Medicine and Science from The BMJ

Last week BMJ Group held an inaugural global health conference http://globalhealth.bmj.com/ in London, looking at policies for sustainable and effective healthcare. David Heymann, chair of the UK Health Protection Agency, and Martha Gyansa-Lutterodt, Director of Pharmaceuticals at the Ministry of Health, Ghana, discuss how vertical aid programmes can lead to systemic improvements in lower income c...

In this week’s podcast, Shaun Walker reports on alcohol consumption in Russia. Ewan Hoyle explains why he wants the Lib Dems to discuss drug policy. And we found out how realistic comic book villains’ mental health problems are.

This week, chocolate is good for your emotional heart, but what about your physical one? Oscar Franco, clinical lecturer in public health at the University of Cambridge, tells us about the results of his recent meta-analysis. Also, Irfan Dhalla , an internist and lecturer at the University of Toronto, highlights the problem of opioid related death in the USA, and how he thinks we can avoid a crisi...

John Young, professor of elderly care medicine at Leeds University, gives Mabel Chew tips on carrying out a cognitive assessment of an older person. Also this week, Harlan Krumholz explains to Deborah Cohen how he got Medtronic to agree to independent scrutiny of their data that is “unprecedented in the medical industry”.

Research has found that the gap in all-cause mortality between psychiatric patients after discharge, and the general population, is growing. Uy Hoang (Oxford University) tells us what his paper reveals about the trend, and we discuss possible ways to tackle the disparity with Fiona Gaughran and Shubulade Smith (Institute of Psychiatry, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust). Also, a UN co...

This week, the UK’s General Medical Council is reviewing its standards of good medical practice. Helen Jaques quizzes Niall Dickson, the council’s chief executive, about the possible changes. Also this week, Ian Cameron, head of the rehabilitation studies unit at the University of Sydney, explains how doctors should care for the carers of older patients.

Seth Berkley, CEO of GAVI (formerly the “Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation”), talks to Rebecca Coombes about the future of vaccination funding. Also this week, the Health and Social Care bill, set to change the English NHS, is about to enter the House of Lords before becoming law. We find out which areas will receive most scrutiny from members of the Upper House from liberal democrat p...

The Health and Social Care Bill for England has now reached the House of Lords. With the proposed demise of deaneries, questions still remain about how medical training will be carried out in the future. Niall Dickson, chief executive of the General Medical Council, explains how the council hopes to maintain professional standards whatever the outcome, and what changes to postgraduate education ar...

Hugh Montgomery, director of the University College London Institute for Human Health & Performance, talks about the space where climate, health, and international security meet. Christabel Owens, head of mental health research at the Devon Partnership NHS Trust, explains why warning signs for suicidal thoughts may not be visible to those best placed to spot them.

In 2001 Portugal abolished all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs – effectively decriminalising their use. Health journalist Nigel Hawkes talks to João Goulão, Portugal’s drug tsar, to find out how effective this policy change has been. Also, the General Medical Council is introducing revalidation for doctors. Part of that revalidation will require input from a doctor’s colleagues...

One way of tackling obesity is by attending a weight loss club, such as WeightWatchers . There are many such schemes available on the NHS, but which one is the most effective? We find out the results of an RCT that aims to find out. Also this week, ethnographic studies aren’t just limited to lost tribes. We find out what observation of receptionists in general practice surgeries uncovered.

Tessa Richards (BMJ’s analysis editor) and Duncan Jarvies (BMJ’s multimedia producer) talk to Veena Rao (adviser at Karnataka Nutrition Mission, India) about the issue of undernutrion in the country. And David Payne (BMJ’s web editor) gives us a run-down of the new bmj.com.

Mariana Lazo, from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, tells us how non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has affected all cause mortality in the US. Also, Ley Sander, from University College London, discusses the problem of sudden death in epilepsy.

This week’s podcast is from UKSEM, the big sports and exercise medicine conference in London. Daniel Lieberman, an evolutionary biologist from Harvard, explains how we have evolved to run. Steven Blair, University of South Carolina, explains how physical inactivity is having serious effects on our health. Finally Karim Khan, BJSM’s editor, tells us how much exercise gives you the most bang for you...

To mark World AIDS Day, the WHO has issued a report outlining policy successes and failures in the diagnosis and treatment of HIV/AIDS. Yves Souteyrand, the co-ordinator of the report, joins us to discuss its findings and how to combat the disease in the future. Alan White, professor of men's health at Leeds Metropolitan University and the author of a new European report into men's health, explain...

How much does it cost sub-Saharan countries to train all the doctors who end up working in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia? Edward Mills from the University of Ottawa explains his economic analysis of healthcare migration. Also Hungarian health minister Miklós Szócska talks about his country's challenges and plans when it comes to improving health outcomes, currently among the worst in Europe.

Vanessa Whitburn, editor of BBC Radio 4’s The Archers, talks morbidity and mortality in Ambridge. James Raftery, University of Southampton, updates the Forrest Report – whose evidence prompted the breast cancer screening programme in the UK.

Somehow we've come to the end of another year. The Independent's health editor Jeremy Laurance talks us through the big health stories from 2011. And Greg Scott discusses his Christmas paper on the phrase "obs stable", and what it's revealed these two words have actually come to mean to hospital doctors.

The problem of missing data is well known, especially in cases where drug companies conceal evidence. However pharmaceutical industry misconduct is not the only cause, and a cluster of papers in this week's BMJ show how aspects of the culture of medical science contribute to the problem. Elizabeth Loder, BMJ's clinical editor, talks to Harlan Krumholz (Harold H Hines Jr professor of medicine at Ya...

Antoine Declos, Université de Lyon, explains the performance curve of surgeons as they become more experienced. Peter Wilmshurst, Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, and veteran whistleblower explains why it may be harder to expose the truth in a lab, than on the ward.

Simon Hatcher, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Aukland, sets out the use of newer antidepressants for the treatment of depression in adults. Deborah Cohen, BMJ's investigations editor, updates us on the Tamiflu saga, and how Roche is still holding onto its full patient data.

Mabel Chew talks to epileptologists Martin Brodie from the Western Infirmary Glasgow and Patrick Kwan from the University of Melbourne, about the newer drug treatments for the condition. Also, Kate Smolina from Oxford University's Department of Public Health explains what constitutes the drop in deaths from acute myocardial infarction.

The Indian government has invested £1.2bn to kick start rural healthcare in its most populous northern state, Uttar Pradesh. Much of that money has now disappeared, and the programme is blighted by corruption and murder. Harriet Vickers hears the details. Also this week, the UK's Department for International Development has to make decisions on sometimes scant evidence. We find out how DFID is try...

Journalist Karen McColl interviews Wendell Potter, US health industry lobbying guru turned critic. Mark Ashbridge, an associate professor at Dalhousie University, explains how cannabis intoxication is an increasingly important factor in motor vehicle collisions.

This week we look at older women's health, Gita Mishra from the School of Population Health, University of Queensland, explains the trajectories of perimenopausal symptoms. Martha Hickey, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Melbourne, and Jane Elliott a senior lecturer at the University of Adelaide, give Mabel Chew practical tips on prescribing HRT. Finally Steinar Tretli,...