As the NCDs rain down, or even pour, and the forecast is for torrential rain, we can bask in the success of tobacco control in places like Australia. Unlike when I grew up, my children, and yours can dance without having to choke on tobacco smoke. So, tobacco control in Australia is a story about dancing in the rain! Rates in Australia have relentlessly decreased to an all-time low of less than 13%
My father, who was born in Poland in 1898, only received one vaccine in his childhood, which was designed to protect him against smallpox. In Radom, as elsewhere, infectious diseases were regarded as an inescapable part of growing up, and there were regular outbreaks of diphtheria, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox, causing fear, inconvenience and significant mortality. At that time, around 30% of all deaths occurred in children under the age of 5 years, with tuberculosis, pneumonia and diarrhoeal disease the biggest killers
For over three decades, scientists have had the ability to alter the genomes of other species of animals. Using viruses to alter DNA sequences, scientists were able to create a range of transgenic animals — with altered physical, cognitive and social characteristics. In 2007, scientists at Case Western Reserve University used viruses to alter a gene called PEPCK-A in mice. The resulting transgenic mice could run for six kilometres without a break — 30 times longer than a normal mouse’s limit of 200 metres (Hakemi et al., 2007)
Like any other ‘machine’, the better you care for your heart, the more likely it is going to go on serving you well. So, in this chapter we are going to look at the ways in which you can best look after your cardiovascular system, at this stage of your life
When we reflect on our most important formative experiences in life — and they do not come along every day — we might have noticed that they have something in common. They tend to be moments of feeling most fully present, aware and intensely alive. What tends to follow from that is also rather interesting and important. They are the moments where we feel connected to ourselves and the world around us, that we experience beauty, discover things about ourselves, and learn life’s most important lessons
Pollution of our environment has been recognised as a problem for eons. Early humans knew that separating waste from consumables was essential to health, even if they did not understand the true reasons why. Pollution has often been separated from climate change as though they are two separate issues and that the problems of dealing with pollution are unrelated to the issues of climate change
The mysteries of passion, love, and how to best live day to day in a couple relationship is one of the most constant subject of conversations. Literature is dominated by these themes and movies make millions from the subject, highlighting how couple relationships are a major source of emotional passion and joy, as well as the deepest pain
The rising incidence of allergic and autoimmune diseases imposes an ever-increasing burden on individuals, populations and economies. Possible mechanisms for this phenomenon, related to changed environmental conditions that impact on immune response genes are discussed. In this chapter, we consider the role of reduced and delayed exposure of infants to infections, as well as additional factors that could promote chronic immuno-inflammatory disease
We are living in a time of unprecedented risk for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and chronic pulmonary disease. In 2008, it was estimated by the World Health Organization that NCDs were responsible for 63% of deaths (57 million deaths) worldwide. In Australia and other developed countries, communicable (or infectious) diseases are no longer the primary cause of mortality
The term ‘influenza’ is often used loosely to describe respiratory illness caused by a wide range of viruses, including respiratory syncytical virus, parainfluenza viruses, rhinoviruses and adenoviruses as well as influenza viruses themselves. Although all of these viruses can cause significant disease, true influenza has a special place in the world of communicable diseases for two reasons