The Health News Australia January 14 2018

• Australian doctors have been given a $3.3 million injection to test breakthrough technology against heart attacks which claims 23 lives each day. Sydney researchers will use the money to spearhead an international trial which aims to salvage and restore the heart of patients who have poor outcomes.
• Researchers at the University of Adelaide have proposed that treating chronic inflammation could improve outcomes for patients with depression, The study – the only one of its kind in the world – is investigating a novel treatment in depression by adding anti-inflammatory medication to usual antidepressant treatment and is looking for participants.
• A health expert has warned that selfie-obsessed Aussies should leave their phones at home and prioritise sunscreen and hats.  It comes as new research from comparison website finder.com.au shows fourteen per cent of Australians prioritise taking their smartphone to the beach above sun protection, water and even a towel. Around 85% of Australians don’t know how to apply sunscreen properly.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 14th of January 2018. Read by Tabetha Moreto.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/2018/01/08/18/14/heart-attack-research-given-3-million-injection

Australian doctors have been given a three point three million dollar injection to test breakthrough technology against heart attacks which claims twenty three lives each day. Sydney researchers will use the money to spearhead an international trial which aims to salvage and restore the heart of patients who have poor outcomes.
….
Doctors say it happens because they cannot see or treat the smaller blood vessels downstream.
These microvessels supply eighty percent of the heart but they cannot be identified in x-ray images in the procedure room.

….
The team at RPA has spent a decade developing a method that can measure blockages downstream. The method is called the Index of Microvascular Resistance.
….
The National Health and Medical Research Council has awarded the University of Sydney team three point three million dollars to pursue the trial which will involve one thousand six hundred sixty six patients around the world.

http://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/black-dog-cure-university-of-adelaide-investigates-how-treating-chronic-inflammation-may-tackle-depression/news-story/0fd88e68982188de73665755d0dc4e12

Researchers at the University of Adelaide have proposed that treating chronic inflammation could improve outcomes for patients with depression. The study – the only one of its kind in the world – is investigating a novel treatment in depression by adding anti-inflammatory medication to usual antidepressant treatment and is looking for participants.

About two thirds of people suffering from depression won’t have improvement on antidepressant medication and it is hoped identifying those with inflammatory blood level markers will improve this rate. Blood levels of inflammatory markers have been found to be mildly elevated in some people with depression. It is hoped that the results of this work will eventually help to guide personalised treatment decision making for depression.

This would mean general practitioners would be able to determine the best course of treatment by a blood test result. Professor Bernhard Baune said the study would build on more than two decades of research into the link between inflammation and depression.

Professor Baune said whether depression directly or independently lead to inflammation remained far less clear.
….
To be eligible for the study, participants must be aged between eighteen to seventy five years of age, with current Major Depressive Disorder.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/mobile-phones/almost-12-million-australians-prioritise-smartphones-over-sunscreen/news-story/30f28c570af175edc8deda79b159391f

A health expert has warned that selfie-obsessed Aussies should leave their phones at home and prioritise sunscreen and hats.  It comes as new research from comparison website finder.com.au shows fourteen per cent of Australians prioritise taking their smartphone to the beach above sun protection, water and even a towel. That equates to almost one point two million Australians placing their device as the top beach essential instead of thinking of sun safety. Around eighty five percent of Australians don’t know how to apply sunscreen properly.

The biggest culprits are Generation Z — those under twenty two years of age — clearly more worried about Instagram and Snapchat than beach necessities with more than a third (thirty six percent) packing their smartphone above all else. In fact, when asked about which items they prioritise for the beach, Gen Z said on average, “sunscreen, smartphone and towel” — in that order.

Professor Sanchia Aranda, CEO of Cancer Council Australia said: “Australia has become a smartphone-obsessed culture.” She added that around two point seven million Australians get sunburnt on summer weekends and a principle reason for that is a failure to prepare for being out in the sun.
….
Aranda said Cancer Council research shows that, even when Australians take sunscreen to the beach, eighty five percent of them don’t know how to apply it properly. For example, they may not be applying enough or reapplying regularly. Aranda also added that two-thirds of Australians will suffer from skin cancer at some point in their lives — with melanomas claiming two hundred Aussie lives a year.