Bianca Nogrady

Early smartphone-activated bystander CPR can boost survival

June 23, 2025No Comments

From Medscape Medical News, 13 June 2025: An app that alerts bystanders trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to a nearby out-of-hospital cardiac arrest can increase survival if volunteer responders arrive before emergency medical services (EMS), according to an Australian study. The analysis of more than 9000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Victoria, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, showed that, … Continue reading Early smartphone-activated bystander CPR can boost survival

Flooding triggers major melioidosis outbreak in Australia

May 27, 2025No Comments

From Medscape Medical News, 19 May 2025: Australia has recorded its highest number of cases of the tropical bacterial infection melioidosis, which is thought to have been triggered by major rainfall and flooding. The outbreak has placed pressure on already strained hospitals in the area. The northeastern state of Queensland has recorded an unprecedented 215 … Continue reading Flooding triggers major melioidosis outbreak in Australia

Signs of dementia or normal forgetfulness? How to tell the difference

May 7, 2025No Comments

From the Guardian, 29 April 2025: You walk into a room and forget why. Someone introduces themselves at a party and within seconds you’ve forgotten their name. You can’t remember where you parked the car. You’ve put your phone in the fridge. You can’t recall your granddaughter’s name. Your best friend dies and you keep … Continue reading Signs of dementia or normal forgetfulness? How to tell the difference

Novel shoe intervention may cut low back pain, delay knee arthroplasty in osteoarthritis

May 7, 2025No Comments

From Medscape Medical News, 6 May 2025: A shoe-based biomechanical intervention worn for a short time each day may achieve greater improvements in low back pain and greater reductions in the risk for total knee replacement surgery than standard physical therapy, according to two studies presented at the World Congress on Osteoarthritis (OARSI) 2025 Annual … Continue reading Novel shoe intervention may cut low back pain, delay knee arthroplasty in osteoarthritis

April 20, 2025May 7, 2025No Comments

Australian politicians promise billions for healthcare

March 13, 2025No Comments

From Medscape Medical News, 10 March 2025: Medicare, Australia’s national health insurance scheme, is set for its biggest boost in funding since its creation half a century ago, as both major political parties promise billions ahead of this year’s federal election. The incumbent Labor government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, announced an AU$8.5 billion … Continue reading Australian politicians promise billions for healthcare

Outback Starman

February 25, 2025No Comments

From Australian Geographic, 17 June 2024 It was the early 2000s, and Trevor Barry had just enrolled in a graduate certificate of science in astronomy at Swinburne University of Technology. The fact he hadn’t completed high school, let alone a university degree, proved only a minor impediment to enrolment for the already accomplished amateur astronomer. … Continue reading Outback Starman

Australian junior doctors protest working conditions

February 25, 2025No Comments

From Medscape Medical News, 14 February 2025: Junior doctors in Australia’s largest state are on the brink of strike action over working conditions, after a hospital administrator derided them as “clinical marshmallows [sic]” in a leaked email. The email from an administrator at John Hunter Hospital in New Lambton Heights, Australia, was commenting on a … Continue reading Australian junior doctors protest working conditions

US censorship, funding cuts stymie Australian science research

February 17, 2025No Comments

From The Saturday Paper, 8 February 2025: In less than three weeks since he took office, United States President Donald Trump has thrown the global powerhouse of American science and medical research into disarray. The impact is spreading to Australian researchers, whose concerns range from their access to funding and ability to collaborate, to the … Continue reading US censorship, funding cuts stymie Australian science research

Australian public psychiatrists resign en masse

January 31, 2025No Comments

From Medscape, 22 January 2025: More than half of psychiatrists working in public mental health in Australia’s largest state have resigned in response to what they say is years of unresolved workforce shortages and underresourcing. The mass resignations encompass more than 180 of the nearly 300 psychiatrists in New South Wales. The clinicians left their … Continue reading Australian public psychiatrists resign en masse