Marge Berer: Jingle pills indeed

Many years ago now, when news of female sterilisation first came out, Catholic priests in Puerto Rico and other Catholic countries preached from their pulpits against women being sterilised. As a result many more women learned that sterilisation existed, and many went out from church asking where to get it. In effect, the church gave […]

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Domhnall MacAuley: From the American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting (Denver)

The next big thing in physical activity research: sitting doing nothing. Steve Blair (University of South Carolina), a major player in the physical activity research world, suggests that the pattern of inactivity is important. Sedentary behaviour, irrespective of the overall level of activity is itself a risk factor- sitting doing nothing may be harmful, even […]

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Tiago Villanueva: Quaternary prevention and disease mongering

One of the major advantages of being an active member of listservers, particularly international ones, is that I am in touch with leading colleagues around the world, and also I can learn about issues and think in ways that I would not otherwise have become aware of. I’ve had the chance to cross paths a few times with Dr […]

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Sally Carter: Films, fistula, and an illiterate surgeon

One of the world’s most experienced fistula surgeons is illiterate. I found that out when I went to a screening of a short film called Fistula Hospital: Healing and Hope at the Frontline Club in Paddington. Her name is Mamitu Gashe, and she was a patient at the Addis Ababa Fistula hospital. After her operation […]

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Research highlights – 25 February 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. […]

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Annabel Bentley: Pregnancy and swine flu: facemasks and self imprisonment?

If you’re pregnant lock yourself in the house, shut the curtains and wear a facemask if you so much as put your nose outside the door… has advice to pregnant women finally gone too far? Or, given that at least six healthy women in their second and third trimesters of pregnancy are reported to be in […]

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Juliet Walker: BMJ in the news

A BMJ research paper reports that drinking hot tea is strongly linked with an increased risk of developing oesophageal cancer. The study was conducted in the Golestan province, northern Iran, where there is a high incidence of the disease. The BBC wrote that, ‘the finding could explain the increased oesophageal cancer risk in some non-Western populations. […]

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