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Common Problem Fixed By Surgeon At St Vincent’s


Urologist Dr Devang Desai has performed the first Rezum therapy in a private hospital on the Darling and Southern Downs, at St Vincent’s Private Hospital Toowoomba.

Toowoomba local, Colin Kessler, was able to receive the Rezum therapy for benign prostate enlargement. This therapy uses the thermal energy from steam to target extra prostate tissue causing it to shrink.

Rezum is an alternative to taking long-term medication and doesn’t involve any cutting. It is a less invasive procedure. This procedure can help men retain their sexual function and is also a less invasive treatment for those with health concerns.

Symptoms of benign prostate enlargement can include frequent or urgent urination, weak or hesitant urine stream or inability to completely empty the bladder,” said Dr Desai, who has a special interest in minimally invasive urology.

He is elated to include Rezum to St Vincent’s suite of Urology services and procedures. Many men discard the symptoms thinking they are a normal part of getting older, but they can be treated by talking to your GP.”

Colin was delighted with the result, I am very grateful to Dr Desai. He is a very talented man,” said Colin.

A/Prof Dr Desai is a consultant Urologist with special interest in Reconstructive Urology and Minimally invasive uro-oncology.

Having finished his urological training in Australia Dr Desai went on to undertake a year in minimally invasive urology with special emphasis on robotic surgery and thereafter a GURS and AUA approved fellowship in reconstructive urology.

Dr Desai heads Toowoomba Urology practice and his practice involves a mix of uro-oncology and reconstructive urology alongside endo-urological procedures for stone disease.

NASA And USQ Discover Four Alien Worlds

Astronomers have identified four new exoplanets, worlds beyond our solar system, orbiting a pair of related young stars called TOI 2076 and TOI 1807. The two stars, only 130 light years away, and their ‘teenage’ planets may help unlock a mystery of the universe – how planetary systems, including our own, evolved.

NASA has announced the discovery, confirmed by an international team of astrophysicists including the University of Southern Queensland’s Dr George Zhou. Stars TOI 2076 and TOI 1807 reside over 130 light-years away with 30 light-years between them. Both are dwarf stars more orange than our Sun and around 200 million years old (less than 5 percent of the Sun’s age).

Surrounding TOI 2076 is a system of three planets between the diameters of Earth and Neptune. Innermost planet TOI 2076 b is about three times Earth’s size and circles its star every 10 days, while outer worlds TOI 2076 c and d are both a little over four times larger than Earth with orbits exceeding 17 days.

TOI 1807 hosts only one known planet, TOI 1807 b, which is about twice Earth’s size and orbits the star in just 13 hours. Exoplanets with such short orbits are rare and TOI 1807 b is the youngest example yet discovered of one of these so-called ultra-short period planets.

The astronomy team believed the stars were too far apart to be orbiting each other, but their shared motion suggested they were siblings, born from the same cloud of gas.

The stars produce perhaps 10 times more UV light than they will when they reach the Sun’s age,” Dr Zhou said. Since the Sun may have been equally as active at one time, these two systems could provide us with a window into the early conditions of the solar system.”
[cleveryoutube video=”RE-NpbAW3lM” vidstyle=”18″ pic=”” afterpic=”” width=”” quality=”inherit” starttime=”” endtime=”” caption=”” showexpander=”off” alignment=”left” newser=”” margin=”true”]Christina Hedges, an astronomer at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute in Moffett Field and NASA’s Ames Research Center in California, said the planets in both systems were in a transitional, or teenage, phase of their life cycle.

They’re not newborns, but they’re also not settled down. Learning more about planets in this teen stage will ultimately help us understand older planets in other systems.”

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) monitors large swathes of the sky for nearly a month at a time. This long gaze allows the satellite to find exoplanets by measuring small dips in stellar brightness caused when a planet crosses in front of, or transits, its star.

The University of Southern Queensland’s Mt Kent Observatory provides a key support role for TESS using MINERVA-Australis, the southern hemisphere’s only dedicated robotic exoplanet observing facility.

A paper describing the findings, led by Hedges and co-authored by Dr Zhou, has been published in The Astronomical Journal.
Submitted by:
Rhianwen Whitney
University of Southern Queensland

Hoof It For Hospice Care”

Toowoomba Hospice has launched its latest fundraising initiative, Hoof It For Hospice Care” (HOOF IT).

The initiative is the brainchild of Hospice Management Committee member Ray Pern,  Administration and Fundraising Manager Mark Munro and their small team of volunteers. Ray said, The loss of a key fundraiser, Toowoomba Camellia Show, was a bitter blow to our annual budget and we needed to replace it with an event which was quirky and one which could involve a large number of supporters and friends.

HOOF IT will comprise many business/family/club 10-person teams taking on the challenge of walking/jogging/running around the adjacent O’Quinn Park for four hours – the winner will be the team which raises the most amount of tax-deductible donations for the hospice.”

The six-bed facility for the terminally ill was opened on July 1, 2003 and has since provided care and comfort for some 1,600 clients. Annual operating cost is $1.8million of which the Queensland Government provides $860,000, health funds $280,000 and the Buddhist Community $120,000 leaving a shortfall of $540,000 which comes from small donations and events such as the HOOF IT.

Volunteer Greg Johnson said, I was thrilled when Mark and Ray asked me and other volunteers to lend a hand with HOOF IT. We derived so much pleasure from presenting the Camellia Show and honouring its founders Sister Frances Flint and Joan Falvey, it was sad to see it go but everything has an end.’

HOOF IT provides us with the opportunity to stage an event right across the road from the hospice and one which enables the community to come together, get fit and raise valuable funds for our beloved Toowoomba Hospice.”

HOOF IT will be staged from 10.00am to 2.00pm on Saturday, July 17. Teams are invited to register at https://www.toowoombahospice.org.au/hoof-it-registration  – there is no registration fee.
For further details and tickets CLICK HERE

Toowoomba 2021 NAIDOC Week Calendar

Local events for upcoming NAIDOC Week commences this weekend…. although a few of the smaller events have been postponed being Cent Sale, Artisan Markets and Toowoomba Base Hospital day, all other events are going ahead with great expectations for good numbers to turn out.

Our biggest events for the week will be our Awards Dinner which is being held tomorrow night Saturday 3rd July at St Patricks Hall, Neil Street, Toowoomba from 6pm with our award winners will presentation happening from 6.30 to 7.30pm.

This is always a highlight of the week with awards being given for Lifetime Achievement and then 10 other categories as well.    The contact for this event is Nikki Robson and her number is 0424 035 492.

The other big event for the week is the NAIDOC Flag Raising, March and Community Day happening on Monday 5th July starting at 8.15am at the Toowoomba Village Green with the flag raising, then followed by the March from 9.30am from Village Green to Queens Park, which will be the start of the Community Day from 10am to 2pm with market and organisation stalls.

The opening in the park will be at approx. 10.15am. Best contact for this day will be Lisa Goodman 0487 007 337. Then there are other smaller events happening throughout the week as listed on the calendar: NAIDOC Week Calendar

Submitted by:
Trish Cochrane
On behalf of Toowoomba NAIDOC Committee

 

SE Queensland + Townsville 3 Day Lockdown

From 6pm Tuesday 29th June until 6pm Friday 2 July, residents in the local government areas of Townsville, Palm Island, Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan City, Moreton Bay, Redlands, Sunshine Coast, Noosa, Somerset, Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim and Gold Coast can only leave your home or accommodation for one of these four reasons:
1. to buy essentials such as groceries or medications
2. attend essential work and study if you can’t do from home
3. exercise in your local area
4′ healthcare or to provide help, care or support to vulnerable persons (includes getting vaccinated).

Lockdown restrictions include:
Face masks must be worn when you’re outside your home (excluding when in your private vehicle, when doing strenuous exercise or if you have a medical condition)
Limit of two visitors to your home (not including residents, volunteers and workers)
Restaurants and cafes to provide takeaway or delivery service only
All non-essential businesses to close; cinemas, entertainment and recreation venues, hairdressers, gyms etc
Places of worship to close
Childcare to remain open
20 people can attend funerals, 10 people can attend weddings.
We will review this on Friday 2 July.
For full lockdown details, visit https://www.qld.gov.au/…/pub…/restrictions-in-qld-update
For contact tracing locations and health advice visit https://www.qld.gov.au/health/covid-19/contact-tracing
Find your nearest testing clinic visit https://www.qld.gov.au/covid19testing or https://qld.health/TestLocator

Visit the COVID-19 Information Centre for vaccine resources.
Get Vaccine Info

Queensland Public Health Directions From 29th June

Whilst this doesn’t affect us directly (for now), you should be aware – even more so if you plan on traveling eastwards from the Darling Downs.

The Queensland Government is advising new restrictions will come into place from 1am Tuesday, 29th June for the 11 local government areas of Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan City, Moreton Bay, Redlands, Sunshine Coast, Noosa, Somerset, Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim and Gold Coast.

You must carry a face mask with you at all times whenever you leave your home, unless you have a lawful reason not to.

Masks must be worn in indoor spaces such as shopping centres, public transport, hospitals, aged care facilities, churches and workplaces where you can’t physically distance.

You must be seated to drink or eat in cafés and restaurants, and businesses and venues must return to the one person per 4m² inside and one person per 2m² outdoors, while smaller venues up to 200m² are allowed one person per 2m² with a maximum of 50 people.

Private gatherings are restricted to 30 people, and up to 100 people can attend weddings and funerals. Only 20 people can dance at weddings.

Further information is available from the Queensland Health website

Contact tracing venues and flights can be found at www.health.qld.gov.au/tracing

USQ Researcher Named ‘Scientist of the Year’

As one of our closest planetary neighbours, Mars has served as a source of legends since the first storytellers slept under the stars – Dr Graziella Caprarelli’s fascination with the Red Planet has forged more than 20 years of research and resulted in her joining a team to discover lakes of salty water on Mars.

Dr Graziella Caprarelli receiving ‘Scientist of the Year’ at the Australian Space Awards (Photo: supplied)

This month, representing the University of Southern Queensland, Dr Caprarelli was named ‘Scientist of the Year’ at the 2021 Australian Space Awards.

I am over the Moon, or should I say Mars, that the fruits of so much work, determination, grit and perseverance were recognised by my colleagues and other Australian professionals working across the space sector,” Dr Caprarelli said.

I hope with this recognition comes the possibility to take more people with me to Mars, by motivating them and paving the way for their direct participation in Mars exploration missions.”

For Dr Caprarelli the love for space started as a child rugged up during long Italian winter nights, armed only with a pair of binoculars on her family’s balcony.

I have always dreamt of setting foot on the Moon or on Mars,” Dr Caprarelli said. The geophysicist grew up in a world of sci-fi stories and it was the tantalising feeling that Mars was within reach that spurred decades of research.

I started working in space research almost 20 years ago, when I started researching the Columbia River Group Basalt in North-West America as analogues of Martian volcanic rocks,” she said.

From there, the research took her to the NASA Johnson Space Centre in Houston and the International Research School of Planetary Sciences (Italy) where she joined the Mars Express Co-Investigator Team for the High Resolution Stereo Camera experiment.

I was subsequently invited to join the Mars Express Principal Investigator Team for the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS), and the rest is history,” she said.

Last year, as a member of the MARSIS Team, I contributed to the discovery of liquid salty water at the base of the South Polar cap of Mars.”

 Dr Caprarelli is an adjunct research fellow at the University of Southern Queensland’s Centre for Astrophysics.

There is a strong commitment to excellence at the University of Southern Queensland, and I love how emphasis is placed on mentoring early career staff and students, as well as the supportive environment for all staff,” she said.

I am immensely honoured that I could represent the University of Southern Queensland for these awards. I look forward to more exciting news from USQ’s space research.”

The USQ was well represented at the 2021 Australian Space Awards which recognised the leading individuals and businesses driving the development of Australia’s space economy.

The University was a finalist for ‘Organisation of the Year’ and Professor David Buttsworth (Thermofluids Engineering) and Dr Duncan Wright (Astrophysics) were also shortlisted in the categories of ‘Researcher of the Year’ and ‘Academic of the Year’.

You can find out more about the University of Southern Queensland’s work at space research
Submitted by:
Sarah Green,
sarah.green@usq.edu.au

COVID-19 Pfizer Vaccination Clinic 5th-6th June

Darling Downs Health will be providing the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine at extra weekend clinics on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th June.

Annette Scott, from the Darling Downs Health Emergency Operations Centre, said the Baillie Henderson Vaccination Clinic would be open from 7am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday.
We have seen a great uptake of free COVID-19 vaccinations through our clinic at Baillie Henderson Hospital this week and we expect that to continue throughout this special clinic over the weekend,” Ms Scott said.

The clinic will be administering the Pfizer vaccine which is the recommended vaccine forpeople aged 16 to 49. We’d like to see as many residential aged care staff, disability accommodation staff and people aged 40-49 coming along this weekend.”

We strongly suggest that anyone interested in receiving their Pfizer vaccine registers before the weekend. Please be sure you bring your Medicare card, a form of identification, and your own pen.

There will be increased traffic around the campus, so we’d ask all people attending to be aware that the on-campus speed limit is 20km/h, and please follow all directions from our traffic control staff.”

This weekend’s clinic will be held at the Maudsley building at Baillie Henderson Hospital. For more information call 13COVID (13 26843). Bookings can also be made by going to www.vaccinebookings.health.qld.gov.au 

Entry to the hospital campus is via the Tor Street entrance only. Exit will be via Mort Street only. Please see the map below for directions and information on where to park.

Submitted by:
Media, Communications & Engagement Team
Media and Communication, Executive Services
a: Baillie Henderson Hospital, Toowoomba, QLD 4350