Archived News for Health Sector Professionals - June, 2012

There is growing evidence of the need for a separate approach to men's and women's health, according to a men's health expert at the University of Adelaide.

Professor Gary Wittert, from the University's School of Medicine, has been appointed the new Director of the Freemasons Foundation Centre for Men's Health, starting on 1 July.

Speaking during Men's Health Week (11-17 June), Professor Wittert says: "The provision of health services specifically to men, especially preventative health services, is critical. It is very important to have a gender-specific approach to healthcare.

"It is incorrect to assume that men are not interested in their health, but as health professionals we need to better understand how to engage with men," he says.

"There is a common misconception that men's health relates only to sexual or lower urinary tract issues. In reality there are significant biological and behavioural differences between men and women that result in susceptibility to and prevalence of a wide range of diseases. These demand specific approaches to both treatment and prevention," Professor Wittert says.

The Freemasons Foundation Centre for Men's Health - a joint venture between the University of Adelaide and the Freemasons Foundation - is dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of men through innovative scientific and medical research.

Established in 2007, the Centre was the first of its kind to take a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to men's health issues. Research areas include male ageing, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, prostate cancer, male androgens (hormones), sexual and reproductive health, and mental health.

"Significant advances have already been made by the Centre's researchers in understanding: the biology of prostate cancer; how men engage with the health system and use health services; the links between obesity and sexual and lower urinary tract symptoms in men; and the benefits of weight loss in improving and preventing these common disorders," says Professor Wittert, who over the past 18 years has secured more than $19.5 million in competitive research funding for studies into obesity and men's health.

Professor Wittert will succeed Professor Villis Marshall AC, General Manager of the Royal Adelaide Hospital, who has been the inaugural Director of the Freemasons Foundation Centre for Men's Health for the past five years.

A recent report published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) shows that while the number of dentists is growing throughout Australia, supply outside of major cities remains low.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has concluded that diesel engine exhaust is undeniably carcinogenic after a week-long of international experts was held in Lyon, France. The WHO now classifies diesel exhaust as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning it is now undeniably harmful to humans.

The Victorian Government has announced a $5 million spending package aimed at upgrading services and facilities at 26 health providers throughout rural areas of the state. The funding comes from the first round of the State Government’s Rural Capital Support Fund.

A team of researchers from the University of Adelaide have found that twins born at 37 weeks are significantly less likely to develop serious complications.

The New South Wales Government has announced an extra $1 billion will be invested in the NSW health system for the financial year, bringing the total investment in the state’s health infrastructure to $18.3 billion.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US has awarded a grant of A$4.48 million to researchers from the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) and Rempex Pharmaceuticals in California to design and develop new antibiotics that are effective against bacterial ‘superbugs’ that cause life-threatening infections and are resistant to all current antibiotics.

The grant is the third large RO1 grant received over the last five years.

Antibiotic resistance is an urgent global medical challenge. Currently, a class of antibiotics known as polymyxins are used to treat multidrug-resistant bacteria. However infections that are unresponsive to this last-line therapy have recently been reported in many countries.

The MIPS team comprises Associate Professor Jian Li, Dr Tony Velkov, Professor Roger Nation, Associate Professor Philip Thompson and Dr Kade Roberts. Associate Professor Li and Professor Nation have been investigating polymyxins for more than a decade and are regarded as international leaders in the field.

Rempex is a San Diego based pharmaceutical company focused exclusively on developing drugs to combat emerging antibiotic resistance.

Dr Li, the Program Director of the project, said timing was critical as rising resistance to polymyxins would mean virtually a complete lack of treatment options for some life-threatening infections.

"It is not an exaggeration to state that the world is on the brink of a return to the pre-antibiotic era," Associate Professor Li said.

"In recent decades, bacteria that are resistant to all available antibiotics have emerged, while at the same time there has been a marked decline in the search for new drugs to combat these superbugs."

The five year project will design and develop new antibiotics to address bacterial resistance, and allow successful treatment of acute and chronic infections.

"We're aiming to develop at least one new drug candidate for future clinical trials," Associate Professor Li said.

Senior Vice President for Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer at Rempex Michael Dudley Pharm. D, said that industry-academic partnerships would be a very important mechanism for developing new antiinfectives for development.

“Rempex is looking forward to working with the MIPS team on identifying new drug candidates to meet the serious challenge of antibiotic resistance," Dr Dudley said.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America has identified a 'hit-list' of six multidrug-resistant bacteria as being the most difficult to treat. These bacteria will be targeted by the MIPS researchers and their Rempex collaborators in California.

The Federal Government has welcomed the appointment of Dr Diane Watson as the inaugural Chief executive Officer of the National Health Performance Authority (NHPA).

The ancient Tibetan goji berry could help fight blindness caused by long-term diabetes according to studies conducted by University of Sydney researchers.

The Municipal Association of Victoria has announced it has successfully negotiated a revised unit price with the State Government that reflects the cost of Maternal and Child Health services.

The long-term recovery outcomes for people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) will be improved by new research investigating the care of patients shortly after injury.

Commissioned by the Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recover Research (ISCRR) earlier this year, the two projects will be led by Monash University's Professor Jamie Cooper, Director of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre. The studies will share in $100,000 in funding.

The first project will use multi-modal MRI brain imaging to assess and measure outcomes for patients within the first 10 days of injury, while they are heavily sedated in intensive care.

Professor Cooper, of the University's Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine said Victoria has approximately 200 patients per year with severe TBI and almost a quarter of those patients survive long-term with a severe disability.

“Scanning the patients sooner would allow us to accurately predict the severity of the injury, and provide families with more precise answers,” Professor Cooper said.

“At the moment, we don’t have the ability to do that and it can sometimes be weeks after the injury that a patient is able to be reliably clinically assessed.”

It is hoped the research will lead to national and international programs that improve TBI patient outcomes, decrease the severity of disability for survivors and decrease the burden of costs to the TAC and community.

The second project will investigate the benefits and potential adverse effects of the use of therapeutic hypothermia on traumatic brain injury patients.

TBI patients who are having a cool saline drip administered by paramedics and are being cooled for a further three days with cooling wraps, will be examined in a larger Australian trial.

Professor Cooper said little work had been done in this area and the cooling treatment could prove successful.

“This is an important area in head injury research," Professor Cooper said.

"At Monash and Alfred, we have been trying to improve the outcomes of TBI patients for more than 20 years.”

ISCRR is a joint venture between Monash University, WorkSafe Victoria and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC).

Testosterone prescriptions have surged since 2006 due to promotional activity, according to University of Sydney research which also found growing overuse in older men.

The University of New South Wales’ Social Policy Research Centre has found that Australian attitutdes towards people with a disability are still largely negative.

The New South Wales Chamber of Commerce has warned the state’s employers that they run the risk of footing a bill of up to $482 million this flu season if they don’t review their health and hygiene policies.

Griffith University has announced its medical researchers are ‘on the brink’ of an effective treatment for the deadly Hendra virus and its closely related Nipah virus.

The NSW Government has committed an additional $70 million over the next four years to medical research and development in response to the NSW Health and Medical Research Strategic Review 2012 released by NSW Minister for Health and Minister for Medical Research,  Jillian Skinner.

The University of New England is set to become a regional mental health research hub following the announcement of a $4.8 million Collaborative Research Network (CRN) project.

The Federal Government has announced new funding of $3 million for eight projects to enable scientists to conduct critical research into the Hendra virus, following a fresh outbreak in Queensland.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has released a report that indicates a steady increase in the number of older Australians requiring hospitalisation following a fall.

Catholic Health Australia has released a study which has found that up to 500,000 people could avoid chronic illness, $2.3 billion in annual hospital costs could be saved and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme prescriptions cut by 5.3 million if a better understanding of the determinants of health issues was to be found.