Diseases And Disorders Videos

Some call the eyes the window on the soul. Trevor Lamb has been gazing into the eyes of living fossil 'fishy' beings, and deep into evolutionary time to unravel the beginnings of our incredible seeing organ. And what about its future? A myopia explosion in East Asian cities has folk worried, and there's good evidence for a surprising cause.

Body image report Young people especially have high rates of dissatisfaction with their bodies, it´s the now the norm to wish for a thinner body. Half of all teenage girls diet, and five percent suffer from eating disorders. How should police deal with the mentally ill? Imagine you´re a police officer and called to a scene where a young man is wildly waving a broken bottle threatening to hurt people - is he drunk or having a serious psychosis? Lynne Truss: get her off the pitch Lynne Truss wasn´t interested in sport. Then it took over her life, these days she´s in recovery. Your feedback Letter of the week - Karen Hitchcock: little white slips

Mysterious viruses Just when you're beginning to relax about pandemic influenza, you're going to hear about relatively mysterious viruses which come and go for no reason, but when they re-appear and infect humans, up to 80% of them die. We have some of these viruses here too on our doorstep. And if you thought Ebola virus just occurred somewhere in Africa, well an Ebola virus has been coming and going in the Phillipines, and again we don't know why. Plus an exotic sounding virus that's spreading around the world and Australian mosquitoes are the door through which it will come.

AIDS policy makers are warning that there has to be a renewed focus on HIV prevention, with an increased imperative on more countries to make progress on decriminalising drug use, homosexuality and commercial sex-work. According to former Australian High Court judge Michael Kirby, the global fight against the AIDS pandemic is entering a new phase. There are signs that these messages are being heard in more conservative nations across Asia, including Indonesia. You can hear more about the fight against HIV on Background Briefing, tonight after the 7pm news on Radio National.

The health of Australian Vietnam veterans The first results of a 15 year old Australian follow-up study of the health of Vietnam veterans have recently been published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Antidepressants and suicidal behaviour Researchers from the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the US Food and Drug Administration investigated a possible link between antidepressant medication and the risk of suicidal behaviour. Repairing damaged spinal cords Many scientists are trying to find ways to help people who are para- or quadriplegic. One of the world's leading researchers in this field, Professor James Fawcett of the University of Cambridge, talks about his research in this area. Brain research Dr Pierre-Marie Lledo leads the Perception and Memory Laboratory at the Pasteur Institute and talks about some fascinating research into brain functions and nerve cell regeneration.

Muscular dystrophy - genomics raises hopes Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is a degenerative disease that strikes around 1 in 3,000 boys every year. Symptoms appear when they are toddlers and most do not live beyond their early twenties. There is currently no effective treatment, but now some new work is giving hope. Professor Dame Kay Davies from the University of Oxford explains how they can trick muscle cells into thinking they are in the developmental stage so they produce utrophin, a protein that can completely remove all muscular dystrophy symptoms. Following successful animal trials, human trials have started and she is very optimistic about the future. Cashing in on carbon capture The UK could soon start selling space in saltwater aquifers under the North Sea to store waste Carbon Dioxide. Stuart Haszeldine and colleagues at the Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage believe Carbon capture and storage offers a quick reduction of CO2 emissions, and buys time for nations to research renewable energy sources. Oh, and it´s a nice little earner for those that own the underground areas into which the liquefied CO2 will be pumped. The cooperation conundrum Any system of cooperation is vulnerable to cheats - something that vexed Charles Darwin and still causes problems today. Bob May discusses how religion might make us less likely to cheat and how our cheating instincts could cause problems at the Copenhagen conference on climate change in December 2009. Creating art with bugs At the British Association Science Festival in Guilford, Surrey, artists Heather Barnett and Anne Brodie explain how to use slime moulds and bioluminescent bacteria to produce works of art. Green light for green racing car Kerry Kirwan explains how to build a Formula One racing car with a top speed of 135 mph out of old carrots and how to power it with waste chocolate, cheese and wine. He hopes that this green car building technology will filter down to domestic vehicles one day. Kiwi bees to the rescue A huge decline in bumblebee numbers in the UK has led scientists to look to New Zealand to find replacements. Species introduced from the UK to New Zealand 120 years ago are being brought home by Nikki Gammans to help pollinate native wildflowers, fruits and vegetables. Breaking the reproductive mould A cyanobacterium and a fungus have become the unlikely subjects of an inter-kingdom porno movie. It challenges our views on mating and gene transfer - Lynn Margulis explains how this links to symbionts, the mitochondria in our own cells and that gene transfer between different organisms is more common than most people think.

Link between a common sexual infection and the risk of aggressive prostate cancer A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital researchers has found a strong link between the common sexually transmitted infection Trichomonas vaginalis and a risk of advanced and lethal prostate cancer. Physical exercise and cancer Research from Finland suggests that people who are more active and exercise harder are less likely to die from cancer. Iranian women's drug treatment project Associate Professor Kate Dolan from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales visited a women's prison in Iran in 2003 and realised that most inmates needed drug treatment rather than incarceration. Dr Dolan and a group of NGOs managed to secure funding to open a drug treatment clinic just for women in 2007. Treatment of opioid dependence Norman Swan talks with Dr Richard Mattick, Director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales. Dr Mattick is one of the editors of a book called Pharmacotherapies For The Treatment Of Opioid Dependence - Efficacy, Cost-Effectiveness, and Implementation Guidelines.

HIV rates have begun to plateau following an increase in reported cases in Australia over the past ten years, according to the annual data on Australia's HIV infection rates released today. The figures also show a direct correlation between levels of Government funding and infection rates.

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a devastating and incurable muscle-wasting disease which can affect boys. Symptoms tend to appear before the age of 6 years and life expectancy is usually under 25 years. An international team of researchers have undertaken clinical trials for the treatment of this condition. The effect of alcohol on hormones A recent study examined the effect of drinking moderate amounts of alcohol on the HPA axis, the system which produces hormones in our body, and they found that it matters what drink you prefer and whether you drink it on an empty stomach. Violence against health professionals in rural Australia Violence experienced by health professionals in remote rural regions of Australia is increasing. We look at why this is the case and what needs to be done to rectify the situation.

Younger onset dementia Dementia is not inevitable as you age, but it becomes increasingly common the older you get. However, in some rare cases dementia can occur in people at the age of 40, 50 or 60. In this program Lynne Malcolm speaks with a 74-year-old woman who is caring for her 56-year-old daughter who has a memory span of just two minutes; and with a neuroscientist who explains younger onset dementia, why it occurs, what the early signs are and how to treat and cope with the disease.

This financial year, $160 million in aid will be spent in the Asia-Pacific region. But the International Congress on Aids in Asia and the Pacific has heard that Australia needs to seriously reconfigure the way that money's targeted. Leading the Australian delegation is Don Baxter, the director of the Australian Federation of Aids organisations, who is currently leading the International Congress on Aids in Asia and the Pacific. He says by focusing on drug users, sex workers and their clients, and heterosexuals, Australia has dropped the ball in helping prevent HIV-Aids among gay and bi-sexual men.

Treatment for osteoporotic vertebral fractures One of the treatment options for vertebral fractures is a procedure called vertebroplasty, where a cement is injected directly into the fracture with the aim to provide immediate stability and pain relief. Researchers have undertaken a trial to find out how successful this procedure is. Labelling of medications dispensed by pharmacists Health consumer advocates have uncovered what they feel might be an unacceptable level of pharmacists dispensing medications with 'use as directed' or equivalent on the label. They argue that this is dangerous and should not happen.