we've probably done as. much as we as we can um in taking out. the visible tumor. [snorts] That's. really helpful and that will that will. help us finish up the operation. Yeah, >> we're going to be taking.

>> a definitive diagnosis has taken just 2. hours while Steve is still in theater. It's almost magical that you can do. things that quickly. I think this adds a. whole new level of information that will. guide the surgeon and allow us to make. more accurate decisions about, you know, how much surgery we do. Um, you know, how extensive that that operation is. >> Hi, Steven. How are you? >> Okay. >> Steve's diagnosis and a treatment plan. can be fed back within days rather than. weeks. >> I'm afraid it's, you know, it's not.

great news in terms of what type of. tumor it is. It is one of these grade. four tumors and. >> [snorts]. >> uh the name for that type of tumor is. glyobblasto. >> Mhm. >> And. >> but it does mean chemo and radiotherapy. can start sooner. >> The other benefit means that we have a. full genetic profile of the tumor. Uh. and that hopefully will open the door to. clinical trials for you. obviously. wasn't what I wanted to hear, but let's. let's get on to the next phase of.

treatment and recovery and and get on. to, you know, fighting whatever I've got. to fight. So, absolutely. >> So, it did help remove potentially weeks. of anxiety. >> Oh, god. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Four neurosurgery units in London, Birmingham, and Newcastle are also. piloting the rapid genomic tests with. other hospitals to follow. Ukraine has been hit hard by Russia's. current air campaign. Another three. people were killed in Kiev this.

afternoon. Part of the problem is the. lack of missile interceptors, such as. the US supplied Patriots. In July, Donald Trump told Vladimir Zilinski to. make them yourself, only to then change. his mind. Now though, the Ukrainian. president says the US leader has made a. final decision to give Ukraine licenses. to produce them. Earlier, Sasha. Schlicker told me more. >> President Zilinski is keeping his. fingers crossed because we know that uh. Donald Trump can change his mind, you.

know, uh in in one day several times. So. his latest opinion according to Mr. Zilinski is that the final decision has. been made and there will be uh there. will be permission for Ukraine to. produce its own Patriot interceptors. But it's funny that in July, Mr. Trump. was so keen. He said it would be pretty. cool to grant Ukraine the licenses.

Three weeks later, he said America. should be very careful before granting. Ukraine authorization without any. reference to the fact that he was very. enthusiastic. >> But if and when Ukraine get these. licenses, it won't be a magic bullet. >> No, it takes months and months up to two. years to set up production. You know, the building the engine, the rocket. itself, uh the systems are there. It's. just the rockets that are depleted. And.

of course, even if it wanted to, Washington couldn't supply Ukraine now. with readymade rockets because its. stocks have been depleted in the Middle. East. And uh it's a very very costly. weapon. Really costly weapons. Cost. billions and billions. So now the. Pentagon has its own stocks depleted. Uh. so all it can do is give a license to. Ukraine to produce. But I must say that. uh the war has changed completely. You. know, Zilinski has said today that.

Ukraine is working on its own. anti-bballistic system which is called. Freya with the participation of several. European countries. Mary Jane Velo spent. nearly 15 years on death row in. Indonesia in a case that highlighted. issues over the treatment of Filipino. domestic workers abroad. The former maid. narrowly escaped execution by firing. squad after being found carrying heroin. through an airport. She says she was. tricked into it and she has now been.

pardoned by the Philippine president. I. got the details from our Southeast Asia. correspondent Jonathan Head. >> It was always likely she was going to be. pardoned. Uh there were long. negotiations between the Philippines. government and Indonesia over her case. going right back to when she was first. sentenced to death. Um, President Marcos. finally agreed with uh on a what you. might call a prisoner transfer um. arrangement which hadn't existed between. the two countries back in 2024 and that. allowed her to be moved back to the.

Philippines to serve the rest of her. sentence. It was commuted from a death. sentence to a life life sentence because. the Philippines didn't have the death. penalty. Um, but given the enormous. amount of sympathy for her in the. Philippines, it was kind of inevitable. that after a decent interval that the. president would pardon her, widely. expected. It's also a popular thing to. do for a president who lacks popularity. at the moment. I mean, inside the. Philippines, I mean, she was seen very. much as a victim of human trafficking.

there are the people who actually. arranged her journey to Indonesia have. been themselves sentenced uh to life. imprisonment in the Philippines for. people trafficking and of course she's. always said that the the drugs were. planted in the suitcase. I mean she came. from a very poor background and her her. situation as a migrant worker. desperately seeking employment in other. countries resonates in a country in a. country the Philippines which sends. millions of people overseas every year. to work. It's part of the economy.

Everyone's used to it, but they also. know that it the these people are very. vulnerable to being exploited or being. trafficked. And so I think everyone knew. this decision was coming. And President. Marcos has done it basically after a. decent number of months after her return. from Indonesia. >> Yeah. And how did she end up on death. row in Indonesia? >> She arrived in Jojakarta, the Indonesian. city, in April of 2010. And the customs. officers there found 2.6 6 kilos of. heroin sewn into the lining of her.

suitcase. Now, she'd been overseas to. work before. She was desperately looking. for work and she said the job had been. arranged for. In fact, she thought she. was going for a job in Malaysia and then. the people organizing it suddenly said. to her, "Go to Indonesia." She always. said that the suitcase was simply given. to her because she did she didn't have. one to put some more clothes into. Um, the Indonesian court was unsympathetic. At the time, Indonesia was running a. very harsh anti-drugs campaign under. President Jooko Widodo. Um the court and.

frankly it was a very unfair trial. She. didn't speak Indonesian. She didn't. understand a lot of what was happening. But the appeals against her death. sentence failed and she was in fact. scheduled to be executed um in in 2015. along with uh eight other defendants, convicts um including two Australians. They were executed. She wasn't. But. partly because there was also an. anti-drugs campaign at the Philippines. at the time. President Duterte said for. many years that he wouldn't intervene in.

her case. It's only recently that the. the new government in the Phil what has. become the new government of the. Philippines has really pushed to get her. released. Still to come, we look at the. dangers of children using inappropriate. skin care products encouraged by social. media. [music]. The catastrophic flood in Nepal last. month killed at least 1,400 people with. more than 6,000 still missing. Scientists say it was caused by a. glacial collapse. Nepal contributes less.

than 0.1% to greenhouse gas emissions. But the disaster is a reminder that the. effects of global warming are not. limited to the biggest polluters. Here's. Nepal's Prime Minister Belindra at the. UN General Assembly. Four weeks ago, the. world saw shocking images of. catastrophic floods that swept away. Nepal's mountain communities with. ferocity. Many have called mountain. tsunami or Himalayan tsunami. The. Bautosiouli disaster was not just a.

local tragedy. It was a warning to the. world. And I ask you today, have we. really heard that warning? >> But will his comments make any. difference? I asked our global. environment correspondent, Navin Sincad. he's kind of really really brought this. thing up that the world uh knows about. it but global leaders who are there now. for the UN General Assembly they haven't. acted that's the that's the point he's. hammering and then he's also talking. about this financing mechanism how.

difficult it is to get money one quote. I'll read for you what he says is when. the house is burning we do ask the. family to complete forms after forms. meaning you know it takes time takes uh. you know loss of energy, you you just. act. So that kind of thing that that is. uh what he is trying to say. In fact, the the foreign minister has been saying. the same thing there in the same venue. Uh regarding the uh the Himalayan. climate resilience mechanism. Uh I'm.

still trying to gather what are those. things? Well, he's talked about. satellite uh information, early warnings. and then post disaster transboundary. cooperation and so on and so forth. Uh. but I think uh uh we haven't yet seen. the real blueprint. What is that? What. level? What's the time frame? And most. importantly uh has India and China been. consulted have they been discussed? because we haven't seen any response. from them unless these two uh you know.

giants of the region unless they. cooperate nothing is going to happen and. also quickly we know that the Himalayan. region between China and India has. actually been a flash point we have. reported this in the past so how will. that change into cooperation that's a. Himalayan task if it happens then it's a. big big achievement. >> and what is happening on the ground in. that area that was hit by that wall of. water and mud. >> it's a very slow thing uh we are uh kind. of seeing pictures and videos sent by.

people on the ground. They are trying. their best to cut through the road. Imagine still we see three fourstoried. houses buried. So you know dugging. digging through that is is a massive. thing and that's where the money thing. comes. Money is still not there and. that's what that they're complaining. about. >> Beauty products like skincare and makeup. have become a big part of young people's. lives in recent years. often driven by. social media, but in some cases they may. be harming themselves. Here in the UK, there are now calls for tougher.

regulation. Nina Blisset from the BBC. Children's Program News Round has this. report. >> Where do you see all these makeup and. skincare products? >> A lot of people like post about it like. their morning routines. >> Idols like the public like social media. I would say. >> I just saw like it around like Tik Tok. and YouTube and stuff and I just thought. why not try it? thought it would be fun. and it was. >> I'll just be scrolling. You'll see. videos like get ready with me to go out. and you'll see all these different. products being used. >> Trends such as get ready with me and day.

in the life are increasing visibility of. makeup and skin care products. >> But which of these products are right. for young people's skin? >> When you're young, your skin's actually. quite sensitive and the outer layer of. skin, which is your skin barrier, can. get damaged by harsh products which. aren't designed for younger skin. So. that's things like retinoids or harsh. acids. It can become dry, red, flaky, and it can even lead to reactions like. eczema and irritancy. >> So, if children have spoke to their. parents and guardians about it, and they.

want to experiment with makeup and skin. care, what could they be using? It's. really important to remember that your. skin is an organ. It's a living, breathing organ a bit like your heart. and your lungs. And so, anything that. you put on it, you want to be careful. isn't damaging it. Just keep it really, really simple. So gentle cleansing, bit. of moisturizer to put back in some. hydration and then some protection and. then if they want to play around with a. little bit of makeup or something like. that then that's fine. Safe face are a. government approved list of trusted. health care professionals in the beauty.

industry. We want clear labeling on. these type of products so that parents. and children know what is and what isn't. suitable for children and also for the. government to utilize the online safety. act to make sure that children are not. seeing harmful adverts and content. promoted online. >> Save Face think it's not just the. government that should be taking. responsibility. I think the social media. companies need to take more. accountability for the content that's. being promoted on their platforms and. the influencers that are using their.

platforms that they know have very very. young audiences and they know are. promoting products that could cause them. harm and also the skinincare companies. themselves. >> We spoke to YouTube and Tik Tok about. what they're doing to protect young. users from unsuitable beauty content. Tik Tok told us it has stronger. safeguarding measures for teens, such as. not allowing targeted advertising to. under 18s. They also pointed to the. platform as a source of accessible. expert-led skincare information.

YouTube said it provides age appropriate. experiences for children, works with. experts on content, and doesn't allow. any product advertising to young people. >> Maybe on certain products they could. make it more clear that it's not for. young skin. feel like some shops need to. like realize if kids are buying retinal. products, they should like just double. check with parents. >> Well, maybe the people who sell them. should like be putting like warnings. There's definitely an unrealistic. standard about young girls and how. they're supposed to look.

>> I think it shouldn't be such as like an. expectation for people to like. constantly be doing skincare or wearing. makeup. You should do it for yourself, not for anybody else. Although it's a. secular state, France remains a. nominally Catholic country, albeit with. low church attendance. And there was a. warm welcome for Pope Leo today. The. bells of NRAAM rang out as the pontiff. landed at the airport to be greeted by. President Macron and a military band. The highlight of his 4-day trip is. expected to be a giant mass attended by.

more than half a million people in the. center of Paris. But in his first. engagement at the Alise Palace, the Pope. issued a warning about AI. >> As we look into a world where human. think. is being replaced by machines, it is so. important that the conditions of human. dignity must be respected and be at the. forefront. It is our questions of ethics. to know what morally is good or not. So.

what are we to make of that? I asked our. correspondent Hugh Scofield in Paris. >> We know that he holds AI as a theme very. close to his heart. He's uh issued his. first ever encyclical that is papal. pronouncement on this subject in May. He. regards him, he named himself Lee the. 14th after Leo the 13th who was the pope. 100 years ago who made some very. important pronouncements about changing. society then industrialization the. proletariat the need for a human um. human input in into the changes then he.

wants the same now he wants human beings. to consider very deeply um the impact of. of AI and that's the the burden of his. his speech here in Rome all over the. place. Not unusual, they should say it. here because he's got an audience now of. of France and the world. And he's again. insisting that AI in itself may not be. immoral, but it is a dangerous um thing. which needs to be brought under control.

and the people who are in control of it. need need to be themselves ethically. very very conscientious. Now, in that. speech in front of President Mron and. assembled guests in the Elise, he said. that uh he reiterated the church's. opposition to assisted dying 2 months. after France approved euthanasia for. those with incurable diseases. How might. that message go down? >> Well, again, I mean, no, no one's going. to say it's going to go down well or. badly. It's the church's message. it.

doesn't vary a a jot from everything. that the church has said since this. debate burst forth you know many decades. ago about assisted dying and so on. So. it is perfectly natural um that the pope. would would say this in France in front. of his audience that the pope's position. the church's position is is opposition. to assisted dying opposition to anything. that that that detracts from this. essential tenis of the of the the. sanctity of human human life. He also um. he talked made the same point about.

surrogate surrogacy u the trans the. buying of organs as well. These are. things which the church has a very. strong and known position about. So it's. not surprising that he said it here. It. was listened to politely. The the state. France has a different view. It's passed. a law as you say which allows uh some. assisted dying in certain circumstances. It's simply a state stating of of of. sides and and and that's important. But. of course, the pope only has so much. influence in France. Uh, he says what he.

has to say. Some people listen, some. people don't. >> And that's all from this edition of the. Global News podcast. If you want to get. in touch, our contact details are below. I'm Oliver Conway. Until [music] next. time, goodbye.