Month: September 2019

  • World Heart Day: Saving lives with CPR

    World Heart Day: Saving lives with CPR

    © spkphotostock / stock.adobe.com Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a life-saving medical procedure given to patients in cardiac arrest. It involves pressing down rhythmically on the chest (compressions) to help pump blood around the body and giving a series of rescue breaths. To celebrate the World Heart Federation’s World Heart Day on 29 September, we take…

  • Reconciling disease risk with livelihood needs in high schistosomiasis transmission settings

    Reconciling disease risk with livelihood needs in high schistosomiasis transmission settings

    Collecting water directly from a lake in Senegal. Photo credit: Andrea Lund. Oftentimes in this blog we discuss biological studies that examine parasites. But equally, or perhaps even more important in certain settings, are human behaviours that drive changes in exposure to these parasites. There is a wealth of disciplines and subdisciplines that utilise anthropological…

  • Highlights of the BMC series: August 2019

    Highlights of the BMC series: August 2019

    BMC Bioinformatics – Novel deep learning model for more accurate prediction of drug-drug interaction effects The most efficient therapy to many diseases is often the result of a combination of drugs. Administration of more than one molecule in cases of cancer, hypertension, asthma and AIDS can lead to an increase in drug efficiency and decrease…

  • Placental Sex Differences: Q&A with Amy Inkster

    Placental Sex Differences: Q&A with Amy Inkster

    At the May meeting of the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences (OSSD), Dr Amy Inkster’s poster titled “Sex-specific patterns of autosomal DNA methylation in the human placenta” was selected as the winner of the Biology of Sex Differences Best Poster Prize. Learn more about Amy, the sex of placentas, and the importance of considering…

  • Sharing data for the benefit of children with cancer

    Sharing data for the benefit of children with cancer

    Michal Jarmoluk /Pixabay September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, a time to recognize issues facing children with cancer. Several new developments in childhood cancer research at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and other institutions hold promise for accelerating the development of new treatments, and emphasize the importance of sharing data. FatCamera / Getty Images…

  • Suicide in the criminal justice system

    Suicide in the criminal justice system

    Suicide is a worldwide phenomenon with over 800,000 people taking their lives each year. Eventual suicides are 5 times higher in male prisoners and 20 times higher in female prisoners than in general population controls. Internationally, high rates have been consistently identified for people in police custody, the courts and probation services in the community.…

  • Highlights from EAPC 2019: Global Palliative Care – Shaping the future

    Highlights from EAPC 2019: Global Palliative Care – Shaping the future

    EAPC 2019 took place in Berlin, Germany. I took over BMC Palliative Care as Editor just the month before the congress and have been particularly excited to network and meet clinicians, caregivers, researchers, volunteers, patient advocates, and educators in this field. After hearing so many positive things about the Palliative Care community I was enthusiastic to learn…

  • Blood Cancer Awareness Month: highlighting our open access blood cancer research

    Blood Cancer Awareness Month: highlighting our open access blood cancer research

    © Kateryna_Kon / stock.adobe.com September marks Blood Cancer Awareness Month. In recognition of this, we are proud to present some of our research on blood cancer that has been published within the open access oncology journal portfolio. Blood cancer encompasses many different hematological disorders that affect the blood, bone marrow and/or lymphatic system. The different…

  • Making it cheaper to track genetically-modified mosquito releases

    Making it cheaper to track genetically-modified mosquito releases

    (Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay, CC0 licence) Could the solution to bugs be more bugs? To a farmer battling invasive insect pests, the so-called Sterile Insect Technique can be a godsend. Called “the greatest entomological achievement of the 20th century” by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in the 1960s, Sterile Insect Technique eliminates harmful…

  • Interview with Frank Kirchner, Editor-in-Chief of AI Perspectives

    Interview with Frank Kirchner, Editor-in-Chief of AI Perspectives

    Frank Kirchner is Editor-in-Chief of AI Perspectives. This interview was originally published on the SpringerOpen blog How did you first begin researching artificial intelligence (AI)? The first time I felt we needed to do something about intelligent machines was when I moved out from my hometown to study computer science in Bonn, Germany. I suddenly was…