Since a novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak in late December 2019, coronavirus disease -19 (COVID-19) epidemic has gradually spread worldwide, becoming a major public health event. In November 2021, the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant was seen in various undervaccinated countries. No specific antiviral therapeutics are currently available for COVID-19 caused by this variant. The treatments for COVID-19 were mainly based on the experiences of similar virus such SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, HIV and influenza viruses. Scientists have taken great efforts to investigate the effective methods for the treatment of COVID-19. In this article, we review a novel option for COVID-19 therapy with the repurposing of Macrogol 3350. We systematically reviewed clinical safety, clinical applications and the progress of antiviral research into this therapeutic. This is summarized and compared, hoping to provide a new clinical option for COVID-19 treatment due to the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant and inform thought for life-threatening future variants.
Hello! Did you read this far? Many won’t. Many didn’t. This article is a total fiction and yet it has spread far and wide. Why write it? Why post it?
Your GP is a great source of information about this and other health related topics. Don’t be scared. Don’t stress. Outsource your medical reading and worries about new variants, existing variants, vaccines, and restrictions to your trusted GP. We are here to help! Here’s some actual medical info on a potential new vaccine!
PartridgeGP is here to help and serve our valued patients and community. PartridgeGP works with you to help you make your best health decisions, and we won’t back away from being your companion, guide, advisor, and sounding board through your health journey. We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of fear and a global pandemic with actual vaccines and therapeutics here now. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
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If you are a great GP, nurse, or other great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Dr Nick Tellis or Mrs Alison Mibus on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
Saturdays deep thought of the day is on the humble activities that back up what we do at PartridgeGP. No one is ever going to wax lyrically about invoicing, cleaning, filing, scanning, or plumbing for general practice, but they all need to be done, and done well, so we can serve you better.
Nothing substitutes for pleasant conduct and good service. We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Better, for you.
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If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
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If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
Dr Ciara Peddell completed her medical training at the University of Tasmania in 2014. Since then she has worked in hospitals and GP practices in Townsville and Brisbane. She completed the Diploma of Child Health in 2017 through the University of Sydney and received her RACGP fellowship in 2019. Dr Ciara is looking forward to moving to Adelaide in January to start her work at Partridge GP.
Dr Ciara is here to help you at PartridgeGP as Your GP! She is available to help you with all of your General Practice needs from the end of January 2021 and you can make your appointment with her conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 0882953200.
All of our doctors here at PartridgeGP are fully qualified ‘Fellows’ (or are studying towards this ‘Registrars’) holding a specialist qualification with either the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP) or the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (FACRRM) or both (3-4 years of full time study and 3 exams on top of an undergraduate university medical degree and supervised trainee ‘intern’ year in a hospital). This is our minimum specialist standard and you can see more about what this involves here. Our Fellows provide supervision and advice to our Registrars.
We also supervise and teach Medical Students from Flinders University. They are still studying to become doctors. All of us – Fellows, Registrars, and Medical Students – make up the Clinical Team here at PartridgeGP with our excellent Practice Nurses. We all uphold the highest standards of privacy, confidentiality, professionalism, and clinical practice.
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Secondly, if you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
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Thirdly, if you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
Dr Katherine Astill commenced her specialist General Practice training with PartridgeGP in August 2017, returned in August 2019, and is back again from February 2021! She graduated with a Bachelor of Physiotherapy from the University of South Australia in 2009 and furthered her education with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from Deakin University in 2013. After holding positions with the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, she decided to specialise in General Practice, with a special interest in Women’s and Children’s Health completing her Diploma of Child Health in 2016.
Dr Katherine has a passion for holistic care and preventative health. She is also a strong advocate for a plant based diet and healthy lifestyle and looks forward to helping people with both of these.
She loves the local Glenelg area and is keen to hit the ground running with the rest of our Great Team here at PartridgeGP!
Dr Katherine is here to help you at PartridgeGP as Your GP! She is available to help you with all of your General Practice needs from the start of February 2021 and you can make your appointment with her conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 0882953200.
All of our doctors here at PartridgeGP are fully qualified ‘Fellows’ (or are studying towards this ‘Registrars’) holding a specialist qualification with either the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP) or the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (FACRRM) or both (3-4 years of full time study and 3 exams on top of an undergraduate university medical degree and supervised trainee ‘intern’ year in a hospital). This is our minimum specialist standard and you can see more about what this involves here. Our Fellows provide supervision and advice to our Registrars.
We also supervise and teach Medical Students from Flinders University. They are still studying to become doctors. All of us – Fellows, Registrars, and Medical Students – make up the Clinical Team here at PartridgeGP with our excellent Practice Nurses. We all uphold the highest standards of privacy, confidentiality, professionalism, and clinical practice.
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
Secondly, if you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
Thirdly, if you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
Whether it’s in person, online, written, spoken, or a combination – we pride ourselves on our teamwork, people, and culture and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Take the next steps!
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If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar never even got on a plane. Rohit Sharma got delayed. Virat Kohli went home after one. KL Rahul was injured without playing. Mohammad Shami almost lost his arm after one Test. Umesh Yadav limped off after three innings. Ravindra Jadeja virtually had his thumb removed. Rishabh Pant had to get scans. Hanuma Vihari’s hamstring looks shot. 17 players have been used in three Tests. They might play as many as 19 to finish the series.
India were beset by injuries and departures as you can read above. They still won the series. Perhaps they won because the Australians were fatigued after back to back to back games in a bubble. Perhaps the injection of fresh faces, fresh minds, and fresh bodies gave them an edge. Perhaps the better team just won, against all odds. The better team.
General Practice always involves teamwork – Your GP knows a fair bit about a lot, but there are always subject matter experts or specialists. We have Physiotherapy with Rod and Movement Theory, and Podiatry with Rosie from Foot and Sole Podiatry onsite, and we have THREE awesome psychologists to help your mental health and wellbeing – Mr Mark Edwards, Ms Monika Kolta, and introducing Ms Jen Riches!
Our newer GPs and Registrars back up our more established GPs. Perhaps the injection of fresh faces, fresh minds, and fresh thinking give us an edge. Perhaps the better team will just win. The better team. PartridgeGP is founded on you having your own great GP, and we will always endeavour to have you see your own great GP. When this isn’t possible, when your GP is away, or when you need to be seen at short notice, isn’t it awesome that ALL of the GPs here take comprehensive notes, share information, and practice with the same ethos. You get the best of both worlds – the care, attention, and relationship with YOUR GP, and the benefits of our medical and nursing team as a backup and a bonus.
We pride ourselves on our teamwork, people, and culture and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Take the next steps!
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If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
Newborn oral health simplified for tired mums and dads.
When my twins were born, I had 3 babies under the age of 2. To suggest that I was tired was a massive understatement. I remember one night of severe sleep deprivation when I honestly thought my son’s penis had fallen off after mixing up my boy/girl twins in the middle of yet another sleepless night nappy change. New mums and dads experience a type of exhaustion that can only be truly understood by fellow parents.
With everything that is on your mind as a new parent, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with the information given to you. If you’re anything like me, if it’s overwhelming to do something, I do nothing. So, today I hope to simplify a few things for you about caring for your new babies mouth and teeth when they emerge. Ok, ready for a quick lesson? Good, me too! Lets go!
Dummy or no dummy?
Ok, this one really annoys me as both a mum and an Oral Health Therapist. There seems to be this frequently recurring negative narrative about caregivers who give their babies dummies. For the record, all of my kids had dummies. My eldest boy, Alex, had his til he was 4 and the twins til they were 3 (I weaned them all at the same time). Babies are meant to suck. They suck to soothe, increase feeding strength, make them happy and to comfort them. In fact, suckling is one of the 5 womb sensations that trigger the baby’s innate calming reflex. Dummy use has even been shown to decrease the rate of SIDS, although the exact reason is still unknown. They can either suck on a breast, a bottle, a dummy or a thumb.
As much as I loved breastfeeding, I had no desire to sit for hours on end while the babies used my sore cracked, bleeding nipples as a pacifier. Bottles and formula can be expensive and can cause bottle decay in babies, so that’s not ideal either. Thumbs are attached to the baby (funnily enough), so trying to remove a thumb from a child to wean them is literally impossible. So that leaves us with a dummy. You can read more about what kind of dummy is best. But apart from that, if a dummy soothes your baby and lets you get a few extra hours sleep, let them have a dummy. Trust me, it’s not the end of the world, but sleep deprivation can be.
But a last word on dummies; please please please do not suck the dummy yourself or anyone else. Bacteria from your mouth can be transferred to the baby and it can have disastrous outcomes including decay, thrush, cold sores and even the common cold which you may not know you have. Carry spare clean dummies with you or rinse under cold running water if it gets dropped or soiled.
When to start brushing baby’s teeth?
Well, both of my boys were born with their lower front teeth present, called “natal teeth” so I started gently brushing their little teeth right from day 1, but what is best practice for others? Start when the baby is a few days old, good routines are established early. Cover your finger with a clean damp washcloth and gently wipe the inside of the baby’s mouth and gums. When baby teeth start to appear, around 6 months of age, start cleaning them using a very soft childrens toothbrush without any toothpaste. Bacteria starts to accumulate in babies’ mouths very soon after birth, so it’s important to start the daily habit of removing the oral bacteria early on. The bacteria that causes decay is transferred to the baby from caregivers, so regular dental check ups and daily good oral hygiene practices are a must for all caregivers too.
Your child’s first dental appointment should be before their first birthday.
This also establishes good rapport and familiarity to the dental setting for the child so that future dental appointments are carried out easily without fear. You can read more about my recommendations for a child’s first dental appointment. I’ll talk more about caring for children’s teeth next week, let’s stick with newborns this week. If you are concerned about your newborns gums, mouth or teeth, make an appointment with your Oral Health Therapist for some excellent knowledge and advice.
Points to remember
If your baby settles better suckling, a dummy is perfectly acceptable to use
Do not suck on the babies dummy yourself, rinse it clean under cold water
Start cleaning babies mouth early on with a clean damp cloth
Use a soft toothbrush once teeth start to appear
No toothpaste until the age of 2, then only use a children’s toothpaste with reduced fluoride
Adult strength toothpaste from age 6
First dental check before babies first birthday
Most of all do what works for you. Your Oral Health Therapist should be supportive, flexible and understanding of everyone’s needs. They are there to help you, not judge.
We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Better, for you.
Want more?
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If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
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If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
Many of you will be concerned about COVID19 mutant strains and many of you will be concerned about the vaccines available. Let’s reclaim copium and hopium and give some more reassuring information.
Don’t panic: New COVID strains are not ‘escape mutants’ and vaccines should still work. The variants have shut down nations and led to surges of new cases and deaths – but experts say current vaccines should still protect against the mutations. New COVID variants are increasing, but experts say there is no need to panic yet.Both the Brazilian and South African variants have a change that can reduce antibody binding, potentially reducing the efficacy of vaccines, as well as making a reinfection more likely. This polymorphism – e484k – is not present in the UK variant. The Brazilian variant has triggered a disastrous new tide of infection in the city of Manaus in the Amazon, where fully 75% of the population contracted the virus last year. This, experts fear, could point to a partial ‘immune escape’ – or suggest people who got milder cases in the first wave are faring worse with this new variant.
If they prove necessary, seasonal COVID vaccines could be available much faster than this first generation of vaccines.
In the second phase of vaccine rollout, with the Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine (a more traditional vaccine), Australian General Practice and PartridgeGP will do our bit to get those who want to be vaccinated protected ASAP, at scale, as safely as we can. Our plans are well advanced. It is super important to us to play our part – and important that people are informed, and not coerced. We can see that countries and areas overseas – the UK, Europe, the US – are being more affected by COVID, and they are having to take more risks than us. We will learn from them. We will have their data and experiences to look upon before we take the plunge ourselves.
But are they safe, I hear you ask? Well, I’ve also written about risk, here, and here, but today, as an introduction, I have a very very smart person describe a story where Australia’s contribution to world vaccination DID NOT work. It wasn’t up to scratch, and so they canned it. That should give us no little confidence in what has been approved. Enough of me – handing over to the super smart Ms Maddie Massy-Westropp.
A deal for the Australian government to purchase more than 50 million doses of a promising new COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the University of Queensland (UQ) and global biotechnology company CSL limited, has been abruptly terminated. In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange on December 11, UQ and CSL announced that the vaccine would not progress to Phase 2/3 clinical trials.
The UQ-CSL vaccine contains the Spike protein, a molecule located on the coronavirus surface. The Spike protein enables the virus to enter human and other animal host cells, where it replicates itself. When the vaccine is administered to a person, the immune system recognises the Spike protein and generates neutralising antibodies which can bind to it. If that person is exposed to COVID-19 in the future, those same antibodies can attack the Spike protein on the coronavirus surface, preventing the virus from entering host cells and replicating. The Spike protein was kept in a stable form in the vaccine using the novel, patented molecular clamp technology which UQ has been developing for the past 10 years.
However, the trial participants also had an immune response against the gp41 component of the vaccine. This has no health consequences at all, but widespread rollout of the vaccine could complicate the HIV screening process. Due to the production of gp41 antibodies, many people who have received the vaccine could falsely test positive on the standard HIV test. Community confidence in vaccine development is critical, with a new survey by The Australian National University showing that 41% of Australian adults would be hesitant about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
A tough decision was made
On December 11, UQ and CSL together announced that clinical trials for their COVID-19 vaccine have been abandoned. Read the whole article here. The famous advert below rings true, and that why I have confidence in Australia’a COVID vaccination program.
PartridgeGP works with you to help you make your best health decisions, and we won’t back away from being your companion, guide, advisor, and sounding board through your health journey. We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Better, for you.
Want more?
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If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
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If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
Happy Australia Day to you all! The greatest country in the world to live in (arguably), the safest country in the world to live in, at the moment (no question in my opinion), and just a fantastic place full of fantastic people. I don’t have a lot to say today, but I’ll say a little bit.
I came to Australia in 1991 as an immigrant. I wasn’t wildly excited about the prospect. I’d never been here before. I knew little or nothing about the place. I had no idea about states, federations, history, and thought kangaroos were hopping down main streets. It was hot, bloody hot, and my first day of school was well over 40 degrees. There were some teething troubles, there were some growing pains as I adjusted to my new home, but it has all been well worth it. I am very, very grateful to Australia and so I say again, happy Australia Day to you all!
The next generation of proud Australians!
PartridgeGP works with you to help you make your best health decisions. We will take you through the risks as we see them – online, through our social media, our email newsletters, and in our consultations with you. We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with new vaccines on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Want more?
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Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
Win, lose, or draw in 2020, you would have had to have been living under a rock to not be aware of the virus. It has coloured every aspect of life. People have died, people have lived, elections have been influenced, Presidents have fallen. How are we going to move past this? Let’s have a look at Bayesian thinking. Bayesian decision making involves basing decisions on the probability of a successful outcome, where this probability is informed by both prior information and new evidence the decision maker obtains. The statistical analysis that underlies the calculation of these probabilities is Bayesian analysis.
Bayesian thinking is probabilistic thinking – rather than this will or won’t happen, we consider what is more or less likely to happen. This applies to risk. As Jim O’Shaughnessy has said, ‘we are deterministic creatures living in a probabilistic world’. We want certainty. We get probabilities. Vaccines are not 100% effective or 100% safe (NOTHING IS). Neither are masks, nor social distancing, nor even simple hand sanitiser. Yet all of these, little by little, piece by piece, will lower our risk so we can get back to the new normal of life. Better probabilities, not 100% certainty. More poetically:
PartridgeGP works with you to help you make your best health decisions. We will take you through the risks as we see them – online, through our social media, our email newsletters, and in our consultations with you. We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with new vaccines on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.
Want more?
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.
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