The largest study of people with mild hypertension shows that medical treatment may not be worthwhile in those who are at low risk of heart attack and stroke. An observational study of patients with mild hypertension has found no evidence to support recent US guideline recommendations that encourage doctors to offer treatment to patients with […]
Archives for October 2018
Understanding the (not so) Strangeways of primary care cancer research in Cambridge
Cambridge visit reflections by Dr Sam Merriel, CanTest Clinical Research Fellow, University of Exeter The CanTest travelling fellowships give opportunities for primary care cancer researchers to embed themselves in a primary care research unit at another institution to learn and build networks and collaborations. Its gives a unique insight into how other research groups pursue […]
Do image-based warning labels reduce selection of sugary drinks by parents for their children?
The use of warning labels on sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) is considered by UK and US governments as a possible intervention to help tackle excess sugar consumption. Evidence for the impact of warning labels comes from their use on tobacco products, which suggests that both text- and image-based warnings can affect a range of effectiveness […]
Lessons from a case of academic misconduct
How should academic institutions—universities, funders, and journal editors— address academic misconduct of the type now known to have been committed by Brian Wansink, John Dyson professor of marketing at Cornell University? Wansink has had a total of 13 articles retracted as of 10 October 2018, following investigation by Cornell which found “misreporting of research data, […]
Does communicating evidence of policy effectiveness influence public support for the policy?
Increasing the prices of products that harm health is an effective intervention for changing behaviour to improve health, but public support for such interventions is generally low. When a proposed intervention is unpopular, yet has the potential to have an impact, policy makers may seek to increase public support. Research associate Dr James Reynolds, working […]
‘Please Make Comfortable’: prescribing and communicating opioids in the wake of Gosport
The latest crisis concerning UK end-of-life care arose in June 2018, with the publication of the Jones inquiry into hundreds of premature deaths at Gosport War Memorial Hospital in the 1990s. The inquiry concluded that misuse of diamorphine and syringe drivers, often following the clinical instruction ‘please make comfortable’, led to the excess deaths: a […]