Medical – Page 12 – Bianca Nogrady

Mammography screening’s benefits for breast cancer mortality questioned

December 11, 2017No Comments

From Oncology Practice, 5 December 2017: Twenty-four years’ worth of data from the Netherlands’ mammography screening program suggest that it has achieved only a marginal impact on breast cancer mortality, according to a paper published online Dec. 5 in the British Medical Journal. Researchers used data on the stage-specific incidence of breast cancer in the … Continue reading Mammography screening’s benefits for breast cancer mortality questioned

Age discrimination: older Australian workers viewed as slow to learn

April 28, 2017No Comments

From The Guardian, 20 April 2017: The trope of the older worker thrust back into the hurly-burly of working life made for great comedy in the 2015 film The Intern. But in reality this scenario isn’t always such a laughing matter. Older workers face unique hardships. Hampered by unfair stereotypes about their abilities, their role … Continue reading Age discrimination: older Australian workers viewed as slow to learn

The past, present and future of food

November 9, 2016No Comments

From BBC Future, 8 November 2016: You look amazing – are you banting?” In the 1860s there was only one diet, and it was the Banting. Conceived of by a corpulent English undertaker and coffin-maker called William Banting – who was clearly well positioned to observe the consequences of over-indulgence – it became the first … Continue reading The past, present and future of food

Gene mutation drives compulsion to eat fatty foods

October 25, 2016No Comments

From ABC Science, 5 October 2016: Can’t resist a chicken korma but pass up on a sweet dessert? A study, published today in Nature Communications, looked at the effect on human dietary preferences of a mutation in the gene for the melanocortin-4-receptor (MC4R). The MC4R is found on nerves in the brain, and influences what we … Continue reading Gene mutation drives compulsion to eat fatty foods

All you need to know about the ‘antibiotic apocalypse’

October 25, 2016No Comments

From BBC Future, 11 October 2016: Antibiotic resistance was around long before we started using antibiotics with a frequency and enthusiasm that borders on addiction. The same genes that modern bacteria are currently loading up on to protect themselves against antibiotics have been found in ancient bacteria frozen in Arctic permafrost for over 30,000 years. … Continue reading All you need to know about the ‘antibiotic apocalypse’

Could animal testing ever be phased out?

September 2, 2016No Comments

From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 19 August 2016: There’s an uncomfortable truth to modern medicine. That drug you take for your high blood pressure, the vaccine to prevent infectious disease, the pill to avoid pregnancy, the medical ointment for your skin condition, or even the pacemaker keeping your arrhythmia in check — all of those … Continue reading Could animal testing ever be phased out?

Human embryos cultured in lab for record time a ‘major step forward’ that opens ethical debate

May 5, 2016No Comments

From ABC News in Science, 5 May 2016: For the first time, scientists have kept human embryos alive in the laboratory for six days beyond the point at which it would normally implant into the uterus. Two separate groups of scientists today report in Nature and Nature Cell Biology their successful development of human embryos … Continue reading Human embryos cultured in lab for record time a ‘major step forward’ that opens ethical debate

Forever young

April 24, 2016No Comments

From Australian Geographic, May/June edition: IT’S BARELY 8AM ON A spring morning in Sydney’s inner south-west. Already the indoor ice rink is alive with lithe figures swooping and twirling in the cool internal air. These world-class figure skating hopefuls have been here for hours, practising their gravity-defying leaps, forcing themselves to their feet after each … Continue reading Forever young

The tough question we all need to think about: what type of death do you want?

March 28, 2016No Comments

From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 21 March 2016: We can talk about good deaths and bad deaths, cheating death or embracing it, but the one thing that we all seem to reach for is this: when we die, we want to do it our way. Tony Smith (not his real name) says his mother and … Continue reading The tough question we all need to think about: what type of death do you want?