Today is World Heart Day, and having recently got back from attending the European Congress of Cardiology as part of my role at BMC Medicine, it seemed an opportune moment to take you through some of the important findings discussed there. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that 17 million people die every year… Read more »
Findings from the Turnaway study, which aims to look at the effects of unwanted pregnancy on women’s lives, were published today in BMC Medicine. In this guest blog, Diana Greene Foster, Principal Investigator of the Turnaway study writes about her experiences in leading it. When we started the Turnaway study, a main goal was to understand… Read more »
On 18 September 2014, following a call for comments from the Health Research Authority (HRA) on their proposals to promote transparency in research, key stakeholders met to discuss feedback on the proposals and what the next steps should be for registering and reporting clinical trials in the UK. Times are changing for clinical research. The… Read more »
Any cook or foodie savouring South Asian and Middle Eastern dishes, will prize the key spice, the mustard coloured turmeric powder. In this guest post, Deirdre Hoban, a PhD student from Galway Neuroscience Centre, informs us that the spice’s uses extend beyond one’s culinary needs as it could serve a role in modern medicine. Turmeric (Curcuma… Read more »
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An analysis of the organ donation protocols of 48 countries has been published in BMC Medicine today, studying the differences between opt-in and opt-out systems. In this guest post, Sally Johnson, Director of Organ Donation and Transplantation at National Health Service (NHS) Blood and Transplant, tells us about why we need more people to… Read more »
Our guest author, Ali. A. Mokdad is based at University of Texas and affiliated with the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IMHE). He is the lead author of a recent study published in BMC Medicine, focusing on deaths caused by liver cirrhosis. Liver cirrhosis is a costly disease that is devastating to families… Read more »
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While not all rare diseases are genetic, individual genetic disorders are rare. But despite individual genetic disorders being rare, collectively they affect 1 in 25 children. Furthermore, 80% of rare diseases are caused by faulty genes. Therefore when we discuss genetic diseases it is in essence a discussion on rare diseases. Today marks Jeans for… Read more »
Celebrity endorsements for campaigns are so common they can feel meaningless – see the ‘stars’ who added their Yes or No in the run up to the Scottish referendum or, more pertinently the array of hot twenty-somethings who will line up in pink T-shirts for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Occasionally though something happens that has… Read more »
A consortium of six leading UK medical research charities will support the costs of making research articles from their funded research immediately and freely openly available to scientists, patients, and donors alike, through the recently announced joint Charity Open Access Fund. David Carr of the Wellcome Trust, Sanjay Thakrar of the British Heart Foundation and… Read more »
Malaria is present in over 100 countries worldwide, and it is estimated that around 3.4 billion people – half of the world’s population – are at risk of infection. There were an estimated 627,000 deaths caused by malaria infection in 2012, with over 90% of deaths occurring in African children. The disease is caused by… Read more »