freelance science journalist and author
Medical reporting
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 19 June 2014 Do you know your Body Mass Index, also known as BMI? It’s easy to calculate – simply take your weight in kilograms and divide it by the square of your height in metres. If the number you reach is between 20 and 25, congratulations. You are one … Continue reading Does BMI measure up?
From Cardiology News, 9 June 2014: Children with heart disease are cumulatively exposed to relatively low levels of ionizing radiation from imaging procedures – less than the average annual background exposure in the United States – although those who have undergone more complex procedures such as heart transplants or cardiac catheterization experience significantly greater exposure, … Continue reading Radiation exposure in children with heart disease highest for transplants
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 23 May 2014: The debate about the effectiveness of homeopathy is nothing new. Most recently it made headlines after Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council released a draft information paper on homeopathy which found there were “no health conditions for which there was reliable evidence that homeopathy was effective”. … Continue reading Can homeopathy ‘work’ even when there’s no evidence?
From Cardiology News, 6 May 2014: MELBOURNE – Reducing salt intake to less than 5 g/day could reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease by 11% and significantly decrease out-of-pocket health expenditures, particularly among economically vulnerable middle-income households, according to a modeling study of South Africa’s salt reduction policy. The study used surveys and epidemiological data to … Continue reading Salt targets could reduce cardiovascular disease burden and health expenditures
From Cardiology News, 6 May 2014: A polypill combining aspirin, simvastatin, and two antihypertensive drugs has shown a significant improvement in adherence as well as reductions in blood pressure and LDL cholesterol in patients with existing heart disease, according to data from a large international multicenter trial. The Single Pill to Avert Cardiovascular Events (SPACE) … Continue reading Significant improvements in adherence, blood pressure, and LDL cholesterol with polypill
From ABC Science, 2 May 2014: The time has come for a major rethink on antibiotics believes Monash University researcher Professor Jian Li. “People think you can throw antibiotics in the system or in the patient and it will kill the bacterial cells, but actually there are two major factors we have to consider,” says … Continue reading Unblocking the antibiotics pipeline
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 1 May 2014: Talk to many parents and they’ll list a number of foods guaranteed to turn their normally well-behaved offspring into an uncontrollable monster. But speak to those who spend their days working with children who have behavioural problems and you get a very different perspective. Parenting forums, blogs … Continue reading Does diet affect children’s behaviour?
From Medicine Today, April 2014: One in eight individuals who experience ischaemic stroke or intracerebral haemorrhage before the age of 50 years still struggle to function independently 10 years after the event, say researchers. A study of 722 patients aged 18 to 50 years presenting with their first stroke, haemorrhage or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) … Continue reading Young adult stroke leaves one in eight dependent
From Medicine Today, April 2014: Terminally-ill cancer patients receiving palliative chemotherapy in the four months before death are more likely to die in intensive care units, and more likely to have CPR and mechanical ventilation in the last week of life. Analysis of data from a US-based prospective longitudinal study showed that 56% of 386 … Continue reading Dying in ICU more likely with palliative chemotherapy
From ABC News in Science, 11 April 2014: Countless theories on how to beat jet lag abound, but now two mathematicians have crunched the numbers to come up with what they believe is the quickest, most fool-proof method. They have developed a free mobile app based on their calculations and are hoping to use it … Continue reading Phone app trains you to beat jet lag
Bianca Nogrady 