May 10

May 10 Otitis Media in Children — Palm Island, Australia.

Nearly all of us and every child by the age of 5, would have experienced otitis media. However; on Palm island, 75% of children suffer hearing loss from this condition. I wanted to learn more about how this situation has occurred.

May 5

May 5 Primary Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes — Palm Island, Australia.

Andréas L.P. Astier

Medicine & Pharmacy

I am sure we have all walked up castle hill as the sun is rising and looked out at the breathtaking view to see a number of islands surrounding our city. If we look towards the horizon we may be able to catch a glimpse of Palm Island. It may only be 65km from Townsville but the discrepancies between the two places are far further apart.

Apr 30

Apr 30 Clinical Management of Sexual Transmitted Infections with a Focused Approach on Syphilis — Palm Island, Australia.

Andréas L.P. Astier

Medicine & Pharmacy

The further I researched Palm Island, the more I discovered how different it is to Australia. Palm Island could be described almost like a third world country. Palm Island has a lot of issues that needs to be addressed which is difficult when the socio-economic status is very low.

Mar 15

Mar 15 Menopause — Its Triggers to Start a Complicated System.

Andréas L.P. Astier

Medicine & Pharmacy

It is the end cycle of fertility, where puberty started it — menopause will end it. But some questions arise. How does the body know when to start the process towards being menopausal? What starts it? And what are the factors? What speeds it up or slows it down? Can we escape from it?

Feb 28

Feb 28 How to Make a Pharmaceutical Sterilization Label and Sample Production Record.

Andréas L.P. Astier

Medicine & Pharmacy

I did a course called Sterilization of Pharmaceuticals Products for a whole semester. It was an introduction to pharmaceutical products that were prepared in a special sterile and aseptic environment. In this blog, I will show you how we made the labels and the sample production record.

Feb 15

Feb 15 The Methylxanthine We All Take! A Look on Caffeine and Its Pharmacology.

Andréas L.P. Astier

Medicine & Pharmacy

Let us dive deeply into what caffeine does to our body and how it interacts with us. Every coffee taken should have something in common with each other and that is — caffeine. What are the pharmacokinetics of caffeine and what does it do to its targeted receptors? Let’s find out!

Jan 30

Jan 30 The Triggers That Start Puberty.

Andréas L.P. Astier

Medicine & Pharmacy

Puberty is not a single time event and takes a long time throughout an individual's life. Puberty is extremely important for humans to carry on our legacy and humanity's survival, so the important questions are when, why and how does puberty start?

Jan 15

Jan 15 My Health Elective on Paradise Island.

Andréas L.P. Astier

Medicine & Pharmacy

After completing successfully my first year in medicine, the James Cook University Medical College sent us on a 2-week placement that we could choose and organized. I chose home.

Dec 15

Dec 15 Systematic Review of Direct-Acting Antivirals for Chronic Hepatitis.

Andréas L.P. Astier

Medicine & Pharmacy

HCV infection is a national and international concern. It is one of the most common blood-borne infections in the world, carries a high burden of disease, and has higher patient mortality than HIV-related disease in some countries.

Nov 30

Nov 30 How to Do a Pre-Formulation Study: Fluoxetine and Its Recommendation.

Andréas L.P. Astier

Medicine & Pharmacy

An important drug development feature is to find an active compound that is ideal to the human body in terms of absorption, distributed, metabolised efficiently and effectively, excreted well from the body and should be non-toxic. This blog describes how to do an efficient pre-formulation study of a compound.

Nov 15

Nov 15 How to Make an Effective and Practical Patient Leaflet.

Andréas L.P. Astier

Medicine & Pharmacy

A patient information leaflet feels more personal. It helps patients knowing more about their disease, how to control their conditions by means of medication or other and be more reassured. A patient leaflet is a great reminder and increases adherence as well as a better prognosis outcome.

Oct 30

Oct 30 How to Make a Clear, Concise and Appealing Medical Poster.

Andréas L.P. Astier

Medicine & Pharmacy

It is always daunting to make a poster that displays a medication, a certain disease or a scientific paper. In this blog, I will be giving tips on what to do to get a clear, concise and well-articulated medical poster.

Sep 30

Sep 30 My Perception on the Relevance of Hand Washing in Medicine.

Andréas L.P. Astier

Medicine & Pharmacy

I knew the importance of handwashing in the health care environment but it is always interesting to be reminded of the consequence of not thoroughly washing your hands. This blog talks about its relevance in the healthcare system and how a simple bar of soap can make a great difference!

Sep 10

Sep 10 My First Exposure to General Practice.

Andréas L.P. Astier

Medicine & Pharmacy

I had to explore how a general practice ran as a primary health care and its management to the doctors and the delivering of care. I had to talk about how the doctors went about their days, their communication, their body language, the pharmaceutical care plan that was chosen and how to have a successful consultation.

Aug 25

Aug 25 My Experience on the Phelophepa Train, South Africa.

Andréas L.P. Astier

Medicine & Pharmacy

The Transnet Phelophepa Healthcare Train (meaning ‘good, clean health’ in Sotho and Venda) is the only primary healthcare train in the world and is an innovative initiative that attempts to make a positive difference to primary healthcare in rural South Africa.

Aug 1

Aug 1 The Long and Tedious and Difficult Road into Medicine.

Andréas L.P. Astier

Medicine & Pharmacy

My thorough guide and my experience of how I managed to enter one of the most difficult and competitive university degrees. That is of course - Medicine. Here you will find lots of tips and tricks to have the best shot at getting a seat in medicine.