Q85 Medical and Other Health Care Services

Struggling for air as asthma rate ranks in world’s highest

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Original article by Amy Corderoy
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 5 : 19-Nov-14

The "2014 Global Asthma Report" has been released. Co-author Guy Marks, professor of respiratory medicine at the University of New South Wales’s Woolcock Institute, says the data show that Australia has among the highest rates in the world. Some 10% of the population are affected, with 380 fatalities per annum recorded by the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare. National Asthma Council Australia CEO Kristine Whorlow recently welcomed a funding pledge of the Federal Government for a new national asthma strategy

CORPORATES
NATIONAL ASTHMA COUNCIL AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF HEALTH AND WELFARE, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES. SCHOOL OF MEDICAL SCIENCES, WOOLCOCK INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL RESEARCH LIMITED

Medibank book-build under way

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Original article by Jessica Gardner, Sarah Thompson, Jake Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 26 : 19-Nov-14

An unnamed fund manager says there has been a "bidding frenzy" for shares in the IPO of Medibank Private. The institutional bookbuild commenced on 18 November 2014, with some fund managers tendering to buy shares at a price well above the indicative range of $A1.55 to $A2 per share. The retail component of the share offer attracted some $A17bn worth of bids. CLSA analysts have valued Medibank stock at between $A1.55 and $A1.64

CORPORATES
MEDIBANK PRIVATE LIMITED – ASX MPL, CLSA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, RAMSAY HEALTH CARE LIMITED – ASX RHC, HEALTHSCOPE LIMITED – ASX HSO

Scientists urge rethink on skin cancer campaigns

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Original article by Julia Medew
The Age – Page: 3 : 19-Nov-14

Ian Olver, head of the Australian Cancer Council, rejects claims that skin cancer awareness campaigns have had the negative effect of depriving Australians of the required exposure to sunlight. University of Southampton professor of clinical and experimental sciences Martin Feelisch at a congress in Melbourne in mid-November 2014 referred to a study in the "Journal of Investigative Dermatology". It showed that only direct sunlight, not supplements, can provide the body with a dose of Vitamin D needed to boost bone and muscle health

CORPORATES
CANCER COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON

Medibank Private float stirs hype as retail demand balloons

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 18-Nov-14

There has been strong demand for Medibank Private shares from both retail and institutional investors. Retail investors have expressed interest in buying more than $A4.8bn shares in the IPO, while institutional demand is estimated at $A12bn. The share offer for retail investors closed on 14 November 2014, while the bookbuild for institutional investors will commence on 19 November. Retail investors will pay no more than $A2 per share

CORPORATES
MEDIBANK PRIVATE LIMITED – ASX MPL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, GOLDMAN SACHS AND PARTNERS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MACQUARIE CAPITAL PTY LTD, ELEY GRIFFITHS GROUP PTY LTD, PROMINA GROUP LIMITED, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS

Medicinal use of cannabis on agenda

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Original article by Anna Patty
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 7 : 17-Nov-14

The New South Wales (NSW) Government is funding a symposium to be staged in Tamworth on 21-22 November 2014, on the legal medicinal use of cannabis for cancer sufferers and terminally ill patients. A potential trial of such an approach has the backing of both NSW Premier Mike Baird, who will open the Tamworth event, and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. No Australian Medical Association representative will attend the symposium

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Call to ban lolly-flavoured e-cigs

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Original article by Vanessa Desloires
The Age – Page: 13 : 14-Nov-14

Joystick Company MD Alexander McDonell says the nicotine-free and sweets-flavoured electronic cigarettes the business distributes are not harmful. Kylie Lindorff, tobacco control policy manager at Quit Victoria, notes that their sale is completely unregulated in the state despite the tobacco variants being banned Australia-wide. The "lolly e-cigs" used for "vaping" have not been tested by food regulators, and contain vegetable glycerine and propylene glycol

CORPORATES
THE JOYSTICK COMPANY PTY LTD, QUIT VICTORIA

Spring fever: Australia’s most allergic cities and states

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Nov-14

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 26.6 per cent of Australians aged 14+ suffer from hay fever. The survey also shows that South Australia has the highest incidence of hay fever in the nation, with 35.3 per cent of Adelaide residents and 32 per cent of people in regional areas of the state having experienced hay fever in the year to June 2014. People in country areas of Queensland reported the lowest incidence of hay fever (20.7 per cent)

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Aboriginal men face higher risk of dying with prostate cancer

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Original article by Amy Corderoy
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 16 : 13-Nov-14

A new study has been published in the "British Journal of Urology International" that compares the survival rates of prostate cancer patients from Aboriginal backgrounds with those for the non-indigenous population in Australia. The former are close to 50% more likely to die of the disease, to a large extent because some 20% of this group do not have access to early treatment. The mortality rate for Aborigines with prostate cancer is 17.5%, as opposed to 11.4% for other men

CORPORATES
CANCER COUNCIL OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Mate’s death leads to cancer cluster probe

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Original article by Phoebe Wearne
The West Australian – Page: 9 : 5-Nov-14

Western Australia’s Department of Fire & Emergency Services will investigate the high incidence of kidney cancer among staff at the Success fire station. Four firefighters have been diagnosed with the disease over a six-year period, prompting concerns about a cancer cluster. The United Firefighters Union has suggested that the cancer problems could be linked to the nearby Water Corporation water treatment facility

CORPORATES
WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES, UNITED FIREFIGHTERS’ UNION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA, WATER CORPORATION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Australia to send Ebola volunteers

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Original article by Peter Hartcher
The Age – Page: 11 : 5-Nov-14

Insiders say the Australian Government will on 5 November 2014 reveal an initiative to help the fight against the Ebola virus disease outbreak in Africa. Australian volunteers will be given assistance to travel to Sierra Leone and staff a field hospital being constructed by the UK Government. Any of the medical personnel who contract the virus will be treated in the UK or Germany. The Australian Medical Association and the Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation report that many of their members are ready to make the trip to Africa

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN NURSING AND MIDWIFERY FEDERATION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY