Timing is everything with snake antivenom

From ABC Science Online, News in Science, 20 October 2008:
New evidence suggests antivenom should be given at least within an hour after a snake bite to be effective at reducing the blood thinning effects of venom.
Australian clinical toxicologist Dr Geoffrey Isbister, from the Menzies School of Health Research, and colleagues, report their findings online in the journal Toxicon.
The researchers developed a mathematical model of the action of taipan venom on the many proteins, called 'clotting factors', that contribute to blood clotting in the human body. Read more.

Meaty issues

From G Magazine, November 2008:
Our diet revolves around meat. Imagine the footy without a pie, summer without snags on the barbie, or Christmas without a turkey. But rumours abound that being vegetarian is better for the environment. Could the lentil lovers be right?
Read more in magazine.

Fast eating a fast track to obesity

From ABC Science News Online, 22 October 2008:
Wolfing down your food and eating until your seams are straining could double your risk of becoming overweight, Japanese researchers have found.
A study published in the British Medical Journal this week reveals that men and women who eat rapidly or eat until they are full are twice as likely to be overweight compared to people who eat more sensibly.
People who both eat quickly and eat too much are around three times as likely to be overweight, the researchers found.
They also report that the link between the eating behaviour and overweight remains the same no matter what the actual calorie intake from the food itself. Read more.

Boost your bone bank

From ABC Health and Wellbeing, October 2008:
Osteoporosis may seem like a disease of the old, but prevention starts young. Are you doing the right things to keep your kids' bones - and your own - in top condition?
KILO for kilo, bone is stronger than concrete. Unlike concrete, however, it is alive and kicking; forever reshaping and rebuilding itself to adjust to new mechanical stresses and hormonal changes.
The amount of change is astonishing for something we think of as solid and unyielding. In a single week, a typical adult recycles five to seven per cent of their bone mass, and up to half a gram of calcium is absorbed into or released from the skeleton each day. But it can't do this without help.
There are three essential ingredients that enable our skeleton to remodel itself so much and still do its job: calcium, vitamin D and exercise.
Unfortunately, many of us neglect one or all of these, which may explain why one in two Australian women and one in three Australian men over 60 will have an osteoporotic fracture. Read more.

Dementia of young slowly unravels

From The Australian, 11 October 2008:
ONE profoundly heartbreaking moment stands out for Jan Kuczerawy, in the anguished year since his wife Anne was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.
"There was a moment in the early stages where she realised something was wrong," says Jan. "She was frightened and she broke down in tears."
Thankfully, that moment of lucidity was brief and never repeated.
It's hardly something to be thankful for, but in the nightmarish world in which the families of people with this disease find themselves, they are grateful for such small mercies.
Frontotemporal dementia struck Anne at just 51 years of age. Within 16 months it has transformed this once-clever, compassionate and loving mother and wife into an overweight, confused stranger who must now be supervised 24 hours a day and is incapable of dressing herself. Read more.

'Fossil' HIV reveals virus history

From ABC Science, 2 October 2008:
A preserved specimen of lymph node nearly half a century old has revealed how rapidly the HIV virus has diversified, according to international research.
A team of researchers from around the world has been trawling through decades-old tissue samples from African hospital archives in the hope of finding samples containing the HIV virus.
They struck it lucky with a sample that was collected back in 1960, from a woman living in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This is the second-oldest sample of the HIV virus ever found - the oldest is from 1959.
The researchers found that the HIV viral sequences these two samples differ significantly in their genetic makeup. Read more.

Talking brain power with Wammo on Kiwi FM

From Radio Wammo, Kiwi FM New Zealand, 2 October 2008:
Why do the most gifted and talented brains stand out from the crowd? Is there anything physical or psychological that sets them apart? A study of Einstein’s brain in 1998 showed it was 15 per cent wider than average, making it more spherical. And Controversial research suggests that pterosaurs were too heavy to fly. A Japanese scientist collected data from 5 large birds, including the largest in the world: the wandering albatross. Stories from New Scientist magazine.
Listen here.

Four and a half stars on Media Doctor!

For the first time, one of my articles has been reviewed by Media Doctor, a website dedicated to improving the accuracy of media reports about new medical treatments.
And I'm very relieved to have scored 4.5 stars (out of a possible five) for my recent story in The Australian about research on a potential disease-modifying drug for Alzheimer's disease.
The article also tied with one by Adam Cresswell, health editor of The Australian, for Story of the Month this September.
Here's what the reviewers said:
"This is more of a feature article than news. It covers in some detail the development and early human testing of a drug that is designed to deplete amyloid- peptide beta, thought by some to be a cause of Alzheimer's disease. Strong features of the article are that it goes well beyond the media release that accompanied publication of the clinical trial report in July 2008 and the cautionary note that these are very early clinical data. The article could have pointed out that this was a randomised placebo controlled trial of two doses of the experimental drug. It could also have mentioned that rates of diarrhoea and nausea were slightly higher with the experimental drug than with placebo. But overall this is good reporting containing much of what we'd like to see in health reports."
Read more.