Hope for new way to beat aggressive cancer

AUSTRALIAN researchers are optimistic they have found a way to treat triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive disease that mainly affects younger women.

Although still being tested on mice, the treatment is based on two drugs that are already in use and human trials could start relatively quickly.

Triple-negative cancer affects about 15 per cent of people with breast cancer and is particularly difficult to treat.

After many years of research, Professor Robert Baxter and his team at Sydney's Kolling Institute of Medical Research have discovered how a protein helps some breast cancers grow and become resistant to treatment.

Using that knowledge they combined two drugs to create a new treatment they say has been remarkably effective in the laboratory.

"We discovered that two drugs in combination might be an effective way to stop tumour growth," says Prof Baxter.

"Our tests have shown the drugs to be extremely effective when used together. We are now hoping to move on to further preclinical studies," Prof Baxter says.

"The prognosis for people with triple-negative breast cancer is not good," says Dr Libby Topp of Cancer Council NSW, which partly funds Dr Baxter's research.

"The five-year survival rate is much lower than 89 per cent for breast cancer in general."

Funds raised on Cancer Council's Pink Ribbon Day on October 28 will go towards prevention programs, support services and research like Prof Baxter's project, she says.

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Synthetic drugs gain popularity: study

SO-CALLED synthetic highs are becoming increasingly popular among recreational drug users in Australia, according to an annual survey of people who use psychostimulants like ecstasy.

It's a big worry, says chief investigator Dr Lucy Burns of the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

The main problems are that the contents of the drugs are unknown and the effects are unpredictable.

Although use by the general population is likely to be "very low", Dr Burns is worried about the growing popularity among users of psychostimulants.

"Almost half of people who take conventional drugs like ecstasy also use the new class of drugs or emerging psychoactive substances (EPS). It's a concern. There have been fatalities," says Dr Burns, who is presenting the survey results at a drug trends conference in Melbourne.

Her team surveys hundreds of drug users each year in an attempt to keep up to date with popularity, price and availability of illicit drugs.

The latest survey, conducted in state and territory capitals in early 2013, shows 44 per cent of regular drug users used an EPS - including synthetic cannabis - in the previous six months.

This is up from 40 per cent in 2012.

Although ecstasy is still the most popular drug after cannabis, Dr Burns says things have changed.

"It's a whole new world out there. We have something like 250 substances," she said.

"We really don't know what's in them. What people get over the internet is often not what they think they are getting.

"A very significant proportion of young Australians in the recreational drug scene are using them and the effects can be unpredictable."

The survey shows use of methamphetamines like speed and ice has fallen significantly among the people interviewed.

The use of hallucinogenic drugs like LSD and ketamine has increased significantly, although frequency of use is low.

Although ecstasy is the most common drug of choice among people in the survey, they use cannabis and tobacco more often than any other substance.

Their tobacco consumption has fallen, however.

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Sea cucumber overfishing could hurt reef

OVERFISHING is putting sea cucumbers in a pickle on the Great Barrier Reef, marine biologists say.

Sydney University's Professor Maria Byrne and Dr Hampus Eriksson, a post-doctoral researcher at Stockholm University, say more than 24 sea cucumber fisheries have closed in recent years.

Over 70 per cent of tropical sea cucumber fisheries are now considered depleted, fully exploited or over-exploited.

After analysing catches in the Great Barrier Reef over the last 20 years, the researchers say sea cucumber fishing is now showing worrying signs of being unsustainable.

"Sea cucumbers play a vital role in reef health and our previous research indicates that they may help reduce the harmful impact of ocean acidification on coral growth," Prof Byrne said in a statement.

"The crown-of-thorns starfish is often singled out as responsible for the decline in the barrier reef.

"This work suggests that overfishing of ecologically important species such as sea cucumbers, may have also contributed to this decline."

Dr Eriksson said that with declining catches of high value sea cucumber species, Australian fishers had turned to other, lower value species, which were also being overfished.

"Pursuing profits by targeting abundant species which sell for less while continuing to fish scarce high-value species is a pathway to their extinction," Dr Eriksson said.

Prof Byrne said further studies were needed to understand the impact of declining sea cucumber numbers on the reef.

"We recommend introducing precautionary reductions in sea cucumber fishing," she said.

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Union to protest Telstra job cuts at AGM

THE public sector union will use Telstra's annual general meeting on Tuesday to demand the company stop sending jobs overseas.

The union will demonstrate outside Telstra's AGM against "massive" job cuts made by the company.

It claims there are at least 10,250 people working offshore on Telstra business "on any one shift".

The union also points to Telstra's decision to cut 3157 workers since January.

"Telstra likes to boast that it is 'creating' new jobs but what it doesn't like to mention is that for the most part these jobs are overseas and were once fulfilled by an Australian worker," CPSU lead organiser for Telstra Teresa Davison said in a statement.

"Telstra is actively helping overseas companies build their capacity to take Telstra's Australian jobs."

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Knifeman nabbed at Buckingham Palace gates

A MAN has been arrested after trying to get into Buckingham Palace with a knife, Scotland Yard says.

The 44-year-old was held around 11.30am on Monday (2130 AEDT Monday) when he attempted to get through the north centre gate and was stopped by police.

Officers searched him and he was found to have a knife.

He was arrested on suspicion of trespassing on a protected site and possession of an offensive weapon and is in custody.

Buckingham Palace said the Queen was not in the building when the man tried to get in, but would make no further comment.

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Questions over Labor's factional control

FALLOUT from the deals done over Labor's shadow ministry is likely to continue ahead of portfolios being assigned later this week.

Former Speaker Anna Burke unsuccessfully challenged for the position of chief opposition whip at Monday's caucus meeting and afterwards lashed out at the "faceless men" regaining control of the party.

New leader Bill Shorten has returned to the pre-Rudd era process of having caucus elect the frontbench before he appoints portfolios.

But Ms Burke says this results in "a couple of blokes sitting round a room carving up the spoils and then telling everybody else what the outcome's going to be".

Stephen Conroy, who won the deputy Senate leader spot, says people were always going to be disappointed when positions were contested.

"Anna entered into a number of ballots over the last few days ... and there's always going to be some disappointed people," he told the ABC.

Ms Burke has also criticised the Right faction for not promoting women. It had just three female nominees among 16.

Senator Conroy said there had been a series of ballots, within factions and in the full caucus, over the past few days to select nominees from "a strong and talented pool".

Mr Shorten will reveal who gets which portfolios on Friday and the shadow cabinet will meet on Monday.

Their mettle will be tested on November 12 when parliament will be recalled, AAP understands.

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Forrest donates $65m to WA universities

MINING billionaire Andrew Forrest has gifted a staggering $65 million - believed to be the nation's largest single philanthropic donation - to attract the world's best minds to Western Australia's universities.

About $50 million from the chairman of Fortescue Metals Group will be used to establish the Forrest Foundation, to fund scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships across all five of WA's universities.

And another $15 million will build Forrest Hall, at St George's College at the University of Western Australia (UWA), a living space for researchers that is hoped will rival the best residential colleges in the world.

The gift will be the centrepiece of the UWA's new fundraising campaign, which aims to raise $400 million and we will be launched on Tuesday with a gala dinner attended by Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Mr Forrest, who graduated from UWA in 1983, said he wanted to use his money to invest in the country and its young people.

"Only education can be the final key to eliminate poverty in the world and raise the universal standard of living, ultimately to increase the nobility of the human cause," he said.

"Having visited so many of them, I believe the University of Western Australia is an excellent example of what our universities can grow to."

The donation is part of a previous pledge by Mr Forrest and his wife Nicola to give away half of his estimated US$5.3 billion fortune, as part of the "Giving Pledge" movement founded by American billionaires Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.

It follows other big donations from the couple including $3 million to the Art Gallery of WA, $3.7 million that was shared between the WA Symphony Orchestra, WA Opera and the Black Swan State Theatre Centre, and $1.3 million to Murdoch University's Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases.

Dr Michael Chaney, UWA Chancellor, said the gift would transform the college.

"It's going to help us create the future by enabling us to gear up our research effort as we move into our second century," Dr Chaney said.

The university's fundraising campaign aims to fund future student scholarships, new research and a new indigenous cultures museum.

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