A surgical generation has passed since the introduction of keyhole surgery in the late 1980s. In that time the landscape of surgery has changed beyond recognition. In less than three […]
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The BMJ Today: Global health, socioeconomic differences, and other matters
• To achieve universal health coverage by 2030, as required by UN Sustainable Development Goals, primary care must be strengthened in middle and low income countries. Educational resources and decision […]
Richard Smith: How global health can help the NHS
Africa has 25% of the global health burden and 2% of the health workforce. In contrast, North America has 2% of the health burden but 25% of the health workforce. […]
The BMJ Today: The diesel scandal and breast cancer
• Paul Wilkinson and Andy Haines call for consequences to the Volkswagen diesel scandal in an editorial. Perhaps the lesson from the Volkswagen episode is not just whether manufacturers will comply with […]
Desmond O’Neill: Welcoming the new ageing in a global context
Expenditure in older populations is an investment, not a cost, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) With relatively little fanfare, the World Report on Ageing and Health—one of the most […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—12 October 2015
NEJM 8 October 2015 Vol 373 1397 Famous as a pioneer of hypertension studies, Sir George Pickering (1904-1980) was a man of forceful opinions, and used to command the attention […]
The BMJ Today: The NHS, dietary guidelines, and diabetes drugs
• The NHS keeps dominating headlines, with bad news and some good news. The bad news is the deficit of almost a billion pounds, which NHS hospital trusts in England have run […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Black fire, spiders, and dogs
Most of the dozen words with medical connections that I found in the Old English dictionary called the Epinal glossary are obsolete, with modern equivalents. For example, átr or atter. […]
Barry Main et al: Time to make research findings CRYSTAL clear?
By BG Main, NS Blencowe, and JM Blazeby. Hardly a day goes by without a prominent health story appearing in the press or other media. Headline-grabbing statements about “miracle” breakthroughs […]
Neville Goodman’s metaphor watch: Low hanging cherries
To cherry pick is to choose selectively. It’s supposed to originate from the way cherry pickers select the ripest, unblemished cherries to pick; why cherries rather than apples, oranges, or […]