Archive by Author

Inside Health 20/3/18 fish oils/adaptive trials

Fish oils: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/intelligenceandmemory/omega_three.shtml http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6991528.stm Fish oil makes children smarter, study claims https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/3083228/Fish-oil-makes-children-smarter-study-claims.html two studies in UK DOLAB 1 and 2 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0043909 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0192909 https://theconversation.com/half-of-biomedical-research-studies-dont-stand-up-to-scrutiny-and-what-we-need-to-do-about-that-45149 Click to access 56314e40aac61.pdf adaptive trials: review https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article-abstract/109/6/djx013/3074379?redirectedFrom=fulltext https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article-abstract/109/6/djx013/3074379?redirectedFrom=fulltext https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01042379 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4706669/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20595245/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25475878    

Continue Reading →

Inside Health 13/3/18 – antidepressants and evidence

This whole area is confusing, understudied, and messy. I attach some of the references I used for this area. Never was the term ‘better research is needed’ more fitting…. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4140701/   https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/370338 http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(05)72262-5/fulltext https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7498/9759b62841d088b4b0afc45564aa48e03af7.pdf?_ga=2.238076672.1267186742.1520784025-1252960857.1520784025 .https://nordic.cochrane.org/sites/nordic.cochrane.org/files/public/uploads/theses/Nielsen%20PhD.pdf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3627130/ http://www.psychiatrist.com/jcp/article/Pages/2005/v66n10/v66n1015.aspx https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3627130/

Continue Reading →

antidepressants and effectiveness – Inside Health 27/2/18

new Lancet paper  other studies https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4172306/#c18 that view has been challenged https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4592645/ the authors retrieved unpublished information for 274 (52%) of the trials included in the meta-analysis. still huge uncertainties lots of unpublished data – known publication bias http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa065779 eg a study 10 years ago NEJM – found trials done but not published 94% of […]

Continue Reading →

Notes from RCGP council 23/2/18

This is a note of what I said. Of course there are many other things I could have said – but there is little point in doing so if someone else has just made the point – it wastes time. Minutes from last time:  Babylon – ‘while undoubtedly a quick convenient way ‘ for some […]

Continue Reading →

Inside Health 20/1/18

cannabis https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4307971/ https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3530 Our work on cannabis has been delayed because it turned out that cannabis placebo is considered a Schedule 1 drug in the UK. This meant that placebo had to be added to our licence and that import and export licences were then required for obtaining it from overseas suppliers. As these licences […]

Continue Reading →

Inside Health- Radio 4 references 30/1/18

Iron: it’s all very interesting… there is a very nice series of GP studies just waiting to be done that cover side effects, rise in Hb, and patient preferences… eg 2005 study 90 older americans in hospital and with IDA l http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(05)00210-X/fulltext https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2582401/ http://www.who.int/elena/titles/guidance_summaries/iron_women/en/ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352302617301825#ceabs50 http://www.bloodjournal.org/content/126/17/1981.long –   aspirin dose and stroke https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/485050

Continue Reading →

Inside Health 23/1/18

Glasgow ‘effect’  http://www.gcph.co.uk/publications/635_history_politics_and_vulnerability_explaining_excess_mortality   Asbestos https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1522094/ Click to access exposure.pdf Click to access Asbestos_general_informtation.pdf http://pmj.bmj.com/content/80/940/72

Continue Reading →

Inside Health 16/1/18: modelling HPV and cervical smears; BRAC mutations and breast cancer

HPV http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijc.31094/full  modelling study – ? how long the vaccine will work well for, longest studies 10 years http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.4161/hv.29532, http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/8/e015867, https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/cid/cix797/4283361?redirected england currently https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cervical-screening-programme-overview HPB pilots: colposcopy rates go up at least at first Click to access Julia-Palmer-HPV-Colposcopy-BAC-ASM.pdf https://www.bsccp.org.uk/assets/file/uploads/resources/NHSCSP_20_Colposcopy_and_Programme_Management_(3rd_Edition)_(2).pdffor those women who were referred to colposcopy, the positive predictive value for high-grade disease (CIN2+) varied from 9.1% to […]

Continue Reading →

RCGP Council 18/11/17

bear in mind that I can only tweet what I said – there is no point in repeating someone else’s point in council – it wastes time.   things I said today: we should surely move to a central recording system of all declarations of interest – it’s not always obvious when a conflict arises […]

Continue Reading →