Overcoming irritable bowel syndrome

The various mysteries about the nature and causes of irritable bowel syndrome are particularly frustrating for patients who experience it, as well as for those who try to treat it. Following the Digestive Disease Week conference which took place in San Diego from 21-24 May, Shanti Eswaran explained more about the work she presented on a diet found to improve symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.

Regenerative medicine in China: when myth meets reality

Burns & Trauma has recently started a thematic series titled ‘Trauma regeneration’ introducing the latest developments of regenerative medicine in research in China and other countries. One article in particular looks at the demands, capacity and regulation of regenerative medicine in China and co-author Biao Cheng explained more.

What can we learn from single cells?

Genome Biology’s special issue on ‘Single Cell Omics’ highlights the most recent methods for studying single cells and the many insights that can be gained from looking at cells on an individual level.

From weight loss and exercise to arthritis research

Weight loss success: how exercise helps control eating: Weight loss is difficult, for certain. However, keeping weight off is far beyond difficult. The primary value of exercise on weight control came from the carry-over of self-regulatory skills needed to stay with the exercise program; participants were using those skills to control their eating.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis therapeutics coming of age: ATS 2016: Marilyn Glassberg recently travelled to San Francisco to attend the American Thoracic Society’s (ATS) 2016 International Conference (13–18 May 2016) alongside 15,000 other pulmonary, critical care, and sleep researchers. She talks more about the conference in this blog, focusing particularly on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

A new way to publish metagenomics studies: Metagenomics or environmental DNA sequencing is becoming more and more popular, with tens of thousands of groups using it for a wide variety of scientific problems. This explosion of metagenomics studies in recent years calls for a new publication format. Professor Folker Meyer introduced the Metagenome report, published in Standards in Genomic Sciences.

Friend or Foe; the probiotic power of helminths can prevent Crohn’s Disease: A recent study on helminths and Crohns Disease, describes how Trichuris whipworms modulate the immune system creating a protective gut microbiota, promoting ‘friendly’ gut microbial species and hindering the propagation of damaging pro-inflammatory bacteria.

What are the challenges of open peer review? Last week Stephanie Harriman took part in a workshop ‘Open Peer Review: Models, benefits and limitations’ organized by OpenAIRE. As a member of the panel, she shared what she sees as the challenges of open peer review.

Canine epilepsy: the importance of high quality studies: Canine epilepsy is one of the most common diseases reported in dogs, affecting approximately 50,000 in the UK alone. In BMC Veterinary Research this month, we have published the first ever systematic review and meta-analysis of the adverse effects of anti-epileptic drugs in dogs.

Getting to grips with arthritis research: Inspired by their great work, ISRCTN registry and Arthritis Research and Therapy journal have combined forces to investigate just some of the recent clinical research into both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.