Medicine and Science from The BMJ

ParkinsonNet: a new approach to management of chronic disease

Read the full analysis of ParkinsonNet: http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g1838
Patients with Parkinson’s disease need long term support to manage their condition. In this podcast Bastiaan Bloem, medical director at the Parkinsons Institute in Nijmegen, and Marko van der Vegt, a Parkinsons patient, describe the benefits of ParkinsonNet; a model of integrated care provided by a network of specialists and suggest it has promise for other long term conditions

Recognising a subdural haematoma in the elderly

Subdural haematoma is more common in elderly patients, yet the condition is easy to miss in this group.John Young, a consultant geriatrician at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, describes what clinical signs to look out for, and what tests can confirm a diagnosis of subdural haematoma.

The Health and Social Care bill: An end of year report

Each year at the Nuffield Trust Health Policy Summit, The BMJ hosts a breakfast roundtable. It has been one year since the Health and Social Care Bill for England was enacted, and the reconfiguration of the NHS continues, so this year we asked our panel to give the bill an end of year report.Taking part were:John Richards – Southampton Clinical Commissioning GroupNigel Edwards - CEO Nuffield TrustJennifer Dixon - CEO Health FoundationTerence Stephenson - president Academy of Medical Royal CollegesMaureen Baker - Chair RCGPHugh Taylor - Chairman Guys and St Thomas' Foundation TrustNick Hicks - CEO COBIC LtdJeremy Taylor - National VoicesTim Ferris - VP for population health management, Partners Healthcare, MANick Timmins - Senior Associate Nuffield Trust

HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening in Australia

Read the open access research: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bmj.g1458
Australia was one of the first countries to introduce HPV vaccination, and due to it's cervical cancer screening programme, is one of the first to be able to measure the effectiveness of the vaccine.
In this podcast, 3 of the authors of a new paper on bmj.com discuss their findings and talk about implications for cervical cancer screening in Australia.

Recognising and treating fibromyalgia

Most doctors are familiar with patients who describe chronic pain all over the body, which is associated with a range of other symptoms including poor sleep, fatigue, and depression. This complex of symptoms is sometimes referred to as fibromyalgia. Management of patients with this condition is often complex and challenging. The diagnosis of fibromyalgia has long been controversial, with some experts questioning whether it exists as a separate entityIn this podcast Anisur Rahman, professor of rheumatology at University College London, joins us to discuss diagnosis and management of the condition.Read the full clinical review article:http://goo.gl/MYryTJ

Steps to limit smoking in China could save 13,000,000 lives in 35 years

Complete implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) recommends policies in China that would prevent almost 13m smoking related deaths by 2050, suggests a paper published on bmj.com.China is home to about one third of the world’s smokers and reducing smoking in China could have an enormous public health impact, even on a global scale.To discuss their research, we are joined by three of the paper's authors, David Levy from Georgetown University, Teh-Wei Hu from University of California at Berkeley, and Andrew Moran from Columbia University Medical Center.Read the full open access research: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bmj.g1134

Twenty-five Year Follow-up of the Canadian National Breast Screening Study

Controversy rages over the relative benefits or harms of screening for breast cancer, with evidence suggesting that in younger women at least it does more harm than good.Now a new paper on bmj.com reports the results of 25 years of follow up of women who have taken part in a breast cancer screening trial in Canada, and suggests that annual screening does not cut breast cancer deaths.Anthony Miller, Professor Emeritus at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, lead author on the paper, and director of the trial, joins us to discuss the results.

Veggie drugs

Read the full article online: http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g401 When you prescribe a drug, do you ever stop to wonder if it's suitable for vegetarians? Kinesh Patel and Kate Tatham from Imperial College London have found that 74 of the 100 drugs most commonly prescribed by GPs in the UK contain ingredients which may have been derived from animals.

BMJ podcast: Treating erectile dysfunction

Read the full article: http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g129Erectile dysfunction is a common problem, and novel treatments mean that patient’s options have widened. In this podcast Asif Muneer, consultant urological surgeon and andrologist at University College Hospital in London, explains the aetiology, treatment, and prognosis for the condition.

BMJ podcast - high risk devices for rare conditions

Two articles on bmj.com look at high risk devices for rare conditions, and how the US Food and Drug Administration regulates them.
Joining us to discuss the problems are Rita Redberg, professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco, and Aaron Kesselheim, assistant professor of medicine at the Harvard School of Public health.
Read the articles
Presumed safe no more: lessons from the Wingspan saga on regulation of devices
http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g93
Assessment of US pathway for approving medical devices for rare conditions http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g217