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Objectives To document the existence and provisions of Australian universities' policies on the competing interests of academic staff and university practices in recording, updating and making these declarations publicly accessible. Design and setting A 14-item survey was sent to the vice-chancellors of 39 Australian universities and university websites were searched for relevant policies. Results Twelve universities declined to provide any information. Of the 27 that did, all had policies on staff competing interests. Fifteen did not require regular declarations from staff and only four required annual declarations. Eight universities maintained a centralised register of COIs of all staff and six had a mechanism in place that allowed members of the public to access information on COIs. None reported that they required that staff place their COI declarations on their website profiles and none had policies that indicated that staff should declare COIs when making a public comment. Conclusions Australian universities vary significantly in their approaches to the declaration and management of competing interests. While two-thirds of Australian universities require staff to declare competing interests, this information is mostly inaccessible to the public. Australian universities should adopt a standard approach to the declaration and management of competing interests and commit to meaningful transparency and public accountability. This could include frequently updated declarations on website profiles of all staff. In addition, dialogue about what is needed to effectively deal with competing interests should be encouraged.

Objectives: To test the hypothesis that television news coverage of different cancers reflects their incidence and burden, and to examine the journalistic approaches used in reporting cancer. Design and setting: Content analysis of all news, current affairs and infotainment reports on cancer broadcast on five free-to-air television channels in Sydney, New South Wales, 2 May 2005 – 6 January 2008. Main outcome measures: Number of items on specific cancers, relationship with burden of that cancer (disability-adjusted life-years [DALYs]), and category of “story lead” used for the item. Results: Cancer was the fifth most reported health issue, with 1319 items; 25 different cancers received news coverage. The most reported cancers were breast cancer (42.5% of all items on specific cancers), melanoma (11.9%) and cervical cancer (11.6%). Some cancers were significantly over-reported in relation to their DALYs (eg, cervical cancer was over-reported by a factor of 10.2 compared with the number of reports predicted on the basis of DALYs) while others were under-reported, including colorectal, lung and pancreatic cancers. The most common story leads used in cancer reports were treatment (32% of items) and celebrities with cancer (21%), particularly breast cancer. Conclusions: The current predominance of reports on breast and cervical cancer and on young women with cancer may be distorting public and political perceptions of the burden of cancer. The success of advocates in raising the news profile of breast cancer MJA 2008; 189: 155–158 may hold lessons for agencies wishing to improve the newsworthiness of other cancers.

Objectives: To describe the main media narratives in the reportage of singer Kylie Minogue’s illness with breast cancer; and to assess the impact of this coverage on bookings for screening for breast cancer by mammography in four Australian states. Setting: Government sponsored BreastScreen programs in Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia. Main outcome measures: Narratives on breast cancer in television news programs 17– 27 May 2005; initial and re-screening bookings for mammograms. Participants: Women aged 40 years who booked for mammograms in BreastScreen programs in the 19 weeks before, the 2 weeks during, and the 6 weeks after the publicity. Results: There was a 20-fold increase in news coverage of breast cancer, which emphasised that young women do get breast cancer and that early detection was critical. Overall screening bookings rose 40% in the 2 weeks of the publicity, with a 101% increase in non-screened women in the eligible age-group 40–69 years. Six weeks after the publicity, bookings remained more than a third higher in non-screened women. Conclusions: News coverage of Kylie Minogue’s breast cancer diagnosis caused an unprecedented increase in bookings for mammography. Health advocates should develop anticipatory strategies for responding to news coverage of celebrity illness.

OBJECTIVE: To determine (i) whether people advertising themselves on a dating website were more likely to be smokers than members of the general population; and (ii) whether attractive advertisers (those whose ads were viewed most often) were less likely to smoke than all advertisers. DESIGN: Comparison of the number of advertisers who smoke with survey data on national smoking status. SETTING: "RSVP", Australia's largest web-based dating site (455,196 members on 12 October 2004). PARTICIPANTS: 132,176 advertisements accessed on 10 February 2004. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Smoking status; and "votes" for advertisers' attractiveness based on how often visitors to the site accessed individual advertisements. RESULTS: In every age group, there were higher proportions of women smokers among the advertisers than in the general population (P < 0.05), and this was also the case for men aged 50 years and over. There was a higher proportion of non-smokers in the "Top 100" men or women advertisers aged 20-29 years (82%) compared with total RSVP advertisers in this age group (67%) (P < 0.001). 85% of the men and 78% of the women in the two "Top 100" groups were non-smokers, with only 2% of both sexes claiming to be regular smokers. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the general population, a higher proportion of women and older men who advertise themselves on a dating website are smokers. Smokers may be perceived as less attractive.

tobacco smoke” Aadults2 and adolescents, is seeing nascent, modest growth in e-cigarette use, despite having some of the strongest restrictions on their marketing and sales. Manufacturers, now including all major tobacco corporations, have spent large sums publicising their brands, using tactics that have promoted cigarettes so successfully, but boosted by the added reach of the internet. They are ahead of the regulatory curve, adopting imagery, messages and tactics prohibited in cigarette promotions, such as the sponsorship of youth events. They have spiced their products with a bewildering array of flavourings that in many countries would be illegal in cigarettes, and have garnered vocal support from those who see any restriction on the use of e-cigarettes by governments as a threat to individual freedom. Some aspects of these developments are, however, surprising.

The Medical Journal of Australia ISSN: 0025-729X 4 January 2010 192 1 3-4©The Medical Journal of Australia 2010www.mja.com.auEditorialshe prevalence of smoking in Australia is among the lowestfor high-income countries. In 2007, 17.9% of Australiansaged 14 years or older were current smokers, comparedwith 23.6% in 1998. Yet tobacco remains Australia’s leading riskfactor for premature death and disability, accounting for 7.8% ofthe total disease burden

• Crikey is a daily electronic bulletin aimed at providing independent news. It was established in 2000. • In 2007, journalists and public health advocates collaborated with Crikey to initiate an innovative health reporting project, the Crikey Health and Medical Panel (CHAMP). • CHAMP members contribute articles and news tips to Crikey, broadening Crikey's scope of public health coverage. • CHAMP continues to evolve, and has expanded to include a freely accessible online health forum, Croakey. • CHAMP was established to enhance public debate about health, to encourage public health advocates to engage in debate, and to help the media to identify public health advocates and issues as sources for articles.

We need a national tobacco act to regulate all aspects of tobacco manufacturing and marketing

One hundred and seventy-six men who had engaged in sexual activity with other men in the past six months were interviewed, in the western area of Sydney, about their sexual activities and knowledge as related to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Comparisons were made between men who had frequented "beats" (public toilets, parks or isolated roads where men meet for homosexual encounters) in the past six months, and those who did not use beats. One-quarter of those men who frequented beats reported beats as their only venue for meeting men for sexual contact, while other men reported them as one of many venues that they used to meet men. Although all interviewed men were engaging in sexual activities with men, 12 men described themselves as heterosexual, and 12% of those men who used beats, and 7% of the beat non-users, were married or in de-facto relationships. In comparing those who used beats with the beat non-users, 64% of beat users had engaged in sexual practices with between six and 50 different partners in the past six months compared with 8% of beat non-users. Beat users also were more likely to engage in unprotected anal intercourse with causal partners. Nineteen men claimed to be HIV-seropositive for the human immunodeficiency virus, with 11 of these men still engaging in high-risk sexual activities. The implications for AIDS education are discussed.

Fifty-four actively bisexual men with recent sexual experiences with both men and women were interviewed as part of a wider study of 176 homosexual men, many of whom frequented "beats" (public toilets, parks and isolated roads where men meet for homosexual encounters). Forty-six per cent of the bisexual men were engaging in unsafe sexual practices with at least one man and one woman. Three of these men knew that they were seropositive for the human immunodeficiency virus, with two of these men engaging in unsafe sexual practices with some of their partners. Fewer than one-quarter of the bisexual men identified with or participated actively in aspects of organized, overt "gay" culture. So-called "closeted" bisexual men are suggested to be a major, but neglected, target for educational efforts against the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

Figures on prescription volume and cost for pensioners' consumption of psychotropic drugs are given, showing that their consumption is grossly overproportionate to their representation within the population. Pensioners comprise about 9% of the population and are prescribed 45% (range: 32% for minor tranquillizers to 58% for barbiturates) of all psychotropic drugs issued under the National Health Scheme. The data given are seen to be very conservative estimates of total national consumption, as they do not include prescriptions issued to repatriation and private patients, or drugs administered in hospitals. Community stereotypes about drugs and drug use are discussed. The community's knowledge of psychotropic drug use by the elderly is seen to be minimal and its attitude toward it indifferent.