Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Knowledge translation

You would think that the word “knowledge” comes from the word “know”, but it isn’t as simple as that. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) only says “probably”. The problem is that the noun and the verb differ markedly in both chronological occurrence and the sources of their earliest uses. According to the OED, the noun […]

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Claire McDaniel and Daniel Marchalik: Medicine, from fiction to today

The Doctor’s Book Club Ben Winters Underground Airlines My country tis of thee, Late land of slavery, Of thee I sing. Land where my father’s pride Slept where my mother died, From every mountain side Let freedom ring!  W E B Du Bois My Country ‘Tis of Thee   Ben Winters’s Underground Airlines begins with a […]

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Nick Hopkinson: Conservatism and the cancer drugs fund

Decisions about healthcare inevitably involve choices around the allocation of finite resources. Democracy, if it is meaningful, is public reasoning. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), established by Frank Dobson in 1999, though imperfect, represents a worthy attempt to conduct a reasoned assessment of what a decent health service should provide. When […]

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