This Pathological Life Podcast

** Thanks for downloading this episode. If you'd like to stay in touch with our continuing story, Season 2 continues at This Medical Life, in which Dr Travis Brown continues his exploration of diseases and our approaches to treatment from history to the modern day. Have a look in your podcast app now for This Medical Life, and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode **

The rise of the tobacco industry and prevalence of smoking has significantly shaped the health (or lack of) in the last century.

In 1900s, lung cancer was rare.

60 years later, it was the top cause of cancer deaths in men and second in women. This remains the case to this day. However, as the evidence mounted against smoking, the tobacco industry was not going to let studies, public health or facts get in the way of such a promising albeit fatal product.

Fortunately, the risks and diseases associated with cigarettes are well known today. Unfortunately, the rates of smoking worldwide are still very high and accounts for approximately 8 million deaths per year. However, the a new product has emerged in the last two decades called ‘heated tobacco’ and Vaping.

We explore what we know, and what we don’t about this new trend.

Every disease has a story to tell - Dr Travis Brown This Pathological Life podcast is brought to you by Clinpath Pathology in South Australia

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

** Thanks for downloading this episode. If you'd like to stay in touch with our continuing story, Season 2 continues at This Medical Life, in which Dr Travis Brown continues his exploration of diseases and our approaches to treatment from history to the modern day. Have a look in your podcast app now for This Medical Life, and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode **

Hodgkin Lymphoma, formerly known as Hodgkin disease, is a cancer of the lymph node(s).

First described by Thomas Hodgkin (1832) where he wrote a paper titled ‘On Some Morbid Appearances of the Absorbent (now Lymphatic) Glands and Spleen’. However, the significance of this did not become apparent until decades later.

Hodgkin Lymphoma is the most common malignancy of adolescents and young adults.

This used to be a fatal disease but because of meticulous studies, research, modern medicine and advances in treatment, the prognosis is excellent.

Our interview is with Dr Bradley Webster, Histopathologist specialising in Uropathology and Lymphoid Pathology and this section of the podcast is eligible for 1 RACGP CPD point – self reporting.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

** Thanks for downloading this episode. If you'd like to stay in touch with our continuing story, Season 2 continues at This Medical Life, in which Dr Travis Brown continues his exploration of diseases and our approaches to treatment from history to the modern day. Have a look in your podcast app now for This Medical Life, and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode **

Fragile X is the most common form of inherited intellectually disability.

It is a sex-linked chromosomal disorder that affects boys much more commonly than girls. However, it took some ingenious foresight combined with advancing genetic techniques in the 1970s and 1980s to isolate the exact cause of this condition.

This is a challenging diagnosis for General Practitioners, Specialists, Patients and their families.

A multi-disciplinary approach is essential and, as Professor Graeme Suthers always says ‘listen to your patients and don’t be afraid to seek advice’.

This podcast is eligible for 1 RACGP CPD point – self reporting.

GUEST HOST & INTERVIEW

Professor Graeme Suthers
BSc (Med), MBBS, PhD, FRACP, FRCPA, GAICD

Prof Suthers is Sonic Healthcare' Director of Genetics. He is one of Australia’s most respected experts in the field of genetics, and is nationally and internationally recognised for his expertise in genetic disorders, testing and clinical service provision.
clinpath.com.au/about-us/clinpath-leadership/our-pathologists/professor-graeme-suthers/

This Pathological Life is produced by Clinpath Pathology in South Australia.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

** Thanks for downloading this episode. If you'd like to stay in touch with our continuing story, Season 2 continues at This Medical Life, in which Dr Travis Brown continues his exploration of diseases and our approaches to treatment from history to the modern day. Have a look in your podcast app now for This Medical Life, and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode **

Information in the past (ergo knowledge) was restricted to the few. However, the social media landscape provides individuals with their personal megaphone to the world.

As most are aware, there are numerous benefits this provides, such as engaging directly with an audience. However, these benefits have to be balanced with a price, namely personal data and professional boundaries.

Traditionally, Medical Practitioners, Doctors, and Specialists have approached social media cautiously.

We discuss the pros and cons of medical practitioners accessing/using social media with Lee Aase, Director, Mayo Clinic Social Media Network and Mayo Clinic’s Social & Digital Innovation team. For Lee, he has been working in the social medial field for over twenty years from politics to medical institutions.

We discuss what information is being collected, how that can be used, and the best way Doctors can use social media.

GUEST INTERVIEW

Lee Aase

Director, Mayo Clinic Social Media Network

[email protected] | @LeeAase

Lee Aase is director of the Mayo Clinic Social Media Network, which provides training resources, educational and networking events and a collaboration platform for health care professionals who want to safely and effectively apply social and digital strategies to fight disease, promote health and improve health care.

Lee also leads Mayo Clinic’s Social & Digital Innovation team, which manages Mayo Clinic’s presence on general purpose social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter as well as its owned blog and community platform. Key sites include Mayo Clinic Connect, an online patient community, Mayo Clinic News Network, and Sharing Mayo Clinic, a patient stories blog.

Prior to joining Mayo Clinic in 2000, Lee spent more than a decade in political and government communications at the local, state and federal level. He was elected to Mayo Clinic’s Voting Staff in 2016. In 2018 he received VitalSmarts certification as a trainer in the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology for stress-free productivity.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

** Thanks for downloading this episode. If you'd like to stay in touch with our continuing story, Season 2 continues at This Medical Life, in which Dr Travis Brown continues his exploration of diseases and our approaches to treatment from history to the modern day. Have a look in your podcast app now for This Medical Life, and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode **

In 1901, an experiment when horribly wrong when Doctors attempted to induce tolerance in to a group of dogs by repeated injections of poison. The results were reproducible. Furthermore, the substance did not even need to be poisonous. In 1902, the reaction was called Anaphylaxis.

In the 1920s, a spate of Scientists and Doctors self-experimentation led to a range of discoveries about food allergies and reactions. Injecting skin, injecting nasal turbinates, and injection volunteers (including children) helped us to understand the different types of reactions the gastrointestinal tract can have to different foods allergens.

Join us as we discuss Part Two to our Allergies Podcast with Dr Daman Langguth and learn our current understanding of Anaphylaxis and food allergies.

This podcast is eligible for 1 RACGP CPD point – self reporting.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

** Thanks for downloading this episode. If you'd like to stay in touch with our continuing story, Season 2 continues at This Medical Life, in which Dr Travis Brown continues his exploration of diseases and our approaches to treatment from history to the modern day. Have a look in your podcast app now for This Medical Life, and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode **

Our immune system provides the means for us to live in a world full of pathogens. However, sometimes it gets it wrong and we can find ourselves debilitated because of our own immune system. Allergies and hypersensitivies fall into this category, with symptoms ranging from the mildly irritating, to the life-threatening anaphylaxis.

Our knowledge of these ailments come from a variety of observational and experimental studies.

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, they did not understand the immune system nor allergies. Terms used to describe these diseases (that we know today as allergies) were Summer colds, Summer flu, Hay-asthma, and Hay-fever. The causes were unknown, the treatment ranged from experimental to dangerous and the Scientists often used themselves as the study subjects/volunteers. However, it took some clever minds and quite a bit of courage (not to mention a lot of dogs and other experimental animals) to gather the understanding of these conditions that we have today.

Our special guest is Dr Daman Langguth Head of Immunology Department Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology (SNP), Chair of SNP Partners, Member of Executive Advisory Committee, Chair of the Data Request Committee.

Daman has particular expertise in the investigation of auto-immune disease, allergy, and immune deficiency and has special interests in idiopathic inflammatory myositis, vasculitis, IgG4-related systemic disease and e-Health.

SNP’s Immunology Department is the largest laboratory of its kind in Australia.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

** Thanks for downloading this episode. If you'd like to stay in touch with our continuing story, Season 2 continues at This Medical Life, in which Dr Travis Brown continues his exploration of diseases and our approaches to treatment from history to the modern day. Have a look in your podcast app now for This Medical Life, and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode **

In 1952, George Papanicolaou with the National Cancer Institute embarked on the first ever cervical screening trial. The results were remarkable and the first demonstration of the power of screening an asymptomatic population.

However, the path to this point took decades of perseverance and self-belief. This feat changed the course of medicine and can be attributed to two people: George and Mary Papanicolaou.

Cervical screening is one of the most effective screening programs ever initiated.

Combined with the recent advancements of HPV molecular testing and the HPV vaccine, Cervical cancer is now relatively uncommon and has an excellent prognosis.

SPECIAL GUEST

Dr Cos Fusco
Doctor of Health Science, Master of Medical Science (Pathology)
Fellow of the International Academy of Cytology
CT(ASC) Australian Society of Cytology

Currently Supervising Cytologist Clinpath Pathology

Additionally, Dr Fusco is a current committee member of the RCPAQAP Cytopathology advisory committee 2019-2023 and Scientific coordinator (SA) for The IMPACT National HPV study.

He started his cytology training in 1986 at the then Gribbles Pathology. He worked in Cytology and Histology at Gribbles, IMVS, Clinpath and Adelaide Pathology Partners. In 2006, Dr Fusco started the Cytology laboratory at Adelaide Pathology Partners at the invitation of Dr Fergus Whitehead, and continued with this role post merger with Clinpath Pathology.

His Doctoral Thesis was based on HPV HR DNA testing, HPV vaccination and molecular biomarkers and the potential impacts, on the Australian cervical screening program. Cervical cancer and HPV related cancers are an interest and a focus for research. He has a strong interest and involvement in Endobronchial Ultrasound FNA (EBUS FNA) collection for lung cancer staging and diagnosis.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

** Thanks for downloading this episode. If you'd like to stay in touch with our continuing story, Season 2 continues at This Medical Life, in which Dr Travis Brown continues his exploration of diseases and our approaches to treatment from history to the modern day. Have a look in your podcast app now for This Medical Life, and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode **

Health records are arguably the single most important and personal collection of data anyone can have. With records containing doctor visits, consultation notes, pathology results, radiology reports, medications, allergies, etc., it is hard to overstate its significance.

In fact, these records can save lives.

The Australian Government has implemented an opt-out arrangement for MyHealthRecord and as such, there has been a rise in the number of records available. However, this venture has not been without its stumbles, detractors, and challenges.

We discuss medical records with Dr Chris Moy, who has been a national leader in developing and promoting My Health Record, the electronic ‘filing system’ of Australians’ individual health histories. 

GUEST INTERVIEW

AMA(SA) President Dr Chris Moy
MBBS, FRACGP, FAMA

• sa.ama.com.au/council
• digitalhealth.gov.au/dr-chris-moy

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

** Thanks for downloading this episode. If you'd like to stay in touch with our continuing story, Season 2 continues at This Medical Life, in which Dr Travis Brown continues his exploration of diseases and our approaches to treatment from history to the modern day. Have a look in your podcast app now for This Medical Life, and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode **

COVID-19: Testing the strength of nations

As the pandemic continues to rage, we take a snapshot in time about our current understanding from an epidemiological, pathological, microbiological and immunological viewpoint of COVID-19.

This pandemic has tested the Governments, Politicians and the Public Health of nations; some have responded valiantly; others have been found lacking. The deviation from our regular style podcast is because we are living the COVID story.

Our special guest is Dr Daman Langguth Head of Immunology Department Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology (SNP), Chair of SNP Partners, Member of Executive Advisory Committee, Chair of the Data Request Committee.

Daman has particular expertise in the investigation of auto-immune disease, allergy, and immune deficiency and has special interests in idiopathic inflammatory myositis, vasculitis, IgG4-related systemic disease and e-Health.

SNP’s Immunology Department is the largest laboratory of its kind in Australia.

Known for pushing the boundaries and pioneering new technologies it is acknowledged as the most advanced flow cytometry lab in diagnostic practice. With Australia's most diverse range of autoantibody assays, the lab is also at the forefront of autoantibody testing. In a partnership with a UQ engineering research team it is breaking new ground in digital pathology and image analysis. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

** Thanks for downloading this episode. If you'd like to stay in touch with our continuing story, Season 2 continues at This Medical Life, in which Dr Travis Brown continues his exploration of diseases and our approaches to treatment from history to the modern day. Have a look in your podcast app now for This Medical Life, and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode **

Caitlan Davis starts Episode 26 with,

"In the spirit of reconciliation Clinpath Pathology acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. Today's episode of This Pathological Life, looks at Indigenous Health and its intersection with Pathology, along with health issues and challenges among Australia's first European settlers. But first...

First Australians meet the First Fleet

The American revolution forced the British to investigate alternate destinations for penal colonies. The answer came from a Botanist who travelled with Captain James Cook in 1770 to a land they called New South Wales.

With the decision made, this ‘new’ land would be forever changed.

The First Fleet took a year to prepare and eight months to voyage to New South Wales and suffered from a variety of ailments (which we examine) on the way.

What we now call Australia, is a hard, dry unexpected land, which proved difficult for Europeans to manage and adjust. 

Yet Indigenous/Aboriginals survived and thrived in this land. 

This episode explores Aboriginal medical knowledge with Dan Tyson, Chief Executive Officer at Desert Knowledge Australia from the year 1788, when the land was quite diverse in geographical areas and Aboriginal people were quite diverse in their technologies to survive. We ponder the recurring question of how when bush medicine and food is still used in many places today, why the health of the Australian Indigenous Communities remains so poor.

This is the tale of two worlds.

GUEST INTERVIEW
Dan Tyson, CEO Desert Knowledge Australia

Twitter: @dka_connect

LinkedIn Dan: linkedin.com/in/dan-tyson-8215636/

LinkedIn DKA: linkedin.com/company/dkaconnect/

Dan is currently member of the AMSANT Research Committee and a member of the Central Region Executive of the Chamber of Commerce however, and has also been a director of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the NT (AMSANT), and previously director and vice-chair of Katherine Regional Aboriginal Health and Related Services.

He co-founded the Aboriginal Business Industry Chamber of South Australia (ABICSA) and the Mental Health Coalition of SA. Dan holds a PhD in the field of medical anthropology and has worked extensively in the mainstream and Indigenous health sectors.

OTHER VOICES

Doris Pilkington, author, Follow The Rabbit Proof Fence

Joylene Koolmatrie, Aboriginal Healer and Psychologist

Kenneth Branagh, Rabbit Proof Fence

Rev John Brown, co-chair, National Sorry Day Committee

Sir Ronald Wilson, co-author, Bringing Them Home Report

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.