Heatwaves increase hospital admissions: What happened at The Alfred Hospital in 2009

In January 2009, Melbourne experienced a heatwave of three consecutive days above 43°C and six consecutive minimum temperatures above 20°C. During this time The Alfred Hospital "experienced an acute increase in [Emergency Department] presentations and a near-doubling of general medical admissions". The authors conclude that, as "heatwaves become more likely, we must be prepared to respond proactively in the community ... and reactively in hospitals".  Article: http://ow.ly/rU8hK

"Treatment as Prevention" - Australian doctors surveyed on care for HIV+ patients

A study exploring Australian prescribers' attitudes towards Treatment as Prevention (TasP) and their practices around initiating combination antiretroviral treatment (cART) for HIV has been recently published by Department of Infectious Diseases researchers. TasP is a strategy to reduce the level of virus in an infected individual, and thereby reduce risk of transmission to others. Australian GPs and physicians focus primarily on clinical benefit to individual patients rather than any population benefit. Virus load at which cART was initiated also varied. Article link: http://ow.ly/rU6pO.

Head injury prevention for bicyclists: Helmets make a difference

Helmets are still vital to the safety of cyclists according to an article recently published in the Medical Journal of Australia. Peter A Cameron (Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine), Frank McDermott (Department of Surgery) and Jeffrey V Rosenfeld (Department of Surgery) write that with the increase of cyclists on the road, helmets are becoming more and more important. To read the full article see: http://ow.ly/rRUmu 

Success at The Australian Physiotherapy National Conference

Ben Tarrant and Louise Fuller won awards at The Australian physiotherapy  national  conference that was held in Melbourne recently. Over 2000 physios attend this conference and abstract acceptance is highly competitive. Ben Tarrant was awarded 'Best 5x5' presentation in the paediatric section with 'Physical Outcomes post paediatric lung transplantation ‐ implications of extra corporeal membrane oxygenation' (5 slides in 5 mins). Louise Fuller won best presentation for the Clinicians award in cardiorespiratory section with 'Patients' expectations and experiences of rehabilitation after lung transplantation ‐ a qualitative study'. This is the first time that two physios from one stream at The Alfred have won awards at a national conference! For more AIRmed news see: www.med.monash.edu.au/cecs/airmed/news/newsarchive.html

Student Profile: Miriel Ho's research on bone marrow

Miriel Ho is a PhD student at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases and she is researching the relationship between bone and bone marrow interface with haematopoiesis.  Miriel's research looks particularly at the development of bone marrow in relation to bone formation. Her supervisors are Professor Hatem Salem and Professor Robert Medcalf. To view her full profile see: http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/education/profiles/ho.html

Low FODMAP Christmas recipes

It's that time of year! The Department of Gastroenterology team has prepared a selection of Christmas recipes using low FODMAP foods. See download (2.42 mb, pdf) or the department's FODMAP weblink.
Featured recipes:
Balsamic berry and cucumber salad│Grilled prickly pear and orange blossom yoghurt with cardamom shortbread│Roasted red pepper dip│Salmon fillets with pine nut and roasted red pepper salad│Sticky spatchcock with a balsamic green bean salad│Vanilla crepes with fresh strawberries│Mixed berries with black quinoa and raspberry yoghurt│Orange Gingerbread

Nigel Rogasch wins prize for presentation on schizophrenia

PhD student Nigel Rogasch (MAPrc) won $500 for best PhD/Masters student oral presentation in computational neuroscience (judged by Professor Gary Egan and sponsored by The Victorian Life Sciences Computational Institute) at the 4th Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference 2013. Nigel's topic was "Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex network properties are altered in schizophrenia: A TMS-EEG study". Congratulations also to Nigel on obtaining an NH&MRC Fellowship through Monash Biomedical Imaging, starting in late January 2014.