Helping Australians reduce their dementia risk - Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Nearly 80,000 older Australians are expected to dump their private health cover by the end of the decade as a result of the federal government's controversial proposed changes. The latest estimate is nearly double the 44,000 figure repeatedly cited by the federal government in defence of the policy. The proposal would wind back the rebate Australians aged 65 and over receive on their private health cover, banking about $3 billion to spend elsewhere in the aged care system. However, health department analysis released under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws reveals that while 44,000 Australians are expected to drop their cover in 2028-29 as a result of the policy, that is forecast to rise to a cumulative total of 78,000 by the following year. The Coalition said Health Minister Mark Butler had consistently used the smaller figure to defend the policy. Anne Ruston says older Australians cannot afford to live without private health insurance. (ABC News: David Sciasci)"Either he didn't read his own briefs, or he's been deliberately misleading older Australians," Shadow Health Minister Anne Ruston said.

Bioengineer.org news storyFor people living with HIV, modern antiretroviral therapy can suppress the virus to levels below what standard laboratory tests can detect. Yet some patients on long-term treatment experience a curious phenomenon: a single test result showing a small, transient amount of virus in the blood, followed by an immediate return to undetectable levels. These events, known as viral blips, have puzzled clinicians and researchers for years, raising questions about whether they represent harmless statistical noise, brief bursts of viral production from hidden reservoirs, or early warnings of impending treatment failure. A new nationwide Swedish study, published in BMC Infectious Diseases, offers one of the most comprehensive answers to date. Drawing on the Swedish national InfCareHIV cohort, researchers analyzed data from 4,210 treatment-naïve adults who began antiretroviral therapy from 1 January 2007 onward, with follow-up data extracted through 30 September 2020. The median observation time was 5.5 years, with some individuals followed for as long as 13.7 years.

European Medical Journal news storyPeople living with HIV may experience subtle changes in heart muscle function even when conventional measures of cardiac performance remain normal, according to findings from a systematic review and meta-analysis. Researchers identified significantly impaired global longitudinal strain (GLS) among people with HIV compared with HIV-uninfected individuals, despite preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in both groups. The findings suggest that speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) could provide additional information about early myocardial dysfunction in this population. Read the full news story here.