Renaming cancer: Back to the future, but will it work now

A joint Australian-US paper in the BMJ has recommended renaming low risk conditions that are currently called “cancer”. The authors advise that tumours such as small papillary thyroid cancer, low-grade breast intraduct cancer, and localised low-grade prostate cancer are examples of these low-risk conditions. There are many others. There has been an outpouring of criticism […]

Splitting Up Asthma. Genotypes, Phenotypes, and Endotypes. Whew!

[View the story “Splitting Up Asthma. Genotypes, Phenotypes, and Endotypes. Whew!” on Storify]

As The Worm Turns

[View the story “As The Worm Turns – Parasites and Your Immune System” on Storify]

HPV Vaccination: Q&A with Dr Julia Brotherton

We are pleased that Dr Julia Brotherton has taken the time to answer our questions on HPV vaccination. Dr Julia Brotherton is Medical Director of Australia’s National HPV Vaccination Program Register Dr Brotherton is a member of the HPV Implementation Working Group and is currently undertaking a PhD on HPV vaccination in Australia. For the past eight […]

Any undiagnosed chronic medical problem is coeliac/celiac disease until proved otherwise

  In 1969, when I was a medical student, an important cause of unexplained symptoms was syphilis. If you couldn’t figure out what caused the rash/neurological problem in your final year clinical exam, and if you didn’t suggest a syphilis test, you failed. Syphilis had protean manifestations. After Proteus, the greek God who could change […]

Celiac Disease? Take 15 Hookworms and call me in the morning

The hygiene hypothesis has got a lot to answer for. Feeding worms to experimental subjects for one. How did the hygiene hypothesis start? From one of the most boring specialties in science – statistics (no mail please). It was the epidemiologists who first alerted us that children in developing countries, and even in eastern European […]