Medicine and Science from The BMJ

Frontline NHS charges for migrants will harm the most vulnerable

The Department of Health is proposing to extend charging for migrants into some NHS primary care services and emergency departments.
Although the government asserts that the NHS is “overly generous to those who have only a temporary relationship with the UK,” Lucy Jones, UK lead for Doctors of the World says these proposals will disproportionately harm vulnerable undocumented migrants.
Read the full editorial:
http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i685

Time to end the federal ban on gun violence research funding

In recent weeks, the firearms controversy has again lit up the media in the United States, with clarification that anyone engaged in the business of selling firearms must get a license and conduct background checks.
But, argues Fred Rivara from the Seattle Children’s Research Institute and Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, we may never know its effects because of the continuing ban on federal funding of research into gun violence.
http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i578

Junior doctors second strike - from the picket line

This week, junior doctors in England have taken industrial action for the second time in as many months after failing to reach agreement with the government over their proposed new contract.
Tom Moberley and Abi Rimmer, from BMJ Careers, went to the picket lines at Northwick Park Hospital, and University Hospital Lewisham to talk to the doctors, and their supporters.
Keep up to date with the junior doctor's continuing industrial action with our live blog:
http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2016/02/08/junior-doctors-strike-february-2016-live-blog/

Stopping the overtreatment of malaria

The Rapid diagnostic tests have the potential to reduce the overtreatment of malaria by 95%, but time and extensive logistical, behavioural, and technical interventions may be required to achieve this.
Eleanor Ochodo from the Centre for Evidence-Based Health Care, at Stellenbosch University, joins us to discuss.
Read the full article:
http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i107

The role of stenting in stable angina

Iqbal Malik, consultant cardiologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London, joins Mabel Chew to discuss the role of angioplasty and stenting in patients with stable angina.
Read the full article online:
http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i205

Could campaigns like Dry January do more harm than good?

Are you having a dry January?
In this podcast Ian Gilmore, honorary professor at Liverpool University, and Ian Hamilton, a lecturer in the Department of Health Sciences at York University, debate whether campaigns such as this have any public health benefit.
Read the full head to head article: http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i143

Exercise induced bronchoconstriction

James Smoliga, from High Point University, North Carolina, and Ken Rundell, from The Commonwealth Medical College, Pennsylvania, join us to discuss how to test for, and manage, exercise induced bronchoconstriction, and particularly how to distinguish it from other respiratory conditions.Read the full review at http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.h6951

CKD In the elderly - disease, or disease label

Around half of people aged over 75 meet the diagnostic criteria for chronic kidney disease (CKD), but there is debate about what this means for patients as only a proportion of elderly people with CKD will have clinically important outcomes as a result.
In this podcast, Dr Arif Khwaja argues that for CKD in the elderly, we should focus on patient centered outcomes rather than applying population risks.
Read the full Analysis article: http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.h6559

Cancer screening - does it save lives?

The claim that cancer screening saves lives is based on fewer deaths due to the target cancer. Vinay Prasad, assistant professor at Oregon Health and Science University, joins us to argue that reductions in overall mortality should be the benchmark and call for higher standards of evidence for cancer screening.
Read the full analysis:
http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.h6080

Why are Dutch GPs happier than British ones?

General practice is similar in the Netherlands and the UK yet it appeals far more to young Dutch doctors than to their British counterparts. In collaboration with the Dutch medical journal Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde, Roger Damoiseaux, professor of general practice, and Margaret McCartney, Glasgow GP and The BMJ columnist, met to try to work out why. Sophie Arie reports
Read the feature:
http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h6870