Health Report - Full program podcast

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MEDICINE
UPDATED WEEKLY

Specialist and mainstream audiences alike rely on the Health Report to bring clarity to health and medical issues from social, scientific and political points of view.

5 DAYS AGO

Why Australia's called the 'allergy capital of the world'

Some describe Australia as the allergy capital of the world, noting high rates of food allergies — what can parents do to help kids early? Why the term 'Munchausen by Proxy' is making headlines, and how to spot Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another (FDIA). The global impact of Donald Trump's re-election on abortion access and funding. And a new study shows screening of parents can help identify couples with a higher chance of passing on genetic disorders to children.

43 min
15 NOV

Can your noisy knees predict the future?

Our joints are capable of making a cacophony of sounds, even more so as we get older. Is it ever a cause for concern? Research shows once more that vaccination protects against long COVID, but the timing of the jab may be important. Generations of teenagers have found a way to smoke weed — legal or not. So what do we know about the effects on the brain? And the Declaration of Helsinki has turned 60 years old. Are these ethical principles that guide clinical research up to scratch?

45 min
8 NOV

Another Trump presidency could give kids more cavities

Donald Trump's re-election could spell big health policy changes for the United States, including the rolling back of a 20th century intervention. Also, a major review into how health professionals operate in Australia, and how we can do better. How checking blood pressure in childhood could prevent heart disease down the line. Concerns about a common heart procedure. And, the last word on asthma treatment?

40 min
1 NOV

Inside the lab growing sheets of replacement skin

Spray-on skin already helps many burns patients, but what about those with deeper burns? Meet the team trialling a technique to grow sheets of replacement skin. Takeaways from the inquiry into Australia's COVID-19 pandemic response, and a dip in childhood vaccination rates. A new gene variant among some First Nations peoples in Oceania that could explain susceptibility to some diseases. And how physiotherapists are helping women who experience pain during or after sex.

37 min
25 OCT

The parkrun phenomenon — and which runners keep coming back

What keeps some people running while others drop off? New data from parkrun groups shows why some keep coming back to jogging. New draft limits on 'forever chemicals' PFAS in Australia's drinking water from national medical research body. Type 2 diabetes incidence seems to be edging down in Australian adults — but this decline isn't the same across all ethnic groups. And juvenile arthritis is as common as type 1 diabetes among children, but diagnosis is much slower and there are vastly fewer specialists to treat this autoimmune disease.

46 min
18 OCT

Why are thousands of bags of blood being binned instead of donated?

The ancient practice of blood letting is still a vitally important treatment for some people. But for years that blood was being discarded. The viruses behind the recent burst of infections this Spring, and why your recent blood pressure reading might have been incorrect. Self-harm is on the rise among for young people, a major new report recommends addressing social and cultural contributors to halt this rise. And meet the 'breech whisperer' helping deliver babies in the breech position — bottom first instead of head first. He wants to preserve the delicate art of this manoeuvre.

41 min
11 OCT

Not all screens are equal — some help kids with mental health conditions

There are plenty of app games on the market claiming to help kids with ADHD, depression or anxiety, a review examines if they do. MicroRNA researchers have won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. What's the big deal with these tiny molecules? Despite being common, there are few treatments for functional seizures and functional neurological disorder (FND). A new program is changing that. The rate of skin infections in Aboriginal children living in remote communities has halved over the course of a major five-year study, and this could prevent more severe life-threatening illnesses.

45 min
4 OCT

Got ADHD? There's a chance you have dyslexia too

There's long been an assumed link between ADHD and dyslexia, and now a study has looked at the genes of thousands of people to find the overlap. Radon is a naturally occurring gas that can be found in homes and workplaces. Researchers have looked at a potential link between domestic levels of radon and childhood leukaemia. Can period-tracking apps be trusted to give you information about your fertility? And science fiction is becoming science fact in the field of brain-computer interfaces.

47 min

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Specialist and mainstream audiences alike rely on the Health Report to bring clarity to health and medical issues from social, scientific and political points of view.