australia

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Autism – Please help an Australian School Student with her research into Autism.

Autism research

Autism research

A couple of days ago we were asked by a Emma, a student at St Francis Xavier’s College in Australia, to help her find people to take part in a survey.

Emma writes ” I am currently completing Year 12 in Australia and for my major work I plan on creating a short film about Autism both generally and within Australia.

I was wondering if anyone with an ASD or a child with ASD would like to complete a survey for me. I am conducting a set of surveys as a part of my HSC Major Work for Industrial Technology – Multimedia. The purpose of these surveys is to:

1. investigate what people with Autism Spectrum Disorders would like other people to know about the disorder, specifically in Australia,

2. investigate what people would like to see in an informative video about Autism Spectrum Disorders

Each survey should only take 5-10 minutes to complete. All responses will be anonymous and confidential. The findings in the research will only be published in my folio for assessment purposes.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to help me create this.

Please feel free to share these links with other people who may like have an input.”

There are two surveys which you can take below.

1. For People with on the autism spectrum.

2. For the General Public.

It would be great if you could share with anyone who may be interested.

Many thanks in advance!

1 Comment Posted on Blood

Celebrate National Blood Donor Month January 2016 – why not become a donor?

Why not make donating blood one of your New Year’s resolutions?

National Blood Donor Month

National Blood Donor Month

January is, as you may know, National Blood Donor Month. So we thought we would kick start 2016 but asking our readers to start giving blood if they do not already do so.

If you are based in the USA check out the Red Cross site here to book an appointment!

In the UK please go to the NHS Blood Donor site which you can find located here.

If you live in Canada please go here for more information. And in India this is a useful resource.

Those you you who live in Australia please see this site. Which is also run by the Red Cross.



For New Zealanders this site is a good port of call for blood donations.

I’ve only covered a few of the major English speaking sites here. If you would like to suggest others that would be brilliant. Please use the comments section below to add any links.

Many thanks in advance and can we wish you a happy and healthy 2016.

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Happy Australia Day to all those celebrating


Happy Australia Day to all our readers.

We thought be would take this opportunity to share some Australian Rock Art from Ubirr, Kakadu in the Northern Territory. We saw these Aboriginal paintings three years ago and were very impressed

Ubirr, Kakadu, Rock Art

Ubirr, Kakadu, Rock Art


2 Comments Posted on Patient Talk

The Health Benefits of Chocolate – 5 great reasons to crack open a bar now.

The benefits of chocolate

The benefits of chocolate

There are certain parts of a healthcare bloggers working life which always appeal.  In particular it is when we can write a blog to explain why doing something we all love is healthy.  I am planning a rather extensive blog on French red wine to prove the point.  Granted the benefit  is not just for our “heart” when we have a glass of Burgundy.

Today is one of those happy occasions because, as most small children can tell you, this week is “Chocolate Awareness Week”.  For some (my daughter for example) perhaps the most important week in the calendar!

So it gives me great pleasure to share with you (on this medical blog) a brief rundown of the health benefits of eating chocolate.  Yes (and before I’m rushed off my feet in the comments box) I know that chocolate should be consumed in moderation.  Even so here goes:-

a)      Makes you feel better.  Chocolate contains serontin which helps elevate your mood.

b)      Fighting fatigue.  It has been suggested that athletes who eat drank chocolate might perform better than those who use sports drinks.

c)       Anti-oxidants.  It seems that chocolate is a great source of anti-oxidants.  For more information of these health boosting chemical please check out our blog https://patienttalk.org/?p=252

d)      Eye sight.  Yes that’s right!  Some tests show that chocolate may have the same effect as carrots.

e)      Memory .  Eating a bar of chocolate can make you feel better (see above) but it may also  help your memory.

Some scientists suggest that there are quite a few other benefits of chocolate but that is for another post.

I should mention that these benefits refer to eating dark chocolate as oppose to milk or white chocolate.  The darker the better in fact.  This is good news for me as I prefer it that way.

Oh and finally yes the picture is of my daughter consuming chocolate after her first outing as a bridesmaid (in Australia)!


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How many portions of fruits and vegetables do you eat each day on average?

Apple TreeOver the course of the last 20 years or so that mantra “5 a day” has become the norm.

This refers to government and healthcare providers injunction that we should eat 5 plus portions of different fruits and vegetables each day.   In Australia it is 7 each day but who are we to quibble.  (Actually I do have a quibble – what, in fact, is a “portion”?

However what interests me here is how many of us actually consume 5 per day.  To find out we have decided to run a quick poll among our readers. The poll is below and it would be great if you could take part.

Feel free to use the comments box below to add anything of interest to other readers!