How can one not feel joy in a place called Land of the Thunder Dragon, the traditional name for Bhutan, the tiny landlocked South Asian nation south of Tibet known for introducing the world to the gross national happiness index. If emptiness is your idea of happiness, as is mine, there’s not much to dislike. […]
Huw Llewelyn: The way forward from “rubbish” to “real” EBM in the wake of Evidence Live 2015
This blog is part of a series of blogs linked with BMJ Clinical Evidence, a database of systematic overviews of the best available evidence on the effectiveness of commonly used interventions. At Evidence Live Iona Heath reminded us that EBM should not interfere with wisdom and common sense. Trish Greenhalgh gave a hilarious example of “rubbish […]
Neal D. Barnard and Angela Eakin: Yes, cholesterol matters
In February 2015, the US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee reported that dietary cholesterol was no longer a “nutrient of concern.” According to the Committee’s report, “available evidence shows no appreciable relationship between consumption of dietary cholesterol and serum cholesterol….” In the ensuing media tempest, some food writers saw a green light for indulgence in eggs, […]
The BMJ Today: Growth charts, depression screening, and a second pair of eyes
• Growth charts reflect a growth in children within India The growth charts committee of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) has recently published new growth charts for children aged 5-18, designed to measure height, weight, and body mass index. The charts, previously revised in 2007 using data collected as long ago as 1989, found that […]
Julian Sheather: Shaping the ends of our lives
Very difficult to know how we will approach our death until we are in the shadow of it. Will we hold to the ideals we formed when we were healthy, or will fear, or pain, or desperate hope overturn them? There is an interesting blog touching on this theme over at the New York Times. […]
William Cayley: Are you depressed?
“Do you feel down, depressed, or hopeless? Are you bothered by little interest or pleasure in doing things?” Now that the practice I work for is part of an accountable care organization, one more measure on which our (supposed quality of) patient care is being assessed, is our screening for depression. While that sounds initially […]
The BMJ Today: Watch, read, listen, do
If you watch one thing today . . . See the two video clips embedded in the “Comptetent Novice” paper “A quick ward assessment of older patients by junior doctors,” and see if you agree with the weekend response posted by Birmingham doctor Yousuf Ansari. If you listen to one thing today . . . The […]
Richard Lehman’s weekly journal review—27 April 2015
NEJM 23 Apr 2015 Vol 372 Last week, dear friends, we kicked off with alirocumab and evolocumab. This week it’s the turn of nivolumab, ipilimumab, and pembrolizumab. It’s driving me mab. Whoumab canumab possiblyumab remememberumab whatumab theseumab drugumabs actuallyumab doumab? When monoclonal antibodies started to be marketed as therapeutic agents, wise and distinguished men (with […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Nose-ography
While editing the forthcoming edition of Meyler’s Side Effects of Drugs: The International Encyclopedia of Adverse Drug Reactions and Interactions, I came across a suspected teratogenic effect of high dose oral contraceptives (no longer used)—multiple bony defects with pretibial dimples. Dimples are mentioned in many entries in Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), a comprehensive source […]
Maya Annie Elias: Tobacco control in India—more needs to be done to promote smoking cessation in India
Tobacco use is one of the single largest preventable causes of death and a leading risk factor for non-communicable diseases. The burden of tobacco related illnesses prompted the Government of India to initiate various measures for tobacco control. India adapted the WHO Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) and passed the “Cigarettes and Other Tobacco […]