HEALTH

The drug regadenoson is safe and poses fewer side effects than the conventional medication used during a cardiac nuclear stress test of heart transplant patients, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study.

Researchers from the Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, have devised a better way to determine an individual's risk for problems, such as heart attack and heart failure, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Calgary have discovered the unique genes that allow the opium poppy to make codeine and morphine, thus opening doors to alternate methods of producing these effective painkillers.

The meeting with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, to discuss proposed major overhaul of the health system has been productive, says Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.

Over half of medical students and junior doctors underestimate the amounts of radiation involved in regularly ordered scans with 25 per cent wrongly accept that magnetic resonance imaging emits radiation.

The widespread and unnecessary ordering of high-radiation CT scans which can trigger cancer has alarmed the Medicare watchdog, after a high increase in the number of health workers and doctors referred to the agency for investigation.

A study of the eye health across 30 Aboriginal communities, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, found an improvement in vision loss and blindness as compared to 30 years earlier. The most common Indigenous vision loss causes were unoperated cataracts, diabetes, uncorrected refractive errors or trachoma.

A total of over 90,000 people from Sunshine Coast and Wide Bay health districts have queued up for the vaccine against the human swine flu. Following the government warnings on the second wave of the pandemic, nearly 4000 have attended free weekend vaccination clinics at local schools. Another 87,000 visited their local GP for vaccinations.

A teleconference with state leaders to discuss the federal government's hospital funding reforms will be led by NSW Premier Kristina Keneally, who is also the chair of the Council for Australian Federation. The next scheduled meeting with territory chief ministers and other premiers will start next Thursday.

The ban on the technology that offers allows parent to have the sex of their children, predetermined using IVF will be open for review by Australia's health watchdog. According to the Herald Sun reports, the National Health and Medical Research Council is ready to launch a review of the ban amid criticism from Australian fertility doctors.

Australian researchers are divided over the recent British studies which states that oral contraceptive pill is good for women. The study published in the British Medical Journal says that women who have been on the pill are less likely to die from any cause, including all cancer and heart disease, compared with those who have never been on it.

The widely believed notion that pregnancy and motherhood can cause women to be absentminded and forgetful, is false, says Professor Helen Christensen and colleagues at the Australian National University, as evident in the findings of the study of 1,241 women from 20 to 24 years of age.

Long time resident of the small Queensland community, Gilsens Road near the Noosa River and newcomers are in a state of anxiety as they suspect the sprayed agricultural chemicals at the nearby macadamia plantation may be detrimental to their health, their animals and the fish at the local hatchery.

Australian research suggests that smoking cannabis predisposes people to psychosis. The study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry involved 3,800 people born in Brisbane between 1981 and 1984, which were followed to assess psychosis development such as hallucinations up to the age of 21 years old.

Medicare dental scheme is spreading its wings nationwide, with latest figures of claims for pricey crowns and bridges in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia.

The recent damning report card released by the Indigenous doctors suggests that the Northern Territory intervention, which is focused on improving physical health, will likely be outweighed by its negative impact of psychological health, spirituality and cultural integrity.

Charmaine Dragun's unusual behaviour a few days prior her death was observed in symptoms seen in people altering the doses of anti-depressant medications and could trigger suicide, an inquest into her death has been told.

(Reuters) - Congressional Democrats drew closer on Thursday to agreement on a broad healthcare overhaul that could clear the way for a final vote in the next few weeks, but vowed not to be bound by White House deadlines.

(Reuters) - Several drug firms have agreed on a landmark deal to supply up to 200 million doses a year of cut-price pneumococcal vaccines to developing nations, according to the global immunization alliance that is overseeing the deal.

(Reuters) - Archbishop Desmond Tutu has done it. So has genome pioneer Craig Venter.

British researchers said their study, which should reassure many millions of women across the world who have taken oral birth control pills, found no link between the drugs and an increased long-term risk of dying sooner.

Hans Clevers and a team of Dutch and Swedish researchers conducted a study in mice and found that the stem cell that gives produces all the different cells of the skin actually lives in hair follicles.

Total knee replacement surgery improves balance in elderly patients.

Researchers found that among 160 5- to 18-year-olds with asthma seen at their center, the 46 with peanut allergies generally had more hospitalizations for asthma exacerbations than children without the food allergy.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Needle-exchange programs designed to cut injection drug users' risk of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and other infections do seem to reduce needle sharing, but there is only limited evidence that they lower disease transmission, a new research review concludes.

According to the Northern Territory Aboriginal health organization, AMSANT, Australia is in the face of a 'renal tsunami' due to bickering between Northern Territory and Southern Australia governments on the matters of renal dialysis.

According to Australian government health data, a significant proportion of Australians are getting bigger.

A world expert, professor Graham Colditz, an Australian who has taught Harvard, and is now based at the University of Washington Medical School, warns that Australia could expect a double in the number of cancer cases within 20 years, if poor lifestyle habits are not changed.

Healthcare and industry groups are calling for chronic pain to be accepted as a disease, saying the condition has been misunderstood; similar to depression was, back before it was recognized as a disease.