Mobile healthcare applications – or “apps” – are having an increasingly profound impact on medicine; it is estimated that within 5 years, 50% of mobile device users will have downloaded healthcare apps. With drastic improvements in technology in the last few years, mobile medical apps now range from drug databases to sophisticated monitors that can… Read more »
One of the commitments from the recent G8 dementia summit held in London in December 2013, was to support countries to strengthen health and social care systems, with the aim to improve care and services for people with dementia. A research article, published today in open access journal Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy, shows that a… Read more »
In this guest post for Rare Disease Day, Alastair Kent OBE, Director of Genetic Alliance UK and Chair of Rare Disease UK, looks at what’s been achieved for patients with rare diseases and how open access journals are playing their part. For many years rare diseases (defined as those that affect fewer than 5 in… Read more »
Posted on behalf of Lisa Hussey, Associate Publisher, BioMed Central Food allergies affect up to 8% of children in the US, and 30% of those affected have more than one allergy. It has been estimated that food allergies cost US$25 billion each year, with approximately US$20 million borne by families of people with food allergies…. Read more »
‘A wise man learns by the mistakes of others, a fool by his own’ Latin proverb This is especially true in evidence-based medicine. While it is often the ‘positive’ data—those that support carefully-constructed hypotheses—that get the most attention, non-confirmatory, so-called ‘negative’, data have an integral role to play in guiding future research. Indeed, even if… Read more »
It’s now just over ten months since the citizens of Boston – and indeed the world – were shocked witnesses to the bombing of the Boston marathon. In situations like these, we all hope that the Emergency Medical Services will have the knowledge and resources to help those in need. Incidents like this are known… Read more »
Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune digestive condition affecting approximately 1 in 100 people worldwide. The symptoms of celiac disease – including diarrhea, bloating and abdominal pain – occur as a result of the body’s immune system mistakenly attacking gluten proteins, causing damage to the surface of the small intestine. The symptoms of CD can… Read more »
Late last year, ministers, researchers, pharmaceutical companies and charities from around the world gathered together at the G8 dementia summit to make a declaration and commitment for global action against dementia. This led to a significant increase in the budget to spend on research into the prevalence, diagnosis, clinical care, and policy issues in dementia,… Read more »
A partnership between the National Institutes of Health (NIH), US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) aims to develop 3D-human cell-based tissue chips to dramatically improve the speed and efficiency of drug screening. The program is featured in a recent supplement in Stem Cell Research & Therapy: Stem… Read more »
Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites of the Plasmodium genus that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes. It is a leading cause of childhood morbidity and mortality worldwide, accounting for 7% of deaths in children younger than five years old. Young children living in stable transmission areas are particularly… Read more »