5 November 2013: This blog has been removed. […]
Richard Smith: Twitter to replace peer review?
An interesting article in Nature gives what may be a glimpse of the future of scientific discourse by telling stories of how social media have done a much better and faster job than traditional prepublication review. Science recently published a paper in which researchers claimed to be able to predict human longevity with 77% accuracy. The […]
Abhay Bang on saving children’s lives
In 1945 my father had just been released from prison after taking part in India’s freedom movement and wanted to travel to the US to study economics. One week before he was due to leave he went to see Mahatma Gandhi and asked for his blessing. The old man looked at my father for a few […]
Richard Smith: Statin arguments
A Spanish friend who is a pharmacist and basic scientist and with whom I have a spirited argument over the polypill has emailed me to gloat over the press reports derived from a Cochrane review that statins provide no benefit for healthy people. She believes that healthy living will suffice for fending off heart attacks […]
Martin McShane: Enthusiasm, cynicism, pragmatism and Pathfinders.
In Lincolnshire, we had 3 Pathfinder consortia announced in the second wave. This is good news. At least, we think it is. We are, however, not sure what being a “Pathfinder” means. It would appear to mean that GPs are enthusiastic about the reforms and taking up the challenge. Is that true? […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review – 24 January 2011
JAMA 19 Jan 2011 Vol 305 261 I’m of an age when the words cognitive decline in the title of a paper make me rush to read it – the exception being a self-assessment study in the BMJ a couple of years ago, which was just too scary. This paper isn’t scary; in fact it […]
Richard Smith: “Wellness,” an emerging market
Wellness, whatever it might be, is an emerging market, and there is serious money to be made. This was the main message from last night’s meeting of the Cambridge Health Network, a thriving network where men in expensive suits and smartly dressed women, most of whom are consultants and CEOs of companies, mix with public […]
Research highlights – 21 January 2011
“Research highlights” is a weekly round-up of research papers appearing in the print BMJ. We start off with this week’s research questions, before providing more detail on some individual research papers and accompanying articles. What is the association between headaches and volume of white matter hyperintensities on magnetic resonance imaging of the brain? What are […]
Juliet Dobson on eating animals
On Wednesday night at the London School of Economics, US novelist Jonathan Safran Foer took part in a discussion about his latest book, Eating Animals, as part of the Forum for European Philosophy. The book, a departure from his previous two novels, is part memoir, part exposé. He writes about his struggle with vegetarianism and explores […]
Greg Ramm: Living with dignity in Haiti’s earthquake camps
It was difficult to know exactly what to expect as I arrived in Haiti one year after the terrible earthquake. There had been so many reports – some of them contradictory – and I looked forward to seeing things for myself. Stepping off the aircraft and into the warm morning air of the capital city, […]