The Zika virus debunked by Science-based Medicine. "A new word has been added to the public’s vocabulary – the Zika virus. It seems we have one more infectious agent to worry about. Here are the facts as we currently understand them regarding the recent Zika epidemic, and also some rumors and conspiracy...
Source: sciencebasedmedicine.org
Agreement of treatment effects for mortality from routinely collected data and subsequent randomized trials: meta-epidemiological survey Lars G Hemkens. Despina G Contopoulos-Ioannidis. John P A Ioannidis. BMJ.
Source: bmj.com
Just finished reading Enabling Collaboration - a book on "achieving success through strategic alliances and partnerships" by Martin Echavarria (@coherence360). Getting things done invariably involves working with others and when those others are themselves complex organisations it requires some thought....
Source: enablingcollaboration.com
What are the Costs and Benefits of Providing Comprehensive Seven‐day Services for Emergency Hospital Admissions? Meacock, Rachel. Doran, Tim. Sutton, Matt. Health Economics. "There is as yet no clear evidence that 7-day services will reduce
weekend deaths or can be achieved without increasing weekday...
Source: wiley.com
What's wrong with Gillian McKeith: For years, 'Dr' Gillian McKeith has used her title to sell TV shows, diet books and herbal sex pills. Now the Advertising Standards Authority has stepped in. Yet the real problem is not what she calls herself, but the mumbo-jumbo she dresses up as scientific fact, says...
Source: theguardian.com
The Powerhouse: America, China, and the great battery war. More about the 'Battery Guys' than the 'Battery Science' but a great account of the national laboratory team at Argonne developing the Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC) battery and how those at the cutting edge of technology collaborate,...
Source: stevelevinebooks.com
Printed Sensors Evaluated for Glucose Measurement in Exhaled Breath. Very interesting approach to measuring glucose using nanotechnology printing. The key to all these alternate sites (and methods) is how rapidly they track true blood glucose. Fingerprick capillary blood is just so good at that.
Source: medgadget.com
Outrage over Government block on publishing guidance on NHS safe staffing levels - Hospital Dr: NICE has published four evidence reviews on NHS safe staffing levels which it had been ordered to suppress by NHS England.
Source: hospitaldr.co.uk
Chief Executive at the GMC to stand down at the end of the year - Hospital Dr
Source: hospitaldr.co.uk
Sharing Clinical Trial Data: A Proposal from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors: In a joint publication across 14 member journals, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) proposes to require sharing of deidentified individual patient data underlying published...
Source: plos.org
2015 Was the Hottest Year on Record : Image of the Day: Long-term climate change got a boost from the developing El Niño and obliterated previous records.
Source: nasa.gov
The rise of the robots
Excellent read but of a gloomy dystopian future where robots and software take over manual tasks (as they already have done) and also skilled labour displacing even highly skilled jobs in time. Healthcare might survive a little longer but physicians assistants empowered by...
Source: amazon.co.uk
Open journals that piggyback on arXiv gather momentum: Peer-review platforms built around online pre-print repositories spread to astrophysics. Nature News.
Source: nature.com
Delhi embraces car restrictions on key working day - BBC News: The first full day of car restrictions in the Indian capital, Delhi, is largely observed - but how it affects pollution remains to be seen, writes Atish Patel.
Source: bbc.co.uk
French drug trial turns disastrous, leaving 1 brain dead and 5 hospitalized
Source: arstechnica.com
Dr Phil Hammond - Medicine Balls. "If Hunt and Cameron are to regain the trust of doctors and other NHS staff, and avoid the huge risk of strikes in the middle of January, they must stop spinning and start telling the truth. Staff and patients need to know exactly how much is available and what services...
Source: drphilhammond.com
Bed blocking in Cornwall increases by 69% as new scheme fails - BBC News: A new health scheme designed to reduce the rate of hospital bed blocking instead sees figures soar by 69%.
Source: bbc.co.uk
How can we use quality data to make Care Homes safer?: Dr Adam Gordon is Clinical Associate Professor in Medicine of Older People at The University of Nottingham and an Honorary Consultant Geriatrician at Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; he tweets @...
Source: wordpress.com
Cross-party NHS commission proposed to review health and care funding in England - Hospital Dr: A cross-party NHS commission to review future funding and structure of health and care services in England, will be proposed in the House of Commons.
Source: hospitaldr.co.uk
GNU Health 3.0 released. "GNU Health is a Free/Libre project for health practitioners, health institutions and governments. Its modular design allows to be deployed in many different scenarios: from small private offices, to large, national public health systems. It covers the functionality of Electronic...
Source: gnu.org