Otago Daily Times: Health

Going to the chemist is set to be more expensive from next January, when the general prescription charge rises from $3 to $5.

Labour would consider trying to regulate aged-care providers to ensure they pass on pay rises to aged-care workers, Labour health spokeswoman Maryan Street said yesterday.

Like so many explorers before him, Dr. Adam Ostrzenski has long dreamed of finding a piece of elusive territory with a reputation for near-mythic powers.

A New Zealand company plans to implant pig cells in the human brain in a clinical trial to treat Parkinson's disease and help improve movement and brain functions in patients.

Southern District Health Board chairman Joe Butterfield has denied a claim he is cutting medical staff at Dunedin Hospital's emergency department, but says staff need to stick to agreed budgets.

University of Otago research aimed at developing smarter diagnosis of arthritis has been boosted by the first grant from a new fund administered by the Otago Medical Research Foundation.

The neurosurgery fundraising campaign has hit the $2 million mark, with less than a third of the total target still to raise.

In January, the Otago Daily Times revealed systems failures in the national breast-screening service BreastScreen Aotearoa, discovered in 2009, resulted in delayed routine two-yearly screening mammograms for 241 women, five of whom were found to have cancer. Documents released under the Official Information Act reveal more about the issues, as Elspeth McLean reports.

Porky, plump, stout, pot-bellied, beer-bellied, obese and corpulent. Society is often unkind to overweight people as their aspirations, desires, failures and shame are ruthlessly exploited. Fad diets and miracle weight-loss cures have abounded through the centuries and appear to have changed little over time, discovers Dunedin writer Edith Leigh.

People with severe headaches, whether migraines or not, may be more likely to attempt suicide, according to a US study of more than a thousand people.

Women who are fed up with their jobs may be more likely to turn to food for comfort in times of stress, according to a Finnish study.

A common ingredient in weight-loss and sports-performance supplements is to be banned in New Zealand after at least one user suffered a stroke.

Killing newborn babies should be allowed if the mother wishes, two Australian academics have argued in the British Medical Journals.

The number of people admitted to hospitals with infectious diseases has more than doubled over the last 20 years, with children, elderly and lower socio-economic groups bearing the brunt of the diseases.

There were 377 public hospital mishaps in the last year resulting in 86 deaths, many of which "should never have happened'', a Health Quality & Safety Commission report has found.

One in five New Zealand women feels "sad'' about wrinkles but only a third would consider cosmetic surgery, a survey has found.

People who drink more than half a litre of fizzy drink a day are also more likely to have asthma or serious lung conditions - especially if they are smokers as well, a major study has found.

Nutritionists have labelled the increasing size of slices and cakes sold in cafes as frustrating and a "big problem", but one Dunedin establishment has a satisfying answer.

Anyone who has a close relative with Alzheimer's shares the same worry: Am I next?

Increasing regulation is not the way to make sure doctors and other health professionals behave well, the dean of the University of Otago's law school, Prof Mark Henaghan, says.