News

Many healthcare attacks in Syria are being missed by the media

Jean Balchin • Apr 27, 2018

• aid workers,
• conflict research,
• data collectors,
• Doctors,
• Health,
• Hospitals,
• London,
• nurses,
• Syria,
• violence,
• war

A new study published this week in PLOS Medicine has found that attacks on health facilities and health workers in Syria are likely more common than previously reported. Moreover, local data collectors can help researchers more accurately measure the extent and frequency of these attacks. International humanitarian law is violated when violent acts on hospitals, ambulances, health workers, and patients in conflict areas occur. Read More

Dementia an extra challenge in natural disasters

Jean Balchin • Apr 26, 2018

• age,
• Alzheimer's,
• cyclone,
• Dementia,
• elderly,
• Fire,
• flood,
• Health,
• natural disaster,
• Psychology,
• tornado

As anyone who has experienced a natural disaster such as a tornado or flood will attest, natural disasters are very traumatic experiences for everyone involved. Yet they are even more dangerous for people with dementia. To this end, the QUT-based Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration: Carers and Consumers (DCRC-CC) has published a new guide, which aims to prepare those who care … Read More

A quarter of all US food ends up in the bin

Jean Balchin • Apr 24, 2018

• consumerism,
• food,
• fruit,
• iets,
• irrigation water,
• New Zealand,
• product,
• US,
• vegetables,
• waste

I don’t know about you, but whenever I think of the United States and food, I imagine a heaped plate of chips, burgers and salad. Perhaps there’s a milkshake beside the plate too. I have a tremendous appetite, but even I know that I can’t eat everything. Huge plates of food leave behind huge piles of waste. US consumers … Read More

Three coffees a day may help your heart stay regular

Jean Balchin • Apr 23, 2018

• adenosine,
• antioxidant,
• arrhythmia,
• Caffeine,
• Coffee,
• energy drinks,
• heart,
• heart conditions,
• heart rhythm,
• lifetime risk,
• palpitations,
• survival,
• tea

Many doctors advise their patients with atrial or ventricular arrhythmias to stay away from coffee, coke, and other caffeinated beverages. However recent research published in JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology has revealed that coffee and tea at least are safe, and can reduce the frequency of arrhythmias. What are Arrhythmias? Arrhythmias are abnormal heart rhythms, and occur when the heart beats too slowly, quickly … Read More

‘Life support’ for livers may improve transplants 

Jean Balchin • Apr 20, 2018

• Biomarker,
• Blood,
• body temperature,
• donor liver,
• liver disease,
• medications,
• Medicine,
• Mortality,
• nutrients,
• preservation,
• Surgery,
• Transplant

A paper published recently in Nature has found that preserving livers at body temperature may improve transplant outcomes and increase viable donor liver numbers, thereby lowering waiting list mortality rates. Liver disease may arise from a variety of causes, such as genetic, or it may be caused by factors that damage the liver, such as viruses and alcohol use. Over time, damage … Read More

You’re more likely to bet the farm if your friends do too

Jean Balchin • Apr 13, 2018

• balloons,
• dice,
• friends,
• gambling,
• information technology,
• lifestyle,
• opinions,
• peer pressure,
• risk,
• risky behaviour,
• Social,
• Social media,
• Society

A recent study in Scientific Reports suggests that being in the presence of peers (such as friends, coworkers or acquaintances) who engage in risky behaviours may have an influence on individual choices. In a laboratory task led by Livia Tomova and Luiz Pessoa, participants who knew of riskier behaviour taken by their peers, tended to make riskier choices themselves. However, observing safe … Read More

Mental health disorders among leading causes of children’ illness

Jean Balchin • Apr 13, 2018

• anxiety,
• children,
• Depression,
• Diabetes,
• Europe,
• hallucinations,
• Health,
• Infectious disease,
• Mental health,
• Panic attack,
• panic disorder,
• paranoia,
• Psychology,
• Schizophrenia,
• social anxiety disorder

According to a study published in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, although global rates of mental disorders in children have remained stable over time, the decline of infectious diseases will place mental disorders among the main causes of disease in children aged 4-15 years. In the study, Marie-Laure Baranne and Bruno Falissard at INSERM, France describe the prevalence of mental … Read More

Higher cigarette prices would help millions avoid poor health and extreme poverty

Jean Balchin • Apr 12, 2018

• cigarette prices,
• cigarette tax,
• economists,
• finance,
• Health,
• income,
• limitations,
• medical costs,
• modelling study,
• poor,
• population,
• poverty,
• public health advocates,
• rich,
• Smoking,
• UN sustainable development goals,
• universal health coverage

According to a study published in the BMJ today, a significant increase in cigarette prices would aid millions of people around the world avoid poor health and extreme poverty. The study concluded that people on low incomes have the most to gain, and the researchers argue that modest action by many governments “could yield unprecedented health gains and poverty reduction.” Smoking … Read More

Brows on fleek: Expressive eyebrows in early humans

Jean Balchin • Apr 11, 2018

• Aggression,
• baboon,
• browridge,
• dominance,
• emotion,
• evolution,
• eyesocket,
• fossil,
• Homo heidelbergensis,
• Mobile,
• modern human,
• skull,
• Social

There are a number of things about my physical appearance I’m not 100% happy with. I’m pale, covered in freckles and I burn like a crisp on the odd sunny day. But perhaps worst of all is the fact that my eyebrows are virtually non-existent. Unless I carefully pencil them in each morning, my friends and coworkers struggle to ascertain … Read More

iWitnessed: What is it, and how can it help us?

Guest Author • Apr 09, 2018

• abuse,
• car crash,
• court system,
• courts,
• crime,
• DNA evidence,
• Elizabeth Loftus,
• eyewitness testimony,
• forgetting curve,
• Hermann Ebbinghaus,
• iWitnessed,
• Justice,
• Memory,
• memory distortion,
• misinformation,
• technology,
• violence

New app iWitnessed will allow eye witnesses and victims to record details of their testimony to help with police investigations. The app guides users through a list of key interview questions allowing specifics to be captured as quickly as possible after a crime. Developed by experts in forensic psychology at the University of Sydney and … Read More