Medicine and Science from The BMJ

Designed for health

In this week’s podcast Jeremy Myerson, from the Royal College of Art, tells us how good design techniques can make cities more friendly places to grow old gracefully. Clive Ballard, from Kings College London, explains how important pain relief is for dementia patients. Elizabeth Draper, from the University of Leicester, talks us through her investigation into how socioeconomic class affects how women deal with severe congenital abnormalities during pregnancy.

Sharing decisions and data

In this week’s podcast we discuss publishing medical details with former health editor of The Sun, Jacqui Thornton. Rogaia Abuelgasim Abdelrahim, the UN Population Fund’s deputy representative in Somalia, explains how the drought and subsequent crop failure there has been exacerbated by existing political problems and led to widespread famine. And Natalie Grazin, Assistant Director of the Health Foundation, talks about making shared decision making a reality.

Tracking down TB

In this week’s podcast, Sue Rabbit Roff describes how she thinks a system of paid for kidney donations could work in practice. Al Story, clinical lead of the Find and Treat programme – a travelling team who scour the streets of London for tuberculosis – explains the programme’s mission.

Doctors in the danger zone

A recent study compared cost efficiency of different healthcare systems around the world. We hear from Colin Pritchard, from Bournemouth University, about how the NHS came out near the top. Also this week, the International Committee of the Red Cross has a mandate under the Geneva convention to protect the victims of both international and internal armed conflict. Head of mission Geoff Loane explains why they’re finding that increasingly difficult to do.

Global Health and TB

Last week BMJ Group held an inaugural global health conference http://globalhealth.bmj.com/ in London, looking at policies for sustainable and effective healthcare. David Heymann, chair of the UK Health Protection Agency, and Martha Gyansa-Lutterodt, Director of Pharmaceuticals at the Ministry of Health, Ghana, discuss how vertical aid programmes can lead to systemic improvements in lower income countries. And, Kalipso Chalkidou, Director of NICE International, explains a bit more about its work.Also, smoking is known to increase TB mortality. A modelling study this week suggests that the number of excess deaths from TB, caused by tobacco consumption, could be as high as 40 million over the next 40 years. Stanton Glantz, Director of the Centre for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, joins us to set out the numbers.

Drink, drugs, and comic book villains

In this week’s podcast, Shaun Walker reports on alcohol consumption in Russia. Ewan Hoyle explains why he wants the Lib Dems to discuss drug policy. And we found out how realistic comic book villains’ mental health problems are.

Facing the dragon

This week, chocolate is good for your emotional heart, but what about your physical one? Oscar Franco, clinical lecturer in public health at the University of Cambridge, tells us about the results of his recent meta-analysis.Also, Irfan Dhalla , an internist and lecturer at the University of Toronto, highlights the problem of opioid related death in the USA, and how he thinks we can avoid a crisis.

Unprecedented access

John Young, professor of elderly care medicine at Leeds University, gives Mabel Chew tips on carrying out a cognitive assessment of an older person. Also this week, Harlan Krumholz explains to Deborah Cohen how he got Medtronic to agree to independent scrutiny of their data that is “unprecedented in the medical industry”.

Mental health and mortality

Research has found that the gap in all-cause mortality between psychiatric patients after discharge, and the general population, is growing. Uy Hoang (Oxford University) tells us what his paper reveals about the trend, and we discuss possible ways to tackle the disparity with Fiona Gaughran and Shubulade Smith (Institute of Psychiatry, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust).Also, a UN conference this week aims to tackle non-communicable disease. Rebecca Coombes, BMJ features editor, explains how they’re doing that, and some of the problems with the negotiations.

Caring for the carers

This week, the UK’s General Medical Council is reviewing its standards of good medical practice. Helen Jaques quizzes Niall Dickson, the council’s chief executive, about the possible changes.Also this week, Ian Cameron, head of the rehabilitation studies unit at the University of Sydney, explains how doctors should care for the carers of older patients.