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Working on Christmas Day can be tough but there is an upside. Patients still require care, emergencies still happen and someone has to be there. So if one of those people is you this year, here are 8 positive spins on a tricky situation. [ + ]

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia is embarking on an ambitious building project to redevelop Pharmacy House, its national headquarters. [ + ]

“Stop overusing antibiotics in food-animal production,” is the message from James R. Johnson, co-author of a new study showing that contaminated meat may be an important source of human exposure to Klebsiella pneumoniae. [ + ]

Black lung, a potentially fatal disease, has been diagnosed in four Queensland coal miners and unions fear it could be just the tip of the iceberg. [ + ]

“They are often violent and aggressive, make staff feel unsafe and negatively impact on the care of other patients,“ says Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor Diana Egerton-Warburton, lead author of research conducted by Monash University and the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) about people affected by alcohol, presenting at emergency departments. [ + ]

When you buy commercially baked goods such as pies, pastries, cakes and biscuits, there’s a good likelihood they’ll contain one of the nastier types of fatty acids: trans fats. These unsaturated fats have been chemically altered to give them a longer shelf life and withstand repeated re-heating. [ + ]

What is pain? It might seem like an easy question. The answer depends on who you ask, according to Professor Lorimer Moseley  from the University of South Australia. [ + ]

Our ability to detect bitter and sour tastes has evolved in humans to protect us from poisoning and eating spoiled foods, scientists believe. The trouble is, bitterness is a key feature of many beneficial medicines. There are ways to make swallowing bitter medicine a little easier (see the 4 tips below). [ + ]

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One year ago, the world held its collective breath. Were we going to be able to reverse the death and suffering we were seeing on the streets of capital cities in West Africa? [ + ]

Dying of a broken heart is more than a myth. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (also known as broken heart syndrome) is a condition first recognised by Japanese researchers more than 20 years ago, and it has gained a great deal of attention in Western countries in the past ten years. [ + ]

Professor Ramon Shaban has been appointed President of the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC). The announcement was made at the ACIPC AGM in Hobart where the college is currently hosting its annual conference. [ + ]

Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to revolutionize aspects of medicine and healthcare. Several medical specialties are already using it to train physicians and assist diagnosis and treatment. A group of cardiologists from the Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland  has successfully used a VR device to guide the opening up (revascularisation) of a chronically blocked right coronary artery. [ + ]

Teidi Chad, veteran nurse, is the face of a campaign defending penalty rates launched by UnionsACT in October. [ + ]