What time of day is best for asthma preventer use? Research hints at an answer
A single dose of inhaled corticosteroid at 4pm may optimise lung function in patients with asthma who otherwise succumb to nocturnal dips, a small study…
Antony Scholefield
Antony is a medical reporter with a special interest in technology and pharmacy.
Mark Butler will bring back private health cover for alternative medicine ‘as soon as possible’
The Federal Government has agreed to lift the ban on private health insurers funding naturopathy, yoga, Western herbal medicine and tai chi, says the Minister…
Dr John Dique: the ‘uncompromising racist’ who made Australia’s first dialysis machine
Dr John Dique. Photo: Museums Victoria.MECHANICAL KIDNEY IS A BOON IN ACCIDENTS That was the 1954 headline in the newspaper Truth that announced the start…
Recreational use of antidiarrhoea drug leading to severe cardiotoxicity, doctors warn
Clinical toxicologists are warning that misuse of the antidiarrhoeal loperamide is leading to prolonged ECG intervals in patients with opioid use disorder. Some patients are…
‘What I find futile, you might not’: Aged care GP on the decisions families avoid
Is there any benefit to your 98-year-old mother getting CPR? This is the type of question that GP Dr Anthony Marinucci wants patients to ask…
Medical Must-See: A tumour that takes an average of four years to diagnose
A five-year diagnostic delay sounds terrible unless you know that, for insulinoma, a 4.3-year delay is the average. That is the takeaway from this Nepalese…
Bronchodilator responsiveness is lower with afternoon and wintertime spirometry: study
Bronchodilator responsiveness falls by 8% for each hour of the day that has elapsed, showing the importance of spirometry timing, UK researchers say. The retrospective…
Let insurers fund naturopathy again, says govt review led by Professor Michael Kidd
A long-delayed review of the ban on private health insurers funding 16 alternative therapies has recommended lifting the ban for seven of them. The ban…
New medical school will ‘strengthen Medicare’, says Mark Butler
The Federal Government has announced a new GP-focused medical school, to offer 48 places a year starting in 2027. The government said on Monday that…
Half the patients using Mark Butler’s urgent care clinics as alternative to GPs, evaluation suggests
Half of patients who went to one of the Federal Government’s urgent care clinics used it as an alternative to general practice rather than ED,…
