Improving patient recruitment to clinical trials

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Several articles recently published in Trials, BioMed Central’s journal dedicated to investigating any aspect of the design, performance, and findings of
randomized controlled trials, all explore the issue of improving patient recruitment to clinical trials. The five articles highlight a number of factors that can influence the often-challenging recruitment process.

Education
In their report of patient recruitment to the Women’s International Study of long Duration Oestrogen after Menopause (WISDOM) trial, Paine et al., found
that conducting group seminars with potential participants,  providing information about hormone therapy and the trial prior to a screening interview was a useful strategy for maximizing recruitment to this large, long-term trial.

Multi-centre collaboration
Rahbari and colleagues report that the …

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BMC Medical Genomics publishes first articles

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Today sees the publication of the first articles in BMC Medical Genomics. The biological sciences have been transformed by the recent explosion in genomic technology and genome sequencing projects and the next decade will see a similar revolution in medicine. BMC Medical Genomics aims to maximize the visibility and impact of this vital and growing field of research.

BMC Medical Genomics publishes articles on functional genomics, genome structure, genome-scale population genetics, epigenomics, proteomics, systems analysis and pharmacogenomics in relation to human health and disease, and is indexed by PubMed, BIOSIS, CAS, EMBASE, and Google Scholar.

By providing information on the interaction between genes, drugs and diseases, genomic approaches to medicine promise to contribute to the delivery of personalized and …

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BMC Public Health reaches 1000th article

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BMC Public Health has the honor of publishing its 1,000th article. BMC Public Health is the first medical journal in the BMC-series to reach this symbolic milestone, following in the footsteps of BMC Bioinformatics in 2006 and BMC Genomics last year. The 1,000th article, "Does economic development contribute to sex differences in ischaemic heart disease mortality? Hong Kong as a natural experiment using a case-control study" by Prof Gabriel Leung and his colleagues from the University of Hong Kong offers the suggestion that the excess risk of heart disease among men in developed countries may be determined during puberty.

We’d like to thank Prof Leung for his support of BMC Public Health, both as an author and …

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Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine indexed by MEDLINE

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Philosophy, Ethics, and
Humanities in Medicine has recently been accepted for inclusion in MEDLINE, reflecting
its growing importance and reputation in its field.

Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine was
launched in 2006, and has since published a variety of articles covering all
aspects of the philosophy of medicine, and the ethical aspects of clinical
practice and research. The journal also publishes articles at the intersection
of medicine and humanities that are
relevant to contemporary philosophy of medicine and bioethics. Philosophy,
Ethics and Humanities in Medicine is overseen by the Editors-in-Chief
Michael Schwartz and Dan J Stein.

A full list of the 81 BioMed Central journals
that are indexed in MEDLINE is available from our website.

Improved support for additional material files – “mini-websites”

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With the upcoming launch of BMC Research Notes (which will have a strong data focus) BioMed Central’s development team has been hard at work improving the handling of additional material files.

One request we have had from authors is to make it possible to upload collections of files that can be conveniently navigated in the web browser  – essentially a miniature website associated with the article. This functionality has now been added to our publication system.

To submit such a ‘mini-website’ as an additional material file, all you need to do is to ensure that the homepage is named index.html, and sits in the root folder of the content you wish to submit. Then convert the folder hierarchy into a ZIP …

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UK PubMed Central announces workshop and online survey to shape future development plans

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Researchers, librarians and research administrators working in the UK may be interested in the following update from UK PubMed Central:
1. UKPMC Workshop
We are entering the next stage of developing UKPMC into an innovative and useful resource for UK researchers. We want to ensure that your needs and ideas are heard and incorporated at the outset and to this end we are holding a free one-day workshop on the 4th February 2008.
If you have an interest in helping us shape this vision, then please register for this free workshop. Places are limited – so respond today to reserve your place.

2. UKPMC Survey
We would like to know your opinion on the current …

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Government report highlights need for research into cleaner next-generation biofuels

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The debate
surrounding the use of biofuels continues today with the publication of the
House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee report, “Are
biofuels sustainable?”.

In the report,
committee members acknowledge the power of biofuels to cut greenhouse gas
emissions from road transport, but warn that a more balanced policy is needed
in order to minimise wider environmental damage.

The production of
biofuels continues to be controversial.  There is concern that first generation biofuels, produced from
conventional crops, may even have a detrimental overall effect on the
environment.  However, the development
of next generation biofuels holds great promise.  Research and technological advances are driving a move towards
“cleaner” biofuels, and efforts are concentrated globally on realising the
potential of this expanding …

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Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance publishes first open access articles

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The Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (JCMR) has published the first articles on BioMed Central’s open access publishing platform after its move from Taylor & Francis. JCMR, now in its tenth year, is the official journal of the Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.

JCMR readers now have free, instant online access to all published articles, not only via BioMed Central’s website but also via  PubMed Central and other open access repositories. “Open access brings benefits to readers that are of utmost importance to science – free, unfettered and widespread access to all research,” says Editor-in-Chief Dudley Pennell. “Authors will benefit from faster publication cycles and a wider readership, leading to increased citation counts.” The online format also …

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Mammographic density review articles published in Breast Cancer Research

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Breast Cancer Research, a BioMed Central journal, has published the first articles in a new series
on Mammographic
Density, the latest of the journal’s regular review
series.

This series is edited by Dr
Norman F Boyd from the University
Health Network in Canada. The review from Vachon et al.
summarises the relationship of density to risk and its potential use in risk
prediction, and the review from Martin and Boyd
describes a hypothesis using epidemiological data to explain the increased
breast cancer risk associated with extensive density.

Review    

Mammographic
density. Potential mechanisms of breast cancer risk associated with
mammographic density: hypotheses based on epidemiological evidence
Lisa J Martin, Norman F

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Biology Direct launches new Mathematical Biology section

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We are
delighted to announce the launch of the new Mathematical Biology section of Biology Direct, over seen by the
Section Editor Andrei Yaklovev, and supported by an international Editorial Board.  Full details are available in our recent Editorial.

Biology Direct, founded
by David J Lipman, Laura Landweber, and Eugene Koonin, operates a
unique open peer review
system, whereby reviewers’ comments and authors’ responses are published
alongside the final article, making the process of peer review open, rather
than anonymous. 

Biology
Direct was launched in 2006 and has since published over 75
articles; nearly half of which have been accessed over 2,000 times, and seven
articles have been highlighted on the literature evaluation service

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