Surgeons calmly react to magnitude 8.8 earthquake mid-operation
Think you had a bad day at work?
You might have had a run-in with your boss, or maybe you missed the bus and were forced to run through the rain.
Whatever it is, it's probably not as stressful as what these blokes went through today.
As the massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake rattled Russia's remote Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday, a team of surgeons were put to the test as their operating room shook under the might of the planet's biggest tremor in 14 years.
Russia's state-controlled broadcaster RT shared the dramatic video from inside Kamchatka hospital, showing the medical team gripping the patient's bed to keep everything in place while looking around at the instruments rattling across the room.
The team reportedly finished the procedure without interruption.
'The surgery went well and the patient was in recovery,' RT reported.
X
Learn More
SUBSCRIBER ONLY
As the massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake rattled Russia's remote Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday, a team of surgeons were put to the test as their operating room shook under the might of the planet's biggest tremor in 14 years.
Along the peninsula's coast, tsunami waves inundated port areas, prompting residents to flee inland.
Authorities said the population of around 2,000 people was evacuated safely after several people were injured by the quake.
'The walls were shaking,' a Kamchatka resident told Russian state media.
'It's good that we packed a suitcase, there was one with water and clothes near the door. We quickly grabbed it and ran out... It was very scary,' she said.
Within hours of the quake, warnings and advisories spread across the Pacific, from Alaska and Hawaii to the US West Coast.
Japan, China and New Zealand also issued alerts.
In northern Japan, frothy white waves rolled ashore, while in Honolulu, traffic gridlock lined streets far from the coastline.
Japanese authorities opened evacuation centres, their urgency driven by memories of the 2011 disaster that crippled a coastal nuclear plant.
Official measurements put the tsunami at 3–4 m in Kamchatka, 60 cm on Hokkaido, and just under 30 cm above tide level in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.
Originally published as Surgeons calmly react to magnitude 8.8 earthquake mid-operation
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Herald Sun
a day ago
- Herald Sun
Pressure on aged care, families, health services as Vic centenarians rise
Don't miss out on the headlines from Victoria. Followed categories will be added to My News. The number of Victorians living past 100 years old is on the rise, but the milestone is not good news for everyone with growing concerns about the pressures of caring for an ageing population. Recent data from the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages reveals that 770 individuals aged over 100 passed away last year, including 576 women and 194 men. This figure is nearly double the 431 centenarians who died in 2015, highlighting the trend of increasing longevity. Victorian women are more than twice as likely as men to reach the age milestone. Among Melbourne's oldest residents are Khanna and Genrikh Levitan, both centenarians and married for more than six decades. Mrs Levitan recently celebrated her 100th birthday, while Mr Levitan is set to mark his 102nd birthday in the coming months. Their grandson Alex Kats said one of their secrets to a long life was simple. 'In over 60 years together they have barely had an argument,' he said. 'They may not always agree, but even now, their minds are sharp and they talk through things very rationally and come to a mutual agreement. 'They genuinely respect each other and especially now, rely on each other.' 'When someone isn't visiting them, while Khanna sits most of the day and supports her husband emotionally, Genrikh has learned to use a computer, a mobile phone and now a tablet device in bed, so that they continue to watch the news and enjoy classical music concerts on YouTube, from the confines of their room.' Victoria's population is ageing with government figures in 2021 showing 1.5 million people were aged over 60, equating to 22 per cent of the population. That number is expected to increase by around 60 per cent to more than 2.3 million people by 2046. There are currently around 280,000 Victorians aged 80 or older, which is 4.3 per cent of the population. Work is underway to support an ageing population with the Allan Government investing $34.6 million in the Victorian Budget 2025/26 to strengthen Public Sector Residential Aged Care Services. A Victorian Government spokesperson said funds had also been injected into the health system this year 'to ensure it keeps pace with rising demand – including the increasing number of older Victorians living longer and needing more complex care later in life'. 'To support end-of-life care, we have invested more than $182 million over the past decade to expand access to palliative care, including at-home and hospital services and the free Palliative Care Advice Service. 'Victoria has the largest public sector aged care network in Australia – giving more older Victorians, particularly in rural and regional areas, access to world-class care closer to home, including those with complex or palliative care needs.' Five ways to boost your healthspan — how to age well
Herald Sun
3 days ago
- Herald Sun
Bulk billing doctors and GPs in SA, rising fees and costs
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News. South Australians are being left up to $74 out of pocket to visit their GP, contradicting claims by Anthony Albanese that people would only need a Medicare card – not a credit card – to visit the doctor. It comes as the Australian Medical Association SA says the state should follow Queensland's lead and abolish payroll tax on GPs. A check of many Adelaide GP clinics by The Advertiser revealed a Medicare card can only get you so far, with nearly all metropolitan clinics only offering limited bulk-billing services to select groups of the community, such as veterans or children. Most are charging patients an out-of-pocket expense of $49 for a standard consultation, with prices broadly tied to suburbs. North Haven and Port Adelaide offered one of the cheapest gap fees at $35, while Glenelg had one of the highest at $68. Unley and its surrounding suburbs also had high gap fees, ranging from $61 and $74. Some centres had low gap fees such as $30 but then charged patients 'admin fees' between $5 and $10, while others had card payment surcharges on top of the fees. AMA SA president Peter Subramaniam said SA's payroll tax on GPs means patients here are paying more than those interstate. 'The payroll tax on GPs was abolished with bipartisan support in Queensland last year, because both major parties recognised it was costing patients more and costing the system more,' Associate Professor Subramaniam said. 'This isn't just a tax on doctors – it's a tax on access to healthcare. When patients can't afford to see their GP, they get sicker,' he said. 'That puts pressure on overcrowded emergency departments, adding to the stress and costs on the system.' According to the AMA, the cost of seeing a GP in South Australia has increased by roughly $10 per visit as a direct result of the payroll tax – a cost Queenslanders are now not paying. Prof Subramaniam's comments come as new figures show Australians paid more than $151m in June to visit their GP, highlighting the mountain the Prime Minister has to climb to fulfil his pledge. Following a week in which Mr Albanese stood in parliament and repeated his election campaign shtick of waving around his Medicare card, new data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare showed Australians have also paid more than $2.2bn out-of-pocket to see a doctor in the past year. Labor's election pledge to ramp up bulk-billing with an $8.5bn investment, which it says will enable an extra 18 million bulk-billed visits a year, is yet to start, with figures showing Australians continue to take a hit to the hip pocket. 'Anthony Albanese promised Australians that 'All you need is your Medicare card, not a credit card' and that it would be 'free to see a GP',' Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston said. 'While he was waving around his Medicare card and misleading the public, Australians were forking out billions of dollars in out-of-pocket costs – presumably charged to their credit cards.' Health Minister Mark Butler said increased bulk-billing would begin in November. 'We know too many Australians are paying too much out of pocket when they go to the doctor because of the Liberals' cuts to Medicare,' he said. 'On November 1, we will expand bulk-billing incentives to all Australians and create an incentive payment for practices that bulk-bill every patient.' Mr Butler said the move would result in nine out of 10 GP visits being bulk-billed by 2030. Originally published as Rising GP fees leave SA patients out of pocket despite Anthony Albanese's Medicare claims Read related topics: Anthony Albanese
Mercury
3 days ago
- Mercury
Taking on the deadliest illnesses no one is talking about
Don't miss out on the headlines from Stockhead. Followed categories will be added to My News. Eating disorders are among the deadliest mental health disorders Prevalence among kids 10-19 has almost doubled in last decade Eating disorders cost Australia $67 billion every year in economic and wellbeing losses We've all had those thoughts. Maybe I should cut down on the beers. I guess I should go for walk. I should probably eat better. Maybe I could stand to lose a little extra weight here and there. Body dissatisfaction is a pretty universal experience, but for many it's a temporary thought, a passing moment of discomfort quickly forgotten. For too many people, especially young people, those uncomfortable, niggling thoughts have become a daily mantra they can't ignore – and it's almost certainly killing them. A matter of life and death Eating disorders are widely acknowledged as the deadliest psychological issues a person can be diagnosed with. That fact is further complicated by comorbidity; a startling 90% of people with eating disorders also have depression, with two thirds simultaneously suffering from an anxiety disorder. While that combination is deadly on its own – someone with Anorexia Nervosa is 18-times more likely to die by suicide, and those with Bulimia Nervosa seven-times more likely – the leading cause of death among people with severe eating disorders is cardiovascular damage. The compulsions that come with eating disorders starve the body of nutrients and energy, damaging everything from the heart and bones to the digestive and immune systems. Even worse, the growing epidemic of eating disorders is becoming entrenched in schools and on social media, affecting younger and younger people during vulnerable periods of social and physical growth. 'Eating disorders among children and young people aged 10-19 has almost doubled in the last decade,' said Dr Jim Hungerford, CEO of eating disorder not-for-profit Butterfly. 'Every month 100 people die from, and 10,000 develop, an eating disorder, and it is critical that the government invest to stop this emerging crisis in eating disorders.' A national crisis Deloitte's report, Paying the Price, underscores the heavy toll eating disorders take not just on individuals and families, but on our wider society, too. Eating disorders cost Australia $67 billion every year in economic and wellbeing losses. In February, Minister for Health Mark Butler called eating disorders 'a national crisis' – the federal government has earmarked $70 million in grants for programs to research and treat them. At the moment, treatment for eating disorders is almost entirely based on psychological interventions like cognitive behavioural therapy, family therapy, or more structured and specialised treatments like the Maudsley model of anorexia treatment for adults (MANTRA). These treatments often have good outcomes; some 60% of anorexia nervosa patients receiving enhanced CBT treatments recover to a healthy weight. Unfortunately, there are few alternatives for the 40% of patients that don't respond well to psychological intervention. There are currently no approved pharmacological treatment options at all, although some doctors treat their patients off-label with drugs approved for other mental health conditions. More direct types of intervention are quite recent – researchers are exploring everything from deep brain stimulation to hormone therapies and psychedelics like ketamine or psilocybin. It's a new frontier of medicine, led almost entirely by a handful of intrepid pioneers scattered across the globe. Hitting reset on neural pathways Interest in psychedelic compounds as a basis for psychological treatment has gained a lot of attention in recent years. Medicinal compounds based on marijuana, MDMA, ketamine and psilocybin or psilocin from magic mushrooms have been touted as miracle drugs set to revolutionise the treatment of mental health disorders. While we haven't obtained those lofty goals just yet, psychedelic compounds are already showing an incredible amount of promise in mental health disorders resistant to traditional psychological or medical intervention. The research is still thin on the ground, but it's thought these compounds have a 'resetting' effect on neurological pathways, disrupting habitual ingrained behaviours and encouraging new connections between different regions of the brain. You can imagine them a bit like a cleansing flood, washing away the old, worn and rutted pathways of the brain and offering a chance to forge new ones in their place. Companies such as Tryptamine Therapeutics (ASX:TYP) are working to transform these powerful compounds – once the realm of medicine men and shamans – into something the TGA or FDA can get behind. TYP is developing two such medicines; an intravenous (IV) infused synthetic psilocin compound, and an oral synthetic psilocybin compound, both designed to offer precise dosing options without adverse effects. The company's main focuses are binge eating disorder (BED) and illnesses that induce chronic pain like fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome. BED is the most common eating disorder in the US and the second most common in Australia, representing a high unmet need. Tryptamine is at the clinical assessment stage with its TRP-8803 IV infusion, currently engaged in a safety and efficacy trial in partnership with Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. The company is dosing 12 adult patients suffering from BED with its TRP treatment alongside simultaneous psychotherapy sessions. The oral version of the drug has already shown promise in treating BED, reducing daily binge eating episodes by an average of 80.4% in a phase II trial with the University of Florida. All patients experienced a reduction in episodes of at least 60% from baseline, with improvements in anxiety and depression scores as well. While the open-label study had a limited patient population with only five participants, it's nonetheless a very promising start. Overcoming psychedelic adverse effects One of the challenges in bringing psychedelic medicines to market is also a strength: the altered cognitive state they induce in patients. Both Tryptamine Therapeutics and its Israeli brethren Shortwave Life Sciences are working to unlock the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics while side-stepping the more intense adverse effects they can illicit in people. They're attempting to take the guesswork out of dosage and adverse impact by producing synthetic versions of psilocin and psilocybin compounds that are highly controlled, offering more predictable outcomes. Shortwave is focused mostly on Anorexia Nervosa, one of the deadliest eating disorders. The company is developing an oral drug combining psilocybin with a beta carboline, a type of tryptamine compound associated with neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine that directly influence mood. Shortwave is still in the pre-clinical stages with its drug combination, but early studies are indicating a good safety profile and active metabolisation. The company has partnered with the Sheba Medical Centre, considered a leading medical institution and eating disorder centre in Israel, to conduct an investigator-initiated, open-label, phase II study. The trial will investigate the safety and feasibility of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of anorexia nervosa, the first of its kind in Israel. Taking a molecular approach Not all pharmacological interventions being developed for eating disorders are based on psychedelics, but they share a distinct emphasis on resetting or rewiring disordered neurological pathways. Courage Therapeutics, a spinout of the University of Michigan, has just secured US$7.8 million to advance two drug development programs designed to tackle obesity and restrictive eating disorders. Head researcher Roger Cone identified two proteins thought to play a part in regulating energy balance and food intake – melanocortin 3 receptor and melanocortin 4 receptor (MC3R and MC4R). Courage Therapeutics is focusing on leveraging these proteins to directly hack into neurological circuits in the hypothalamus. Also at the pre-clinical stage, animal studies in mammals have shown great promise in influencing feeding behaviours and weight management. A rat animal model using CRISPR technology to induce MC3R deficiency showed a significant reduction in both body weight and decreased food intake, while those with an MC4R deficiency increased food intake and gained body weight compared to the control group. A long path ahead While research into pharmacological interventions for eating disorders is still in very early stages, the results so far have been incredibly encouraging. The science seems sound, but proving these treatments are not only effective but safe and predictable will take years of clinical trials and testing. The Butterfly Foundation is calling for urgent investment in eating disorder research as the number of people suffering from them rises year by year. 'We were incredibly disappointed that there was zero new funding for eating disorder prevention or treatment in the Australian government's 2025-26 budget announcement on March 25,' Dr Hungerford said, 'nor in the budget response from the Coalition.' 'It is clear from latest research that people in Australia want to know why. Without government investment in prevention, the consequences will be catastrophic. 'The time for talk is over, the time for action for the more than 1 million people living with an eating disorder is now.' At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Tryptamine Therapeutics is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article. This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions. Originally published as Disorder to go: Tackling the deadliest psychological illnesses no one is talking about
