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Cell Phone Can Alter Brain Structure And Function
A new clinical study has found that just 15 minutes of cell phone talk time radiation exposure can alter the structure and function of the brain, including brain wave activity that is connected to cognition, mood and behaviour. Thirty-one healthy females took part in the study, published in PLOS ONE; all participants were measured twice. On…
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Paracetamol – not so safe?
One of the most common questions I’m often asked relates to the safety of natural medicines with warfarin therapy. Many theoretical issues occur within a test tube environment, but the word “warfarin” sends many pharmacists into a spin. Misunderstanding and misinformation about the interaction between omega-3 fish oils and warfarin has been topical since Adam…
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A question for the Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott
Currently the Abbott government is removing parents’ right to choose how many vaccines are injected into their children’s bodies in the first 19 years of life. The new social welfare policies called ‘Choices for Families” are removing all objections to vaccination other than a medical exemption signed by a doctor. This means that families will not be…
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(Clinical) Trials and errors
The new anticoagulants are a cause for concern. The brilliant medical marketing has meant that so many of our patients are on them. Perhaps as the years go by, we will get a better understanding of the adverse effects and interactions which are ever so slowly coming to light. When you consider the number of…
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Homeopathy – a Political Diversion Rather than a Valid Issue
The spotlight has recently been shone on Homeopathy with GP commentators saying that if pharmacist collaboration is to occur with GP’s then homeopathy should be banned within pharmacies. Then we have had some pharmacy commentators echoing the call mainly from the HMR accredited sector- the pharmacists from NHP pharmacology actually seeking collaboration with GP’s. Given…
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Biased Reporting on the ABC Breakfast Program
To the ABC Breakfast Presenters: Virginia Trioli and Michael Rowland On 29 May 2015 you interviewed the popular cartoonist Michael Leunig about his cartoons advocating freedom of speech and informed consent in vaccination. You dismissed the right of individuals to choose how many vaccines they use by claiming that the ‘science is proven’ and that anti-vaccination…
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Medical Postcard from New York, April 2015
Dear Colleagues, It has been my privilege again to spend a month in Manhattan learning about American developments in alcohol and drugs issues as well as passing on some of the Australian experience. My main mission in New York this year concerned our current plague of stimulant use in Australia and whether there were any…