Episodes
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Napping can be risky. Will you wake up feeling better or worse?
There's no doubt that sometimes an afternoon snooze is an absolute necessity.
Norman and Tegan explore what's going on when you nap, and what you can do to get the most benefit.
References:
Influence of mid-afternoon nap duration and sleep parameters on memory encoding, mood, processing speed, and vigilanceLifestyle mediators of associations among siestas, obesity, and metabolic healthEffects of planned cockpit rest on crew performance and alertness in long-haul operations -
If you've ever been told to take a probiotic — after a course of antibiotics, or just for your general health — you may be wondering what they actually do.
Well, Norman and Tegan are here to dig into the research about these over-the-counter supplements, which claim to support digestion, boost immunity and even improve mood.
Got a health question? Shoot us a line @ABCHealth on Instagram, or send a voice memo to [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you!
Looking for COVID-19 updates? Don't panic, they've moved over to The Health Report
References:
Probiotics for the prevention of paediatric antibiotic-associated diarrhoea Multispecies Probiotic for the Prevention of Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhoea in ChildrenA systematic review of gut microbiota composition in observational studies of major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia Post-Antibiotic Gut Mucosal Microbiome Reconstitution Is Impaired by Probiotics and Improved by Autologous FMT -
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Consistent exercise is good for you, but does it make any difference whether you actually enjoy what you're doing?
Norman and Tegan explore how fun might help you establish a work-out habit that benefits your body and your mind.
Got a health question? Shoot us a line @ABCHealth on Instagram, or send a voice memo to [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you!
Looking for COVID-19 updates? Don't panic, they've moved over to The Health Report
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As the saying goes: All good things must come to an end. But don't go away, we've got something big coming!
Obviously we're not talking about the pandemic — as it certainly isn't good and it certainly isn't over.
We're talking about Coronacast: your little pandemic friend that (hopefully!) helped you through the scary times over the last three years.
Today is Coronacast's last episode, and we're going out with a bang! What's going on with case numbers (spoiler: rising again)? Are we finally seeing the rise of a new variant? And what do we think we've learned over the last three years?
BUT DON'T UNSUBSCRIBE! While Coronacast will be leaving us like OG SARS-CoV-2, Tegan and Norman aren't going anywhere.
They'll be staying right here with a new show that's all about answering the health questions everyone's asking!
We know good health information is hard to come by and it's impossible to know who to trust. So send in your your health questions to our new show: What's That Rash?
Every week, Norman and Tegan will have a swing at answering them, and give you some useful information and amazing stories to help you live a healthier life.
Email us at [email protected]. First episode out 15th November.
Also, genuinely, A MASSIVE thank you to every single person whose ever listened to Coronacast and/or sent in a question over the past few years.
Without you, we've never have done more than 500 episodes over more than three years. You're the reason we're here and the reason we've loved doing this show. So thankyou!
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Hello Coronacasters - it's been a while! We have a little bit of news to share about what's coming up for Coronacast.
Also, Tegan's here to share a very special podcast recommendation!
It's a new season of Science Friction! It's called Hello AI Overlords - and it's an entire season diving deep into AI. Where's it come from? Where are we heading? And what happens if it's controlled by only a handful of people.
So make sure you check it out right now! Tell all your friends. And why not tell ChatGPT too.
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There's still so much to learn about COVID, and this week we have two big things about Long COVID and how long we spread the virus.
Firstly, a recent study has drawn a link between hand grip strength and post Long COVID symptoms, especially when it comes to who gets it and how badly.
And secondly, a study from Hong Kong has tried to nail down what's going on in a person's immune system and how that effects the duration of shedding the virus.
That's on this week's Coronacast.
(And please note, we're taking the next few weeks off! But we'll be back in October)
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It's a question that we've been asking since the very beginning of the pandemic: when will it really end?
It's easy to think that because people are vaccinated and less attention is paid to COVID, it's over.
In reality more than 5000 people have died of COVID this year, and the disease burden rises every time there's a new variant.
On today's Coronacast, a chat with Professor Brendan Crabb, an infectious disease expert who heads up the Burnet Institute on how he thinks the past several years have gone, and whether COVID will remain a forever virus.
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The COVID pandemic brought on a whole bunch of change to nearly everyone in the world.
All of a sudden people were under lockdowns, out of work, unable to see their loved ones, even fighting for their lives.
But ever so steadily, things have improved. Vaccines came along and we tried to get back to normal. But for some that’s not so easy.
According to a survey from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare - we’re feeling less lonely than we were in the early days of the pandemic.
But, sadly, it’s not all great news.
That’s on this week’s Coronacast.
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One of the big scary unknowns that remains with COVID is long-COVID.
There are hundreds of thousands of Australians with the condition.
But little bit by little bit, researchers are working out more and more about it.
And in some good news - it seems that the risk of long-COVID has fallen over the last couple of years.
Also, why shoving certain drugs up your nose might help avoid COVID in the first place.
That’s on this week’s Coronacast
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In the early days of COVID, it seemed like we were getting new variants of concern every few months.
Wuhan led to Alpha then to Delta via a side trip to Beta for parts of the world.
But ever since Omicron came in like a wrecking ball at the end of 2021... sure there has been a lot of new sub-variants, but no new challenger to take on the Big Boss.
So could Omicron be the final variant? Are things starting to settle down? Will saying this mean a new variant is around the corner?
All the big questions on this week's Coroncast.
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It seems like a mere week ago that we were talking about the last new variant - because it was only a week ago.
Move over Eris, there's a new variant in town: Pirola.
Unlike most of the recent strains going around, this one branched off further back in the Omicron family tree.
But what of the usual questions: is it better at evading immunity? Does it cause worse disease? How do I protect myself? Also, how normal is it for a virus to mutate this much? Is it really moving this quickly, or is just because we're watching it so closely?
That's on this week's Coronacast.
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Wherever you look, viruses are going into and coming out of animals.
Mostly this happens without much fanfare, though occasionally it causes big problems.
Which is why it's concerning that researchers in Europe have started to sound the alarm about fur farms in Europe and other researchers looking at pig farms have found more swine flu variants than they expected.
So what's going on?
References:
Infection prevention and control in the context of coronavirus disease (COVID-19): a living guideline, 10 August 2023Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus infection on multiple fur farms in the South and Central Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, July 2023The genomic landscape of swine influenza A viruses in Southeast Asia -
If you think that excavating your nose is a harmless if somewhat disgusting habit - think again.
A new study reckons you could emerge with COVID-19.
Other studies worry about how forgetful having your fingernail so close to the brain might make you. And have you ever given thought to your nasal microbiome much less what our primate cousins get up to (hint: it's even more disgusting)?
We drill deep on rhinotillexis.
References
Rhinotillexomania: psychiatric disorder or habit?A review of nose picking in primates with new evidence of its occurrence in Daubentonia madagascariensisStaphylococcus aureus and the ecology of the nasal microbiome -
We've said it before and we'll say it again - make sure you get your booster dose.
But what, you ask, is in it for me? How likely am I to be the one who dodges severe disease?
Well a new study has quantified this. It's a number familiar to epidemiologists - the number needed to treat to prevent a certain outcome.
Also this week: where are we at with repurposing existing drugs to prevent COVID?
What's happening with flu numbers? And who was Tegan's surprise fluffy office visitor?
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In the early days of COVID, we used wastewater surveillance to spot undetected community transmission.
Our sewage gave public health authorities early alerts that COVID was spreading.
Wastewater surveillance also gives information on sub variants: what's on the rise and what's in decline.
But there's other stuff in wastewater - and it's downright criminal.
That's captured on today's rather smelly Coronacast.
References:
A common allele of HLA is associated with asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infectionViral and antibody dynamics of acute infection with SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant (B.1.529): a prospective cohort study from Shenzhen, China -
A lot has been said about COVID antivirals, especially on how they might help bring down the number of deaths from the disease.
But occasionally an interesting phenomenon occurs: a patient takes the antiviral drugs, feels better, only to come down with COVID again.
So how do COVID antivirals work and why does the rebound sometimes happen?
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It's the depths of winter, and every second person you know has a cold of some sort.
Most are mild but some can hit hard - as we all know from COVID and influenza. But what about the third virus in the unholy trinity of winter bugs?
RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, is tracking a lot higher than usual for this time of year.
Who's most at risk, how can you protect yourself, and how much do the numbers have to do with increased testing overall? Oh, and what does "syncytial" even mean?
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It was a massive question at the start of the pandemic: is Sweden's strategy of keeping things open a better way forward?
Zoom ahead a few years, and it's still on the minds of Coronacast listeners.
This week, we're digging into what happened in Sweden and we also answer a question about the psychological impact of the pandemic on teenagers.
Everything and more, on this week's Coronacast.
Ask a question here: https://yourquestions.abc.net.au/hc/en-au/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360002468535
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Our immune system does an amazing job keeping us healthy - but it works in mysterious ways, especially when it comes into contact with novel viruses like SARS-CoV-2.
We've talked a bit before about imprinting - the concept where the first time your immune system sees a virus can determine how it'll react to that virus in the future.
And a recent study in the prestigious journal Science has found the Omicron variant could be taking advantage of that - possibly showing why people seem to be getting repeat Omicron infections.
So what could this mean for public vaccination strategy and our risk of reinfection?
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We've all heard that COVID spreads in clusters and sometimes the cluster comes from a single person who can infect nearly everyone around them.
They're superspreaders and it's been opaque how much virus a superspreader is actually responsible for spreading around.
Now a study has found that in a group of deliberately infected people, just two of them were responsible for nearly 90 percent of all the virus emitted - even though they only had mild symptoms.
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