Month: March 2019

  • Highlights of the BMC series: February 2019

    Highlights of the BMC series: February 2019

    BMC Cancer:  Breaking silence: a survey of barriers to goals of care discussions from the perspective of oncology practitioners For patients with advanced or terminal cancer, decisions such as whether to be resuscitated or where to receive care at the end of life have a large impact on their quality of life, the cost of their…

  • Unsticking malaria

    Unsticking malaria

    Knobs visible on the surface of a red blood cell infected with Plasmodium falciparum. Electronmicrograph source: wikicommons, authors Rick Fairhurst and Jordan Zuspann, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH One feature of the most virulent species of malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, is its ability to make infected red blood cells stick to the…

  • How many cigarettes are there in a bottle of wine?

    How many cigarettes are there in a bottle of wine?

    © Photographee.eu / Fotolia Do you drink one small glass of wine a day? Maybe you even have one day off a week? That’s just under the UK low risk drinking guidelines of 14 units a week. You know cigarettes increase your risk of cancer but what about a glass of wine each night? Isn’t…

  • World Bipolar Day – Controversies in bipolar disorder

    World Bipolar Day – Controversies in bipolar disorder

    Bipolar disorder is a severe brain disorder that causes abnormal strong shifts in mood, activity levels and energy, and causes severe stress to patients and their caregivers. The life expectancy of patients with bipolar disorder is reduced by about 10 years, likely due to medical comorbidity, high suicide rates and adverse lifestyles. The burden of…

  • India aspiring malaria-free status: the long and short of it

    India aspiring malaria-free status: the long and short of it

    Malaria stratification by Annual Parasite Incidence (API) in Indian States for data based on 2014, e.g., API 10 means 10 confirmed cases per thousand population (Source: National Vector Borne Diseases Control Programme, India). India is historically a malaria endemic country. It holds the distinction of being the site of the discovery by Noble Prize winner…

  • BMC Medicine at the 6th International Conference on Nutrition & Growth (N&G)

    BMC Medicine at the 6th International Conference on Nutrition & Growth (N&G)

    © Diana Samuel Feeding practices A number of talks discussed the benefits of breast milk, such as the protective effects of breastfeeding against obesity. However, they also called attention to the lower protein content of breast milk compared to formula milk. This protein deficit is particularly problematic for low birthweight preterm infants as breast milk…

  • Can we treat leishmaniasis with tiny magnets?

    Can we treat leishmaniasis with tiny magnets?

    Cutaneous leishmaniasis in a man from French Guiana (Image: Creative Commons). Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) remains one of the most neglected of the neglected tropical diseases or NTDs. CL is caused by infection with the protozoan parasite Leishmania which is spread by the bite of an infected sand fly and resides inside human macrophages. The disease…

  • Childhood trauma in patients with severe mental disorders linked to shorter telomeres

    Childhood trauma in patients with severe mental disorders linked to shorter telomeres

    Telomere length represents a ‘molecular clock’ that contributes to aging © wildpixel / Getty Images / iStock Telomeres are DNA-protein structures at the tails of chromosomes that shorten with increasing age in most human tissues. When a cell divides, the end of the chromosomes is not replicated. The telomeres will thus become a little bit…

  • What does the data tell us about trends in workplace homicides?

    What does the data tell us about trends in workplace homicides?

    © AGphotographer / Fotolia On February 15th, 2019, a worker, about to be fired from his job in Aurora, IL, brought a firearm into his meeting with human resources and killed five employees. At a press conference later that day, Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman describing the crime, stated, “I hate that we have to…

  • Can maternal exposure to carbon black nanoparticles affect male fertility?

    Can maternal exposure to carbon black nanoparticles affect male fertility?

    Car Exhaust (via flickr/Simone Ramella) What made you want to research this issue? Our group has conducted research on fetal programming by maternal occupational exposures for more than two decades, in order to study whether these may pose a risk for women working during pregnancy. The fetal programming hypothesis proposes that environmental factors may affect…