Author: healthprofessionalradio

Overview

• The plan to charge patients an extra $7 GP fee has been scrapped by the Federal Government. Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced the contentious budget proposal will be dropped.

• A living experiment has been conducted by medical researchers aiming to unlock the secrets of adult disease. The study, known as the Childhood Determinants of Adult Health, was initially designed to give a snapshot of the health of Australian school children.

• The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has released new advice for consumers to be extremely careful when ordering genetic tests online, saying the tests may not meet Australian quality and reliability standards.

Overview

• Prominent disability activist, writer and comedian Stella Young has died at the age of 32. Ms Young was born in Stawell, country Victoria, with osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetic disorder that causes bones to break easily.

• Interactive video games are being trialled in a Tasmanian hospital to help patients recover from the debilitating impacts of stroke.

• China has announced it will stop using organs from executed prisoners in transplant operations from next month, a Chinese newspaper reports.

Overview

• General practitioners in rural and remote areas will be able to apply for up to $300,000 of Commonwealth funding to build or expand their teaching facilities from today.

• Yoga can help breast cancer survivors suffering from a painful and common post-treatment condition, a study has found.

• A landmark study published in The Lancet recommended hospitals change the fluid, as it may be impacting the sodium levels in children’s blood.

Overview

• In May, the Government announced co-payments for medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) would increase by $5 for general patients, and 80 cents for concession card holders from January 1, 2015.

• A newborn baby girl’s death may have resulted from a cold sore and her mother is determined to warn others of the dangers and save lives.

• Optometrists are seeing an increasing number of patients suffering serious injuries such as chemical burns and infections as a result of the surging popularity of eyelash extensions.

Overview

• Tasmanians say assistive technology and the National Disability Insurance Scheme are vastly improving lives across the state.The success was celebrated [yesterday] today as part of International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

• Australia’s suicide rate has dropped, but males are still four times more likely than females to kill themselves, according to a new report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

• More than a decade of work towards a trans-Tasman scheme to regulate medicines and other bio-medical products has been quietly scrapped by the Federal Government.

Overview

• Former federal health minister Michael Wooldridge has been fined $20,000 and banned from managing a corporation for two years and three months over the collapse of a retirement village company.

• A confidential report recommending the closure of Graylands Hospital, the largest mental health inpatient facility in Western Australia, has been received by State Cabinet.

• The world of nutrition is notorious for the incredibly large number of food fads that come and go. A current fad centres on that fruit of the tropics, the coconut. Apparently both coconut oil and coconut water will do everything from beautifying your skin to boosting your immunity.

Overview

• As World AIDS Day is marked globally, three Australians have reflected on living with HIV and the joys and challenges of life spans they once never dreamed of.

• Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or rTMS, a depression treatment often used as a last resort for people who do not respond well to drug therapy is gaining traction after proving successful on a number of patients.

• Whooping cough epidemics happen in Australia every three to four years, but the National Centre for Immunisation and Research of Vaccine Preventable Diseases has found cases are increasing in very young children.

Overview

• The union representing Victoria’s ambulance employees is celebrating Labor’s victory in the Victorian election, saying it signals an end to a pay dispute.

• There’s a new ‘little blue pill’ in town. Like its famous predecessor, it’s a sexual game-changer, only this time, the stakes are much higher. Where Viagra gave men a new lease on their sex life, this little blue pill protects against HIV.

• Forensic anatomy researchers at the University of Adelaide are making advances in the use of “body recognition” for criminal and missing persons cases, to help with identification when a face is not clearly shown.

Overview

• An experimental Ebola vaccine made by GlaxoSmithKline caused no serious side effects and produced an immune response in all 20 healthy volunteers who received it in an early-stage clinical trial, scientists reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

• The New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics study, which examined the effects of large drug raids and supplier arrests over the decade to 2011, is believed to be the largest project of its kind undertaken in Australia.

• One popular theory says that if you drink more water, you will lose weight. The belief is that drinking water helps suppress your appetite. Not likely, says Professor Neil King, coordinator at the Human Appetite Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane.

Overview

• The Federal Government is preparing to drop or radically rework one of its most contentious budget policies – the $7 GP co-payment.

• The Australian share market is higher and the dollar has also recovered from overnight falls, but Medibank is lower in its second day of trade.

• A Gippsland widow is calling for an overhaul of Ambulance Victoria after the death of her husband just over a week ago.