General Interest
Ritalin at 75: What Does the Future Hold?
22 Sep, 2019 | 22:49h | UTCRitalin at 75: what does the future hold? – The Conversation (free)
Consensus Statement: Healthy Beverage Consumption in Early Childhood: Recommendations from Key Health and Nutrition Organizations
19 Sep, 2019 | 10:28h | UTCConsensus Statement: Healthy Beverage Consumption in Early Childhood: Recommendations from Key National Health and Nutrition Organizations – Health Eating Research (free PDF)
News Releases: 4 groups issue consensus report on healthy beverages for 0- to 5-year-olds – American Academy of Pediatrics (free) AND Leading Health Organizations Support First-Ever Consensus Recommendations to Encourage Young Children’s Consumption of Healthy Drinks – American Heart Association (free)
Commentaries: What Should Young Children Drink? Mostly Milk and Water, Scientists Say – The New York Times (10 articles per month are free) AND Parents Should Limit Kids’ Juice Consumption, Guidelines Say – U.S. News (free)
See also: Health Kids, Health Drinks (free resources for the public)
Related: AAP/AHA Policy Statement: Public Policies to Reduce Sugary Drink Consumption in Children and Adolescents (free)
India Announces Widespread Ban of E-Cigarettes
19 Sep, 2019 | 07:48h | UTCIndia Announces Widespread Ban Of E-Cigarettes – NPR (free)
See also: India e-cigarettes: Ban announced to prevent youth ‘epidemic’ – BBC (free) AND India bans e-cigarettes as global backlash at vaping gathers pace – Reuters (free)
Poetry and Medicine: Dysthanasia
18 Sep, 2019 | 02:28h | UTCDysthanasia – JAMA (free for a limited period)
WHO Campaign: First-ever World Patient Safety Day – September 17, 2019
17 Sep, 2019 | 08:35h | UTCWorld Health Organization Campaign on World Patient Safety Day (free resources)
News Release: WHO calls for urgent action to reduce patient harm in healthcare (free)
See also: Patient Safety Fact Sheet (free) 10 facts on patient safety (free) AND The Lancet Editorial: Patient safety: too little, but not too late (free)
Related Commentary on Twitter
Today is the first ever #WorldPatientSafetyDay.
No one should be harmed in health care.
Yet, every minute, 5 patients die because of unsafe care.
These deaths can be prevented – simple commitment can ensure safe care 🤝
More 👉 https://t.co/XfHSCYymkd #PatientSafety pic.twitter.com/6km24IUXfc— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) September 17, 2019
2019 Ig Nobels Award Study That Found Surgeons Are Trained Better When Treated Like Dogs
17 Sep, 2019 | 01:04h | UTCSee also: Training surgeons like dogs, icky money win 2019 Ig Nobels – Associated Press (free)
2018 Ig Nobel Awards: Ig Nobel Win for Kidney Stone Removing Roller-coaster (free commentaries)
Source: Training surgeons with clickers and warm scrotum studies win Ig Nobel awards – The BMJ ($)
“The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, and then THINK. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology.” (from About the Ig Nobel Prizes, in Improbable Research)
Study: Supercooling Extends Preservation Time of Human Livers
13 Sep, 2019 | 08:17h | UTCSupercooling Extends Preservation Time of Human Livers – Nature Biotechnology (free)
Commentaries: Scientists triple storage time of human donor livers – NIH News Releases (free) AND ‘Supercool’ method triples organ survival – BBC (free) AND A Human Liver Can Be Cooled to –4 Degrees Celsius and Survive – The Atlantic (free)
Study: Off-target Toxicity is a Common Mechanism of Action of Cancer Drugs Undergoing Clinical Trials
13 Sep, 2019 | 08:19h | UTCOff-target toxicity is a common mechanism of action of cancer drugs undergoing clinical trials – Science Translational Medicine (free for a limited period)
Commentaries: Cancer drugs don’t always work as intended, researchers warn – Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (free) AND Why Aren’t Cancer Drugs Better? The Targets Might Be Wrong – The New York Times (10 articles per month are free)
Randomized Trial: Gluten Does Not Induce Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Healthy Volunteers
12 Sep, 2019 | 08:08h | UTCGluten Does Not Induce Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Healthy Volunteers: A Double-Blind Randomized Placebo Trial – Gastroenterology (free for a limited period)
Commentaries: Will Science Sway Beliefs About Gluten? – Gastroenterology (free for a limited period) AND One of The Most Rigorous Experiments We Have Shows Gluten Isn’t Bad For Healthy People – Science Alert (free) AND Quick Take: Gluten does not induce gastrointestinal symptoms in healthy volunteers – 2 Minute Medicine (free)
Opinion: Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes to Protect Our Children
12 Sep, 2019 | 08:03h | UTCBan Flavored E-Cigarettes to Protect Our Children – The New York Times (10 articles per month are free)
Related: Trump administration prepares to ban flavored e-cigarettes – STAT (free) AND ATS Responds to FDA’s Promise of Future Action on Flavored E-Cigarettes – American Thoracic Society (free)
Case Report: A British Teenager is Blind, But Not Because of Junk Food or “Fussy Eating”
10 Sep, 2019 | 01:17h | UTCA British Teenager is Blind, But Not Because of Junk Food or “Fussy Eating” – Science-Based Medicine (free)
Original Case Report: Blindness Caused by a Junk Food Diet – Annals of Internal Medicine ($ for full-text)
Other Commentaries: Teenager ‘blind’ from living off crisps and chips – BBC (free) AND Teenage boy goes blind after existing on Pringles, white bread and french fries – CNN (free)
Perspective: The 3 Causes Of Physician Burnout (And Why There’s No Simple Solution)
10 Sep, 2019 | 01:11h | UTCThe 3 Causes Of Physician Burnout (And Why There’s No Simple Solution) – Forbes (free)
Related: Physician Burnout: A Global Crisis (several resources on the subject)
Preliminary Report: Pulmonary Illness Related to E-Cigarette Use
9 Sep, 2019 | 00:12h | UTCEditorial: Vaping-Induced Lung Injury (free)
Related: Imaging of Vaping-Associated Lung Disease – New England Journal of Medicine (free) AND Pulmonary Lipid-Laden Macrophages and Vaping – New England Journal of Medicine (free) AND Severe Pulmonary Disease Associated with Electronic-Cigarette–Product Use — Interim Guidance – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (free)
Commentaries: CDC Says Number Of Possible Cases Of Vaping-Related Lung Illness Has Doubled – NPR (free) AND Cases of Vaping-Related Lung Illness Surge, Health Officials Say – The New York Times (10 articles per month are free) AND Pneumonia cases linked to vaping are still rising. And federal officials don’t know what’s causing them – STAT (free)
Perspective: When Apps Get Your Medical Data, Your Privacy May Go With It
8 Sep, 2019 | 23:15h | UTCWhen Apps Get Your Medical Data, Your Privacy May Go With It – The New York Times (10 articles per month are free)
Perspective: Schwartz Rounds—A Simple Way to Support Staff and Promote Compassionate Patient Care
8 Sep, 2019 | 23:18h | UTC
[Abstract Only] Study: Designing Better Sugary Drink Taxes
6 Sep, 2019 | 08:47h | UTCDesigning better sugary drink taxes – Science (link to abstract – $ for full-text)
News Release: Taxing Sweetened Drinks by the Amount of Sugar Could Cut Obesity & Boost Economic Gains – NYU (free) AND Experts Say Tax the Sugar—Not the Size—Of Drinks for Healthier Outcomes – AAAS (free) AND A New Soda Tax Strategy Directly Addresses the Real Cost of Sugar – Inverse (free)
Related: Meta-Analysis: Impact of Sugar‐sweetened Beverage Taxes on Purchases and Dietary Intake (free study and resources on the subject)
Study: Snack Tax May be More Effective than a Sugary Drink Tax to Tackle Obesity
6 Sep, 2019 | 08:43h | UTCEditorial: Taxing confectionery, biscuits, and cakes to control obesity (free) AND
Commentaries: Snack tax may be more effective than a sugary drink tax to tackle obesity – The BMJ (free) AND What next for fiscal interventions to prevent obesity? – The BMJ Opinion (free) AND Taxing sugary foods would cut prevalence of obesity – OnMedica (free) AND Snack tax may be more effective than a sugary drink tax to tackle obesity – London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (free)
Related: Fiscal policies for diet and the prevention of noncommunicable diseases – World Health Organization (free) AND The Lancet taskforce on NCDs and economics (free series and commentaries) To improve global health, tax the things that are killing us – Financial Times (free policies, articles and commentaries) AND Reducing cardiovascular disease burden through targeted dietary policies (free study and commentaries) AND Fiscal policies for the prevention of diseases (free study and commentary) AND The potential impact of food taxes and subsidies on cardiovascular disease and diabetes burden and disparities (free)
Population-based Cohort Study: Exposure to Diagnostic Low-Dose Ionizing Radiation Associated with Increased Risk for Many Types of Cancers
5 Sep, 2019 | 08:27h | UTC
Vaping Appears to Be Making Hundreds of People Sick. No One Knows Exactly Why.
5 Sep, 2019 | 08:20h | UTCVaping appears to be making hundreds of people sick. No one knows exactly why. – Vox (free)
Related: CDC Flags One Death and Nearly 200 Cases of Lung Illnesses in U.S., Possibly Tied to Vaping (free) AND Another Patient Has Died From Lung Disease After Vaping – The New York Times (10 articles per month are free)
Perspective: Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
5 Sep, 2019 | 08:18h | UTCArtificial intelligence in medicine raises legal and ethical concerns – The Conversation (free)
Related: Artificial Intelligence Is Infiltrating Medicine — But Is It Ethical? – Forbes (free) AND Artificial Intelligence in Health Care – AMA Journal of Ethics (free articles)
#ESCCongress – Study: Cancer Now Leading Cause of Death in High-income Countries
4 Sep, 2019 | 09:32h | UTCVariations in common diseases, hospital admissions, and deaths in middle-aged adults in 21 countries from five continents (PURE): a prospective cohort study – The Lancet (free for a limited period – registration required)
Related Study: Modifiable risk factors, cardiovascular disease, and mortality in 155 722 individuals from 21 high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries (PURE): a prospective cohort study – The Lancet (free for a limited period – registration required)
Commentaries: Cancer now leading cause of death in high-income countries — while heart disease burden persists in low-income and middle-income countries – The Lancet (free) AND Cardiovascular Disease Leading Cause of Death World-Wide, but Cancer Rising Cause in Rich Countries: Study – McMaster University (free) AND Cancer ‘biggest middle-age killer in rich nations’ – BBC (free) AND Cancer overtakes heart disease as biggest rich-world killer – Reuters (free) AND Cancer now tops heart disease as the No. 1 cause of death in these countries – CNN (free)
Related Commentary on Twitter
Presenting now #ESCCongress—#CVD remains leading cause of mortality globally, accounting for 40% of deaths, but in HIC, #cancer is now responsible for twice as many deaths: findings from #PUREStudy
Free to read with reg until Sept 10 #LancetCardiology https://t.co/iXSfIio77D pic.twitter.com/eHEJ0kWWfa
— The Lancet (@TheLancet) September 3, 2019
Perspective: What Statistics Can and Can’t Tell Us About Ourselves
4 Sep, 2019 | 08:45h | UTCWhat Statistics Can and Can’t Tell Us About Ourselves – The New Yorker (free)
Cohort Study: Association Between Soft Drink Consumption and Mortality in 10 European Countries
4 Sep, 2019 | 08:23h | UTCAssociation Between Soft Drink Consumption and Mortality in 10 European Countries – JAMA Internal Medicine (free for a limited period)
Commentaries: Large European Study Links Soda Consumption to Greater Risk of Mortality, Including From Parkinson – AJMC (free) AND Want to live longer? You may want to ditch these drinks – CNN (free) AND Soft drinks, including sugar-free, linked to increased risk of early death – The Guardian (free) AND Soft drinks – sugared or low-calorie – may raise the risk of early death – Reuters (free)
Study Finds No ‘Gay Gene,’ But Some Question Whether the Search Should Have Started At All
3 Sep, 2019 | 01:18h | UTCOriginal Study: Large-scale GWAS reveals insights into the genetic architecture of same-sex sexual behavior – Science (free for a limited period)
Other commentaries: No ‘gay gene’: Massive study homes in on genetic basis of human sexuality – Nature (free) AND Genetics may explain up to 25% of same-sex behavior, giant analysis reveals – Science (free) AND Search For ‘Gay Genes’ Comes Up Short In Large New Study – NPR (free) AND Many Genes Influence Same-Sex Sexuality, Not a Single ‘Gay Gene’ – The New York Times (10 articles per month are free) AND No single gene associated with being gay – BBC (free)
Meta-Analysis: Menopausal Hormone Therapy Increases Breast Cancer Risk
30 Aug, 2019 | 08:55h | UTCCommentaries: Menopausal hormones: definitive evidence for breast cancer – The Lancet (free) AND Menopausal hormone therapy and 20-year breast cancer mortality – The Lancet (free) AND Hormone therapy during menopause raises breast cancer risk for years, study finds – STAT (free) AND Expert reaction to study looking at HRT use and risk of breast cancer – Science Media Centre (free)