The News – 25 September 2014
Overview
- The ACT’s Chief Minister has apologised after an elderly patient with a potentially life-threatening condition was left sitting in his own urine for hours at the Canberra Hospital.
- Sufferers of rare cancers are being sought for the largest ever Australian study into possible causes of the disease.
- It’s not called liquid gold for nothing. Breastmilk is largely considered the best food for babies and both the World Health Organization (WHO) and Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council recommend newborns be breastfed exclusively for their first six months.
Stories Discussed
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 25th September 2014. Read by Rebecca Foster.
The ACT’s Chief Minister has apologised after an elderly patient with a potentially life-threatening condition was left sitting in his own urine for hours at the Canberra Hospital.
Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson said the man, who had also not been bathed for three days, suffered from an auto-immune disease that caused large blisters.
Mr Hanson said when the man spilt urine in his bed, the nurse told him she was too busy to change the sheets.
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Chief Minister Katy Gallagher said the incident was not indicative of the care provided at the Canberra Hospital.
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Ms Gallagher said she was satisfied with the working culture of the staff at the hospital.
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Ms Gallagher also said the incident would be investigated.
An ACT Health spokeswoman offered the patient an apology.
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Sufferers of rare cancers are being sought for the largest ever Australian study into possible causes of the disease.
The Cancer Council said it hoped to survey 15,000 people across the country for the Forgotten Cancers Project.
Kingston mother Sally Catherall was one of 18 Tasmanians to have completed the survey so far.
She was diagnosed with multiple myeloma about 18 months ago, six months after she was cleared of breast cancer.
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The 55-year-old had never heard of the disease until she was diagnosed after a scan on her knee revealed abnormal bone marrow.
The disease of the bone marrow was treatable but incurable, she said.
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She was urging others to participate in the Forgotten Cancers Project.
Research Coordinator Dr Fiona Bruinsma said the survey would examine patients’ family history, diet, sun exposure and other lifestyle factors to find any common links.
“There’s been traditionally a lot of work done on the common cancers – breast, bowel, prostate, melanoma and lung cancers – but there’s been much less work and much less is known about the less-common cancers, and they make up 40 per cent of diagnoses,” she said.
“But they contribute more than 54 per cent of cancer death.”
In Tasmania each year, about 40 per cent of new cases of cancer were rarer and more deadly than the five most-common types, such as breast cancer.
“That’s about 1300 Tasmanians that each year are affected by one of these less common cancers,” said Dr Bruinsma.
“We know very little about how to prevent them and treat them, and so we hope by doing this research we will be able to better able to prevent and treat these cancers.”
The study is expected to take several years to complete.
To complete the survey or find out more information about the research go to www.forgottencancers.com.au
http://www.abc.net.au/health/talkinghealth/factbuster/stories/2014/09/24/4093214.htm
It’s not called liquid gold for nothing. Breastmilk is largely considered the best food for babies and both the World Health Organization (WHO) and Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council recommend newborns be breastfed exclusively for their first six months.
The nutritional and health benefits of breastfeeding for newborns are largely undisputed, with evidence suggesting breastmilk boosts the immune system, protects against a raft of common childhood infections, as well as asthma and allergies, and even helps prevent obesity later in life. …
But what about the research into the cognitive benefits of breastfeeding, especially that which suggests breastfed babes go on to have higher IQs when compared to their formula fed friends. Does it measure up?
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When researchers from Harvard compared breastfed and formula fed babies they found for each additional month a child was breastfed they had better language skills at 3 years old and higher IQ scores at age 7. This is after taking into consideration the effects of a mother’s intelligence and the child’s home environment. Breastfeeding an infant for the first year of life would increase IQ by about 4 points, their findings showed.
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