[Comment] Offline: The health of our societies is in peril
A single “s” makes all the difference. In 1969, it was Civilisation: the view of one man, Kenneth Clark, who took his television audience through a personal grand tour of the history of art—the only history of consequence then being western art. In 2018, the pluralism of human creativity was acknowledg ed in the BBC's new venture, Civilisations. In place of the perspective of one (white) man, the audience today can enjoy the less linear (and certainly more global) narratives offered by Simon Schama, Mary Beard, and David Olusoga. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 9, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Richard Horton Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Comment] Mitral meets mortality
Cardiologists and collaborating medical device and pharmaceutical companies have had much success in identifying new and profitable fields of engagement. The mitral valve space is one of those areas, following the previous successful occupation by cardiologists and the medical device industry of specialties such as coronary heart disease, arrhythmias, and the aortic valve. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 9, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Georg Nickenig, Robert Schueler Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Editorial] Suicide in prisons: NICE fights fires
In February, 2018, NICE released draft guidelines addressing suicide in custodial and detention settings, looking at methods of reducing death by suicide, and offering help to those affected by suicide. In 2016, the likelihood of self-inflicted death of offenders in custody was 8 ·6 times greater than the likelihood of suicide in the general population. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 9, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: The Lancet Tags: Editorial Source Type: research
[Editorial] The Global Fund under Peter Sands
Within the space of a few short weeks, the reputation of Peter Sands, incoming Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, has gone from respected to reckless according to some critics. In an Offline column last November, The Lancet's Editor offered an unreserved welcome to Sands, praising his “credibility” and “refreshing new vision”. Sands had assiduously built a compelling argument for governments to take the economic costs of infectious diseases more seriously. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 9, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: The Lancet Tags: Editorial Source Type: research
[Editorial] Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a unique medical emergency
In 1891, Friedrich Maass performed the first chest compressions on a human being. 80 years later, the first mass citizen training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was held in Seattle; over 100 000 members of the public were taught CPR. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) describes the loss of mechanical cardiac function and the absence of systemic circulation. Time is crucial, with a lack of perfusion leading to continual cell death; with each second that passes the possibility of a good outcome decreases. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 9, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: The Lancet Tags: Editorial Source Type: research
[Correspondence] Female physicians nominated for the Nobel Prize 1901 –50
Recent contributions in The Lancet have discussed the under-representation of women at senior levels in medicine and the life sciences.1 This trend mirrors the gender gap in the number of Nobel Prize nominees and laureates in physiology or medicine. Drawing on sources from the archive of the Nobel committee in Sweden, we have found that the lion's share of both nominators and nominees were men during the first half of the 20th century (archival material for the last 50 years is not yet available). (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 7, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Nils Hansson, Heiner Fangerau Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research
[Comment] Report card shows gender is missing in global health
Gender equality benefits everyone —from contributing more representative and effective organisations, to ensuring better health outcomes. Yet, even in 2018, it remains remarkably hard to achieve. The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 20171 estimates that it will now take 217 years to close the global workplace gender gap; indeed, the gap widened last year for the first time since the report was launched in 2006. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 7, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Helen Clark Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Seminar] Migraine
Migraine is a chronic paroxysmal neurological disorder characterised by multiphase attacks of head pain and a myriad of neurological symptoms. The underlying genetic and biological underpinnings and neural networks involved are coming sharply into focus. This progress in the fundamental understanding of migraine has led to novel, mechanism-based and disease-specific therapeutics. In this Seminar, the clinical features and neurobiology of migraine are reviewed, evidence to support available treatment options is provided, and emerging drug, device, and biological therapies are discussed. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 6, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: David W Dodick Tags: Seminar Source Type: research
[Articles] NGM282 for treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis: a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial
NGM282 produced rapid and significant reductions in liver fat content with an acceptable safety profile in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Further study of NGM282 is warranted in this patient population. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 5, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Stephen A Harrison, Mary E Rinella, Manal F Abdelmalek, James F Trotter, Angelo H Paredes, Hays L Arnold, Marcelo Kugelmas, Mustafa R Bashir, Mark J Jaros, Lei Ling, Stephen J Rossi, Alex M DePaoli, Rohit Loomba Tags: Articles Source Type: research
[Comment] FGF-19 agonism for NASH: a short study of a long disease
Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) has emerged as the most common cause of liver disease worldwide and is on a trajectory to become the most common indication for liver transplantation.1,2 Interest in developing effective therapies for NASH has been proportional. Since its original scientific description, NASH has been a histologically defined disease, characterised by hepatic steatosis and inflammation with variable presence and severity of Mallory's hyaline, balloon degeneration, and, most important clinically, fibrosis. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 5, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Michael Charlton Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Correspondence] Foley catheterisation versus oral misoprostol to induce labour – Author's reply
I thank Ben Mol for his thoughtful comments about our research.1 He is concerned that 24 h is too short a cutoff time for vaginal birth, and that we should have continued the induction process with the Foley catheter before resorting to caesarean section. We would usually agree with him, but our study was done in a very different setting to his Dutch study.2 In Europe, outcomes of induced labour are so good that the procedure is often performed for weak indications to prevent adverse outcomes; hence, the proportion of Dutch pregnancies that are induced is around 15%. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 2, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Andrew D Weeks Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research
[Correspondence] Foley catheterisation versus oral misoprostol to induce labour
The INFORM study (Aug 12, 2017, p 669)1 investigated Foley catheterisation versus oral misoprostol in women with hypertension who were scheduled for induction of labour. The authors report a statistically significant lower rate of vaginal delivery within 24 h among women induced via Foley catheterisation, and conclude that oral misoprostol is more effective than Foley catheterisation. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 2, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Ben W Mol Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research
[Correspondence] Ensuring value in health-related research
Funders of health-related research agree that although considerable research of high value exists, loss of any research because it asks the wrong questions, is poorly designed, is not published, or the reports are unusable is unacceptable. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 2, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Fay Chinnery, Kelly M Dunham, Barbara van der Linden, Matthew Westmore, Evelyn Whitlock Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research
[Correspondence] Issues with measuring hepatitis prevalence in resource-limited settings
We read with interest the Correspondence from Noemi Garc ía-Tardón and colleagues (Sept 23, 2017, p 1485) 1 describing the prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections among blood donors in Sierra Leone. Considering there are few data on viral hepatitis from the region, the authors should be congratulated for their efforts. However, we fear that some of their results and messages might be misleading. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 2, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Gilles Wandeler, Patrick A Coffie, Mark H Kuniholm, Ponsiano Ocama, Matthias Egger Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research
[Correspondence] Tackling hepatitis C —Pakistan's road to success
In November, 2017, the annual World Hepatitis Summit in S ão Paulo, Brazil, assessed WHO's global health sector strategy on viral hepatitis 2016–20, and called for prompt, innovative, and coherent interventions, along with evidence-based research.1 The viral hepatitis pandemic caused an estimated 1·4 million deaths in 2015, and yet has received inadequ ate attention from donors and policy makers until recently, as outlined in an Editorial in The Lancet (Nov 11, 2017, p 2121).2 New data indicate that action has been fragmented and insufficient, with only 82 countries, including Pakistan, adopting strategies to eliminate...
Source: LANCET - March 2, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Ariba Moin, Huda Fatima, Tooba F Qadir Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research
