Medicine and Science from The BMJ

Neonatal survival and Lifebox

Helen Macdonald, assistant editor at the BMJ, talks to Neil Marlow, professor of neonatal medicine at University College London, about his update to the EPICure study looking at outcomes for extremely premature babies.Jane Feinmann talks to writer and surgeon Atul Gawande, about Lifebox – which has been chosen again as the BMJ’s Christmas appeal for 2012.

Emergency oxygen use

Is too much oxygen a good thing? Christine Roffe, consultant physician, Stoke Stroke Research Group, North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust, talks Mabel Chew, BMJ associate editor, through the evidence for routinely treating stroke patients with oxygen.And Russell Gruen, professor of surgery and public health, Alfred and Monash University, Melbourne, explains how and when tranexamic acid should be used after trauma.

Non-coeliac but gluten sensitive?

Many patients are following a wheat free diet, which they believe helps with their gastrointestinal symptoms, yet they don't exhibit markers of coeliac disease. Mabel Chew finds out from David Sanders, a professor of gastroenterology at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, about non-coeliac gluten sensitivity.Also, Fiona Godlee gives us an update on the open data campaign.

Christmas 2012: The speed bump test

We know that speed bumps have an important public health role, but a Christmas BMJ paper shows they're also clinically useful, and can help diagnose appendicitis. Helen Ashdown, academic clinical fellow in general practice, University of Oxford, and Mike Puttick, consultant surgeon, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, explain.And want to know how many carrots you need to eat to balance out that festive champagne? David Spiegelhalter, Winton professor for the public understanding of risk, University of Cambridge, tells us how to work it out.

Prison health

The final article in the analysis series examining prison health in England and Wales is published this week. To sum up, Francis Crook, Director of the Howard League for Penal Reform - the UK's oldest charity examining prison conditions - joins us to discuss prison reform.Also this week, Myasthenia gravis; Jennifer Spillane, clinical research associate at the Institute of Neurology in London, explains why it's easily missed.

Deworming debunked

You may well assume that a programme supported by organisations such as the World Bank and the World Health Organization does what it says on the tin. However, it turns out this is not the case with deworming initiatives in countries such as Africa and India. Paul Garner, co-author of the Cochrane review on the topic, explains what's going on.And Michael Wilson, instructor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, gives us some advice on diagnosing Klinefelter's syndrome.

The science of sugar

The authors of the recent meta-analysis on dietary sugar and body weight, Lisa Te Morenga, and Jim Mann, from the Departments of Human Nutrition and Medicine at the University of Otago, join us to discuss their findings.Also this week, the BMA wants doctors to be more involved in influencing policy on recreational drugs. Vivienne Nathanson, its director of professional activities, explains its new report, and how individual testimony can combine to convince governments to change policy.

H7N9, and NHS standardised mortality rates

An epidemiological investigation on bmj.com discusses the first probable case of human to human transmission of novel avian influenza A (H7N9). The author of the accompanying editorial, James Rudge, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, explains what this means for public health.
Also this week, we know that standardised mortality rates are tricky and have to be interpreted carefully. David Spiegelhater, Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at the university of Cambridge, explains why a figure of 13 000 excess deaths in NHS hospitals is “number abuse”.
Read the articles:
http://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f4730
http://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f4893

American life

US Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health produced by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, has found that on almost every comparative measure, Americans fare worse than their counterparts from other developed countries. Steve Woolf, from the Department of Family Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, who chaired the report, joins us to discuss its findings, and the implications.

Screening and treating clinically localised prostate cancer

In this practice special podcast, Timothy Wilt, professor of medicine at Minneapolis VA Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research, explains how to talk to patients about prostate cancer screening. Benjamin C Thomas, senior clinical fellow at Addenbrooks Hospital in Cambridge then talks us through androgen deprivation therapy.