Category: News

News and updates from health sciences and longevity that do not belong in our articles or science sections. This may be deals, breakthroughs, products for sale or other topical information.

Australian government report into Autism

Australian government report into Autism

Government Report Summary: Urgent Action Needed for Autistic Australians

Autistic Australians and their families face discrimination and barriers in accessing essential services and support. Maintaining the status quo is not an option.

Proposed Solution: A National Autism Strategy with clear goals and measurable progress to improve life outcomes for autistic individuals.

Focus Areas: Health, mental health, advocacy, employment, research, and service delivery workforce.

Alarming Statistics: Autistic people have 20+ years shorter life expectancy, double the mortality rate, high mental health issues, and a suicide risk. 75% don’t complete Year 12 education, unemployment rate is 8x higher than others, and they face higher homelessness and justice system risks.

Inclusion Issues: Autistic individuals often experience loneliness, isolation, exclusion, and discrimination, impacting their social participation and family life.

Hope for Change: Positive practices have shown potential for improvement. Addressing understanding, service integration, early intervention, and workforce capacity can make a difference.

Complex Issues: Poor outcomes result from inadequate understanding, workforce shortages, delays in diagnosis, fragmented service environment, and services not tailored to autistic needs.

Recommendations:

  1. National Autism Strategy: Coordinated effort to improve outcomes.
  2. Co-Design: Inclusive process involving the autism community, parents, carers, researchers, and policymakers.
  3. Accountability: Clear actions, targets, and reviews to drive genuine change.
  4. Priorities: Education, employment, health services, and support for families.
  5. Research Focus: Establish a national autism research agenda and a register for comprehensive data.

NDIS Inquiry: Separate inquiry needed to address NDIS issues for autistic participants.

Let’s stand together for a brighter future for autistic Australians and their families. #AutismAwareness #InclusionMatters #SupportForAll

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Autism/autism/Report

The Australian government is about to destroy children’s rights.

The Australian government is about to destroy children’s rights.

If you care about children and their rights you simply must sign this.
The Australian government is about to remove the protection children have in law that assures access to both parents.

The CRC, or Convention on the Rights of the Child, is an international human rights treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989. The treaty sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health, and cultural rights of children, with the primary aim of ensuring the well-being, development, and protection of children worldwide. The CRC is the most widely ratified human rights treaty, with Australia ratifying it in 1990.

Article 9 of the CRC emphasizes the right of children to maintain contact with both parents, unless it is contrary to the child’s best interests. This principle is reflected in the Family Law Act, which encourages both parents to have a meaningful relationship with their child, so long as it does not compromise the child’s safety and well-being.

An amendment is before the house of representatives now that proposes to remove the only protection children have that ensures maintaining a relationship with both parents is at least partially enforced. The proposed change would exacerbate the prolonged separation from one parent in family law proceedings.

#familylaw #children #childrensrights #humanrights #law #australia

https://ournsw.au/2023/04/12/petition-halt-the-family-law-amendment-bill-2023/
Website back up! Sorry!

Website back up! Sorry!

We are human and mistakes happen. Unfortunately our administrative domain had expired and slipped our notice. This caused a network issue for Lets encrypt to renew certificates resulting in expired certificates and errors when viewing.

We have resolved the issue, renewed our administrative domain for 5 years, and confirmed everything is back up and running.

Wanderlust True North Event & Competition

Our friends at Wanderlust make some great mushroom based products amongst others.

We met up with them at the Naturally Good expo in Sydney and shared our positive feedback in the Inner Calm product, which as far as we’ve found is the strongest Saffron supplement on the market in Australia.

You may recall a study we shared a while back showing efficacy in reliving ADHD symptoms in half of the cohort that were taking Saffron. The study found doses of 180mg to be the starting dose, and with most Australian products only containing 11mg or so, you are talking almost a whole bottle in a few days.

Inner Calm has 27mg of Saffron stigma, and also contains lavender.

We have not been paid, or received free product or other benefit from sharing this. We have been gifted free tickets to the event unprompted and without conditions.

Head over to our instagram or Facebook page, like and follow, and reshare this post tagging @healthhackerau to go into the draw to win a free ticket to either the Sydney or Melbourne event.

WHAT IS WANDERLUST TRUE NORTH:

Wanderlust, a pioneer in events globally, has curated a new two-hour afternoon experience “TRUE NORTH” to reignite your wellness journey.  Connecting the power of music, movement, and community, this event is a ‘grazing platter’ of all things Wanderlust, there is something for everyone, from the curious newbies, through to the experienced Wanderlusters looking to fine-tune their wellness rituals. Here’s the line-up: 

  • Acknowledgement of Country will be performed by Gawurra Gaykamangu, the award-winning Aboriginal singer-songwriter
  • MC and host, Sarah Todd International Chef, restauranteur and TV host and MasterChef fame.
  • Unique Yoga Practice with a LIVE DJ set by Nick Littlemore from Pnau, in collaboration with Yoga teacher to the stars Tahl Rinsky
  • Stories and acoustic songs by child solider turned acclaimed recording artist  Emmanuel Jal, joining from Toronto, Canada.
  • Inspirational conversation with Australian of the Year Adam Goodes, who will speak about his journey of cultural identity.
  • Also, as part of the two-hour ‘on your mat’ experience, wellness guides and spirituality experts Laura Poole and Benny Holloway will also lead guests through a meditation and sound vibration

More information about the event and links to tickets are here: https://wanderlust.com.au/events/

Covid lockdown ‘prevented only 0.2pc of deaths in first wave’

Covid lockdown ‘prevented only 0.2pc of deaths in first wave’

Lockdowns prevented just 0.2 per cent of deaths in comparison with simply trusting people to do the right thing, a new study suggests.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University, in the US, Lund University, in Sweden and the Centre for Political Studies, in Denmark, said the costs to society far outweighed the benefits and called for lockdown to be “rejected out of hand” as a future pandemic policy.

The team even found that some lockdown measures may have increased deaths by stopping access to outdoor space, “pushing people to meet at less safe places” while isolating infected people indoors, where they could pass the virus on to family members and housemates.

“We do find some evidence that limiting gatherings was counterproductive and increased Covid-19 mortality,” the authors concluded. “Often, lockdowns have limited people’s access to safe outdoor places such as beaches, parks, and zoos, or included outdoor mask mandates or strict outdoor gathering restrictions, pushing people to meet at less safe indoor places.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/02/trusting-people-do-right-thing-saved-lives-covid-lockdowns/

Dr John Campbell covers excess deaths also

Psychology short courses | CCE University of Sydney

Psychology short courses | CCE University of Sydney

Available courses

https://cce.sydney.edu.au/courses/psychology-psychiatry/psychology

Firm Wants to Create Artificial Embryos With DNA for Organ Transplants

Firm Wants to Create Artificial Embryos With DNA for Organ Transplants

An Israeli firm wants to replicate a successful mouse embryo experiment with human cells.
The company, Renewal Bio, wants to use the technology to make “humanity younger and healthier.”
The use of synthetic human embryos has sparked ethical concerns among the scientific community.

https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-human-embryos-dna-mouse-medical-transplants-2022-8

Ron Davis Q&A: Chronic fatigue syndrome research could help Covid long haulers – CNN

Ron Davis Q&A: Chronic fatigue syndrome research could help Covid long haulers – CNN

During the global pandemic, Davis’ search for a cure for ME/CFS could also shed new light in understanding why some Covid-19 long haulers have stayed sick for more than a year.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/12/health/ron-davis-covid-long-hauler-scn-wellness/index.html

Mullets for Mental Health – Health Hackers

Mullets for Mental Health – Health Hackers

Science. Compassion. Action.
Posted by Nathan, Thursday 28th

We’re all ears for Black Dog Institute’s Mullets for Mental Health.

1 in 5 of us will experience symptoms of mental illness in any given year. In Australia that’s around 5 million people. And roughly 65% of these people won’t seek help.

For the month of September we will be sporting mullets and raising funds to show support for mental health research.

Please donate and support our mullets and empower everyone in Australia to look after their mental health.

https://www.mulletsformentalhealth.org.au/fundraisers/healthhackers

As US obesity epidemic grows, new study shows | EurekAlert!

As US obesity epidemic grows, new study shows | EurekAlert!

The article, published in the Journal of Obesity, looked at the long-term weight gain of more than 13,800 U.S. adults — a rare data point unearthed in obesity research. They found that more than half of American adults in the study gained 5% or more body weight over a 10-year period. What’s more, more than a third of American adults gained 10% or more body weight and almost a fifth gained 20% or more body weight.

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/956907

Serious Adverse Events of Special Interest Following mRNA Vaccination in Randomized Trials by Joseph Fraiman, Juan Erviti, Mark Jones, Sander Greenland, Patrick Whelan, Robert M. Kaplan, Peter Doshi :: SSRN

Serious Adverse Events of Special Interest Following mRNA Vaccination in Randomized Trials by Joseph Fraiman, Juan Erviti, Mark Jones, Sander Greenland, Patrick Whelan, Robert M. Kaplan, Peter Doshi :: SSRN

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4125239

Australian-made wearable biosensors to gather precision data on chronic disease – Hardware – iTnews

Australian-made wearable biosensors to gather precision data on chronic disease – Hardware – iTnews

Melbourne-based company Nutromics is developing the alternative to painful finger pricks and blood tests to measure key dietary biomarkers in real time.

Australian-made wearable biosensors to gather precision data on chronic disease – Hardware – iTnews

Consumer trends during Covid-19

Some interesting and somewhat encouraging news from the Woolworths CEO today via his email updates during Covid-19 show some interesting trends in consumer spending on food and vitamins during this time.

To quote from his email:

We are becoming healthier and more adventurous in our cooking
While the slow cooking movement continues, we’re also becoming increasingly adventurous. Ingredients such as cardamom, saffron and dried sesame seeds have doubled in sales. Roasted peppers are up 65%, Asian and hot chilli sauces are both up 40% and capers are up 35%.

We’re also well into soup season. What’s interesting this year is the explosive growth of dried soup mix packets (up 200%) as people make more warming soup at home.

It’s also interesting to see customers think about their health, with a big rise in vitamin sales, plus ground ginger and turmeric sales up 120% and sauerkraut up 76%. On a related topic, sales of cough and cold products are much lower this year compared to last year.”

This is encouraging and hopefully a sign that the general population is starting to become more interested in preparing fresh meals rather than fast food, and hopefully the rise in vitamins and other beneficial products is a sign that people are starting to see value in improving their health and eating better.

It’s pretty clear that the more fit and healthy you are and the better you eat, the less likely you are to contract Covid-19 and, less likely to have severe complication if you do. We have been keeping an eye on developments and have been hoping that the silver lining from all of this may be a new focus on health and well-being.

So please ensure you take some time out of your busy life to focus on whats really important, your life! We at Health Hacker wish all of you good health and encourage you to keep exploring and trying to improve your diet and lifestyle as much as possoble. Remember, something is better than nothing so start on somethign today!

Estimating clinical severity of COVID-19 from the transmission dynamics in Wuhan, China | Nature Medicine

Estimating clinical severity of COVID-19 from the transmission dynamics in Wuhan, China | Nature Medicine

As of 29 February 2020 there were 79,394 confirmed cases and 2,838 deaths from COVID-19 in mainland China. Of these, 48,557 cases and 2,169 deaths occurred in the epicenter, Wuhan. A key public health priority during the emergence of a novel pathogen is estimating clinical severity, which requires properly adjusting for the case ascertainment rate and the delay between symptoms onset and death. Using public and published information, we estimate that the overall symptomatic case fatality risk (the probability of dying after developing symptoms) of COVID-19 in Wuhan was 1.4% (0.9–2.1%), which is substantially lower than both the corresponding crude or naïve confirmed case fatality risk (2,169/48,557 = 4.5%) and the approximator1 of deaths/deaths + recoveries (2,169/2,169 + 17,572 = 11%) as of 29 February 2020. Compared to those aged 30–59 years, those aged below 30 and above 59 years were 0.6 (0.3–1.1) and 5.1 (4.2–6.1) times more likely to die after developing symptoms. The risk of symptomatic infection increased with age (for example, at ~4% per year among adults aged 30–60 years).

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0822-7?utm_source=researcher_app&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RESR_MRKT_Researcher_inbound

Finding good food

Finding good food

I visited my local https://thesourcebulkfoods.com.au/ store at Rhodes the other day and found some great products. Among them was Kakadu plum powder and grass fed bone broth powder. The owner of the store and staff were very nice and very helpful. If you are looking for ingredients for your healthy meals then this is one good place to start. They have stores all around Australia and in some other regions as well and each seems to be owned by individuals or families under a franchise model. Each franchise also seems to have a fair bit of flexibility around sourcing ingredients so don’t be afraid to ask for something if it’s not already in store.

I will keep you up to date on new findings, please let us know if you find any places to get great quality ingredients.

Novel coronavirus 2019 (2019 n-CoV) – Fact sheets

Novel coronavirus 2019 (2019 n-CoV) – Fact sheets

What is a coronavirus?
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some cause illness in humans, and others cause illness in animals, such as bats, camels, and civets. Human coronaviruses cause mild illness, such the common cold.

Rarely, animal coronaviruses can evolve to infect and spread among humans, causing severe diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) which emerged in 2002, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) which emerged in 2012.

A novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is a new strain of coronavirus that has not been previously identified in humans.

What is 2019 novel coronavirus?
There is a new coronavirus affecting people who have recently been in the city of Wuhan, China. There is much more to learn about how it is spread, its severity, and other features associated with 2019-nCoV, and investigations are ongoing. At the moment, this coronavirus is called ‘novel coronavirus 2019’ or ‘2019-nCoV’.

Outbreaks of a novel coronavirus infections among people are always a public health concern. There is growing evidence that 2019-nCoV can spread from person to person in the community and in health care settings. There have been cases of 2019-nCoV reported in several Asian and other countries including Australia. The situation is evolving rapidly.

What are the symptoms?
Most case-patients have had fever, cough, and shortness of breath, with further evidence of pneumonia (chest infection).

Further investigation is required to assess whether there are undetected asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic cases.

How is it spread?
Early reports indicated that most of the cases had prior contact with a seafood and live animal market, suggesting an animal source of the outbreak. However, more recently, human to human transmission has been reported.

Further investigation is underway to confirm and describe the mode of transmission from animal sources, and the risk of human-to-human transmission.

Human to human transmission is most likely to be through direct contact with infectious patients, by respiratory droplets and by fomites (contaminated objects and surfaces), as is seen with other coronavirus infections including SARS and MERS.

Who is at risk?
People who are living or travelling to affected areas or who have had contact with other cases may be at risk of catching the disease. People with underlying illnesses that make them more vulnerable to respiratory disease, including those with diabetes, chronic lung disease, pre-existing kidney failure, people with suppressed immune systems and the elderly may be at a higher risk.

How is it prevented?
It’s likely that general prevention measures used for other coronavirus infections will also prevent infection with 2019-nCoV.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends measures to reduce the general risk of acute respiratory infections while travelling in or from affected areas by:

avoiding close contact with people suffering from acute respiratory infections;
frequent hand-washing, especially after direct contact with ill people or their environment;
avoiding close contact with live or dead farm or wild animals;
travellers with symptoms of acute respiratory infection should practice cough etiquette (maintain distance, cover coughs and sneezes with disposable tissues or clothing, and wash hands).
Travellers to China are already advised not to visit live bird and animal markets, including ‘wet’ markets, due to the risk of avian influenza.

There is currently no vaccine to prevent 2019-nCoV infections.

What should I do if I become unwell after travel in China?
If you become ill or feel unwell while travelling in China, you should not wait until you arrive back in Australia to seek medical assistance. Instead you should see a doctor or go to the local emergency department.

If you return from travel to China and feel unwell you should see your doctor or go to the emergency department to work out why you are ill, and you should mention your travel to China. Call ahead and explain that you might have been exposed to the novel coronavirus so that the doctor can make arrangements to see you quickly and safely.

How is it diagnosed?
Infection with 2019-nCoV is diagnosed by finding evidence of the virus in respiratory samples such as swabs from the throat or fluid from the lungs. Testing for 2019-nCoV is done in public health laboratories.

How is it treated?
There is currently no specific treatment for people who are sick with 2019-nCoV but general supportive medical care in hospital can be life-saving.

What is the public health response?
As of 23 January 2020, in Australia procedures to prevent the local spread of 2019-nCoV have been put in place.

Public health unit staff will investigate all cases to find out how the infection occurred, identify other people at risk of infection, implement control measures and provide other advice.

Further information
World Health Organization novel coronavirus information

NSW Health novel coronavirus alerts for GPs and hospital clinicians

For further information please call your local Public Health Unit on 1300 066 055

https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/factsheets/Pages/novel-coronavirus.aspx

7-Day Easy Bulletproof Cyclical Ketosis Meal Plan (with Recipes)

7-Day Easy Bulletproof Cyclical Ketosis Meal Plan (with Recipes)

In the following link you’ll find a new post from Bulletproof, of Dave Asprey fame, about a proposed keto style diet plan complete with recipes.

  • Health Hacker has no affiliation with Bulletproof and does not guarantee the content.

Fantastic Fungi comes to Australia! – Dendy Cinemas

The Fantastic Fungi movie looks to be the most comprehensive and up to date presentation of the world of mushrooms and we finally have dates for Australia!

from the movie synopsis :

When so many are struggling for connection, inspiration and hope, Fantastic Fungi brings us together as interconnected creators of our world.

Fantastic Fungi, directed by Louie Schwartzberg, is a consciousness-shifting film that takes us on an immersive journey through time and scale into the magical earth beneath our feet, an underground network that can heal and save our planet. Through the eyes of renowned scientists and mycologists like Paul Stamets, best-selling authors Michael Pollan, Eugenia Bone, Andrew Weil and others, we become aware of the beauty, intelligence and solutions the fungi kingdom offer us in response to some of our most pressing medical, therapeutic, and environmental challenges.

“Fantastic Fungi,” offers nothing less than a model for planetary survival.”

~ Jeannette Catsoulis,
The New York Times

“Gorgeous photography! Time-lapse sequences of mushrooms blossoming forth could pass for studies of exotic flowers growing on another planet.”

~ Joe Morgenstern,
The Wall Street Journal

“Schwartzberg’s film quickly proves to be one of the year’s most mind-blowing, soul-cleansing and yes, immensely entertaining triumphs.”

~ Matt Fagerholm,
RogerEbert.com

“A must see for anyone interested in life, death and the pursuit of the planet’s well-being.”

~ David Carpenter,
Forbes

https://www.dendy.com.au/movies/fantastic-fungi

Biohacking app coming soon

Biohacking app coming soon

We have no affiliation with this company but after reading their proposition, this app looks to have potential.

From their website:

Use modern technology to become your ultimate self…

…with less effort and no guessing.

You can sign up for the waiting list below:

https://ultiself.com?reftoken=e5ac4be91d340e67286ff0a2f7d8ff98

Australian Bushfire Relief: Where you can donate

Please excuse the slightly off topic post and thank you an advance for reading. We don’t like to stray from our core focus however, people’s lives and health are under threat.

As you may or may not be aware, Health Hacker is based in Sydney, Australia and our state, as well as neighbouring states have seen huge amounts of devastation over the last few months. Massive tracts of forests have been burned with countless animal losses and homes and human lives lost.

If you can help in any way but aren’t sure how, this is how:

TO HELP AFFECTED COMMUNITIES

Australian Red Cross Disaster Recovery and Relief
The Australian Red Cross is supporting communities affected by fires in NSW, QLD and SA. Volunteers are providing psychological first aid, working at evacuation centres and helping people to get in touch with their loved ones.
Where to donate: redcross.org.au/campaigns/disaster-relief-and-recovery-new-years-eve

Salvation Army Disaster Appeal
Salvation Army teams have been activated at multiple locations across the country. They are providing meals to evacuees and frontline responders, and will continue to provide whatever support is needed as the situation develops.
Where to donate: salvationarmy.org.au/donate/make-a-donation/donate-online/

St Vincent de Paul Society Bushfire Appeal
The St Vincent De Paul Society is running a NSW bushfire appeal, to help those affected with food, clothing, furniture, other essentials, and funds to pay bills.
Where to donate: donate.vinnies.org.au/appeals-nsw/vinnies-nsw-bushfire-appeal-nsw

Givit
Givit is encouraging people to donate funds or specific items requested by residents.
Where to donate: givit.worldsecuresystems.com/items-needed

Foodbank
Foodbank is delivering emergency food relief and water to firefighters and local communities caught up in the bushfires.
Where to donate: foodbank.org.au/support-us/make-a-donation/

TO HELP FIREFIGHTERS

Support firefighter families
Donate to the families of the volunteer firefighters who were tragically killed while on duty.
Where to donate: rfs.nsw.gov.au/news-and-media/general-news/featured/support-for-firefighter-families

TO HELP WILDLIFE

WIRES
WIRES is accepting donations to help their efforts in supporting displaced and injured wildlife.
Where to donate: wires.org.au/donate/emergency-fund

Koalas in Care Inc
Koalas in Care Inc are accepting donations to help koalas injured or displaced by the fires in NSW.
Where: to donate: koalasincare.org.au/pages/donation.htm

The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital
The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital is accepting donations to develop and build watering stations for thirsty koalas.
Where to donate: gofundme.com/f/help-thirsty-koalas-devastated-by-recent-fires

Taken from:

http://www.mygc.com.au/bushfire-relief-where-you-can-donate/

Thank you for your time.

EnGeneIC Ltd Selected as Winner in Drug Delivery Technology category by Fierce Innovation Awards – LifeSciences Edition 2019

EnGeneIC Ltd Selected as Winner in Drug Delivery Technology category by Fierce Innovation Awards – LifeSciences Edition 2019

EnGeneIC Limited, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing its proprietary EDVâ„¢ nanocell platform for targeted cyto-immunotherapy in cancer, announced that it is the winner in this year’s Drug Delivery Technology category given by Fierce Innovation Awards – LifeSciences Edition, which is a peer-reviewed awards program from the publisher of FierceBiotech and FiercePharma.

EnGeneIC’s EDVâ„¢ is a globally unique cyto-immunotherapy that is able to directly kill cancer cells as well as provoking a potent anti-tumor immune response with little to no toxicity, even in late stage drug-resistant cancers.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/engeneic-ltd-selected-as-winner-in-drug-delivery-technology-category-by-fierce-innovation-awards–lifesciences-edition-2019-300977187.html

Sync all of your health data and trackers with “Health Sync”

Sync all of your health data and trackers with “Health Sync”

No referral or benefit, I just found this super useful and it allows me to bring my fitbit weight and oura sleep into Samsung health and Google fit.

It also supports Suunto, Garmin and many others.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nl.appyhapps.healthsync