Posts by Adrian Aldcroft

BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation launches

Adrian Aldcroft on March 28, 2013 at 3:28 pm - 0 Comments

There is an ancient link between sports and medicine. Galen, the Greek physician, wrote extensively on improving health through aerobic fitness and muscle tone, and the first Olympic athletes were trained by ancient Greek physicians largely using principles still applied today. The connection between athletics and medicine appears natural.

Renaissance physicians developed a more complex theory of the human body. Exercise physiology moved beyond the realms of training and competition and into academia. By the start of the 20th century, prestigious academic journals like the American Journal of Physiology were regularly publishing articles linking health and exercise. And now, in the 21st century, the importance of exercise in managing health is common knowledge and widely accepted.

With the launch …

Highlights of the BMC-series: September 2012

Adrian Aldcroft on October 2, 2012 at 10:20 am - 0 Comments

If you’ve been wondering how to psych up your racehorse, look no further than September’s highlights of the BMC-Series. Other highlights include the 50th anniversary of Silent Spring, ideas to facilitate more efficient research, and the legitimization of online publications in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.

Veterinary research: sports psychology for horses
Human athletic performance is largely mental, but can we say the same for horses? A review published in BMC Veterinary Research explores the underlying psychology of performance horses and discusses how the study of behavioural modification and equine affective processes can be used to improve training and competitive performance.

While psychology is important, the physiological mechanisms affecting the well-being of horses deserve attention as …

BMC MIDM at MIE2012

Adrian Aldcroft on August 24, 2012 at 12:59 pm - 0 Comments

BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making is excited to be attending the 24th European Medical Informatics Conference (MIE2012) in Pisa, Italy, from August 26th -29th. The theme of the conference is “Quality of Life through Quality of Information,” and delegates from over forty countries will be discussing and demonstrating the latest developments in the field of Health Informatics with the aim of improving health and healthcare both for the public and the individual.

Pisa’s most famous resident was Galileo Galilei, who made several monumental developments in the fields of Astronomy, Physics, and Philosophy. Galileo’s improvements on the telescope led to the discovery of mountains and valleys on the moon as well as the discovery of …

Measuring the Four Principles of Beauchamp and Childress

Adrian Aldcroft on July 13, 2012 at 2:53 am - 0 Comments

The Four Principles, originally devised by Beauchamp and Childress in their textbook Principles of Biomedical Ethics, are considered by many as the standard theoretical framework from which to analyse ethical situations in medicine. While the validity and scope of the principles are often debated, there is no questioning the canonical status of the four principles in the field of Medical Ethics. Briefly, the four principles are,

Autonomy – The right for an individual to make his or her own choice.
Beneficence – The principle of acting with the best interest of the other in mind.
Non-maleficence – The principle that "above all, do no harm," as stated in the Hippocratic Oath.
Justice – A concept that emphasizes fairness and equality among individuals.

It’s …

Highlights from the International Association of Bioethics World Congress

Adrian Aldcroft on July 3, 2012 at 11:11 am - 0 Comments

Scientists, clinicians, lawyers, and philosophers from all over the world gathered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to discuss the tradition and the future of Bioethics. From the chimpanzee politics of Frans de Waal to the rejuvenation theories of Aubrey De Grey, IAB 2012 was engaging, entertaining, and inspiring for all involved.

The opening ceremony featured a stark look at humanity’s destructive relationship with the environment through the eyes of Sir John Edward Sulston, and many of the graphics poignantly emphasised the urgency of issues such as environmental destruction and overpopulation. But, just when it all seemed dark and hopeless, the mood in the programme shifted and we were treated to some magic and juggling from …

Counting the reasons to visit BMC at the 11th IAB conference

Adrian Aldcroft on June 20, 2012 at 7:00 am - 0 Comments

BMC Medical Ethics and BMC Medical Research Methodology are excited to be attending the 11th International Association of Bioethics conference in Rotterdam beginning June 26th. The conference, entitled Thinking Ahead, Bioethics and the Future, and the Future of Bioethics, promises to deliver an interdisciplinary discussion of issues relating to the future of Bioethics while stressing the importance of learning from the past. The conference marks the 20th anniversary of the IAB, which was founded in Amsterdam.

We couldn’t help being entranced by the scrolling text on the website listing reasons to attend the conference, including the following:

Because you want to use your new umbrella
Because you have heard there will be …

Sharing educational resources – Flash Neurophysiology

Adrian Aldcroft on May 29, 2012 at 4:59 am - 0 Comments

Sharing educational resources benefits instructors and students alike. Instructors benefit through exposure to the innovative approaches of their colleagues, and students benefit through access to a broad range of tools that help facilitate their learning. Sharing resources encourages collaboration, inspiration, and a healthy sense of competition.

Tutis Vilis, from the University of Western Ontario, uses Adobe Flash both in his research activities and his teaching. A self-taught programmer, Tutis uses Flash to create stimuli for the functional imaging of the visual system (see, for example, creating structure from motion), and he also uses it to teach Neurophysiology to medical students.

The course is freely available here.

Flash suits the subject matter well, as it allows …