FOCUS: THIS WEEK'S TOP STORIES
Eastern Cape Health hostage to ‘brutal thuggery’ of unions — Judge
February 20th, 2019 A Labour Court judge says Eastern Cape Health appears to be held hostage by a concentrated union campaign of "violence and intimidation" at its Fort England Hospital. However, despite the unions seemingly dictating policy at the high-security...
Is interval training the magic bullet for fat loss? — Systematic review
February 20th, 2019 Interval training may shed almost 30% more kilos than a continuous moderate intensity workout, suggests an international pooled analysis of the available evidence in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. And sprint interval training may be most...
Forget 'resiliency training' for doctors - the entire system needs to change
February 20th, 2019 It's absurd to try to train doctors to become more "resilient", writes MedicalBrief's Alastair McAlpine writes in his Digital Clubbing column. Doctors are unhappy, depressed, and are killing themselves - quite simply, we need to completely...
BREAKING NEWS
Budget: Treasury shifting NHI funds to fill provincial posts
In a pragmatic move to tackle one of the most pressing problems confronting public healthcare, the Treasury has shifted unspent National Health... February 20th, 2019WEEKLY ROUNDUP
Suspension of top CMS official explained
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has tried to allay fears about its internal processes following the suspension of a top official for alleged... February 20th, 2019NHI rollout 'on track' despite problems in SA's healthcare system
Government does not believe it can wait until the healthcare system is improved before implementing national health insurance. Fin24 reports that... February 20th, 2019Government delays erode savings made on new HIV-drug tender
The SA government has negotiated the world’s lowest price for a new HIV pill containing dolutegravir, but delays in awarding contracts to... February 20th, 2019SA's child cancer sufferers falling through the cracks
More than half South Africa’s children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer each year are either not being treated or not being reported to the... February 20th, 2019Germany set to ban sexual conversion therapies
German Health Minister Jens Spahn has announced he will seek to ban conversion therapies that claim to change sexual orientation. "Homosexuality is... February 20th, 2019KZN schools issue warnings after infectious meningitis death
At least 40 pupils as well as doctors, nurses and teachers in Amanzimtoti have been placed on antibiotics to prevent them from contracting a “very... February 20th, 2019Campaign to promote HIV testing reaches over 10m men in SA
Over 10m men have been reached through health NGO Right to Care’s Me1st campaign, launched in November last year to empower men to put their health... February 20th, 2019Facebook urged to curb anti-vaccination posts
Facebook could finally be curbing its spread of false information on the danger of vaccinations. A Sunday Times report says that the anti-vaxxer... February 20th, 2019Stellenbosch builds Africa-focused biomedical research centre
Stellenbosch University has started building a new Biomedical Research Institute which will investigate diseases that have the greatest impact on... February 20th, 2019ANAESTHESIOLOGY
Flawed WHO advice may be putting surgery patients at risk
Patients may have been placed at risk of serious harm because of flawed advice to administer highly concentrated oxygen after surgery, leading...
February 20th, 2019
CARDIOLOGY
Physiological age a better predictor of survival than chronological age
Physiological age is a better predictor of survival than chronological age, even after adjusting for sex, smoking, body mass index, statin use,...
February 20th, 2019
Most AF triggers are easily modifiable lifestyle choices
A personal survey of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), one of the most important causes of irregular heartbeats, has found that the majority of... February 20th, 2019HIV/AIDS
Latent HIV reservoir not replenished with only dolutegravir therapy
Dolutegravir monotherapy was non-inferior to combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) in patients who started cART during primary HIV infection and... February 20th, 2019HIV/AIDS CONTINUED
Treatment with efavirenz in children associated with a mild increase in neuro-psychiatric symptoms
A study by researchers at the department of internal medicine, Radboud University Medical Centre, Netherlands reveals children from Tanzania living... February 20th, 2019INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Vitamin D in the fight against multi-drug resistant TB
Vitamin D speeds up the clearance of tuberculosis (TB) bacteria from the lungs of people with multi-drug resistant TB, according to a study of 1,850 patients receiving antibiotic treatment. Lead researcher Professor Adrian Martineau from Queen Mary... February 20th, 2019NEUROLOGY
Cilostazol-combo antiplatelet therapy reduced risk for recurrent stroke
Stroke survivors taking a combination of the blood thinner cilostazol with aspirin or clopidogrel had a lower risk of ischaemic stroke recurrence than those who received aspirin or clopidogrel alone, according to late breaking science presented at... February 20th, 2019NUTRITION
Heavily processed foods linked to earlier death risk
A team in France worked with more than 44,000 people in a study running from 2009 called NutriNet-Santé. The Guardian reports they looked at how much of their diet – and calories – was made up of “ultra-processed” foods – those made in... February 20th, 2019ONCOLOGY
Aspirin reduces the risk of colorectal cancer by 40%
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cause of cancer deaths in the US and advanced colorectal polyps are a major risk factor. The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) concluded that aspirin reduces the risk of colorectal cancer by 40% as...
February 20th, 2019
ORTHOPAEDICS
Survival data on hip and knee replacements from 6 countries over 25 years
After reviewing thousands of case studies going back 25 years across six countries, generalisable survival data is now available for the first time to estimate how long hip and knee replacements are likely to last.
The findings of researchers,...
February 20th, 2019
PAEDIATRICS
Weight gain in early childhood increases heart and metabolic risk in adolescence
Earlier onset of weight gain, under two-years of age, is associated with higher cholesterol, higher blood pressure, and more central fat in adolescence, compared with onset of weight gain in children aged three to five, finds a 14-year University of... February 20th, 2019SPORT & EXERCISE MEDICINE
Body-building protein supplement has potential for brain harm
People taking the protein supplement L-norvaline - an ingredient widely used in body building supplements and promoted as a compound that can boost workouts and aid recovery - should be aware of its potential for brain harm, Australian scientists...
February 20th, 2019