Psychiatry Bibles Makeover

The American Psychiatric Association has released the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, known as DSM-5. At a cost of $25 million. the revision happens only once in a generation and comes after nearly two decades of debate, deliberation and change in clinical practice.

The manual is produced primarily as a diagnostic tool for American psychiatrists, helping them to diagnose and treat their patients – and bill them accordingly. The revision is based on new insights from research since the last version of the manual was published in 1990.

Hoarding, gambling and marijuana withdrawal are among the newly expanded disorders contained in the fifth revision of the 947-page reference book. However, many healthcare professionals argue that it’s time to start from scratch and create a new system for diagnosing mental illness based on biological data. Others say that the manual turns too many aspects of normal life, such as grief, into medical conditions :: Read the full article »»»»

Breakthrough Cancer Treatment Improves Survival Rates

Researchers in Melbourne have used a new targeted treatment technique to achieve the highest-ever long-term survival rates for patients with some forms of lung cancer.

The team from Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute used PET/CT - Positron Emission Tomography / Computed Tomography - scans to determine the location and stage of tumours in 76 patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

The patients were treated with a combination of radical radiation therapy and chemotherapy, leading to a four year survival rate of 32 per cent, the highest ever published.

Research team leader, Associate Professor Michael MacManus, says that is dramatically higher than the historic average of between 10 and 20 per cent.

PET/CT scanning uses a device which combines both PET and an x-ray Computed Tomography, so that the produced images – taken by both devices sequentially – combine into a single superposed image, a 3D map. The image shows the spatial distribution of metabolic activity in the body can be more precisely :: Read the full article »»»»

New Study Finds Vaccination Rates of Australian Children are ‘Reassuringly High’

Research from the National Health Performance Authority has found 77,000 Australian children are not fully immunised. The study – Healthy Communities: Immunisation rates for children in 2011-12 – measures the percentage of children who were considered fully immunised at one, two, three and five years of age. It found 32 areas where the percentage of children fully immunised was 85 per cent or lower for at least one age group. The Australian Medical Association says anything below 93 per cent is unsafe.

The success of immunisation programs depends on public support. A lack of public support for these programs can contribute to a significant increase in preventable diseases, and can be directly linked to the resurgence of once common illnesses like measles and pertussis – whooping cough – of which we’ve recently seen outbreaks of in Australia.

Scientific evidence for the effectiveness of large-scale immunisation is well published, in the US full-vaccination from birth save an estimated 35,000 lives annually and prevents an estimated 14 million infections. Some opponents of vaccination argue that the reduction in infectious disease are a result of improved sanitation and hygiene – rather than vaccination – or that the diseases were already in decline before the introduction of vaccination, unlike medicine however, they don’t process any evidence for these anecdotes.

Repating sometimes is the only way of getting a point across; for vaccination programs to work, 93 per cent of people need to be immunised, any number below this presents a danger for communities. In Australia there are pockets with rates of immunisation as low as 85 per cent. More concerning however is that there are communities relying on Dr Google for medical information, forming what the perceive as informed decisions and lowering immunisation rates in the process. Affluent Eastern Sydney for example has an immunisation rate of 89 per cent, this well educated region is choosing to place it’s children in danger of serious infection due to misguided information? :: Read the full article »»»»

UPDATED New Bird-flu Strain H7N9 Confirmed Cause of Chinese Deaths

Health authorities in China are investigating the deaths of two people attributed to a strain of bird flu not thought to have previously infected humans. An 87-year-old man and a 27-year-old man in Shanghai both fell sick in February and died earlier this month, a 35-year-old woman in nearby Anhui province is in a critical condition. Avian bird flu strain H7N9 has been identified as the cause of their deaths.

All three initially suffered fever and coughs, but later developed severe pneumonia and problems with breathing. China’s National Health Commission says it has been unable to identify the route of infection to the three victims, but 88 people close to them currently show no signs of the infection.

There is currently no vaccine against the H7N9 strain. The World Health Organisation says there is no evidence of human to human transmission of the disease, and transmission of the strain to humans appears to be inefficient, meaning the public health risk is low. The WHO says more than 360 confirmed human deaths from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza have been reported to it globally from 2003 until March 12 this year. UPDATE! 4 April 2013 :: Read the full article »»»»

OUR FAVOURITE DRUG! Aspirin May Reduce Female Skin Cancer Rates

An American study has found that women who take regular doses of aspirin may be less likely to develop melanoma. Researchers followed almost 60,000 women aged 50 to 79 for an average of 12 years.

Overall, women who took regular doses of aspirin had a 21 per cent lower risk of developing melanoma than non-users. The longer the women used aspirin, the lower the risk.

Alecia Brooks from the Cancer Institute of New South Wales says Australia has the highest melanoma rates in the world. She says while it is interesting research, covering up from the sun remains the best way to protect yourself.

“With the highest rates of melanoma in the world, we’re still obviously a little bit concerned that people may feel that if they take aspirin then they can be less vigilant about staying out in the sun,” she said.

The research is published in the journal Cancer.

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Antibiotic Resistance More Dangerous Than Terrorism

Professor Dame Sally Davies, the United Kingdom’s chief medical officer, says antimicrobial resistance poses a catastrophic threat, and routine operations could become deadly in just 20 years unless new antibiotic drugs are discovered.

An Australian expert agrees with the UK’s top medico statement that resistance to antibiotics is as great a risk to public safety as terrorism. Infectious Disease expert, Professor Peter Collignon from the Australian National University agreed with Dame Davies statement, saying the threat posed by antibiotics resistance is very real.

“It is just as important as terrorism and I actually think more important,” Professor Collignon said. ”The reality is common things we take for granted – like bowel surgery, like treating people with leukaemia – if we don’t have antibiotics that work we can no longer do those.”

Dame Sally says new drugs are needed to stop the “ticking time bomb”, as bacterial infections increasingly evolve into “superbugs” resistant to existing drugs :: Read the full article »»»»

Australian Health Authorities on the Lookout for SARS Like Virus

Australian authorities are watching a virus, which has killed almost half of the people who have contracted it, as it spreads across the Middle East and Europe. The World Health Organisation first identified novel coronaviris (NCoV) in September, but experts say there is no signs of it in Australia.

The virus is part of the same disease family as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome – SARS –  A total of 11 people have contracted NCoV in Britain, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Jordon. Five sufferers have died.

Between November 2002 and July 2003, an outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong came close to being classified a pandemic, with 8,273 cases and 775 deaths worldwide – 9.5 per cent fatality – according to the World Health Organization. Within weeks, SARS spread from Hong Kong to infect individuals in 37 countries.

University of Queensland virology professor Paul Young says local health authorities are on alert because there is evidence of person-to-person transmission :: Read the full article »»»»