In the past two weeks I have used the metaphor of crossing bridges in discussing translational research, and have derived a model of it from definitions in the Cooksey report, while pointing out problems with the model. Firstly, it assumed a strict dichotomy between basic and applied research, whereas the idea of translation implies no […]
Category: Columnists
Richard Smith: A call for action to treat the untreated million children a year with heart disease
The Indian state of Kerala is aiming to reduce infant mortality from 12 for every 1000 live births to 8 by 2020 and 6 by 2030, and in order to achieve the target it will have to develop services to diagnose and manage children with heart disease. That is because infant deaths from infection and […]
Richard Smith: Quality in the NHS in 2017
Britons invented the first antibiotic, the MRI scanner, in vitro fertilisation, and much more, and Britain punches way above its weight in science, said Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s medical director, at the HCA Healthcare UK conference this week. It also has a “semi-integrated” health and social care system. Link it all together and, Keogh […]
Nick Hopkinson: What is breathing worth? The economic cost of lung disease
It is no secret that the UK healthcare system is under strain. The percentage of GDP spent on healthcare is projected to fall to 6.6% by 2020/21, back to the same levels as the 1990s. For comparison, the OECD average (excluding the US) is 9.1%. Reminiscent of the 1990s, waiting times are rising and the system […]
Martin McKee: Article 50 has been triggered. Now what?
The sound of ideology slamming into a wall of reality is already echoing throughout Whitehall, says Martin McKee, as he unpicks some of the consequences of Brexit. […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Translational research—an early model
A clear definition of translational research is hard to come by. Typical general definitions include: • the process of transferring, from bench to bedside, findings in basic science into clinical practice, e.g. diagnostic procedures and therapeutic concepts. • the application of biomedical research (pre-clinical and clinical), conducted to support drug development, which aids in the […]
Richard Smith: How would medicine be altered by aunt Léonie’s machine?
“My aunt Léonie,” writes Marcel Proust in In Search of Lost Time, “wished to see invented a machine that would enable the doctor to undergo all the sufferings of his patient in order to understand better.” How, I wonder, would medicine be altered by aunt Léonie’s machine? It’s easy to understand why aunt Léonie wanted […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Translational research—early developments
Last week I discussed the nonlinear nature of systematic reviews and suggested that many aspects of medical science are also nonlinear. I believe this to be true of translational medicine. The word “translation” derives from the Latin “translatio”, which in turn is derived from the supine form, translatum, of the irregular verb transferre, whose primary […]
Paul Glasziou and Iain Chalmers: Ill informed replications will increase our avoidable waste of research
How does the replicability crisis relate to the estimated 85% waste in medical research? […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Cherry picking and berry picking in systematic reviews
Cherry picking originally meant “the action or practice of harvesting cherries” (Oxford English Dictionary). The term is recorded as having been first used in November 1849, in Godey’s Lady’s Book: “Recollections of a grown-up schoolboy. V.—Cherry-pickings, robbing orchards, and love-making”, one of a series by JF Otis, although it is hard to believe that there […]