Evidence-based medicine (EBM) aims to assess the strength of proof behind medical interventions in terms of risks and benefits, and therefore can be used to inform clinical decision making on both an individual and a population basis. As such, EBM is crucial in maintaining quality medical care and ensuring good clinical outcomes. Many parties are involved in EBM. Firstly, researchers and publishers are involved in the conduct and dissemination of medical evidence. Then, policy makers and clinicians are responsible for the eventual implementation of changes in healthcare decisions that may occur.

This week, BMC Medicine attended the Evidence Live 2013 conference in Oxford, held on the 25th and 26th of March. Attracting around 1000 delegates, the conference provided …

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BMC Medicine recently attended the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH 2013) conference on global health, which took place in Washington D.C. from the 14th-16th March. Around 1400 delegates participated, with a broad range of expertise, such as those involved in general medicine, surgery, policy making, and governance, reflecting the broad scope of this field.

The conference was particularly exciting because of the recently published Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD 2010) – a series of articles on how the international disease burden has changed since 1990. Although people are living longer due to decreases in the burden of infectious diseases and malnutrition, non-communicable diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, are on the …

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Care of vulnerable populations constitutes a sizeable proportion of those in need of medical resources, and there exists considerable disparity between those who can, and can’t afford  access to medical services.  Although these issues have always existed, concerns over global health and health inequities have been emphasized over recent years. For instance, few will forget the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy in November 2012, where much of the focus was on the U.S., despite the fact that the devastation caused by the hurricane was far more severe in Haiti. As a country that is much more restricted in terms of resources, the impact on livelihood and medical facilities was far greater to the residents of this area.

Many …

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Patients requiring immediate and urgent medical care for acute illnesses or injuries will fall under the care of those in the emergency medicine sector. These healthcare professionals include paramedics, who deal with pre-hospital care, and also includes emergency department physicians and nurses, and a growing body of clinical researchers in this area. Given that decisions made in the emergency setting can make the difference between life and death, interest in this medical specialty is understandably high.

This month, BMC Medicine attended the 5th National Emergence Medicine conference in London, UK, which aimed to stimulate discussion on current issues in emergency medical care, and to provide participants with ideas that can be translated into clinical practice.

One of the …

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Clinical diagnosis can be challenging – but the ongoing development of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers is paving the way towards improved therapy. This week, recent advances in biomarker research are presented in three articles published in BMC Medicine. Der-Yuan Chen and colleagues from National Yang-Ming University report the discovery of germinal center kinase-like kinase (GLK) as a biomarker for disease activity of adult-onset Still’s disease, a rare form of inflammatory arthritis. Assessment of the levels of this biomarker will be useful in establishing therapy efficacy.

Research by Shan-shan Zhang and colleagues at Second Military Medical University demonstrates that expression of the markers CD133 and CXCR4 is associated with metastasis and …

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