From the Dean
Professor Nicholas Glasgow, Dean, ANU Medical SchoolThis Issue of the Journal continues to advance this initiative and reflects very well on all those involved. There is a rich variety of writing ranging from research articles through opinion pieces to narratives. As I have previously stated, good academic writing is a skill that needs to be developed in all health professional students.

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Notice Board
The editorial committee will be active from February to May and From July to October 2011.
Editorial Team
W elcome to Volume 2 Issue 2 of the MSJA, which we are pleased to introduce with the theme of International Health.

We have a number of articles encompassing this theme including a report on the teaching of computer skills to refugees, as well as four elective reports spanning across Asia and the Pacific. We also welcome contributions from Dr Christine Phillips and Dr. Frank Piscioneri, which reflect upon their international careers and offer perspectives on working in developing countries.

This issue also heralds a new stage in the evolution of the MSJA, in which we welcome the first publication authored by a medical student outside of the ANU in Tim Sullivan's research piece on HIV and tuberculosis. We hope this marks the beginning of the journal's continued development to eventually encompass nation- and Pacific-wide submissions.

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Red earth of the desert near Maralinga in outback South Australia, 2007
Clean water remains an issue for much of the developing world (Chitkul, Indo-China border)
Image Credit: Uma Visser, ANU Medical Student.
Elective Experiences
Elective in Apia, Samoa
Deborah Smith
I completed my five week elective in Samoa, which proved to be an eye opening and very worthwhile experience. While Samoa is a developing nation with its inherent health challenges, it is also a relatively safe and friendly country for naïve medical students to travel to and explore.

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Adventures in Mysore
Samuel Roberts-Thomson
Together with another Australian National University (ANU) medical student, Kate Thornton, we undertook our elective at CSI Holdsworth Memorial Hospital in Mysore and stayed in the onsite staff accommodation provided by the hospital.

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Elective Report: United Mission Hospital in Tansen, Nepal
Yu-Ting Huang
Travelling alone can be a terribly lonely experience, especially over a long period of time that includes your birthday and the festive season. For me, a week was the maximum that I could handle alone.

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The Mae Tao Clinic – Mae Sot, Thailand
Michelle Robinson
The Mae Tao Clinic is located in Mae Sot which is situated 8.5 hours North-West of Bangkok by bus, and 15 mins from the Burmese border by bicycle. The clinic was originally established as a single room clinic in 1989 by Dr Cynthia Maung, a Burmese doctor, to provide essential free medical care to Burmese refugees and migrant workers.

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Student Education
The mental health burden of mothers of children with X-linked recessive diseases
Kiran Atmuri
X-linked recessive diseases include haemophilia, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease. In Australia, there are approximately 14,000 cases of haemophilia, DMD and CMT combined.

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Now Wash Your Steth
Scott Mills
Hand hygiene is well established as the most effective way of reducing nosocomial infections. As a medical student, the use of alcohol hand-rub for infection control is the first clinical lesson taught, and one continually reinforced.

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Indigenous Health Education at the ANU
Hannah Woodall, Kathryn Stone
The ANU Medical School curriculum was designed with a great degree of attentiveness and effort prior to receiving the first students in 2004. Indigenous Health has been considered a key aspect in the development of the ANU Medical School curriculum.

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Global and Indigenous Health
Preventive strategies for reducing the burden of meningitis in Sudan
Caroline To
Meningitis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Africa, most notably in the so-called "meningitis belt", where it represents an important health problem. There are a number of factors involving the host, environment and organism that predispose this area to epidemic and endemic meningitis.

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Diabetes and Ischaemic Heart Disease in Australia: Prevention Strategies for Indigenous Communities
Adam Keighley
Ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and diabetes are chronic conditions contributing substantially to the total burden of disease and injury in Australia. They are associated with significant morbidity and mortality requiring complex and expensive treatment plans.

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Careers
How did I get here?
Christine Phillips
To tell a story about a medical career is to give it a narrative structure it usually doesn't have. Most of us make up our careers as we go along. There are exceptions: I knew a student whose obsession with platelets continued undimmed into a life as a haematologist working with clotting disorders. I wasn't like that.

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A Perspective
Working in the developing world - a perspective
Frank Piscioneri
I am very honoured to have this opportunity to share my thoughts and experiences with the readers of MSJA. I have spent a total of twenty-two years working in developing countries. Eleven of these years were spent on long-term placements with the remaining years spent on short-term assignments. The places that I have worked in are Africa, Asia and the Pacific Ocean.

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Research Papers
Health consequences of the tuberculosis pandemic and the impact of HIV/AIDS co-infection
Tim Sullivan
Sixteen years after being identified as a World Health Organisation (WHO) global health emergency tuberculosis persists in pandemic proportions. Potentiated by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) co-epidemic, tuberculosis has significant health consequences that permeate every level of society. While the ‘Global Plan to Stop TB’ has made progress, continued action is vital.

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Google, email and Facebook: Internet literacy to improve the health and well-being of newly arrived refugees and migrants
Peter Sturgess, Assoc. Prof. Christine Phillips
Internet literacy is investigated as a strategy for enhancing the health and well-being of newly arrived refugees and migrants.

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Too Much, Too Soon? Predictive Genetic Testing and Insurance in Australia
Stephen W. Martin
The health insurer NIB has recently offered subsidised genetic testing to a group of their health insurance policy holders. The testing is being conducted through Navigenics, a U.S. based direct-to-consumer genetic testing company that specialises in estimating risks for complex multigenic disorders.

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News and Topics of Interest
The Medical Student Tsunami
Jack Purcell
Professor Frank Bowden wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald on the 11th of September 2009 about the balance between appropriate working hours for junior doctors in order for them to acquire sufficient training and experience, and the potential safety and quality of care issues surrounding junior doctors working increased hours while inexperienced, fatigued and stressed.

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The 2010 Election: An opinion on what this means for Health
Steve Peterson
When Australia awoke to the political anarchy of a hung parliament, the average medical student may well have expressed confusion as to what this would mean for health policy.

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Case Reports
Was it really an unusual presentation of renal cell carcinoma?
Alicia Paul
At presentation, this case was a diagnostic and surgical dilemma. However, with the value of hindsight and clinical record review, the patient's symptoms were readily explained.


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Acquired Factor VIII inhibitors: A Case Report
Lauren Nacey
Acquired factor VIII inhibitor disease is a rare and serious cause of life and limb threatening haemorrhage. This is a case report of a 65 year old man with a history of a prolonged inhibitor disease course, and the trials and tribulations of managing other co-existing medical problems in conjunction with this condition.

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That's what the anaesthetist said…
Klara M Krivanek
Most of the time medicine is considered more a Science than an Art; not always a very exact one, mind you, but we try to make it as exact as possible by taking all the possible history we can, following this with a thorough physical examination, and finishing up by ordering lots of tests (especially, so we're told, as junior doctors).

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Student Life
Birth of a.d.a.p.t.
Alicia Paul
Altruism [al-troo-iz-uhm] /–noun The principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others.

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Internships: An International Perspective
Jan-Marie Fonseca
I came to Australia in 2005 to be with my partner in Perth. After my attempts to secure a spot at Medical School in Canada had been dashed for another year, my partner's mother suggested that I should try applying in Australia. Having looked into it, I decided to write the GAMSAT and started preparing my applications.

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Medicine and Parenting – Pleasure or Pain?
Ben Darby
I am a proud father of two beautiful girls, three-year old Charlotte and one-year old Dali-May, and I am also a member of the 2010 ANU Medical School graduating class.

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