Health

Experts from Melbourne independent medical research centre, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, have discovered carbohydrates play a vital role in the malaria parasite's infection of humans.

Justin Boddey and his team made the discovery, which debunks the long-held belief that the single-celled malaria parasite only uses proteins to infect humans.

"So what this research has shown is that the parasite tags many of the proteins on its surface with carbohydrates," he told AM.

They're being phased out in favour of an alternative known as HPV tests — which will start at a later age, with more than double the time in between examinations.

The move, slated for early December, will improve early detection and save lives, experts say.

But before you start celebrating: the end of the Pap smear won't mean the end of invasive examinations.

In fact, centuries before Instagram and activewear, "doing yoga" didn't involve the body at all.

At its core, yoga is a practice for tapping into your mind and poses are just one way of doing that.

Yoga's philosophy is based on eight limbs; only one of them, asana, is about the poses. The rest: yama, niyama, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi, are best described as moral and ethical codes to live by.

You know the scene — you're making dinner, calling the plumber/doctor/mechanic, checking homework and answering work emails — at the same time.

All the while, you are being peppered with questions by your nearest and dearest "where are my shoes?", "do we have any cheese?", "what time's my basketball game?", "what are we doing next Saturday night?".

But even if you know this experience well, you may not have the language to describe it.

No matter how witty they think their little insult is going to be, I've heard it before."

Born with a rare form of dwarfism, Kiruna has spent her life dealing with discrimination and abuse.

But through a combination of talent, luck and unflagging self-belief, she has forged an impressive career on stage and screen, here and in Britain.

"She has always been aware that she was different from other people," her mother, Kerry, said.

"In a way that's been liberating because when you're different you don't necessarily have to follow the road map."

In the post, the Good For You singer said fans had been wondering why she had been "laying low" over the summer.

"I found out I needed to get a kidney transplant due to my lupus and was recovering. It was what I needed to do for my overall health," she said.

The singer also shared images of a post-operative scar on her lower abdomen.

What about if your child drinks something poisonous or stops breathing?

Australia has the lowest rates of first-aid training in the world, according to the Australian Red Cross, with less than 5 per cent of people trained in how to handle an emergency situation.

Almost 500,000 Australians are admitted to hospitals every year as a result of injury, with around 12,000 dying from their injuries, primarily from falls.

Most injuries occur in the home, followed by the workplace.

"Workplaces offering first aid is low," Red Cross spokeswoman Amanda Lindsay said.

Research team leader Professor Philip Newsholme said lupin seed extract was being used in laboratory trials to regulate blood glucose levels.

He said research had shown broken down lupin seed could be used to stimulate insulin secretion in cells.

Diabetes mellitus is a condition in which the pancreas no longer produces enough insulin, or cells stop responding to the insulin that is produced, so that glucose in the blood could not be absorbed into the body's cells.

These are the people you can smell long before you actually see them.

Some of us won't mind their scent and will have no trouble sitting next to them in a meeting. Others will find their fragrance overpowering, but feel fine once they get some 'fresh air'.

But a small proportion of people may leave the meeting feeling unwell, and in some cases, so ill they will need to head home to bed.

For these people, exposure to some of the chemicals in fragrances can cause asthma, skin rashes, hay fever, migraine, nausea and a range of other unpleasant symptoms.

Heart Research Australia's Professor Gemma Figtree and her team reviewed almost 700 heart attack patients at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital from 2006 to 2014.

They found the rate of otherwise healthy patients having heart attacks went up from 11 per cent to a surprising 27 per cent of patients over eight years.

"As interventional cardiologists we all remember the fit, young patient that comes through the door and looks up at you and says 'Why me?'" Professor Figtree said.