Today The BMJ is all about neuraminidase inhibitors and open data. Ten articles on the subject of anti-influenza drugs try to establish what we know. In sum: perhaps not enough to justify the huge expense governments worldwide have incurred in stockpiling these drugs, but perhaps enough in terms of improving transparency and providing researchers with […]
Category: Editors at large
The BMJ Today: The climate change horse has bolted
Eric Chivian urges doctors to help tackle climate change, but shouldn’t the profession’s energies be spent tackling unsafe hospitals and under resourced healthcare systems? […]
Tessa Richards: It’s time to turn healthcare upside down
March sees the picturesque town of Basel transformed as it celebrates Fastnacht. Masks are donned, people pour into the streets to the sound of piccolos and drums, and party. Transformation was very much on the minds of the 300 participants from 22 countries who walked over confetti strewn streets to the town’s spanking white congress […]
Readers’ editor: Clichéd series titles, and “Save our Des”
Last month the journal launched the first in a series of in-depth reviews written by international experts—State of the Art—to highlight important areas of clinical medicine and academic inquiry. So far we have published two. The first article examined the mechanisms and clinical implications of neuropathic pain and, according to Google Analytics, has been viewed […]
Anita Jain on the paradox of rape in India
“For those who care for their country”—the strap line spelt it out for me. As Aamir Khan returned with the second season of his documentary/talk show, Satyamev Jayate, I knew I would be watching. The show stirred the hearts of Indians across the globe in its last run. It had thrown up incisive questions about […]
Tessa Richards: Access to health records—patients first
Criticism of the government’s plan to collect data from patients’ medical records to build a new NHS database—care.data—has been fast and furious. With data collection postponed amid public concern about its confidentiality the government is now fielding advice on how to get its “busted” scheme right next time round. While the research potential of analysing […]
The BMJ Today: Sponsorship, epilepsy, and votes
Welcome to this new blog category, The BMJ Today. We aim to post an update each weekday of recent articles and other content to have caught our eye. We hope it will function as an online editor’s choice, chosen by different members of The BMJ’s editorial team each day. Our first highlighted article is Drug treatment […]
Rebecca Coombes: Greece’s young reject the Mediterranean diet
In Athens this week, at a meeting about Europe’s obesity crisis organised by the Greek government, talk is dominated by the expanding waistlines of Europe’s children. At the event’s smart Hellenic building surrounded by orange trees, and where lunch is veg-heavy and carb-light, it’s hard to believe that Greek’s young are ditching the Mediterranean diet. […]
David Payne: Books for the incurably curious
When John Keats switched from medicine to poetry he found a different way of healing people, according to Andrew Motion. Motion, a former poet laureate, attributes his interest in medicine and literature to the Romantic poet, whose biography he wrote in 1997. Unveiling the shortlist for 2014 Wellcome book prize in London this week, Motion, […]
Richard Hurley: We need your help: what will India’s 2014 general elections mean for health?
In a couple of months India will hold parliamentary elections to determine its next central government. This administration, due to hold office from June, will also have responsibility for drafting India’s 13th five year plan, which is key to its direction of development from 2017. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that he will not […]