NewsBite

Illness

October

Weight loss drugs are a good use of public money, the UK Labor government believes.

UK jobless to be given weight-loss jabs to get them back to work

For many people, these jabs will be life-changing, the British health minister believes.

  • Wes Streeting
The founder of Atelier Nick Benson.

Macquarie’s venture division plugs into manufacturing platform Atelier

Macquarie director Jonathan Lay led the deal, putting a term sheet in front of Atelier within four weeks of it being in-market.

  • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Move over pubs, socialising has moved to the steam room

Luxury communal bathing houses are popping up everywhere, wooing the swim-sweat crowd with a focus on state-of-the-art interior design.

  • Eugenie Kelly

September

Scientists did not yet know why the drug reduced these risks.

Ozempic reduces risk of heart failure by 27pc: study

Scientists don’t yet know why. But the findings are important given that heart disease is the leading cause of death globally and in Australia.

  • Euan Black

August

No one should enter surgery lightly, says adjunct professor Vertullo.

Four ways to sidestep knee surgery

Those suffering with osteoarthritis of the knee need to take more control of their condition, rather than sitting back and waiting for surgery.

  • Jill Margo
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July

Do you get sick on holidays? You’re probably a workaholic

Those of us who fall ill as soon as we stop work may need to rethink our approach to life.

  • Pilita Clark
In the 20 years to 2023, the national median price for farmland has risen by an average of 8.5 per cent a year.

Avian flu surveillance to be upped amid fears of spring outbreaks

A $7 million package of federal initiatives is to be rolled out to prepare for possible outbreaks of the highly dangerous H5N1 avian flu strain

  • Tom Burton

The secret to ageing may lie in AP-1

Australian researchers appear to have uncovered a crucial master controller that governs the activity of human genes as we develop and age.

  • Jill Margo
Science now suggests that it is possible to lose weight rapidly in a safe fashion.

Are you overweight or obese? Depends on where you carry your fat

European experts have developed a new framework to modernise the staging, diagnosis and management of obesity.

  • Jill Margo
Evidence of a link between social media and poor mental health in young women is growing.

Mental health crisis for young women started in 2012, study finds

More research has found a strong link between the emergence of social media and depression, anxiety and self-harm.

  • Julie Hare

June

Laura Deeming

Cryogenic start-up focuses on thawing the frozen waiting for a cure

A former child prodigy is working on ways to ensure that bodies can be revived when the time is right.

  • Ashlee Vance

April

Why Schizophrenia no longer has to be a life sentence

Until the 1950s, there was no effective therapy and painful experimental treatments, such as brain surgery and sulphur injections, failed. That’s all changed.

  • Jill Margo
written by Ben Groundwater iStock image for Traveller. Re-use permitted.

Revolutionary app offers vital prostate cancer info

A new online web app put out by the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia aims to help those living, recovering and at risk of the disease.

  • Sophia McCaughan

March

Is intermittent fasting bad for your heart? A new study thinks so.

Intermittent fasting may pose risks to your heart

A surprising new study has found that some intermittent fasters are more likely to die of heart disease.

  • Updated
  • Anahad O’Connor
Eli Lilly’s new drug works by removing a toxic protein called amyloid from the brains of early Alzheimer’s patients.

Do you really want to know if you’ll get Alzheimer’s?

A blood test will be able to predict which people in their 50s and 60s will develop the debilitating cognitive disease, which cannot be stopped.

  • F.D. Flam
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February

Snap Fitness offers a “compelling franchise investment with low-cost operating model and attractive unit economics,” according to a flyer sent to interested parties by Michael Firmin’s Record Point.

Record Point limbers up for Snap Fitness auction

Snap Fitness has 1000 clubs spread across 18 countries and is expected to attract the attention of local private equity groups already invested in the sector.

  • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Ruth Limkin faced a myriad of questions when diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019.

How these company bosses handled their cancer diagnoses

These bosses know all too well what King Charles is going through, having been given their own confronting news.

  • Sally Patten

January

Eli Lilly’s new drug works by removing a toxic protein called amyloid from the brains of early Alzheimer’s patients.

Alzheimer’s blood test a revolution for over-50s

A blood test that detects Alzheimer’s 10-15 years before a patient shows symptoms could be used to screen all over-50s.

  • Joe Pinkstone

December 2023

COVID-19 warning ahead of New Year’s Eve parties

Case numbers are soaring across Australia, with experts warning that low testing rates mean infection rates are much higher than official tallies suggest.

  • Hannah Wootton
The reason the disease was hard to control was because it could be transmitted by people before they had symptoms (or when they had no noticeable ones).

The biggest threat from COVID was in our own homes

Many public spaces were never the threat they were deemed to be, according to a trove of data from seven million contacts in the UK.

  • F.D. Flam

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/illness-5yi