Popular brain training programs have been put to the test by researchers. The results show that some programs, but not all, can help slow cognitive decline that may lead to dementia. [ + ]

Western Australia's state Labor leader Mark McGowan was quoted as saying "we have the worst rate of methamphetamine usage in the country". It's true. [ + ]

Fatigue and its implications are a profession-wide concern that can put at risk the health and safety of both patients and doctors. [ + ]

The new 'digital marshmallow test' looks at impulsive behaviour in adults that can lead to obesity, type 2 diabetes, substance abuse and suicide. [ + ]

A miniature model of the gut made from stem cells lifts the lid on how infection-causing enteroviruses enter the intestine. [ + ]

Alzheimer's is a long game — it doesn't happen overnight. The good news is, early intervention can delay onset. [ + ]

The Philadelphia Pediatric Medical Device Consortium (PPDC) has announced seed grants to three companies developing medical devices for children. [ + ]

Melbourne researchers have used cutting-edge genomics technology to show a strain of a bacteria can be transmitted to patients from machines commonly used to regulate body temperature during cardiac surgery. [ + ]

The Minister for Indigenous Health, the Hon Ken Wyatt AM, MP recently announced $8 million to expand a project that is transforming hospital care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with acute coronary syndrome. [ + ]

A mobile patient monitoring system — which was last week selected as only one of 25 digital health and medical technologies in the world to be fast-tracked into the lucrative US market — is set to be released in Australia. [ + ]

Patients with hip fracture should receive surgery within 48 hours of arriving at hospital and start moving around the day after surgery, if possible, according to a new care standard launched by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. [ + ]

Moderate-to-late premature babies face much higher rates of developmental and behavioural delays than previously thought, an Australian-first longitudinal study by the Royal Women’s Hospital has found. [ + ]

Australians with schizophrenia die 25 years earlier than others due to poor heart health. [ + ]

For many people suffering from disabling conditions, such as Parkinson's disease, spinal injury and paralysis, multiple sclerosis, macular degeneration, heart disease, renal failure and even cancer, announcements in the press around breakthroughs in stem cell research undoubtedly bring hope. [ + ]

Typhoid fever, a bacterial infection that causes high fever and other disabling symptoms, remains a serious global problem in the developing world: it kills almost a quarter of a million people annually and infects about 21 million. [ + ]