It may be what epidemiologists call “ascertainment bias” (seeing what you want to see), but I detect the beginning of the end of prepublication peer review. The latest death knell […]
Columnists
Sandra Lako on progress at the Ola During Children’s Hospital
During my time in Sierra Leone from 2005-2009, I often visited the Children’s Hospital in Freetown. At the time I was working in a paediatric outpatient clinic and frequently saw […]
Martin McShane on volcanology
I set off on holiday in early July. Part of the trip included a visit to a volcanic island. It is awe-inspiring to see how central eruptions from the volcanic […]
Julian Sheather: Are doctors better people?
It’s an odd question I know, but bear with me. It was prompted by a book I picked up again recently, “Open Skies,” a collection of Somerset landscapes by the […]
Sandra Lako on her return to Freetown
After being away from Sierra Leone for a year, it is good to be back. Previously I spent four and a half years in Sierra Leone working for an NGO, […]
Richard Smith on improving what the world eats
High blood pressure is the second main cause of disease burden in Australia and is only marginally behind tobacco, said Bruce Neal, senior director, research and development at the George […]
Simon Chapman: Sick and famous
Singer Cheryl Cole may turn out to be the most famous person to get malaria in 2010, but of course she’s not the only one. And more importantly, she’s hardly […]
Sandra Lako: An introduction
When I was two years old my parents moved onboard the M/V Anastasis, a hospital ship run by the organisation Mercy Ships, which provided relief and medical services to communities […]
Julian Sheather on public health: complex problems, simple truths – the case of Sebastian Kneipp
Near universal consensus then that we are in the grip of a public health disaster. Daily the evidence mounts: obesity, smoking, alcohol abuse, our very lives are killing us. And […]
Richard Smith: Can you ask a patient anything?
Can a doctor ask a patient anything? In the Netherlands the answer seems to be “yes.” Doctors tend not to think so, but at a meeting between doctors and patients […]