Regional morbidity and mortality during heatwaves in South Australia.

Heatwaves can be a common occurrence in Australia, and the public health impacts can be severe. Heat warnings and interventions are being adopted widely to reduce the preventable health impacts. This study examines the effects of heatwaves on morbidity and mortality in different climatic regions in the state of South Australia, to inform the targeting of heat warnings according to regional needs. Heatwaves were defined using the excess heat factor (EHF), an index based on mean daily temperature indices that quantifies heatwave severity relative to the local climate. In all regions, there were increases in morbidity (daily rates of ambulance call-outs and heat-related emergency presentations and hospital admissions) on heatwave days compared to non-heatwave days, which increased with heatwave severity. This study demonstrates that a consistent measure for heatwave severity, based on EHF, can be used to underpin public health warnings for climatically diverse areas.

Biomarkers for development of cancer vaccines.

The search for molecules that correlate with cancer progression is an evolving and exciting area of research. Such biomarkers have utility in a number of areas, most notably in a variety of clinical development programs. Modern technologies are revealing multiple potential biomarker candidates. However, the challenge remains in validating the correlation in levels of a particular molecule with clinical parameters. In this article, the area of biomarkers and cancer vaccines is briefly reviewed and the possibility of combining multiple molecules to generate a profile that correlates with outcome, rather than using more conventional single molecule biomarker systems, is explored.