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The Menzies Centre for Population Health Research, affiliated with the University of Tasmania, takes advantage of Tasmania's island status, which makes follow-up studies fairly easy to do, along with common environmental and lifestyle factors for the population. Pioneering research on sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) was characteristic of the Centre's early focus on environmental and lifestyle causes of disease, but the Centre is now branching into genetic aspects of disease, taking advantage of a population largely descended from identifiable founder families.

Research is presented describing the development of more effective treatment for leg ulcers, to replace the current inadequate treatment, which includes delayed diagnosis, overuse of antibiotics, and underuse of compression therapy. Effective compression therapy includes the use of stockings and bandages.

There is significant disparity between the level of research output of Australian general practice and that of the areas of surgery, medicine and public health. Many of the decisions being made in general practice are not supported by research evidence, with GPs facing barriers to research including lack of time and administrative assistance.

The TVW Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Australia brings researchers from diverse fields together to address issues important to the health of children. Named for a telethon to raise money for Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth begun in 1967, the Institute opened in 1990. In 1997, $5.9 million had been collected for research, and major advancements in vaccination, Aboriginal health, allergies, asthma, and other areas.

Three-fourths of the published medical research from institutions in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, first appears in overseas medical journals. A researcher reviewed the 8,860 articles indexed in Medline from 1993-1996 which showed a NSW affiliation. University and teaching hospitals were more likely to publish within Australia, and research institutions almost exclusively published in foreign journals. Such articles were more commonly cited in other researcher's papers than articles published in Australian journals.

Issues are presented concerning the changes which have taken place in medical and health research in Australia between 1951 and 2000. The influence of independent research institutes and the tertiary education sector are discussed.

About 16% of Australia's research effort is devoted to medical research, and yet medical researchers produce almost half of Australia's research publications. [1] Medical research has until recently done much [...]

Research is presented describing how hypotension in intensive care patients can be caused by primary adrenocortical insufficiency. The similarities between the symptoms of concomitant medical illnesses and those of acute adrenal failure can delay recognition of the problem.

The majority of medical practitioners use factors such as clinical memory, judgement, experience and decision-making, but seldom numerical evidence, to make diagnostic decisions. In an attempt to encourage practitioners to make more use of evidence-based medicine, researchers are attempting to produce the evidence more quickly and in a more usable format.

Research is presented describing the discovery of metastatic follicular carcinoma of the thyroid cell type, in the struma ovarii of a 27-year-old woman. Struma ovarii is a rare teratoma, and malignant struma ovarii is mostly follicular.

Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) appears to grant research fellowships equitably and without apparent gender bias. One woman for every 2.5 men applies for research appointments or promotions to the Council, but they are equally likely to succeed in their applications. Men do tend to apply for larger grants than women. Although sex discrimination is not evident, female applicants may be less likely to apply for fellowships, reflecting a self-selection process that eliminates some potential female applicants.

The Australian government needs to increase medical research funding, which is disproportionately low compared with other countries. The question is how Australia will decide which projects to fund when there is no simple formula to identify what will produce the greatest return. The key will be to find a balance and provide incentives to scientists in their health research effort.

Research is presented describing the effectiveness of restrictive and liberal strategies of red-cell transfusion for critically ill patients. The researchers conclude that restrictive transfusion is as effective, and possibly more effective, than liberal transfusion in reducing death rates and organ failure, with possible exceptions.