General Interest
Report: Global Burden of Rheumatic Heart Disease
24 Aug, 2017 | 23:16h | UTCEditorial: Rheumatic Heart Disease — An Iceberg in Tropical Waters (free) (RT @NEJM see Tweet with interesting table)
Quick Take Video Summary: What is the Global Burden of Rheumatic Heart Disease? (free)
Commentary: Death rates from rheumatic heart disease falling since 1990 – Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (free)
Study: Association of Lithium in Drinking Water With the Incidence of Dementia
24 Aug, 2017 | 23:14h | UTCAssociation of Lithium in Drinking Water With the Incidence of Dementia – JAMA Internal Medicine (free)
Editorial: Could Lithium in Drinking Water Reduce the Incidence of Dementia? (free)
Commentaries: Lithium in drinking water may affect Alzheimer’s risk – Reuters (free) AND Dementia Rates Fall with Rising Lithium Levels in Water – MedPage Today (free registration required) AND Lithium in Drinking Water Linked to Lower Dementia Risk? – Physician’s First Watch (free) AND Lithium in tap water may cut dementia – BBC Health (free)
The Case for a Breakfast Feast
24 Aug, 2017 | 23:13h | UTCThe Case for a Breakfast Feast – The New York Times (free)
Related article: Meal Frequency and Timing Are Associated with Changes in Body Mass Index in Adventist Health Study 2 – The Journal of Nutrition (link to abstract – $ for full-text)
Tranexamic acid reduces risk of death from bleeding after childbirth
24 Aug, 2017 | 23:03h | UTCDrug reduces deaths from bleeding after childbirth – NIHR Signal (free)
Original article: Effect of early tranexamic acid administration on mortality, hysterectomy, and other morbidities in women with post-partum haemorrhage (WOMAN): an international, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial – The Lancet (free) and Editorial: WOMAN: reducing maternal deaths with tranexamic acid (free)
“Tranexamic acid reduces risk of death from bleeding after childbirth by 31% when given within three hours”. (RT @NIHR_DC see Tweet)
Report: global burden of lower respiratory tract infections
24 Aug, 2017 | 23:07h | UTC8 – Estimates of the global, regional, and national morbidity, mortality, and aetiologies of lower respiratory tract infections in 195 countries: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015 – Lancet Infectious Diseases (free) (RT @simonihay and @IHME_UW see Tweet)
Invited commentary: Measuring progress on preventing pneumonia deaths: are we there yet? (free)
A bold open-access push in Germany could change the future of academic publishing
24 Aug, 2017 | 23:04h | UTCA bold open-access push in Germany could change the future of academic publishing – Science (free) (RT @hildabast and @RickyPo see Tweet)
Related commentary: Sci-Hub’s cache of pirated papers is so big, subscription journals are doomed, data analyst suggests – Science (free)
Study: Particulate Matter Exposure and Stress Hormone Levels
22 Aug, 2017 | 18:36h | UTCCommentaries: Air pollution ups stress hormones, alters metabolismo – Reuters (free) AND AND Novel Study Shows How Air Pollution Increases CVD Risk – MedPage Today (free registration required) AND Air pollution linked to cardiovascular disease; air purifiers may lessen impact – American Heart Association, via Science Daily (free)
Related: The cost of a polluted environment: 1.7 million child deaths a year, says WHO – World Health Organization (free) AND Estimates and 25-year trends of the global burden of disease attributable to ambient air pollution: an analysis of data from the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2015 – The Lancet (free) AND Death in the Air: Air Pollution Costs Money and Lives – World Bank (free infographic and report)
Global Burden of Sugar-Related Dental Diseases in 168 Countries and Corresponding Health Care Costs
22 Aug, 2017 | 18:55h | UTCGlobal Burden of Sugar-Related Dental Diseases in 168 Countries and Corresponding Health Care Costs – Journal of Dental Research (link to abstract – $ for full-text)
Commentaries: High sugar consumption gives rise to dental treatment costs in the billions – Science Daily (free)
“Worldwide, people are eating far too much sugar. This has negative consequences for their teeth and for their purses: seen at the global level, the costs of dental treatment are currently running at around $172 billion”
Cancer treatment: sorting the good news from the hype
22 Aug, 2017 | 14:20h | UTCCancer treatment: sorting the good news from the hype – The Guardian (free)
“The newspapers love a cancer research story, but many are misleading or won’t affect patients for many years. But there is plenty of progress worth reporting”
Perspectives on Cognition-Enhancing Drugs
22 Aug, 2017 | 13:05h | UTCMedical News & Perspectives: Chess Study Revives Debate Over Cognition-Enhancing Drugs – JAMA (free)
Related: Growing use of smart drugs by students could be a recipe for disaster – The Conversation (free) AND Brain Hackers Seeking Peak Performance Use Risky Chemical Cocktails: “Smart drugs” are not clinically proven and could be dangerous – Scientific American (free) AND Universities must do more to tackle use of smart drugs, say experts – The Guardian (free) AND Tweaking brains with ‘smart drugs’ to get ahead in Silicon Valley – The Washington Post (free) AND Professors take same ‘smart drugs’ as students to keep up with workloads, claims academic – Independent (free)
Opinion: When surgery is just a stitch-up
22 Aug, 2017 | 13:03h | UTCWhen surgery is just a stitch-up – The Guardian (RT @Onisillos see Tweet)
Related article: Use of placebo controls in the evaluation of surgery: systematic review – The BMJ (free)
“With evidence mounting that many minor operations owe their success to the placebo effect, is it time to call a halt to some routine procedures?”
Study: energy drink consumption and subsequent drug use during young adulthood
21 Aug, 2017 | 01:40h | UTCTrajectories of energy drink consumption and subsequent drug use during young adulthood – Drug & Alcohol Dependence (link to abstract – $ for full-text)
Commentaries: Study suggests energy drinks can lead to cocaine use – News.com.au (free text and video) AND Energy Drinks May Trigger Future Substance Use – Medscape (free registration required)
Study: association of obesity and metabolic health with coronary heart disease
21 Aug, 2017 | 01:46h | UTCSeparate and combined associations of obesity and metabolic health with coronary heart disease: a pan-European case-cohort analysis – European Heart Journal (link to abstract – $ for full-text)
Commentaries: ‘Fat but fit’ people may still be at risk of heart disease – NHS Choices (free) AND ‘Fat but fit’ still has higher risk of heart disease, study confirms – CNN (free) AND ‘Fat but Fit’ is Myth; New UK Study Finds BMI>25 Ups MI Risk – Medscape (free registration required) AND ‘Fat but fit’ still risk heart disease – BBC (free)
Study: Sleep Duration and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
21 Aug, 2017 | 01:38h | UTCSleep Duration and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes – Pediatrics (link to abstract – $ for full-text)
Commentaries: Lack of sleep tied to higher risk of diabetes in kids – Reuters (free) AND Sleep in Children Linked to Later Risk of Type 2 Diabetes – AJMC (free) AND Insufficient sleep raises type 2 diabetes risk in children – Medical News Today (free) AND Sleep duration inversely related to childhood type 2 diabetes risk makers – 2 Minute Medicine (free)
Global burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma
17 Aug, 2017 | 21:39h | UTCInvited commentary: COPD and asthma: the emergency is clear, now is the time for action (free)
Saying Goodbye to Lectures in Medical School: Paradigm Shift or Passing Fad?
17 Aug, 2017 | 21:38h | UTCPerspective: Saying Goodbye to Lectures in Medical School: Paradigm Shift or Passing Fad? – New England Journal of Medicine (free)
Related: Vermont Medical School Says Goodbye To Lectures – NPR (free)
The global burden of tuberculosis mortality in children
17 Aug, 2017 | 18:33h | UTCCommentaries: Tuberculosis in children: under-counted and under-treate – The Lancet Global Health (free) AND TB killed an estimated 239,000 children in 2015, nearly all of them untreated, study finds – Science Speaks Blog (free)
Too much medicine: Mapping the drivers of overdiagnosis to potential solutions
17 Aug, 2017 | 21:37h | UTCAnalysis – Too much medicine: Mapping the drivers of overdiagnosis to potential solutions – The BMJ (free)
Related: Overdiagnosis, ethics, and trolley problems: why factors other than outcomes matter – The BMJ (free) AND The overdiagnosis community targets solutions – The BMJ (free) AND Are expanding disease definitions unnecessarily labelling women with polycystic ovary syndrome? – The BMJ (free) AND When technology creates uncertainty: pulse oximetry and Overdiagnosis of hypoxaemia in bronchiolitis – The BMJ (free)
Too Many Drug Trials, Too Few Patients
17 Aug, 2017 | 17:37h | UTCA Cancer Conundrum: Too Many Drug Trials, Too Few Patients – The New York Times (10 articles per month are free)
Bored reading science? Let’s change how scientists write
16 Aug, 2017 | 23:09h | UTCBored reading science? Let’s change how scientists write – The Conversation (free) (RT @Onisillos see Tweet)
“Science communicators, journalists, entrepreneurs, policymakers and interested members of the general public are all motivated to follow the latest scientific research. And yet, strangely enough, science papers are a communication tool but they are not that effective at communication”.
Antibiotic susceptibility testing in less than 30 min
16 Aug, 2017 | 20:53h | UTCCommentaries: New ultrafast method for determining antibiotic resistance – Uppsala University, via EurekAlert (free) AND Researchers develop a rapid test for antibiotic susceptibility – CIDRAP (free)
Sexual health concerns after cancer treatment in women
16 Aug, 2017 | 20:08h | UTCCommentary: Sexual Dysfunction in Women With Cancer: A Review of Available Interventions – Oncology Nurse Adviser (free)
Facing Surgery Without An Anesthesiologist On Hand
16 Aug, 2017 | 18:13h | UTCGlobal Health: Imagine: Facing Surgery Without An Anesthesiologist On Hand – NPR Goats and Soda (free)
Pig genome editing with goal of providing organs for transplant
16 Aug, 2017 | 18:04h | UTCInactivation of porcine endogenous retrovirus in pigs using CRISPR-Cas9 – Science (link to abstract – $ for full-text)
Commentaries: Birth of CRISPR’d pigs advances hopes for turning swine into organ donos – STAT (free) AND Gene editing to remove viruses brings transplant organs from pigs a step closer – The Guardian (free) AND Gene Editing Spurs Hope for Transplanting Pig Organs Into Humans – New York Times (10 articles per month are free) AND Gene editing brings pig organ transplant closer – NHS Choices (free) AND Scientists edit pig genome with goal of human organ transplants – CNN (free text and video)
Epilepsy ‘Not a Rare Condition’
16 Aug, 2017 | 14:23h | UTCReport: National and State Estimates of the Numbers of Adults and Children with Active Epilepsy — United States, 2015 – CDC MMWR (free)
Commentaries: Epilepsy Isn’t As Rare As Many Might Think – And Cases Are Increasing – Forbes (free) AND Epilepsy ‘Not a Rare Condition’ – MedPage Today (free registration required)