AMJ

The Internet is an opportunity, rather than a challenge to medical authority . It can facilitate genuine consultation, and promote partnerships with patients and empower people to deal with chronic, complex and life threatening illness. To deal with this new era of information we need to develop a system of accreditation of Internet sites, to develop reliable sites and to collaborate with patient support groups.

Although most of the applications are still being studied at the experimental level, synchrotron radiation has made a major contribution to medical research by improving our understanding of various pathologies.

Clinical outcomes and tolerability were comparable between carvedilol and bisoprolol in the treatment of patients with Congestive Heart Failure. However therapy with carvedilol was associated with a significantly lower rehospitalisation rate for cardiovascular reasons and a trend towards a lower mortality rate that did not reach statistical significance.

An astonishing 7% of the 153 million people are reported to have diabetes in Bangladesh. Many remain undiagnosed. Delays in diagnosis or management of diabetes have life limiting consequences for those who can ill afford private health care in the poorer nation.  Screening and early intervention appear to be denied to many in the developing country. The context is very different with Australians very fortunate to have a coordinated primary health care sector. The outlook for Bangladeshis with uncontrolled diabetes or with treatable sequela would be unacceptable in Australia.