Blind faith that the publication of medical research in peer reviewed journals elevates a study to the status of “the evidence,” and therefore “the truth,” may be on the wane […]
Month: July 2014
Richard Smith: “All problems are ultimately linguistic problems”
“All problems are ultimately linguistic problems,” says Muir Gray, once NHS chief knowledge officer, misquoting the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. But I don’t think that he misquoted him badly, and that […]
The BMJ Today: Dabigatran and other new oral anticoagulants—demand the data
Last week, The BMJ published a series of articles that investigated how the safety and effectiveness of the new oral anticoagulant, dabigatran, had been studied, licensed, and subsequently marketed. An […]
Saurabh Jha: How a fine-tooth comb is entangling Obamacare
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), which recently survived a major scare in the Supreme Court over the constitutionality of the individual mandate, has just met another potential nemesis. Halbig vs. Burwell […]
Mary Rance: Loneliness—it’s time to stop talking and start doing
Extreme loneliness in older people in the UK is a topic that always ignites debate. Partly because the problem is only getting worse as the population ages and, I suspect, […]
The BMJ Today: Improving vaccination rates
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) held a press conference to discuss a recent survey, which found that rates of HPV vaccine coverage did […]
David Zigmond: Depression needs more than formulaic treatment
An eminent academic psychologist, Professor David Clark, recently broadcast on the BBC’s Today programme (1 July) authoritative hope to the many sufferers of depression. He informed us how current scientifically formulated, […]
Karen Sumpter: Can MRI help make inaccurate prostate cancer diagnosis a thing of the past?
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men; in the UK, it kills over 10 000 men every year, and currently there are over a quarter of a million […]
The BMJ Today: Bleeding anticoagulants and guerrilla warfare
Can we better quantify the risk of upper gastrointestinal and intracranial bleeding among patients who are taking long term oral anticoagulants for venous thromboembolism, systemic embolism, or stroke prevention? This […]
Neal Maskrey: Feeling the force of the QOF
It’s the season for graduation ceremonies. Proud parents and partners, relieved graduates, and a lump in everyone’s throat as that enormous rite of passage is eased by impressive ceremony, thoughtful […]