Overview

• The charity Rethink Mental Illness said a survey of 1,500 people showed that the condition is widely misunderstood – 1 in 100 people is affected by schizophrenia, 45% of those surveyed thought the illness was common.
• Due to the shortage of paramedics and rising demand, the NHS spends almost £80m a year hiring private ambulances to answer 999 calls and take patients to hospital for appointments, record shows.
• Alzheimer’s disease really can be avoided by following a healthy lifestyle – exercising, monitoring blood pressure and watching less TV are the 3 key factors that will help build brain resilience and keep the disease at bay.

Overview

• US data suggest that triathlon competitors may be more likely to die suddenly and suffer a fatal trauma or cardiac arrest than previously thought. A study of more than 9 million participants over three decades found that deaths and cardiac arrests struck 1.74 out of every 100,000 competitors.
• From a candidate who famously declared that single payer will “never ever come to pass” and branded it as offering everyone “a pony” to legislation — Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Senate Bill 1804, co-sponsored by a third of Senate Democrats, and Rep. John Conyers’ House Resolution 676 by half of House Democrats.
• The Cuban government on Tuesday again denied any involvement in or any knowledge of a mysterious series of health incidents that have affected American diplomats in Havana.

Overview

• Patients with eating disorders will receive better access to lifesaving treatment and support, in a $3 million funding boost announced by Health Minister Greg Hunt.
• Adelaide’s health crisis has spread with industrial action at rural hospitals –  dozens of patients waiting hours for beds and major hospitals treating more patients in EDs than its official capacity.
• A tablet-based video monitoring technology will be tested to detect atrial fibrillation (afib) using its built-in cameras.

Overview

• UK stroke victims will increase 59% in the next 20 years, prompting experts to warn action must be taken to prevent the country from “sleepwalking a stroke crisis”.
• Around 12 million people in the UK  at increased risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. 9 in 10 Type 2 sufferers are overweight or obese and do not produce enough insulin, or the insulin they produce does not work properly.
• Researchers have found there are 7 types of the most common malignant child brain cancer – paving the way for more precise, “kinder” treatments. Future patients might not need to undergo aggressive treatments.

Overview

• Two allergists at the University of Virginia have gathered data showing that the food allergy, known as galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, or alpha-gal for short, is affecting more than one thousand five hundred Americans.
• Senator Lindsey Graham’s journey to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act that started as a lonely crusade has in just one week picked up both followers and steam.
• Actress Kate Walsh, best known for her role in the TV series “Grey’s Anatomy,” went public on Monday with a brain tumor diagnosis in 2015. She was diagnosed with a meningioma: a tumor arising from the lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.

Overview

• The federal government is facing fresh calls to introduce a sugar tax as part of a plan drawn up by a coalition of health and community groups which want urgent action to tackle Australia’s obesity problem.
• Health experts say there is still time for people to get the flu shot after the tragic death of Melbourne girl Rosie Anderson who died from influenza last week.
• Some locations in Melbourne were flagged as potentially infectious, health warnings are given out for those who may have been exposed to measles, a highly infectious illness.

Overview

• The annual flu jab can offer little or no protection against the virus in elderly people, research suggests. Experts are now considering a boosted jab with more active ingredients.
• A Freedom of Information request by BBC Wales has found out that children as young as six have been recorded as self-harming in schools. One council said self-harm referrals to social services by their schools had risen six-fold in three years.
• Approximately £115 million a year is invested on research into mental health in the UK – that means just £8 is spent on mental health research per each affected individual. Statistics show mental health research needs a serious and sizable boost, fast.

Overview

• Organ damage from high blood pressure doesn’t only occur in adults; it can also happen in teenagers, studies show. In childhood, high blood pressure is based on percentiles, rather than blood pressure level.
• Medical professionals were disciplined after inappropriately viewing patients’ genitals while they were unconscious or deceased, according to reports detailing separate incidents at two major US health systems.
• Thirty-one staff members have been suspended and nine were arrested at the Whiting Forensic Division hospital, facing allegations of misconduct and patient abuse.

Overview

• Some of Australia’s sickest children will soon get access to potentially life-saving treatments through a new personalised medicine clinical trial which is a part of an ambitious plan to reduce the childhood cancer death rate to zero.
• Australian peak mental health bodies say people with psychosocial disabilities are being denied access to the NDIS and are missing out on support and treatment
• Opposition leader Bill Shorten has pledged to allocate $20 million dollars to the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute if Labor wins at the next election.

Overview

• Figures show that the number of UK fire and rescue staff taking long-term sick leave due to mental illness has risen by nearly a third over the last 6 years.
• Affecting around 1 in 4 adults in the UK, high blood pressure can put pressure on the organs, including the heart, which can lead to stroke or heart attack, and can even damage the kidneys and eyes.
• NHS chiefs say that hospitals should build health centers that offer spas and Zumba classes to encourage people to live with healthy lifestyles – instead of treating healthcare as a “sickness service.”