Everyone knows that the economic value of medical research is difficult to measure but the returns for our communities are great. A global assessment of the return on investment in medical research would encourage even the most bearish of investors. In the UK, for example, a government spend of £1 can yield 25 pence of benefits […]
Category: Research
The literature on what foods are good and bad has grown from a healthy weight to toxic levels of morbidity. It is time to take the protagonists to court and put them on trial using the available evidence. New strategies such as disruption are important. Let’s enter my dietary courtroom. There are a range of […]
There is a difference between wanting to die and not wanting to stay alive. For patients with terminal physical illnesses who are suffering, there is an acceptance that they do not specifically want to die, rather that living is no longer tolerable for them. We can’t conduct randomized trials to evaluate whether patients, would choose […]
Do drugs really lose their potency and if they do are they really a danger to us? The recent decision by the FDA to extend the shelf life of EpiPens beyond what is on the label has challenged conventional thinking about the long-term safety of stored drugs – and it’s about time. Unfortunately, there is very […]
A smorgasbord of promises to achieve weight reduction are proffered in the 200-plus articles published daily in the media. In the scientific world too, there is an overabundance of research literature. Just the word “fat”, let alone “obesity” or “overweight”, generates 55 research articles a day. The over-promising language used in the lay press doesn’t […]
Pharmaceutical names are an important part of branding products. They are designed to encode a message about the product. Older names were focussed on the clinical aspects of a drug. Sometimes they alluded to the disease such as Procardia for heart problems and Tamiflu for influenza treatment. Other names related to what the drug does […]
Nearly half of all patients admitted to hospital have more than one health problem. The concept of co morbidity is not new. It has been around since the 1970s. Depression is not the end of a one-way street. It can be the cause of other illnesses. What is new, however, is that where more than […]
Adults who have more than two health problems are likely to receive a prescription for a painkiller at least once every six months. Chronic pain is one of those heart sink problems of medicine. Nothing chronic is ever simple or curable. Originally it was thought that pain became chronic when the circumstances that initiated it […]
The human body is really one large water storage tank with entry and exit valves. Water makes up about 60% of our bodies. Each litre of water weighs 1 kilogram, so in a person who weighs 60 kilograms, 36 kilograms is water. Nearly one third of our daily water supply comes from what we eat. […]
Everybody knows how to get weight off. Most of us have tried at least once and usually we have failed to keep the weight off. Most of the strategies we use to lose weight are not sustainable. Up to 50% of dieters who reduce their weight to a healthy level, put weight back on within […]
Is it time we let computers drive our medical care? According to the World Health Organization, there was a global shortage of 7.2 million health providers in 2013, and this figure will to increase to 12.9 million by 2035. Establishing new medical schools, which every country has adopted, isn’t a long term solution. Increasing the […]
Pet is a term of endearment. It suggests that the bond humans have with their companion animals is loving and supportive. Recently, pets have become more than just part of the family. Now having a pet has become medicalised. Zooeyia is the technical name for human health benefits of companion animals. Zooeyia has been linked […]
Medicine is not just a science. It is a living practice. Translating emerging science into practice is one of the key skills of doctors. Before scientific knowledge became viral, translation was merely a matter of communication. Now, as the science of medicine reaches epidemic proportions, it is becoming more and more difficult to perform this […]
Recycling old drugs is not new. Clinicians quite often prescribe treatments with drugs that are “off label”, that is, proven for other conditions. Up to one-fifth of all available drugs are prescribed off-label. Almost 90% of drugs that are approved for one condition have other conditions that they can treat. Fortunately, most off-label uses are […]
Despite the best research into cancer, it still remains a generic term describing out-of-control cells, which all look different, from site to site. The diversity of cancer, still perplexes researchers and there are many unanswered questions about how cancer invades bodies, which drugs work and why cures remain elusive. The researchers who are studying A […]
Studying our genes is becoming a big business in health care. New gene discoveries make great news. Every week we hear about another gene that can identify our susceptibility to a particular disease or be modified to produce a cure. With over 3.0 billion human genes that is no mean feat. Unfortunately, cure is not […]
Receiving a diagnosis that we have a progressively debilitating disease such as cancer or multiple sclerosis is a lifetime sentence. Initial diagnostic tests can accurately stage the disease. New imaging tools such as PET scans, MRIs, and genetic testing can detect the extent of the disease long spread before it becomes evident to clinicians and […]
These days it’s pretty hard to believe anything we read about what we should eat and drink. Nutritional facts are tossed about like raw ingredients. Sometimes they are mixed and baked and turned into something sweet and palatable. Other times they are burnt and bitter. The relationship between coffee and cancer is a good example. […]
Originally posted on Michael Kidd:
“Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated.” So said President Donald Trump on February 27, 2017, in an address to the National Governors Association meeting at the White House in Washington DC. The next day, President Trump tweeted, “I am calling on Congress to REPEAL & REPLACE OBAMACARE with…
I’ve just participated in a public debate: “This house believes that Brexit will not affect health innovation”. I was on the opposing site. Have you ever been in a debate where if you win you lose? That’s where I found myself. Because if we won, the future is bleak. And if we lost, the future […]
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