[Obituary] John Sulston
Nobel Prize winner for work on Caenorhabditis elegans and a leader in human genome research. Born in Fulmer, UK, on March 27, 1942, he died on March 6, 2018, from complications of stomach cancer, aged 75 years. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - April 6, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Ivan Oransky, Adam Marcus Tags: Obituary Source Type: research
[Perspectives] WHOse health agenda? 70 years of struggle over WHO's mandate
Like any milestone, WHO's 70th anniversary offers an opportunity to reflect on its past trajectory and chart the challenges ahead. WHO's promising mandate for health cooperation, forged amid a short-lived post-war optimism, mapped out a world of possibilities. Yet its realisation has been limited across distinct eras by complex geopolitical, economic, and institutional pressures, ranging from the Cold War rivalry between US and Soviet blocs to contemporary assaults on WHO's independence by powerful private actors. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - April 6, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Anne-Emanuelle Birn Tags: Perspectives Source Type: research
[Perspectives] Getting back in touch
Clinicians and patients are getting out of touch with one another. When I was a medical student, I spent hours with patients, examining them on the ward, taking blood, and assisting at operations. At first I felt clumsy, inept, and embarrassed at the prospect of physical contact, for touch is surrounded by social conventions and taboos that are difficult to break through. But gradually, through practice, I became more confident. Touching people stopped feeling strange. Ostensibly, the purpose of these examinations was to gather diagnostic information that I would relay to senior clinicians. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - April 6, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Roger Kneebone Tags: Perspectives Source Type: research
[Perspectives] A neurologist's detective stories
Western medicine is organised into silos. Faced with a patient requiring specialist advice, a general practitioner or emergency doctor has to make a call about where to direct them. Sometimes, the right clinical destination is obvious: a compound thigh fracture will always need an orthopaedic surgeon. But many patients fall foul of this rigid system. An individual complaining of dizziness might get bounced from ENT, to cardiology, to neurology, to psychiatry before achieving a diagnosis. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - April 6, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Gabriel Weston Tags: Perspectives Source Type: research
[World Report] Progress in influenza surveillance in Africa
Influenza could be an overlooked cause of death in Africa. Although rapid progress has been made, there is still limited surveillance capacity to assess the risk of epidemic. Andrew Green reports. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - April 6, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Andrew Green Tags: World Report Source Type: research
[World Report] Violence rife in Mexico, affecting medical community
The medical community is caught in the middle of omnipresent violence in Mexico, where homicide rates reached record levels in 2017. David Agren reports from Villahermosa. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - April 6, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: David Agren Tags: World Report Source Type: research
[Comment] Offline: UHC —one promise and two misunderstandings
On April 7, 2018, World Health Day, WHO launches a new campaign —Universal Health Coverage: Everyone, Everywhere. This is a noble cause. As the agency notes: half the world's population is unable to access essential health services; 100 million people are pushed into extreme poverty each year because of out-of-pocket expenditures on health; and catastrophic sp ending on illness and disease is a truly global problem. Therefore, “our next historic achievement is right in front of us: health for all humankind…Together, we can make universal health coverage happen in our lifetime.” The campaign will run throughout 2018. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - April 6, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Richard Horton Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Comment] Measuring Humanity: hip-hop as evidence for health inequalities
Dear Human (video), a hip-hop video was developed as part of the project Measuring Humanity.1 Working with marginalised groups, the participant-led research programme uses bottom-up creative community engagement to challenge policy makers and academics to reassess what counts as evidence when developing policies, practices, and recommendations. The video features rapping written using co-produced data from marginalised community members, health and voluntary sector practitioners, and researchers. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - April 6, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Marisa de Andrade Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Comment] Clinical Pictures in The Lancet: a good eye for detail
A key part of medical training is developing the ability to recognise physical signs of illness in a patient and associate them with the causative pathology. The acquisition of this skill, through training and experience, marks the transition of student to clinician. In recent years, the required repertoire has changed, expanding to include recognition of pathological and radiological signs. But the passing of this diagnostic expertise from one generation to the next remains remarkably unchanged across the globe. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - April 6, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Jonathan Pimm, Jessamy Bagenal, Naomi Lee Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Editorial] Health-care system transition in China
On March 27, the National Health Commission replaced China's National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) as the ministry responsible for health. The new commission is now headed by Ma Xiaowei, who was the former deputy head of the dismantled NHFPC. Chinese media have described Xiaowei as the person who understands China's health and hospital situation best, owing to his strong background in medicine. Since his graduation from the medical treatment department of China Medical University in 1982, Xiaowei has served many key roles in various health sectors such as the president of the First Affiliated Hospital of C...
Source: LANCET - April 6, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: The Lancet Tags: Editorial Source Type: research
[Editorial] Privatising versus prioritising veterans' health
On March 28, President Donald Trump relayed on Twitter that Ronny L Jackson, personal physician to the president and a rear admiral in the US Navy, but with no prior experience in administration, would replace Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary David Shulkin. The announcement was met with shock and dismay as Shulkin, who had been at the VA since 2015 and who was the sole holdover from the Obama years, was well regarded by Republicans and Democrats alike. Trump himself had even referred to Shulkin as “our David”, an unusual term of endearment for anyone from the previous administration. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - April 6, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: The Lancet Tags: Editorial Source Type: research
[Editorial] The collapse of the Venezuelan health system
When Hugo Chavez became Venezuela's new president in 1998, he promised to provide free health care to all and enshrined this right within Venezuela's new constitution, rewritten in 1999. Progress was rapid and initial results were promising: according to the World Bank, life expectancy at birth rose from 71 ·8 to 74·1 years for both genders and infant mortality fell from 26·7 to 14·6 deaths per 1000 live births between 1998 and 2013, the period of Chavez's rule. Success was recognised on the international stage and Venezuela achieved most of the UN's Millennium Development Goals set for 2010. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - April 6, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: The Lancet Tags: Editorial Source Type: research
[Seminar] Malaria
Following unsuccessful eradication attempts there was a resurgence of malaria towards the end of the 20th century. Renewed control efforts using a range of improved tools, such as long-lasting insecticide-treated bednets and artemisinin-based combination therapies, have more than halved the global burden of disease, but it remains high with 445 000 deaths and more than 200 million cases in 2016. Pitfalls in individual patient management are delayed diagnosis and overzealous fluid resuscitation in severe malaria. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - April 6, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Elizabeth A Ashley, Aung Pyae Phyo, Charles J Woodrow Tags: Seminar Source Type: research
[Department of Error] Department of Error
The Lancet. Dementia in the UK: preparing the NHS for new treatments. Lancet 2018; 391: 1237 — In the second sentence of this Editorial, the cost of dementia to the National Health Service in the UK should have been £26 billion. This correction has been made to the online version as of April 5, 2018. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - April 5, 2018 Category: General Medicine Tags: Department of Error Source Type: research
[Correspondence] Type 2 diabetes – Authors' reply
We thank A Rosemary Tate for her insightful comments on our Seminar.1 Tate indicates that there is no evidence to support the rise in global incidence of type 2 diabetes mentioned in the summary by citing a number of references published between 2014 and 2017 in the USA and UK. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 30, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Sudesna Chatterjee, Kamlesh Khunti, Melanie J Davies Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research
