freelance science journalist and author
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 9 July 2013: Death is a lot like birth. Sometimes it’s a peaceful, even beautiful event that goes according to plan. Sometimes it’s a horrible bloody mess that is utterly beyond all control. Most of the time, it’s a bit of both. We have this idea that death is something … Continue reading Death: what are your choices?
From ABC Environment, 26 June 2013: A ‘VISIONARY’ federally-funded climate change research initiative has come to an end, leaving its extensive network of researchers — many of them recent graduates — pondering an uncertain future. The National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) was established in 2008, with a five-year, $50 million mandate to address … Continue reading Climate change adaptation initiative feted and farewelled
From Clinical Neurology News, 25 June 2013: Rasagiline is safe and efficacious as add-on therapy in patients with early Parkinson’s disease whose symptoms are not adequately controlled with dopamine agonist monotherapy, results from a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study suggest. Data from the ANDANTE study showed that adding rasagiline (1 mg/day) to dopamine agonist therapy led … Continue reading Rasagiline added to dopamine agonist has small benefit in Parkinson’s
From Clinical Neurology News, 24 June 2013: Nearly one-quarter of patients decreasing or stopping dopamine agonist therapy experience dopamine agonist withdrawal syndrome, and one third of those suffer severe symptoms, according to results from the EuroDaws study. In the prospective, observational study of 51 patients with Parkinson’s disease who were withdrawn from dopamine agonist treatment, … Continue reading Dopamine agonist withdrawal syndrome frequency determined prospectively
From Clinical Neur0logy News, 21 June 2013: Patients with mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease often show memory impairment and problems with visuospatial function, attention, and executive function, according to a study attempting to characterize the condition. A cohort study assessed 219 patients newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease but without dementia and 99 age-matched controls … Continue reading Criteria identify mild cognitive impairments in Parkinson’s
From Clinical Neurology News, 19 June 2013: Many Parkinson’s disease centers performing deep brain stimulation surgery are not using formal, standardized screening for impulse control disorders in pre- or postsurgical patients, according to a large survey of Parkinson Study Group centers. Deep brain stimulation surgery is known to increase impulsivity, and standard practice is to … Continue reading Improved presurgery impulse control screening needed in Parkinson’s
From Clinical Neurology News, 21 June 2013: Friedreich’s ataxia patients may be at greater risk of osteopenia and osteoporotic fractures, according to a study showing significant decreases in bone mineral density at key sites such as the femoral neck. Data presented in a poster at the international congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders also … Continue reading Osteoporosis, osteopenia appear common in Friedreich’s ataxia
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 6 june 2013: What is death? On the surface, this seems like a simple question. After all, if somebody is not breathing, their heart is no longer beating, they are cold, waxy and stiff, then it is possible to say with a fair degree of certainty that they are dead. … Continue reading Defining death: when exactly do we die?
From ABC News in Science, 10 June 2013: There could be some truth in the anecdotal belief that stress can turn your hair grey. The appearance of grey hairs after periods of stress or skin damage could be the result of depletion of stem cells from the base of the hair follicle, according to a … Continue reading Stress may really turn your hair grey
From ABC News in Science, 31 May 2013: It’s not quite the ‘smart gene’ but researchers have identified a small number of genetic markers associated with educational attainment. A genome-wide association study using genetic data from more than 100,000 individuals found three genetic markers that were significantly linked to an individual’s numbers of years of … Continue reading Degrees of learning in the genes
Bianca Nogrady 