Psychologist welcomes gay marriage Senate inquiry

A Brisbane psychologist who specialises in counselling gay and lesbian people has welcomed a Senate inquiry into marriage equality.

Paul Martin said, “The inquiry will provide an opportunity to put forward the evidence strongly linking marriage equality and better mental health.”

“This evidence includes recent public statements by the American Psychological Association and the Australian Psychological Society that same-sex couples and their children experience higher levels of psychological distress when the couples concerned are denied the right to marry.”

“The research data also demonstrates that when society allows same-sex couples to marry, it has a positive impact on the mental health of gay and lesbian people and their families.”

Mr Martin said that due to homophobia gays and lesbians experience alarming levels of mental health problems including being four times more likely to commit suicide and are more than twice as likely to experience psychological disorders.

For more information contact Paul Martin on 0419 0055 55.

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New app helps choose healthy food

FoodSwitch, an Australian-first iPhone app, has been launched recently to help shoppers make healthier food choices in the supermarket and reduce high levels of fat, salt and sugar from their diets.

By simply scanning the barcode of Australian packaged foods using an iPhone camera, shoppers will receive immediate, easy to understand nutritional advice via the FoodSwitch app.

"FoodSwitch's three-step approach marries the latest technology with cutting edge research. Australians can now scan barcodes, see what's in a food and switch to a healthier choice in an instant," said Professor Bruce Neal, senior director at The George Institute for Global Health, University of Sydney.

The app makes recommendations based on the nutritional value of more than 20,000 packaged food products found in Australian supermarkets and is underpinned by more than three years of research by pre-eminent food and health policy experts from The George Institute.

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Internet gambling on the rise

Internet gambling is on the rise in Australia according to new research from the University of Sydney and Southern Cross University, with factors such as convenience and ease of access contributing to its popularity.

The study shows that internet gamblers had significantly more positive attitudes towards gambling and that people appear to be gravitating towards online gambling because of its availability and convenience.

Professor Alex Blaszczynski, from the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney, collaborated with lead researcher Dr Sally Gainsbury from Southern Cross University's Centre for Gambling Education and Research (CGER). Also collaborating on the study, “An investigation of internet gambling in Australia”, were CGER director Professor Nerilee Hing and the University of Lethbridge's Dr Robert Wood.

"For people with existing gambling problems, internet gambling may create additional risks," Dr Gainsbury said. "Overall the research showed internet gamblers were not more likely to be problem gamblers, but they do appear to be at higher risk of developing problems."

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Muscle relaxants not helping arthritis

Pain management is a high priority for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, but a new study shows that minimal or no benefits with muscle relaxants and neuromodulators are outweighted by the risks.

Despite recent advances in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, pain remains a significant problem to people with this condition. Apart from simple analgesics like paracetamol, other possible treatments that might help in treating pain include muscle relaxants such as diazepam or neuromodulators such as pregabalin or topical capsaicin.

However, in two papers published in The Cochrane Library, Australian researchers have found that patients received little pain benefit from either of these two different classes of drugs. The researchers from Monash University, the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, arrived at their conclusion after examining existing study data.

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Mixing medicines increases injury risk

Working-age adults who take combinations of prescription medication may be doubling their risk of serious falls at home according to research from The University of Auckland.

The findings published in Injury Prevention this week looked at the association between prescription medications and falls among people aged between 20 and 60 years who died or required admission to hospital within 48 hours of an unintentional fall at home in Auckland between 2005 and 2006.

Data showed that taking two or more of some prescription drugs at the same time doubled the unintentional fall rate at home for the young and middle aged, similar to the effect seen in elderly people. However, it was not possible to determine from the research if the risk related to the medication themselves or the underlying medical conditions.

Medications for high blood pressure and cholesterol were most commonly involved in higher rates of unintentional falls. People taking two or more of these prescription drugs were 2.5 times as likely to sustain an injury as a result of an unintentional fall as those on fewer.

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