Latest Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical and Healthcare News - Page: 4 from British Medical Journal

Only 5% of British people have made advance care plans, survey finds

Most people in Great Britain have not discussed or made any plans for when they die, increasing the likelihood that they will receive inappropriate care at the end of life, a new study has found.The...

US hospital charges vary wildly, Medicare data show

A hospital in California charges Medicare $223 373.07 (£145 000; €172 000) for a major joint replacement, while a hospital in Oklahoma charges $5303.60 for the same procedure, US government data...

Is the risk of narcolepsy also increased with non-adjuvanted flu vaccines?

In line with previous studies, Miller and colleagues find an increased risk of narcolepsy after vaccination with AS03 adjuvanted pandemic A/H1N1 2009 influenza vaccine (Pandemrix; odds ratio 16.2,...

Rescue boards are set up in England to deal with "significant deterioration" in A&E departments

NHS England has announced steps to tackle rising pressure on hospitals’ accident and emergency departments that has sparked anxiety among regulators and ministers.It has set up a national support...

Generalisation and extrapolation of study results

Researchers assessed the effectiveness of peritendinous autologous blood injections in patients with mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy. A randomised double-blind controlled trial was performed. The...

Autologous blood products in musculoskeletal medicine

Participation in almost all sports and physical activities benefits individuals and society as a whole because it promotes health and helps prevent conditions such as osteoporosis, cardiovascular...

Problems of creating bone marrow donor registries in emerging economies

In November 2008 Sunil Parekh, a haematologist at Bombay Hospital, approached the multinational Tata Group to secure funding for a new stem cell registry in Mumbai, India. Unfortunately, the cards...

Jane Cooke Wright

In 1949 Jane Cooke Wright began testing anticancer agents on human leukaemias and cancers of the lymphatic system, one of the first research scientists to do so. Chemotherapy was, at best, little...

Associations between the organisation of stroke services, process of care, and mortality in England: prospective cohort study

Objective To estimate the relations between the organisation of stroke services, process measures of care quality, and 30 day mortality in patients admitted with acute ischaemic stroke.Design...

Adult acute rhinosinusitis

A 35 year old woman presents to her general practitioner with a 10 day history of worsening nasal congestion, purulent nasal discharge, and frontal headaches.What you should coverAsk...

Cameron's cave-in on plain packaging is a boost to industry

On 29 April 2010 the Australian government announced that it would introduce plain packaging of tobacco products as part of a comprehensive approach to reducing the prevalence of smoking. The final...

Ontario excludes thousands of children from schools for lack of vaccination

Canada’s most populous province, Ontario, has issued suspension notices to thousands of high school children who lack proof of vaccination in what is becoming an annual enforcement campaign aimed at...

Hospitals are invited to contribute to testing checklist for safer births

Institutions around the world are being urged to take part in a study to assess a World Health Organization initiative to make birth safer for mothers and babies. A pilot study in India showed that...

Drug companies agree to cut price of HPV vaccine to developing countries to increase accessibility

More girls in developing countries will have access to vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV), the infection responsible for most forms of cervical cancer, after drug companies agreed to...

A tale of two physicians: reflections on the Boston Marathon bombing

On 15 April, I found myself thinking for the first time, “I wish I was a surgeon.” As a second year internal medicine resident, I am training to be a diagnostician. If a patient’s leg is red and...

Study proposes antibiotics as possible new treatment for some types of chronic low back pain

Up to 40% of patients with chronic low back pain that could benefit from surgery have a bacterial infection that could be treated simply and cheaply with antibiotics, research has found. The first of...

Review that found PIP implants to be safe was flawed, say campaigners

Environmental campaigners have raised further concerns about silicone breast implants manufactured by the French company Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP), saying that they contained an endocrine...

Government has lost "credibility on public health" for inaction on cigarettes and alcohol, campaigners say

Health campaigners have criticised the UK government for failing to include plans on legislating for plain cigarette packaging and a minimum price for a unit of alcohol in the next...

College raises concern about GPs' role in government plans to restrict access to NHS

New restrictions on migrants’ access to NHS services and changes to social care funding are among key policies outlined in the Queen’s speech.A new Immigration Bill, the centrepiece of the speech to...

Rx: A dose of ethics to revive trust in medical practice

Gold jewellery? Cars and air conditioners to survive the sweltering Indian summer, or an exotic foreign trip to escape it? These are among the luxury gifts listed in a parliamentary committee report...

Researchers thrash out guidelines for working with partners

Researchers from around the world gathered in Montreal this week to try to agree a statement to ensure the integrity of scientific research in cross boundary collaborations.The draft Montreal...

Evidence does not support routine PSA testing, say experts

Screening asymptomatic men for prostate cancer with the prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test should no longer be routine, say new guidelines issued by the American Urological Association.The...

"Research passports" could reduce misconduct, conference hears

The UK’s elite universities draw half of their income from research, yet nobody checks the integrity of the work, Michael Farthing, vice chancellor of Sussex University, told delegates at the World...

A man with bilateral loin pain

A 65 year old man presented with a 12 month history of bilateral flank pain but no fever or lower urinary tract symptoms. Over the preceding 10 years he had had multiple interventions, including...

The Ottawa Statement on the ethical design and conduct of cluster randomised trials: precis for researchers and research ethics committees

IntroductionAn increasing number of studies in health system, public health, and knowledge translation research are using randomised controlled designs.1 Examples are studies of changes in healthcare...