Author: healthprofessionalradio

Overview

• Euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke has hit out at his suspension by the Australian Medical Board (AMA) as a “dirty little midnight assassination,” saying he had very little to do with a 45-year-old Perth man who took his own life.

• The most common pain reliever for back pain, paracetamol, does not work any better than a placebo, according to a new study published in the prestigious medical journal, The Lancet.

• Canberra has the quickest average ambulance response times of all Australian capital cities for life-threatening emergencies, according to an independent report.

Overview

• The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is warning the Federal Government against moving to a system where health insurers, rather than Medicare, pay for GP visits.

• The Tasmanian Government would be prepared to support the findings of an Upper House inquiry into medicinal cannabis, Treasurer Peter Gutwein has indicated.

• John Curtin School of Medical Research have praised the first Australian fellowship, Judith Whitworth Fellowship for Gender Equality in Science, who take time off work to raise children.

Overview

• Results of an international study show a new combination of drugs means that drug-resistant TB can be cured in as little as four months, instead of two years.

• Scientists say they are now able to wake up hidden reservoirs of HIV in patients, leading to hopes the virus could one day be eradicated.

• Health authorities are building a new cancer treatment centre in Burnie to cut long travel times for cancer patients in Tasmania’s north-west.

Overview

• This week is AMA Family Doctor Week 2014 – a time to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the more than 30,000 GPs across Australia who provide high quality primary health care and advice to their patients in local communities in cities, suburbs, rural centres, country towns, and remote areas across the country.
  

• Australian biotech firm Starpharma has developed an antiviral compound called VivaGel that laboratory tests have shown can inactivate up to 99.9 per cent of HIV, herpes and some other sexually transmitted viruses, reducing the risk of transmission.

• Dr Daniel Hesselson has won the 2014 Young Garvan Award. The announcement was made on Saturday night at Young Garvan’s main annual fundraising event, the “All Ribbons Ball”, held this year at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth hotel.




Overview

• Popular energy drinks that “give you wings” also give you a greater desire to keep drinking when mixed with alcohol, an Australian study finds.

• This morning (16 July) at Parliament House, Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt will launch Biodiversity: Science and Solutions for Australia, a new book from CSIRO.

• The AMA joins with people around the world today mourning the tragic loss of hundreds of lives aboard Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.

Overview

• Researchers have successfully used a gene therapy procedure to turn ordinary cardiac muscle cells in pigs into specialised ones that deliver a steady heartbeat.

• Health industry workers and academics are working on a national approach to the growing phenomenon of e-cigarettes, with some concerned they are not as harmless as widely believed.

• The Medical Board of Australia has proposed to suspend the medical registration of voluntary euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke.