Category: News

Screening for minor memory changes will wrongly label many with dementia, warn experts

A political drive, led by the UK and US, to screen older people for minor memory changes (often called mild cognitive impairment or pre-dementia) is leading to unnecessary investigation and potentially harmful treatment for what is arguably an inevitable consequence of ageing, warn University of Sydney experts in a paper published in the British Medical Journal today.

A team of specialists in Australia and the UK say that expanding diagnosis of dementia will result in up to 65 per cent of people aged over 80 having Alzheimer’s disease diagnosed – and up to 23 per cent of non-demented older people being labelled with dementia.

They argue this policy is not backed by evidence and ignores the risks, harms and costs to individuals, families and societies. It may also divert resources that are badly needed for the care of people with advanced dementia.

Their views come as the Preventing Overdiagnosis conference opens in New Hampshire next week, partnered by BMJ’s Too Much Medicine campaign, where experts from around the world will gather to discuss how to tackle the threat to health and the waste of money caused by unnecessary care.

Paper co-author, Professor David Le Couteur from the University’s Charles Perkins Centre, said dementia is an age related condition and with an ageing global population, it is predicted to become an overwhelming and costly problem.

“Although evidence suggests that only 5-10 per cent of people with mild cognitive symptoms will develop dementia each year, current policy in many countries is aimed at encouraging more widespread and earlier diagnosis of dementia,” he said.

“For example, in the US, the Medicare insurance programme will cover an annual wellness visit to a physician that includes a cognitive impairment test. In England, the government has announced that it will reward general practitioners for assessing brain function in older patients – and has committed to have “a memory clinic in every town and every city” despite no sound evidence of benefit.

“This has led to the development of imaging techniques and tests that are increasingly used in diagnosis, despite uncertainty over their accuracy.

“Furthermore, there are no drugs that prevent the progression of dementia or are effective in patients with mild cognitive impairment, raising concerns that once patients are labelled with disease or pre-disease, they may try untested therapies and run the risk of adverse effects.”

The paper co-authors also question whether ageing of the population is becoming a “commercial opportunity” for developing screening, early diagnosis tests and medicines marketed to maintain cognition in old age.

The desire of politicians, dementia organisations, and academics and clinicians in the field to raise the profile of dementia is understandable, write the authors, “but we risk being conscripted into an unwanted war against dementia.”

Yet they suggest that the political rhetoric expended on preventing the burden of dementia would be much better served by efforts to reduce smoking and obesity, given current knowledge linking mid-life obesity and cigarettes with the risk of dementia.

“Current policy is rolling out untested and uncontrolled experiments in the frailest people in society without a rigorous evaluation of its benefits and harms to individuals, families, service settings, and professionals,” Professor Le Couteur concluded.

Link to PDF article: http://press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/september/dementia.pdf

Link to published article: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bmj.f5125

Find out more about the conference at: www.preventingoverdiagnosis.net

Read more about the BMJ’s campaign at: bmj.com/too-much-medicine

About the Charles Perkins Centre:  Obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease account for half the deaths in Australia and have become epidemics of global proportions. The University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre aims to ease the burden of these diseases by transforming how we eat, work and live. Most initiatives have treated these diseases as medical conditions, concentrating on complex biology at the levels of genes, cells and organs. By contrast, the Charles Perkins Centre brings medical and health experts together with some of the best minds from the arts and social sciences, architecture, business, education, law, engineering and information technology to look at all three conditions together in a bid to reduce their incidence, not just in Australia, but worldwide.

Premier Newman tonight launched OperaQ’s 2014 program at the Spiegeltent on the Cultural Forecourt at Southbank, a hop step and a jump from Westender’s home base on Boundary Street.

Themed Life Less Ordinary, Der Spiegeltent was the perfect venue and the sultry presentation of La Boheme was the perfect tease.

The news of the night though was the announcement that next year’s Brisbane Festival will be the third city in the world to host the new Philip Glass opera The Perfect American. An ode to Disney, Warhol and Glass himself, Brisbanites will get to see the piece before it is ever performed in America. It has been commissioned for Philip Glass’ 75^th birthday. It will play in London and Madrid before coming to Brisbane.

In a multi-layered, self-referential and possibly-accidental piece of post-modernism, Premier Newman followed the opening number from Rigoletto, described by OperaQ Artistic Director, Lindy Hume as “a representation of the corruption of power based on the sex parties and plastic surgery-enhanced smile of Silvio Berlusconi.”

A smile had been brought to the Premier’s lips by tenor Rosario La Spina’s description of the opera’s central character as “being able to get whatever he wanted and wanting women, well, pretty much all of the time.”

As is fitting in the Spiegeltent, sex was pretty much the topic of the evening. The characters from La Boheme were in the audience, egging everyone on to indulgent heights of enthusiasm and then burst into Puccini’s romantic opera that climaxed with a snow machine blanketing parts of the audience in white foam.

The well dressed and somewhat formal crowd left highly satisfied, thoroughly titillated and nicely warmed by a glass or two of free bubbly.

The light show at the South bank forecourt is a sight to behold, so even if you cannot afford the dramatic and musical events of the Brisbane Festival, grab the kids, grandma or the dog and take a walk down there on dusk.

Australian Natalie Isaacs (Pictured) Joins Policymakers, Scientists, Businesswomen, Indigenous Leaders, Activists and Environmental Luminaries To Address Climate Crisis

A powerful cohort of women leaders from 35+ countries, including Natalie Isaacs the CEO and Co-founder of 1 Million Women from Australia, will come together in New York later this month to take bold action on climate change and craft a Women’s Climate Action Agenda.

The group includes a compelling mix of business leaders, former heads of state, scientists, government officials, indigenous leaders, activists, teachers, community organizers and culture shapers, who will complete the Women’s Climate Action Agenda at the first International Women’s Earth and Climate Summit, September 20th-23rd. Participants include: Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary to the UNFCCC; Marina Silva, former Brazilian Minister of Environment; Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland; Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams; Dr. Sylvia Earle, marine biologist; May Boeve, 350.org Executive Director; Dr. Vandana Shiva and leaders from Global Gender Climate Alliance, UN Women, Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), 1 Million Women, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and other grassroots organizations.  (See a full list of Summit delegates here: http://www.iweci.org/summit-delegates )

“We are bringing women leaders together at this crucial time in history because we know that women are uniquely positioned to implement the critical sustainability solutions needed to address the world’s pressing climate challenges,” said Osprey Orielle Lake, co-founder of the International Women’s Earth and Climate Summit.  “Nature will not wait while politicians debate.  Women around the world are facing the impacts of a changing climate every day, and we are coming together to say “enough is enough” and it is time for action that addresses the roots of this crisis and fosters just solutions.

Summit delegates will gather on the eve of Climate Week and the United Nations General Assembly session, and as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) prepares to release its much anticipated Assessment Report.  The Women’s Climate Action Agenda will build momentum for substantive action on, increased funding for and the meaningful policy changes necessary to address the global climate crisis.

“Actions to date are simply not equivalent to the escalating urgency of the climate crisis. We are headed toward a 4 degrees C (7.2 degrees F) rise in global temperature over the next decades that will create unprecedented havoc for our children, grandchildren and future generations. Women are no longer willing to stand by when so much is at stake,” said Summit co-founder Sally Ranney. “We know what needs to be done, and mobilized women have the power to do it and to build a much stronger climate action movement. We are gathering in force in order to get climate solutions in place at the speed and scale necessary to make a significant difference,” Ranney added.

Additionally, dozens of communities plan to host ‘Vision Hub’ events to follow the proceedings via live stream (at www.iweci.org) and contribute questions and comments to the Summit delegates from locations around the globe. 

Summit delegates will host a media briefing on September 17th to discuss this unprecedented collaboration and the drafting of the Women’s Climate Action Agenda, and will also host a press teleconference on September 24th following the Summit to detail the outcome of the proceedings. Interviews are available with delegates before, during and after the Summit.  

About IWECI: 

IWECI engages women grassroots activists, Indigenous and business leaders, policy makers and culture-shapers in collaboration. Our goal is to stop the escalation of climate change and environmental and community degradation, while accelerating the implementation of sustainability solutions through women’s empowerment, partnerships, hands-on trainings, advocacy campaigns, and political, economic, social and environmental action. www.iweci.org on Twitter @IWECI

“Full rate pensioners across the country can expect an increase to their pensions of $9.35 per week for singles and $14 per week for couples in the next bi-annual pension increase coming into effect on 20 September,” said Combined Pensioners & Superannuants Association Senior Policy Advisor, Amelia Christie.

“By comparison, Newstart is increasing by just $2 per week for singles and $3.60 for couples. Newstart continues to fall behind the pension, leaving its recipients struggling to survive.

“Pensioners struggle to pay for essentials on the meagre payment they receive and the single Newstart payment is now $163.05 less than the single pension per week. This coupled with the fact that the eligibility criteria are more stringent for Newstart means that recipients are forced into poverty.

“In his budget reply in May, Mr Abbott stated that he has plans to scrap the Supplementary Allowance that Newstart recipients receive. CPSA’s message to the Abbott Government is that people on Newstart need more support, not less.

“CPSA calls on the new Government to increase Newstart by $50 per week. This needs to be coupled with a reform of the way Newstart is indexed so that this payment keeps in line with the pension at a bare minimum. The upcoming pension increase is based on increases to Male Total Average Weekly Earnings; Newstart indexing only takes into account CPI increases.

“Without a reform to the way Newstart is indexed, it will continue to fall below the pension at an alarming rate,” said Ms Christie.

CPSA represents pensioners of all ages, superannuants and low-income retirees. CPSA has over 125 Branches and Affiliated Organisations, with a combined membership of over 30,000 people.

Queensland’s Troy Leinster has designed a laid-back, informal typeface which, he says, typifies Brisbane.

Troy Leinster was chosen from approximately 200 applicants worldwide to complete a Masters of Design in Type and Media at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague, Netherlands. Now an internationally accredited graphic designer, he is the 4th Australian and 1st Queenslander to have ever completed this Masters degree.

Applying his rare talent to develop his latest project, Troy has created a contemporary typeface entitled ‘Brisbane,’ to refresh the look and feel of our sunny city.

‘Brisbane’ is laid-back, informal and self-assured, much like the city’s genuine, down-to-earth citizens. It was primarily designed to tidy up the various styles of typefaces currently used throughout the city, but also has the potential to be adopted as our city’s official font.

The ‘Brisbane’ typeface family is a sans serif with a range of three weights in five styles, plus accompanying optical grades for inverted use. This range makes it a promising contender for orientation systems in the city and suburbs.

Receiving international recognition, this project has been showcased at KABK in The Hague and also at a gallery in Berlin. Troy’s local innovation will also be exhibited here in Brisbane during 30 September – 6 October by the Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA).

Before studying Type and Media at KABK, Designer Troy Leinster completed the type design unit at Monash University in Melbourne, followed by the condensed type design program at Cooper Union in New York.

Currently based in Amsterdam, Troy will be attending the upcoming exhibition in Brisbane.

For more information, please see:

Brisbane, the typeface
http://www.typemedia2013.com/typeface/brisbane/

Troy’s process book for ‘Brisbane’:
http://issuu.com/troyleinster/docs/process_book

The Berlin exhibition:
http://www.motaitalic.com/gallery/exhibitions/mastering-type-13

Further Royal Academy of Art (KABK) course information:
http://www.kabk.nl/pageEN.php?id=0016

Griffith was one of a handful of seats that resisted the charms of Clive Palmer. Only 2,200 people voted 1 Karin Hunter, less than the informal vote of 3,300 people who spoiled their vote, deliberately or otherwise. Rudd for the ALP polled 27,800 against Glasson’s 29,000 but The Greens’ 6,900 votes pushed Rudd over the line.

Glasson picked up about 4,500 votes in this election, about 2,300 from the ALP, 1,500 from the LDP and 1,000 from the Greens. The Greens lost another 2,200 votes to Clive Palmer.

This is a remarkable phenomenon.

Palmer United outpolled the Greens across Queensland. As at Monday 9^th September the results were 230,000 votes to Palmer and 125,000 to the Greens. The Greens lost 44% of their vote in this campaign.

Palmer United’s result is the talk of the town this morning. Many commentators expressing surprise that a first time party with so many obvious policy flaws should do so well. The voters on talk back were all saying the same thing, though. I’m sick of the political double speak and those candidates are real people who speak to me about the problems that affect me.

The 6million copies of the DVD he sent out explaining his position was incredibly effective as well. It was mentioned by more than half the talk back respondents that I heard talking this morning.

Palmer did not do well in the other inner city seats of Brisbane, Ryan, Moreton or Lilley. In most of those seats he just about matched the informal vote and was surpassed by the Greens. The Greens put most of their limited advertising dollars into Brisbane, Griffith and Ryan so that may have been a factor, but they went backwards in those seats by 7%, 5% and 4.5% respectively, so that hardly explains everything.

A better explanation would appear to be that the Greens have had two constituencies, the core voters who put long term nurturing of resources above short term economic gain, and a protest vote that has had nowhere else to go.

In the inner city, their core vote is larger, the protest vote is smaller and went largely to the LNP. As you head out to the suburbs and regional areas, the size of their loss and Palmer’s gain increases.

This was incredibly similar to the QLD state election result, although in that election Katter was the new kid on the block who stole the  Greens thunder. See They Rode to Town on a Donkey on The Generator. My analysis of that result is still relevant, although some issues have moved along a little in the intervening 16 months.

Palmer appears to have done a brilliant job of picking one issue that appeals to each disenfranchised constituency and throwing money at them. That this has so effectively disenfranchised the Greens says a lot about their hold over their vote. There is clearly some navel gazing to do.