The change precipitated by covid-19 has shown us that just because it’s “always been done this way”, doesn’t mean it should be, or has to be […]
Year: 2020
Will prejudice be a barrier to understanding the potential of psychedelics in treating depression?
We still have a lot to learn about how effective psychedelics are in the treatment of depression, but even if the evidence is there, patients and prescribers are likely to […]
Miles Sibley: We need to change the hierarchy of evidence-based medicine
In July 2020, the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review published a report entitled “First Do No Harm”.1 Also known as the Cumberlege Review, the report set out extensive […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . The Munchausen family
Eponyms are not infrequently included in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), and the list of biomedical words first cited from 1977 contains two, Pontiac fever and Polle syndrome (Table 1). […]
Alex Nowbar’s journal reviews—27 November 2020
Alex Nowbar reviews the latest research from the top medical journals. […]
Covid-19 vaccines: where are the data?
Through press releases, three pharmaceutical companies recently announced the interim, positive results of their covid-19 vaccine candidates clinical trials. Firstly, Pfizer/BioNTech presented the initial results for their mRNA based BNT162b2 […]
Keerti Gedela: Who is valuable in academia? Reassessing priorities and purpose
The covid-19 pandemic has made all working people reassess their priorities and purpose, and for many these have now changed. This is particularly true for people in caring roles, and […]
David Oliver: Care homes need our support in the covid-19 era and beyond
What do care homes have to do to get a break in England right now? Before the first UK covid-19 deaths in March, care homes got precious little attention in […]
Roger Wilson: Patients should be involved from the outset in creating plain English summaries of research papers
I am a writer and journalist. I explain things. I listen, I question, I check. I have been involved with cancer research as a patient for 20 years now. One […]
Pressure on critical care facilities in covid-19 patients in India
The covid-19 pandemic has presented multiple challenges to healthcare systems around the world. We want to highlight the difficulties in Kerala, India, of providing palliative care for patients with pre-existing […]