Australia’s health records system has taken a leap forward thanks to an announcement from Health Minister Sussan Ley over the weekend, changing the currently floundering opt-in service to an opt-out service, much to the approval of health practitioners. [ + ]

A study heralded to reshape the treatment of breast cancer as we find more evidence indicating the immune system does not behave the way we first thought will be presented before the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) Annual Scientific Conference this week in Perth. [ + ]

Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) made news last week when it removed editor-in-chief Emeritus Professor Stephen Leeder after his disagreements with its plans to outsource production to Elsevier. [ + ]

An X-rated video campaign encouraging men to check for testicular campaign has been viewed over half a million times, in a cheeky Game of Thrones parody entitled Game of Balls. It was produced by Australian charity Blue Ball Foundation. [ + ]

Medical professionals have topped Australia’s most regarded professions with Nursing been officially recognised as Australia’s ‘most ethical and honest profession’ according to the latest Roy Morgan Image of Professions Survey. [ + ]

And don't forget to get your flu vax before winter hits! [ + ]

More good news for HIV-positive people hoping to conceive: a combination treatment that allows for natural conception may soon be available in Australia. But what will it mean for addressing the stigma attached to those living with HIV? And what about those born to HIV-positive parents? [ + ]

The Therapeutic Goods Administration will decide via Advisory Committee whether to move painkillers containing codeine such as Nurofen Plus, Mersyndol and Panadeine from their current Schedule 3 category to a Schedule 4 classification, thus requiring a doctor’s script. [ + ]

Image (developed from Australian Synchrotron data) courtesy of Dr Luke Miles, St Vincent's Institute.  [ + ]

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Image: Australian troops in France in the first world war – and one of Australia’s women medics, possibly Dr Laura Foster. Heather Sheard The War Office regrets it cannot utilise the services of women doctors – Sydney Morning Herald, May 10, 1915. From the outbreak of the first world war until late 1916, military officialdom throughout the British Empire denied women doctors the right to enlist with the Allied medical corps. Nevertheless, more than 20 Australian women doctors acted as surgeons and medical officers in military base and field hospitals in Belgium, France, Serbia, England, Egypt, Malta and across Europe between 1914 and 1919. [ + ]

A new chemotherapy drug for ovarian cancer has received United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Orphan Drug Designation. Cantrixil is now scheduled to enter Australia in late-2015/early-2016 for clinical treatment of patients with the condition malignant ascites, a terminal condition associated with cancers such as ovarian cancer and for which no effective long-term therapies exist. [ + ]

Trauma specialists at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital have reported a positive response to the six-month trial of a new app designed specifically for the facility to assist with critical decision-making processes in time and resource restricted situations. [ + ]

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The states will join with New South Wales in three separate trials to test for the benefits of medicinal marijuana with a total cost of $9 million to commence in mid-2016. [ + ]