The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 3

The Sydney Morning Herald Tuesday, October 25, 1994 3 Two heartbeats herald survival of the species Scalpels drawn asGPs cut in mwm i tf-l Am JjP0f; v4ii titw? I -A 'aLcv, "s3j. tM2vL A1 wwX I it By BOB BEALE Science and Environment Editor When Dr Larry Vogelnest looked at the ultrasonic scanner and saw a healthy foetal heart beating and then another, he whooped for joy and planted an kiss on the expectant mother. It was the first time Dr Vogelnest had kissed a patient and if she had not been under general anaesthetic, it would have been a foolhardy act to say the least. He is the chief veterinarian at Taronga Zoo and she is Selatan, a four-year-old Sumatran tiger weighing about 130 kilograms. Staff at the zoo are understandably anxious about this pregnancy, which the ultrasound has just confirmed with the help of Dr Karon Hoffmann, a specialist veterinary ultrasonagrapher.

So flimsy is the Sumatran tiger's grip on survival that every new cub is an event to celebrate. As few as 400 remain in the wild and another 50 or so in captivity. Vast tracts of their native habitat have been lost through Indonesian resettlement programs involving several million people moving from Java and Madura. The tigers remaining wild are in five disjunct protected areas. Zoos around the world are working to maintain a healthy tiger gene pool and Selatan and her mate, Shiva a nine-year-old born at Taronga Zoo are an important pair, highly valued for their different bloodlines.

The zoo needed to confirm the pregnancy because Selatan has already had a couple of false pregnancies since she and Shiva were put together about a year ago. She came from Melbourne Zoo. Taronga's director of veterinary services, Dr George Russ, notes that modern medical know-how is proving to be invaluable in such captive-breeding programs. Shiva had already been investigated to ensure he was fertile and the ultrasound not only confirmed Selatan's pregnancy but enabled the health of the unborn cubs to be monitored. "The significance of this pregnancy can't be overstated for its significance to the species as a whole," Dr Russ said yesterday.

The cubs were conceived in the first week of August. Their birthdate is uncertain because the tiger gestation period can vary bv about a week either side of 104 days. If all goes well, in about a month's time the known global population of these magnificent animals will increase by 0.5 per cent. The two new cubs will then have to get through the critical first 10 days of their lives, during which they are very vulnerable and may be rejected by their mother. Selatan's false pregnancies also highlight the subtleties of tiger reproduction and the need for modern technology to unravel it.

Female tigers come into season or oestrus several times a year. They are in oestrus for about a week, during which they may copulate with a male 100 times or more. They will not produce eggs during oestrus, however, unless they mate. If they do not conceive, they will come into season again soon afterwards. Selatan, however, did not follow that pattern at first and left her keepers confused and concerned that either she or Shiva might have been infertile: both are first-time parents.

"Take it easy, sweetheart that's 0.5 per cent of the Sumatran tiger population you're carrying." Selatan, left, and Shiva at Taronga Zoo. Picture by wcx stevens By ALICIA LARRI ERA Health Writer Surgeons, outraged by Federal Government plans to train GPs to perform minor operations, will hold crisis talks today with key Health Department officers. The meeting, four days after the release of the Baume report into the surgical workforce, is at the demand of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Australian Medical Association. The Government, which is planning to use the report as a blueprint for overhauling the medical profession, will also face opposition from general practitioners unless it is prepared to increase their Medicare payments to cover the cost of doing more surgical work. The Baume report, A Cutting Edge: Australia's Surgical Workforce 1994.

carried out for the Government by the head of community medicine at the University of NSW, said there was an acute shortage of surgeons. It has been condemned by the leading medical colleges, which are responsible for training and accrediting specialist doctors. Only the Doctors' Reform Society, a medical lobby group with strong Labor leanings, has publicly endorsed its findings. The College of Surgeons, which came under strongest attack from Professor Baume for its excessively tight control over the number of trainees which he linked to maintaining high incomes has rejected the report's findings as flawed. The general secretary of the Royal Australasian College of General Practitioners, Dr Michael Bollen, declined last night to comment until he had received a copy of the report However, the chairman of the Division of General Practice (Central Sydney), Dr Linda Mann, said that while she agreed with Professor Baume's finding that GPs had been systematically de-skilled over the past 50 years, no GP would be prepared to take on more procedural work unless their Medicare payments were lifted to match the amount paid to specialists for a similar procedure.

Dr Mann said the annual insurance bill for a non-procedural GP, which permitted only the surgical removal of "lumps and bumps" was $2,500. The bill for procedural work which went beyond for example, removing a mole was $4,000. "The question on every GP's lips will be: 'Will we earn enough to make it worthwhile to take out the extra insurance I won't be until it's worth a lot more money," she said. Dr Mann said her bulk-billing practice in Sydney was a "model" surgery and was struggling to make ends meet. "We embrace the Baume report with caveats," she said.

"It's one thing to train people up. It's another thing to expect them to carry out more work for no extra money." The Minister for Health, Dr Lawrence, has set a deadline of February for comment on the report, which is to be discussed by the Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council this week. pecia.1 law may Many adults mix up left and right kill enn jail li stabbed my wife because she lied and threatened my children. She was selfish. Take away my children and I have nothing to live for.

Gregory Wayne Kable. embarrassed when it happens', and that's when confidence is undermined," he said. Early intervention with children aged three to six years would help overcome this problem, Professor McMonnies said. To this end, he recently released a book with illustrations for small children. Little Kim's Left and Right Book, which "imprints" messages about left and right.

After noticing a significant problem with leftright identification, Professor McMonnies recruited 200 adults to complete a questionnaire. Nine per cent of respondents said they often confused left from right, while 29 per cent reported occasional confusion. This led Professor McMonnies to carry out another survey of practitioners who issued instructions to patients which involved knowing left from right The optometrists, physiotherapists and chiropractors in this study, who cumulatively treated over a million patients, were asked to judge how often clients had difficulty with instructions such as "look to your The results showed that an average of 42 per cent of clients had confusion with left and right By JENNIFER CONNELL New research has found that 42 per cent of adults have never fully overcome their childhood confusion over left and right. And earlier research, also by Professor Charles McMonnies of the School of Optometry at the University of NSW, showed that a quarter of adults had a special "trick" to avoid the public humiliation of now knowing their left hand from their right. "Twenty-five per cent of adults have a way of working out where left and right is, and they shouldn't need it," said Professor McMonnies.

"Something needs to be done about it" "There's a fellow I know who, every time he shakes hands, gives his left hand a little squeeze so he knows it's not the hand to put out" Other tricks reported to Professor McMonnies include visualising the childhood classroom "windows on the left, door on the right" or referring to marks or moles on the skin of the hands which distinguish the two. But when those people find they need to make a leftright decision in a hurry when giving directions in a car, for instance mistakes often occur. "People say Tm so totally provide appropriate protection to the community in these and similar circumstances," he said. The Government is understood to be considering legislation which would apply to Kable alone, or which would allow the Government to ask the Supreme Court for an order that Kable remain in jail. A third option is general legislation that could be used in such situations.

Other States, and Canada and New Zealand, have similar legislation under which a person can be detained indefinitely on psychiatric or other evidence, or where they pose a danger to the community. Justice Hunt, who in 1989 sentenced Kable to five years and four months, found "his actions were, I am satisfied, out of character and they were carried out at a time of severe emotional crisis arising out of his marital Hilary Kable's sister and her husband, who are caring for the children, were advised by their lawyer not to speak to the Herald because of pending legal By ELIZABETH JURMAN State Cabinet will today discuss plans to pass special laws to keep one man in jail after being warned to expect another Hoddle Street massacre" if he gets out Gregory Wayne Kable, 36, stabbed his estranged wife Hilary to death with a kitchen knife in September 1989. Ever since he was jailed for a minimum term of four years, he has been writing chilling letters threatening anyone who comes between him and his two children. At the time of the murder he confessed to police that: "There was sic no answers to my problem but I thought that if I killed Hilary at least I would have the children." He also wrote to his dead wife's sister, who was looking after the children. If you chose sic to continue screwing up our lives you will have me to deal with! You will unleash the most destructive person God ever put on this Earth.

I stabbed my wife because she lied and threatened my children. She was selfish. Take away my chil Science women hit back in row over wasted PhDs i Review Board reports, one doctor found that Kable's release "could place society, at risk of a social disaster on the scale of the Hoddle Street Seven people died when gunman Julian Knight shot at random in Hoddle Street, Melbourne, in 1987. The Supreme Court refused Kable parole in July 1993. He is due for release on January 5, two months before the State election.

The Attorney-General, Mr Hannaford, said last night that Hilary Kable's family and the Victims Advisory Council had made representations to him, and that he had called for all the papers and reports. "I will be taking proposals to Cabinet to S. i 1 KfcAltM STKi LT AKPMARTIS ANIUVOTHFt PMIRANPA. II A Ll. OIT.

dren and I have nothing to live for. off and leave us alone or I will blow both of you to kingdom come. This is a threat." A detective from the Fraud and General Crime division who has investigated verbal and written threats made by Kable since then has said that on Kable's "release either on a permanent basis, as the result of day or work release programs, or in the event of escape, the lives of many will be in Kable would pose a grave threat to the officers of the Family Court, the guardians of his children and others if and when he is released from prison." According to Offenders years to complete, during which the student carries out research that significantly contributes to the body of scientific knowledge, a prerequisite for the award of the degree. "The average cost for the student's salary is $14,500 per annum. In addition, many institutions require the student to undertake tutoring responsibilities within the university." But the group said Dr Pucci was correct about one thing: women with doctorates dropped out rapidly from professions.

aging director of International Catamarans, said he hoped the tugs would still be able to inch it towards a natural slipway and then pull it off backwards. The $38-million ship would be towed back to his yard for repairs. An inquiry into the mishap will report next week. ANDREW DARBY 0 ft You could become attached to our gifts. GCDaSOCL? By LEIGH DAYTON Science Writer There's an old saying in university circles: "PhD" doesn't stand for Doctor of Philosophy it's short for "piled higher and Academic cynicism aside, this week, many women in science, engineering and technology were asking just what a PhD did mean after a broadside from fellow female, Dr Alex Pucci, the director of business development with the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney.

Dr Pucci, who has accumulated three PhDs, told the recent Women, Power and Politics conference in Adelaide that it was socially irresponsible for women to pursue advanced and expensive degrees unless they were willing to put them to work. Nor should they clutter up the halls of academe just to prove they could, Dr Pucci charged in the Herald. Numerous letters from concerned Herald readers clearly show that Dr Pucci's blast hit a target. But was it the right one? "Absolutely not," says Professor Eugenie Lumbers, head of the University of NSW School of Physiology and Pharmacology and member of the Prime Minister's Women in Science, Engineering and Technology Advi- Members of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research PhD students contribute "to the body of scientific photograph by steven siewert At 10.00 p.a. Citibank's 5 year term deposit for amounts between $5,000 and $250,000 is an offer that's too good to miss.

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And even if they do take their degrees no further than the backyard, female doctoral students contribute to the common good while studying, claims a group of students and researchers from Dr Pucci's Garvan Institute. In an impassioned letter to the Herald, the 34 women and 10 men wrote: "A PhD on average takes four The refloating efforts yesterday followed two weeks of around-the-clock work by salvage crews to seal the ripped hulls and prepare the rock platform. An earlier plan to jack up the ship, then lower it on to slipyard rails fixed to the rocks, failed when a rail bent in heavy seas. Mr Robert Clifford, the man Export ferry still stuck on reef City Margaret St. or Martin PL, Haymarket, North Sydney, Bondi junction, Parramatta.

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