Less need for intervention during/after the birth plus greater satisfaction for mums Water births provide “clear benefits” for healthy mums and their newborns, with fewer interventions and complications during and after the birth than standard care, as well as higher levels of satisfaction for the mum, finds a synthesis of the available evidence, published in […]
Category: In the news
Wearable activity trackers + AI might be used to pick up presymptomatic COVID-19
Fertility tracker identified indicative physiological changes up to 2 days ahead of symptoms Wearable activity trackers that monitor changes in skin temperature and heart and breathing rates, combined with artificial intelligence (AI), might be used to pick up COVID-19 infection days before symptoms start, suggests preliminary research published in the open access journal BMJ Open. The […]
Top 10 BMJ Open papers by Altmetric score—2022 so far
Among the various criticisms of traditional journal metrics is that, given the timelines involved in academic research and publishing, metrics based on citations alone cannot capture the attention received by publications in the period immediately after publication, nor the wider impact beyond the academic research community. Other data can help to show which recent publications […]
Men with prostate cancer have higher risk of serious blood clots
Male prostate cancer patients have a 50% higher risk of dangerous blood clots than men without prostate cancer New research published in the online journal BMJ Open suggests that men with prostate cancer have a 50% higher risk of developing serious and potentially fatal blood clots during the five years after their cancer diagnosis compared […]
Opioid overdose death toll has risen more than 5-fold among Indigenous Americans over past decade
Type of opioid involved might have changed, but not underlying social factors driving trends The opioid overdose death toll has risen more than 5-fold among American Indian and Alaska Native communities over the past decade, finds one of the first studies of its kind published in the open access journal BMJ Open. The type of opioid […]
“Promising evidence” that osteopathy may relieve musculoskeletal pain
But little to back its use in children, or for the treatment of migraine or irritable bowel syndrome There’s “promising evidence” that osteopathy, the physical manipulation of the body’s tissues and bones, may relieve the pain associated with musculoskeletal conditions, finds a review of the available clinical evidence, published in the open access journal BMJ Open. […]
World Autism Awareness Day
Saturday 2nd April 2022 marks World Autism Awareness day. Many people have preconceptions about autism as being a condition that always causes major disability. However, autism is a spectrum that affects people in different ways and to varying degrees. It is, perhaps, more helpful to consider autism as traits that can, in severe cases, […]
Warmer nights may lead to more cardiovascular deaths among men
1°C rise in usual summer night-time temperature may be linked to around 4% higher risk of cardiovascular male deaths Warmer than usual summer nights appear to lead to an increase in cardiovascular deaths in men aged in their early 60s but not women, suggests new research published in the online journal BMJ Open. Previous studies […]
Gut infection outbreaks halved during first 6 months of COVID-19 pandemic in UK
Several factors likely involved, but measures adopted to curb coronavirus had key role Could see permanent change if improved hygiene practice kept up, suggest researchers The number of reported gastrointestinal infection outbreaks more than halved during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, compared with the previous 5-year average, while lab […]
Achieving gender parity will take another 60 years for some UK surgical specialties
Fewest women in trauma and orthopaedics, cardiothoracic surgery, and neurosurgery Despite improvements over the past 10 years in driving up the number of women surgeons in the UK, achieving gender parity will take another 60 years for some surgical specialties, conclude researchers in the open access journal BMJ Open. The gender gap is widest in […]