Medicine and Science from The BMJ

Smoking in Japan

Deborah Cohen explains how a joint BMJ and Daily Telegraph investigation helped uncover problems with device regulation in Europe. Previous research has shown smoking reduces life expectancy by about a decade, but only by four years if you are Japanese. Sarah Darby, from the University of Oxford, explains why her new research shows they are actually just as unhealthy as their British counterparts.

Fishy data

Rajiv Chowdury, a research associate from the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge, explains why eating whole fish is better than fish oil - at least when it comes to cerebrovascular disease. Also this week Peter Doshi and Tom Jefferson from the Cochrane Collaboration talk about the BMJ's open data campaign, and how publishing correspondence with Roche, the WHO and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might reveal the missing data on Tamiflu.

The silent misdiagnosis

This week, Al Mulley, Dartmouth Center for Health Care Delivery Science, and Tessa Richards, BMJ associate editor, discuss the silent misdiagnosis: that of patient preferences.Removing pre-cancerous cells spotted through screening is the foremost defence against cervical cancer. However, a recent BMJ paper has shown that women who go through this have a fourfold risk of going on to develop cancer compared to women who’ve only ever had normal smears, even if they complete follow up and are given the all clear. Matejka Rebolj, postdoctoral researcher, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, and Chris Meijer and Maaike Bleeker, pathologists in the Department of Pathology, VU Medical Centre, Amsterdam, discuss what could be done to mitigate the risk.

Countering counterfeits

Last year 125 people died in Pakistan after taking contaminated cardiac medication. The disaster is one example of the dangers of counterfeit and substandard medicines, an issue the WHO is struggling to control.In this podcast we hear from Amir Attaran, Canada research chair in law, population health, and global development policy at the University of Ottawa, on the international wrangling he sees at the political level. And Sania Nishtar, president of Heartfile, an independent think tank based in India, discusses what went wrong in Pakistan, and how to prevent it happening again.

Checking out the check-ups

Lasse Krogsbøll, from the Nordic Cochrane Centre, explains research into whether general health checks improve mortality and morbidity in the population. Also, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) this week announced plans to make trial data used as the basis for its decisions publicly available. BMJ Deputy editor Trish Groves finds out more from some of the key players in the campaign for open data.

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.