Less than half of UK prescriptions for antipsychotic drugs are being issued to treat the serious mental illnesses for which they are mainly licensed, reveals research published in BMJ Open. Instead, they may often be prescribed ‘off label’ to older people with other conditions, such as anxiety and dementia, despite the greater risk of potentially serious side effects in this age group, […]
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Erik Martin: Author Profile
We are happy to introduce a new feature called Author Profiles where we interview BMJ Open authors to find out more about them and their work. For our first author profile, we spoke to Erik Martin from Deakin University, Australia, to find out more about his research and his thoughts on Open Access. Erik is […]
Alcohol vs semen quality, Tamiflu trials and mindfulness: The Most Read Articles in October
October’s most read articles include a cross-sectional study by Jensen et al. on the association of habitual alcohol consumption and reduced semen quality in young men. We also have a report on the risk of bias in industry-funded oseltamivir (Tamiflu) trials by Jefferson et al., and the ever popular paper on a web-based mindfulness course for the relief of anxiety and […]
Open Access Week: the next generation
Open Access Week, a global event now entering its eighth year and running from the 20th – 26th October, is an opportunity for the academic and research community to continue to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access, to share what they’ve learned with colleagues, and to help inspire wider participation in helping to […]
Undergraduate bullying,skirt size and tobacco packaging: Most Read Articles in September
This month’s top ten most accessed articles includes a systematic review by Abu Dabrh et al. on the health assessment of commercial drivers, Marston et al’s study on anal sex and young people is still proving to be a popular read, Timm’s survey reporting on medical undergraduate students and bullying is a new entry, whilst Lusignan et al discuss patient’s online access […]
Moderate weekly alcohol intake linked to poorer sperm quality in healthy young men
Moderate alcohol intake of at least five units every week is linked to poorer sperm quality in otherwise healthy young men, suggests research published in the online journal BMJ Open. And the higher the weekly tally of units, the worse the sperm quality seems to be, the findings indicate, prompting the researchers to suggest that […]
Salty cheese, unprepared graduates and coercive anal sex: most read articles in August
August’s top ten includes the highly accessed, survey based study by Marston et al. on anal sex amongst young people, a study on Ecuadorian medical graduates being prepared enough for a year of compulsory rural service in obstetrics and a popular cross-sectional survey by Hashem et al. of salt content in cheese which concludes that it is […]
Skirt size increase linked to 33% greater postmenopausal breast cancer risk
Going up a skirt size over a period of 10 years between your mid 20s and mid 50s is linked to a 33% greater risk of developing breast cancer after the menopause, finds a large observational study published in BMJ Open. Overall weight gain during adulthood is known to be a risk factor for breast cancer, […]
Gun deaths twice as high among African Americans as white citizens in US
Gun deaths are twice as high among African Americans as they are among white citizens in the US, finds a study of national data, published in the online journal BMJ Open. But the national figures, which have remained relatively steady over the past decade, mask wide variation in firearms deaths by ethnicity and state, the […]
Plain cigarette packs don’t hurt small retailers or boost trade in illicit tobacco
Plain packs for tobacco products don’t hurt small retailers, flood the market with very cheap cigarettes, or boost the trade in illicit tobacco, finds research on the early experience of the policy in Australia, and published in journal BMJ Open. The findings suggest there is no evidence for these particular arguments against the policy, put forward […]