Cancer Immunotherapy offers hope, when prognosis is grim

By Neena Bhandari

Melbourne, 09.10.2016 (The Week): Melissa Baker, 41, had been feeling itchy for a few months and then one evening she felt a lump in her neck. She went to see her doctor and by the end of the week, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She was told it was a “good cancer” and that she would be cured with six months of treatment.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. When the first line treatment failed, she underwent a stem cell transplant and nearly died from pneumonia in the lead up to it. The transplant also failed. This was followed by treatment with an expensive targeted chemotherapy drug. After an initial good response, Melissa’s lymphoma started progressing again.

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For the Oswals, a 6-year, multi-billion-dollar legal drama ends

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 27.09.2016 (Business Standard): Indian industrialist couple, Pankaj and Radhika Oswal, have left Australia perhaps never to return, after settling a multi-billion-dollar legal stoush with one of Australia’s leading banks, the Australia and New Zealand [ANZ] Banking Group.

The commercial settlement, the terms of which are confidential, reached on September 22 resolves the A$2.5 billion claim made by the Oswals against ANZ over a dispute about the receivership and sale of Burrup Fertilisers Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Burrup Holdings Limited, in 2010.

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Business communication: How to say what you actually mean

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 09.09.2016 (HRM): Clear, compelling business communication is, sadly, a rarity. But master the art of the written word and see your credibility rise. Three experts give us their advice.

‘The medium is the message’ said media theorist Marshall McLuhan. Clear, concise and convincing writing is the key to driving home the message whether it is writing an email, a staff review, a project report or a business proposal. But in the world of 140-character Twitter and paperless offices, effective and persuasive business communication is found wanting – and human resources is among the worst culprits.

Stephanie Oley, who runs the business writing course at the University of Sydney, says, “The most effective business writing draws on the simplicity and directness of spoken English. This includes shorter sentences, less jargon and main points at the start of a sentence and not after lengthy background information.”

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