The News – 3 September 2014

Overview

• Blanket smoking ban across Canberra’s major hospitals. Calvary Hospital campuses, as well as National Capital Private Hospital and John James Hospital are all covered by the smoking ban.

• Japan is battling its first outbreak of dengue fever in almost 70 years, with at least 34 confirmed cases. It is believed the people contracted the mosquito-borne disease while visiting Tokyo’s popular Yoyogi Park, one of the city’s largest open spaces.
  

• Research from Stanford University, funded in part by the LuMind Foundation, has identified a compound for its potential to improve memory, language, and learning in people with Down syndrome.

Stories Discussed
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 3rd September 2014. Read by Rebecca Foster.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-01/blanket-smoking-ban-across-acts-major-hospitals/5709856?WT.ac=statenews_nsw

New rules that ban smoking in the grounds of all Canberra’s major hospitals have come into force.

… the Canberra and Calvary Hospital campuses, as well as National Capital Private Hospital and John James Hospital are all covered by the smoking ban.

All remaining “designated smoking areas” at the hospitals have been removed and measures put in place to help patients who are addicted to nicotine.

The Health Directorate said the smoking ban was the final step in removing the health risks of exposure to tobacco smoke for all those using health services in Canberra.

Calvary Hospital’s director of people and cultures Dr Michelle Austin … [stated that] hospitals would provide a range of nicotine replacement therapy (NRP) for patients.

…

…hospital visitors and staff will have to wait until they are off hospital property, before they can light up.

…

Many doctors and nurses have made the decision to use the ban as an incentive to quit smoking, Dr Austin said.

….

The ACT Nurses Federation is supportive of the move, but did raise concerns about how the policy would affect involuntary mental health patients during the consultation process for the changes.

“If somebody is mentally ill it may not be the best time in which to enforce a smoke-free environment,” federation secretary Jenny Miragaya said.

“We have been assured that there will be very substantial nicotine replacement therapy available for people who were in that environment.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-02/japan-tackles-first-dengue-fever-outbreak/5714384

Japan is battling its first outbreak of dengue fever in almost 70 years, with at least 34 confirmed cases.

It is believed the people contracted the mosquito-borne disease while visiting Tokyo’s popular Yoyoki Park, one of the city’s largest open spaces.

No one is in a life-threatening condition, officials said.

New signs have been put at the entrance, warning people they are now in a dengue fever infection zone..

Officials have drained the park’s ornamental ponds and sprayed about 800 litres of pesticide to kill the tiger mosquito which carries the dengue virus.

An outbreak of dengue fever was last recorded in Japan in 1945.

No one is quite sure how the disease has returned, but the spread has been helped by an exceptionally wet summer.

It is possible the virus was brought in from South-East Asia by a tourist who was bitten by a mosquito.

There is no vaccine or any specific medicine to treat dengue fever.

What is dengue fever?

• Dengue fever causes flu-like symptoms including fever, headache, rash, diarrhoea and fatigue.

• There are four types of dengue viruses and you can only get each type once.

• Subsequent bouts of dengue fever increase the risk of life-threatening complications.

The disease is carried by the tiger mosquito, which is endemic to Japan

A compound in a medicine used for decades, may improve learning for people with Down syndrome

Research from Stanford University, funded in part by the Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation, has identified BTD-001 for its potential to improve memory, language, and learning in people with Down syndrome.

http://compose21.com are now running a clinical study for persons with Down syndrome age 13 to 35 years old to evaluate whether BTD-001 treatment has any effectiveness.

The Study is currently approved in Adelaide, Launceston, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, and Wollongong. Sites in other locations are planned.

Find out if you are eligible to participate.

Call 1300 659 729 (free call) or check out info at http://compose21.com

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