Primitive single-celled organisms had patches of photoreceptor proteins to detect light. The first eyes, developed over 550 million years ago, are now the second most complex organ after the brain, with over two million working parts and more than a million nerve fibres connecting each eye to the brain via the optic nerves. Unfortunately, many Australians suffer from chronic eye conditions, with over 13 million affected. Chronic eye disorders impact up to 93% of people aged 65 and over, with a higher prevalence in females. These conditions include refractory disorders like hyperopia, myopia, p ..read more

An estimated 20% of Australians have an allergic disease, with Melbourne as a hotspot where one in three people experience hay fever and thunderstorm asthma. Allergies can affect the skin, sinuses, airways, gastrointestinal tract, or other organs. Allergies are immune reactions to foreign antigens, causing tissue inflammation and organ dysfunction. Symptoms depend on prior immune response, antigen exposure, and genetic factors. Atopic individuals have a genetic predisposition to conditions like allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, allergic asthma, and IgE-mediated food allergies. Reactions ca ..read more

Barrett’s oesophagus is a common condition, named after the Australian born thoracic surgeon Norman Barrett who practised in England and laid the foundation descriptions of this condition but incorrectly concluded the abnormal columnar tissue lining was embryonic in origin due to the presence of a congenitally shortened oesophagus leading to a tubular portion of stomach being trapped in the chest.  We now recognise that between 5-10 % of patients with chronic reflux disease develop columnar metaplasia as a response to repeated oesophageal acid exposure. Long segment disease extends for m ..read more

The advent of complex therapies including biologics and small molecules has provided a new paradigm for the treatment of many immune mediated inflammatory conditions notably in rheumatology, gastroenterology (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) and also in dermatology. New dimensions of treatment can now be applied from this amazing therapeutic armamentarium at our disposal. In this podcast we will turn our attention to how this relates to management strategies in dermatology. The term ‘biologic’ refers to agents synthesised from the products of living organisms and includes monoclonal antibodies rais ..read more

Neurosurgeon Rondhir Jithoo has led an extraordinary life, growing up in South Africa with a medical father and deeply thinking anthropologist mother. He obtained his medical degree from the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine at the University of Natal and trained in neurosurgery at South Africa’s Wentworth Hospital where he received the Registrars Prize from the South African Society of Neurosurgeons and obtained his neurosurgery fellowship in 2000.  After relocating to Australia, he was awarded the Australasian Fellowship in Neurosurgery in 2004 and worked at Royal Melbourne Hospital wh ..read more

The health and welfare workforces deliver diverse services through many private and public organisations. Combined these services employ more than 1 million people of which there were more than 642 000 health practitioners working in their registered professions in Australia in 2020. This included 105 300 medical practitioners, 350,000 nurses and midwives, 21,500 dental practitioners and 166,000 allied health professionals. In this podcast we will consider more generally the positions of nursing and medical practitioners and a possible future landscape.  In the five years to 2021 only the ..read more

Clinical problems related to the integument are very common and contribute up to 15% of all general practitioner presentations. Humans are predisposed to a multitude of skin diseases ranging from acne and atopic dermatitis to psoriasis, autoimmune diseases such as SLE, vasculitis, skin cancers, viral exanthems, drug eruptions and external manifestations of internal disease - which in the gastroenterology world have erythema nodosum and pyoderma gangrenosum as interesting examples of these. Given our love affair with the sun it’s not surprising to learn that skin cancer will affect 2 in 3 Austr ..read more

Clinical problems related to the integument are very common and contribute up to 15% of all general practitioner presentations. Humans are predisposed to a multitude of skin diseases ranging from acne and atopic dermatitis to psoriasis, autoimmune diseases such as SLE, vasculitis, skin cancers, viral exanthems, drug eruptions and external manifestations of internal disease - which in the gastroenterology world have erythema nodosum and pyoderma gangrenosum as interesting examples of these.  Given our love affair with the sun it’s not surprising to learn that skin cancer will affect 2 in ..read more

From the RACGP Health of the Nation report; depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances are amongst the most commonly seen presentations of mental disorders in general practice. About 1 in 8 people in the world live with a mental disorder which often involves significant disturbances in thinking, emotional regulation, or behaviour.  Globally it is estimated that 5% of adults suffer from depression, affecting women a little more than men.  Anxiety disorders affect a similar number of people, characterised by excessive fear, and worry and related behavioural disturbances.  Bipo ..read more

Over the past decade there has been an emergence of literature pointing to potential clinical benefits for a range of disease states through the adoption of slow breathing techniques. The popularity worldwide of the Wim Hof method adopted from eastern techniques has done much to pique interest.  Notably the belief and practice of controlling one’s breath to both restore and enhance health is not new however and has been practised for thousands of years amongst Eastern cultures. Pranayama or Yogic breathing as well as Kundalini are well-known ancient practices of controlled breathing and e ..read more