FED:CheckUp medical column for December 3

AAP General News (Australia)
12-03-2010
FED:CheckUp medical column for December 3

By Danny Rose, AAP Medical Writer

SYDNEY, Dec 3 AAP - A weekly round-up of news affecting your health.



SCIENTIST ON MY LUNCH-BREAK

Ever wanted to work alongside the world's leading scientists in the effort to crack
the genetic code of human diseases?

An online game called Phylo was launched this week which has turned this scientific
endeavour into a "fun" block-sorting puzzle game.

"There are some calculations that the human brain does more efficiently than any computer
can, such as recognising a face," said Dr Jerome Waldispuhl, from Canada's McGill University.

"Recognising and sorting the patterns in the human genetic code falls in that category.

"Our new online game enables players to have fun while contributing to genetic research
- players can even choose which genetic disease they want to help decode."

Go online to http://phylo.cs.mcgill.ca.



CHEERS!

In some sobering news ahead of the festive season, alcohol has again dominated the
demand faced by the nation's rehabilitation programs.

Publicly-funded and other rehab services across the country delivered 143,000 "episodes
of treatment" in 2008/09.

People with alcohol problems accounted for 46 per cent, a continuation of its steady
rise from 38 per cent in 2002/03.

"Alcohol is the most widely used drug in the Australian community, and is also the
drug for which most people sought treatment," said Amber Jefferson, from the Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare.

Heroin accounted for 10 per cent, down from 18 per cent in 2002/03, while cannabis
was stable at 23 per cent.

Amphetamines accounted for nine per cent of treatment episodes, down from 11 per cent in 2002/03.



YOU SAY YES, FAMILY SAYS NO

A new online service has been launched in the hope of saving more Australian lives
through organ donation.

In the sad event of an organ donor's death, less than 60 per cent of grieving families
agree for the donation to go ahead.

"The goal of `Your DonateLife Message' is to get people talking about their wishes
... memorable family discussion is the key to increasing donation rates," said Dr Gerry
O'Callaghan, from the Organ and Tissue Authority.

It allows an intending donor to create a message conveying their wishes and send it
to "family and close friends with just a few clicks of the mouse".

Australia has one of the lowest donation rates in the world, and in 2009 less than
half of the demand for organs was met.

Around 1700 Australians are on transplant waiting lists.

Go to www.donatelife.gov.au or search for "DonateLifeAustralia" on Facebook.



POINTING TO CANCER

A simple test that can help to ascertain's a man's prostate cancer risk is at hand.

A British study which took in 1500 men with prostate cancer and 3000 healthy controls
has found the difference between two finger lengths can be a predictor of the disease.

Men whose index finger was longer than their fourth, or ring, finger were found to
account for 33 per cent fewer cases of the cancer, indicating their risk was reduced by
a third.

Finger length is indicative of exposure to sex hormones in the womb, with less testosterone
correlating with a longer index finger.

"Our results show that relative finger length could be used as a simple test for prostate
cancer risk, particularly in men aged under 60," said Professor Ros Eeles from the Institute
of Cancer Research.

AFP



KEEP IT SAFE

World AIDS Day was marked on Wednesday with a warning to younger Australians over their
"dangerous complacency" to HIV.

The Australian Society of HIV Medicine (ASHM) said rising rates of sexually transmitted
infections (STIs) among young adults showed a lot of unsafe sex was occurring.

"A dangerous complacency has affected the broader community," said ASHM CEO Levinia Crooks.

"High rates of STIs among young people indicate that they are not adopting safe sex
as a norm, and it is perhaps luck - rather than good planning - that has prevented an
outbreak of HIV already."

There were 62,600 new cases of chlamydia reported in 2009, more than 80 per cent in
Australians aged 15 to 29.

There were 1050 Australians newly diagnosed with HIV during 2009, the fourth row the
figure hovered around the thousand mark.



HEALTHY NEW YEAR!

Planning a New Years Resolution to quit smoking?

A new website (www.icanquit.com.au) was launched this week with the aim of helping
smokers to kick the habit.

Smokers can go online to keep track of how many cigarettes they have had, set targets
for a "quit date" and also calculate how much they spend on cigarettes.

"(It is) a really important opportunity to reach people who are making that hard, hard
decision to give up smoking and struggling with all that means," said Professor David
Currow from the NSW Cancer Institute.

Around 17 per cent of Australians smoke and public health officials are aiming to reduce
this to 10 per cent by 2020.



AAP/AFP dr/goc/

KEYWORD: CHECKUP

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