In this Healthed lecture, Dr Rashi Kalra explains the benefits of these tests - "essential carrier screening tests"- Cystic Fibrosis, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Fragile X, their application, who they are most relevant to, whether or not extra tests might be needed and how best to explain them to your patients.

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In this Healthed lecture, A/Prof Piyush Srivastava explains and provides an update on best practice heart failure diagnosis and management, demystify the pharmacotherapy landscape, as well as provide practical advice for GPs.

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In this Healthed lecture, neurologist Associate Professor Bronwyn Jenkins presents a practical framework for the assessment of patients with painful headache, differentiating migraine from other, perhaps more pathological, diagnoses. She will also provide an update on the appropriate acute management of migraine as well as new therapies for management of chronic migraine.

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In this Healthed lecture, respiratory expert, Dr John Brannan gives a practice-focused precis on the evidence for this therapy, the target population, and when and how it should be initiated. He will also outline why triple therapy is becoming so important in present-day asthma management, as well as how best to titrate and monitor its effectiveness in the primary care setting.

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The questions answered in this podcast are listed below. They were compiled by GPs and health professionals around Australia.

1. Within the investigations, we're looking at blood tests, and what are we measuring? Are we going to test T3, TSH, T4? What's the role of reverse T3?
2. How do you measure iodine and is it worthwhile?
3. How often should GPs do TSH measurements in patients? Is yearly for patients over 50 years of age too much?
4. What level of dyslipidemia would you advise commencing levothyroxine? Do you use absolute cardiovascular risk assessment to help with the decision?
5. Any role for vitamin D in subclinical hypothyroidism?
6. Why does the thyroid start to fail in the context of subclinical hypothyroidism?
7. Subclinical hyperthyroidism, is there such an entity? How would you investigate or manage them?
8. Are there other scenarios where GPs should think about imaging? And if so, what is there to consider?
9. The measurements of iodine in women who intend to get pregnant, when should we be doing it? How much we should be supplementing?
10. Do you ever re-check the thyroid function in a woman, especially if they got a long course of IVF?
11. Can a patient with depression use low dose thyroxin, 25 micrograms per day if the TSH is in the upper limit of normal to improve their mood, if they are already on an antidepressant?
12. Chronic fatigue syndrome, in whether or not it is advised by specialists and also those who do integrative medicine?
13. Can you comment on the use of Ozempic in hyper and hypothyroidism?
14. Amiodarone interpretation of thyroid function tests? If a patient had amiodarone induced hypothyroidism, how do you interpret the thyroid function tests?
15. Can people with Hashimoto's ever stop thyroid replacement therapy?
16. Should thyroxin be stored in the fridge? If so, what are the practical issues involved in managing that?
17. I have a newly pregnant lady with new onset TSH less than 0.01 and T4 of 24. She's asymptomatic, she miscarried. Her hCG fell so did her T4. It’s now in the normal range, although the TSH remains less than 0.01, antibodies negative. She's actively wanting to get pregnant again. Should she have her Eltroxin reduced? 

Host: Dr David Lim | Total Time: 49 mins

Guest: Prof Duncan Topliss AM, Endocrinologist

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The questions answered in this podcast are listed below. They were compiled by GPs and health professionals around Australia.

1. There seems to be a lack of use of Magogalite inhibitors or MAO inhibitors. Why are we not using this class of drugs much these days?
2. How do we know we've reached their maximum doses? When do we combine? And when do we switch?
3. What is a good guide to choose the next drug? And how would you choose between groups or classes and within classes?
4. What are some of the more common adverse reactions from common combinations, and which combinations are probably not so good together?
5. Are there age groups in which you worry about increasing suicidal ideation and particularly which class of patients?
6. Questions to ask to keep an eye on patients for suicidal ideas:
   - Ask people about depression and how bad it is on a scale from zero to 10
   - Are things so bad, you wish you did not wake up in the morning?
   - If they say yes, you would then say, do you really wish you were not alive?
   - Are they mild, medium, or strong?
   - Have you actually thought of doing something to yourself?
   - On a zero to 10 scale, how strong are such ideas?
7. Do they often wake up feeling much less at risk to themselves?
8. What do we tell patients when they wake up having appetite for benzodiazepines to ease the emotional pain? What would be the advice for these patients? Whom did they reach out to? And what would they say to GPs/healthcare professionals.
9. Tell us more about serotonin syndrome, what we shouldn't do, and is there anything we can do to help to reduce the risk?
10. What do you do with a young woman on escitalopram who has a low libido as a result of the drug?
11. We seem to have a world with less smiling people and more depression as compared to children in Africa or the first and second world war. Can you comment? 

Host: Dr David Lim | Total Time: 47 mins

Guest: Clinical A/Prof David Horgan, Psychiatrist

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In this Healthed lecture, Obstetrician and gynaecologist, Prof. Bill Ledger presents the latest evidence on the role of progesterone including the when, why, how and for whom and presents the current recommendations for the treatment and management of women who present with early pregnancy bleeding.

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In this Healthed lecture, Associate Professor Wayne Warburton will provide insights into the nature and prevalence of the problem and, importantly, will also suggest strategies to help prevent and manage screen overuse/video gaming disorders in children.

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In this Healthed lecture, Dr Hilton Koppe showcases the range of cognitive screening tools applicable for use in general practice, highlighting their strengths and limitations as well as helping determine which of these tools is most appropriate for any particular patient. 

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The questions answered in this podcast are listed below. They were compiled by GPs and health professionals around Australia.

1. Why do we need new guidelines and the new calculator?
2. Has the guidelines changed anything about the populations we are to screen or to be particularly careful about?
3. How do people with significant mental health issues fitted in?
4. What sort of family history becomes important?
5. If a patient has had atrial fibrillation, but for many years now they don't, how would you score them as positive or negative?
6. Can you tell us a little bit about coronary artery calcium score, whom we use it for and how does it factor in this new guideline and calculator?
7. Can you comment on soft plugs not being picked up in coronary artery calcium scores?
8. What happens when you plug a patient into the calculator, you now come up with a five year risk not 10. Have the numbers changed a little in terms of what is high risk and intermediate risk? Can you take us through that.
9. What are the various targets, both for blood pressure targets and lipid targets for your intermediate and higher risk patients?
10. Having a non-zero coronary artery calcium score, does that make it a primary prevention situation or a secondary prevention situation?
11. How do we as GPs do with patients with any form of inflammation, ulcerative colitis, arthritis? And do they factor in as increasing the risk for heart disease?
12. Can you talk to us briefly about how to do the scale on the calculator better?
13. Can you comment on lipid targets?
14. Is there a differentiation between affiliate and hydrophilic settings?
15. What are your key messages?

Host: Dr David Lim | Total Time: 31 mins

Guest: Prof Clara Chow AM, Cardiologist

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