Author: healthprofessionalradio

Overview:
•  The film — Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe — has caused controversy for linking a measles-mumps-rubella vaccine to autism and was withdrawn from this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.  Australian Medical Association president Dr Michael Gannon said showing the film was irresponsible and wrongly placed guilt on the parents of children with autism.

• Scientists have previously shown an association between a variant of the FTO gene and surplus body fat, but little is understood about how the link works. Public Health England agency chief nutritionist Alison Tedstone said the study adds to the evidence suggesting that environmental factors might dominate over at least common obesity-linked genes

• A group of Adelaide researchers at the University of South Australia, led by Associate Professor Krasimir Vasilev, found cacao can be used as a substitute for the hazardous chemicals.

Overview:
•  A report by NSW Chief Cancer Officer Professor David Currow has found 28 patients who were treated by Dr John Grygiel during fly-in, fly-out visits to Bathurst, Orange, Cowra, Parkes and Dubbo were given off-protocol doses of chemotherapy. The inquiry released yesterday found five patients were prescribed a flat dose of the drug and 23 had “significantly reduced” doses.

• A small group of healthy Australians have been deliberately infected with one of the world’s mostly deadly diseases — malaria — to trial a new antidote that researchers hope will kill the parasite. Biochemist Jorg Mohrle, from Medicines for Malaria in Switzerland, has been working on the clinical trial with Australian researchers from QIMR Berghofer research institute.

• The father of a dying Brisbane child wants special permission from the Queensland Government to use cannabis oil in hospital. Queensland’s chief health officer Jeannette Young said the Government did not support an amnesty for anyone using illicit drugs.

Overview:
•  This was the first time Australian researchers have conducted a nationwide review of suicides in the medical profession, and they say what they found was alarming. The research revealed that female doctors take their own lives at nearly three times the rate of the general population.

• Researchers have successfully injected stem cells into the brain of a 64-year-old Victorian man as part of a trial treatment for Parkinson’s disease, that they say is the first of its kind in the world. Garish Nair, a neurosurgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, said their hope was that the stem cells would boost levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine.

• The Cairns Hospital board has resigned in response to revelations the far north Queensland health district was facing an $80 million deficit this financial year. The board has released a statement saying its members could not continue to work without the confidence of Health Minister Cameron Dick, who on Friday asked them to give reasons why they should not be sacked.

Overview:
•  In his third ABC Boyer Lecture, epidemiologist Sir Michael Marmot argued that a divide is emerging in society between busy, interesting jobs that give life meaning, and jobs that harm the body and damage the soul. Studies have found the stress of a work environment that is high in demand and low in control increases risk of mental illness and of coronary heart disease by about 50 per cent.

• Gidon Goodman, 13, requires regular medical infusions to control his symptoms and has started an online petition for parking rates to be independently regulated. The teenager said he was worried people would stop visiting sick family members in hospital because of high parking costs.

• Manufacturer Siemens issued a recall of the kits used to screen for cytomegalovirus (CMV) after it was revealed there was a risk they could have been producing false-negative results. But if a woman catches the virus while pregnant and it is passed onto the unborn baby, there is arisk of the child being born with a disability.

Overview:
•  The Royal Life Saving National Drowning Report found 280 people drowned in 2015-16, a 5 per cent increase since the year before. Over-65s accounted for the highest number of deaths this past year with 58 drownings — a 9 per cent increase against the 10-year average, a figure Mr Scarr said would be surprising to most Australians.

• New South Wales Opposition frontbencher Kate Washington said she was disturbed by the website, which offered crystal meth or ice for sale across Australia. NSW Police have told the ABC they were aware of the website and others possibly being used to facilitate criminal activity, including the supply and purchase of illicit drugs.

• Under the changes being announced by the Federal Government, any drug that has been listed by a comparable overseas regulator, including the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency, can now be fast-tracked for approval and sale in Australia.

Overview:
•  A study of tooth decay in 11,000 West Australian children ound children in areas without a fluoridated water supply in the South West were 1.5 times more likely to have decayed or missing teeth, compared to children in Perth where the water is fluoridated.The group named Fluoride Free WA is behind the petition and believes ingesting fluoride is dangerous.

• A study commissioned by the Art Gallery of New South Wales has found viewing art creates a heightened sense of joy for people with dementia, alleviating anxiety by allowing them to stay in the moment. Australian Centre for Arts and Health executive director Margret Meagher said there was no doubt art brought enhancement to the lives of people living with dementia.

• About 50 per cent of Australians are living with a chronic disease and 63 per cent of adults are now considered overweight or obese, according to the latest report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. The report provided disturbing rates of chronic diseases caused by lifestyle choices, prompting calls for a large injection of funds for prevention programs.

Overview:
•  The latest report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) stated that suicide accounted for 28 per cent of deaths among 15- to 24-year-olds, and 18 per cent of people aged between 25 and 44 years. The motion, tabled by Greens’ mental health spokesperson Rachel Siewert, cited Suicide Prevention Australia’s call for a goal of a 50 per cent reduction in suicides within a decade.

• Superbugs have been identified by the World Health Organisation as one of the greatest threats to human health after adapting to become resistant to all forms of antibiotics. PhD candidate Shu Lam said the team developed a chain of star-shaped protein molecules called peptide polymers that could defeat the superbugs by “ripping apart” their cell walls.

• Leonie Southern says she can no longer live anywhere near sources of wi-fi transmissions because of severe health effects she attributes to a condition known as electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS).Professor Rodney Croft, director of the Australian Centre for Electromagnetic Bioeffects Research, said the symptoms experienced by sufferers of EHS were recognised as genuine, but the cause was something other than exposure to wi-fi.