Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, with over 40,000 new cases diagnosed in the UK every year. There is intense debate over whether men should undergo regular prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, as outlined in our previous blog post, and clinical trials have come to opposing conclusions about whether PSA screening saves lives… Read more »
This year, Brain Awareness Week took place from March 10th-16th. Led by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, it aimed to involve the research community in disseminating the benefits and advancement of brain research around the world. To celebrate, Springer and BioMed Central launched ‘#Neurostars’ – the top cited, shared and downloaded articles of 2013… Read more »
This is a guest post from the authors of a paper on statins published on Saturday in BMC Medicine. Statins have hit the headlines a lot over the last few weeks. Here, the authors take us through the findings of their review and analysis into the unintended effects of these drugs. Statins are widely used in… Read more »
This is a guest post by Professor Alan Lopez, Director of the Global Burden of Disease Group at the University of Melbourne. He takes a look at why we need to know more about causes of death in populations, and how verbal autopsy provides a viable solution. We need to know more about causes of… Read more »
“The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better.” Robert F. Kennedy We’re often told in one way or another that the actions we take can make a difference – voting in elections, turning the light switch off to save energy. If you’re anything like me, then you’ll have had… Read more »
What do you know about your kidneys and how they work? Current statistics show that 1 in 10 people have some form of chronic kidney disease (CKD), and that the prevalence of CKD is increasing dramatically, highlighting a need for greater awareness on a global scale. It is well known that kidney diseases can seriously… Read more »
Antimicrobial resistance is a global and critical issue facing the world today. Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control is supporting the World Health Organisation in their campaign ‘SAVE LIVES: Clean your hands’, which aims to increase global awareness of the role of hand hygiene to combat antimicrobial resistance. The WHO awareness day is the 5th… Read more »
Substantial progress has been made in the targeted therapy of breast cancer, with three new targeted therapies licensed for advanced breast cancer over the last two years. Targeted therapies block the growth and spread of cancer by interfering in specific biological processes responsible for cancer cell growth. Therefore targeted therapies may be more effective and… Read more »
The incidence of gallbladder cancer varies significantly worldwide, with very high rates in South America, Japan, China and Eastern Europe and lower rates in the US and UK. Interestingly gallbladder cancer is also twice as common in women than men, which arguably may be due to increased exposure to the hormone oestrogen. The prognosis… Read more »
Last week, we took a look at how mobile healthcare apps can personalize healthcare in our blog post. While such apps represent an innovative way of measuring data and incentivizing a healthy lifestyle, there are also many other approaches to patient-tailored medicine that are currently being explored in the clinic. In our podcast featured in… Read more »