Australian floods lead to spread of mosquito-borne disease
From The Lancet Infectious Diseases, June 2022: Mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis is spreading across Australia in the wake of record rainfall. Read more (subscription required).
Category: Medical
Medical reporting
Pandemic’s cancer backlogs receive treatment from AI innovation
From Nature, 12 October 2022: The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched health-care workforces around the world to their limits, as illness and burnout extract a toll from clinicians, nurses and staff. The need for innovations that can reduce workloads is pressing and has intensified interest in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics as potential technologies to help … Continue reading Pandemic’s cancer backlogs receive treatment from AI innovation
The hormonal keys to depression
Nature, 24 August 2022: When Torbjörn Bäckström was a medical student in the 1970s, he didn’t understand why a woman who seemed to be in good mental health was being held at a psychiatric facility. Then, Bäckström and his colleagues learnt that once a month, the woman would be admitted because she had been violent … Continue reading The hormonal keys to depression
Welcome to the ‘Pandemicene’: is Australia ready for the next pandemic?
From The Guardian, 5 November 2022: When studying disease outbreaks, think like a microbe. That’s the lesson that was drummed into Prof Catherine Bennett, chair of epidemiology at Deakin University, when she was undergoing her scientific training, and she’s never forgotten it. “In moving through a community, where are your opportunities as a microbe?” she … Continue reading Welcome to the ‘Pandemicene’: is Australia ready for the next pandemic?
How will long Covid play out over the coming years? Eight experts weigh in
From The Guardian, 16 October 2022: The story of long Covid is just beginning, and no one – not even the experts – knows how it will play out. The “known knowns” are that few, if any, health systems around the world are equipped to cope with the parallel pandemic of long Covid. It will … Continue reading How will long Covid play out over the coming years? Eight experts weigh in
Adult ADHD diagnosis: ‘You’ve got to relook at your entire life’
From The Guardian, 8 October 2022: When Zoë Rose found out she had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder – also known as ADHD – four years ago, at the age of 38, it was like the moment at the end of the Bruce Willis film The Sixth Sense when (spoiler alert!) it’s revealed that the main character was … Continue reading Adult ADHD diagnosis: ‘You’ve got to relook at your entire life’
Lessons for Australia’s monkeypox response
From The Saturday Paper, 20 August 2022: When infectious diseases physician Dr Jonathan Volk learnt about monkeypox at medical school in the United States more than a decade ago, he was taught it was a mild, self-limiting illness. In the past few months, he’s diagnosed nearly 160 cases at the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco medical … Continue reading Lessons for Australia’s monkeypox response
How gut reactions are shaping cancer treatment
From Nature, 6 April 2022: When Melody Smith began her fellowship in haematology and oncology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, she had no idea that she would soon be writing her own code, working with computational biologists and analysing faecal samples to understand the microbial composition — or microbiome — … Continue reading How gut reactions are shaping cancer treatment
Making sense of the brain
From Australian Geographic, May 2022: “Never has a bodily organ been so adored as the brain – not since Narcissus looked at his face reflected in water and fell in love with it,” Professor George Paxinos says. “And never was there so little justification for it.” It’s a surprising comment from a man who’s spent … Continue reading Making sense of the brain
Long Covid: After-effect hits up to 400,000 Australians
From The Saturday Paper, 9 July 2022: Today, James is feeling about a two out of five. The young lawyer is reasonably articulate on the phone. He might be able to read a single news article today, maybe even go for a short walk. On a “five out of five” day, he can do four … Continue reading Long Covid: After-effect hits up to 400,000 Australians
Bianca Nogrady 