The Health News – 17 November 2015

Overview:
• Australian scientists are confident a goo-like substance that was instrumental in the creation of life on Earth also holds significant medical benefits. The molecules of the primordial goo, known as prebiotic compounds, date back billions of years.

• Albany Health Campus is expected to resume elective surgeries, after a fire closed down a section of the hospital on Friday. A temporary operating theatre was set up to deal with emergency cases.

• A $1.2m loss for the Riverina Medical and Dental Aboriginal Corporation (RivMed) in Wagga Wagga has been described as a one off. Last year a $30, 000 loss was reported, but an auditor said the true financial situation was unclear due to a lack of record keeping.

News on Health Professional Radio.  Today is the 17th November 2015. Read by Rebecca Foster.  Health News

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-16/primordial-goo-present-at-beginning-of-life-of-earth-used-in-in/6944412

Australian scientists are confident a goo-like substance that was instrumental in the creation of life on Earth also holds significant medical benefits.

The molecules of the primordial goo, known as prebiotic compounds, date back billions of years.

The brown material was famously discovered when scientist Stanley Miller added an electric spark to gases in an experiment aimed at recreating the primordial conditions which gave rise to life on Earth.

But no-one realised its possible medical applications until more than 50 years later, when scientists had a ‘what if’ chat in a nondescript corridor at the CSIRO.

They figured if the goo was integral to the formation of life, perhaps it could have other practical uses.

They set about trying to chemically recreate it in a simple and effective way, and testing what medical purposes it had.

Now they have developed an innovative way to use the goo to coat medical implants like catheters and pacemakers.

Hundreds of thousands of Australians receive medical implants every year, and the coating helps the human body accept them quickly.

“All the people working over the last 50 or 60 years in this field of prebiotic chemistry had not thought about this before,” said Helmut Thissen, a senior researcher with the CSIRO.

“This discovery really is something that is exciting for us because it takes this entire field of prebiotic chemistry and all the developments in that field to an application, and in our particular case, to a biomedical application.”

Results from the studies have far exceeded the researchers’ expectations.

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While the goo can be recreated in the lab, on a mass scale and at a relatively low cost, many more years of studies will be needed to find out if it can move from the lab to the hospital.

However, scientists said they expected the discovery to open the door to countless opportunities in the medical field.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-16/albany-health-campus-operating-theatres-expected-to-reopen-today/6944514

Albany Health Campus is expected to resume elective surgeries … after a fire closed down a section of the hospital on Friday.

Forty-four surgeries were rescheduled after the fire on Friday morning which forced the hospital to close its operating theatres, some corridors and a sterilisation area.

A temporary operating theatre was set up to deal with emergency cases.

WA Country Health Service’s Susan Kay said surrounding hospitals and emergency services were told of the closure and warned patients requiring surgery they may have to be transferred.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-16/rivmed-2014-15/6943438

A $1.2m loss for the Riverina Medical and Dental Aboriginal Corporation (RivMed) in Wagga Wagga has been described as a one off.

Last year a $30, 000 loss was reported, but an auditor said the true financial situation was unclear due to a lack of record keeping.

The CEO at the time, Selena Lyons, was sacked and now the Office of the Registrar of Aboriginal Corporations is examining RivMed’s books.

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New CEO, Darren Carr, said he believes it is RivMed’s worst result, but without major adjustments, it would have recorded a profit of $228,000.

Mr Carr said the auditor gave an unqualified report, unlike last year.

“And it is a one off, very importantly it’s a non cash loss,” he said.

“It’s because of adjusting the value of our assets on the balance sheet.

“They were overstated on the balance sheet.

“This is addressing issues going back in the past and we’ve address them now.

“We decided to address them all in this year.”

Mr Carr said in the last month the organisation has enhanced its financial controls, improved its financial reporting and funding acquittal, and sought an independent valuation of its assets.

Mr Carr said the Office of the Registrar of Aboriginal Corporations (ORIC) has examined the books from July 2013 until September this year.

“We don’t know yet what the outcome will be,” he said.

“We found the examination a very, very thorough process and the discussions we had with the examiners when they were on site were very helpful, but we haven’t received final notification … at this stage.

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