Medicine and Science from The BMJ

In this week’s podcast, we look at the ups and downs of postural hypotension. Also, beansprouts have been fingered as the cause of the recent E coli outbreak in Germany, David Payne investigates this microbiological detective story.

If everyone were to stop smoking, what would be the major public health hazards, and what would happen to health inequalities? Laurence Gruer, director of public health science at NHS Health Scotland, tells podcast producer Duncan Jarvies what his cohort study, examining Scottish women who have never smoked, reveals. And BMJ web editor David Payne talks to editor-in-chief Fiona Godlee about what came to pass at the BMA Annual Representatives Meeting this week.

In this week’s podcast, Margaret McCartney examines Hydration for Health, Quentin Anstee explains how big a problem non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is, and Patrick Keown explains the association between provision of mental health beds and the involuntary admission of mental health patients.

In this week’s podcast, Duncan Jarvies speaks to Alexander Seifalian, professor of nanotechnology and regenerative medicine, about a groundbreaking procedure that enabled a multinational surgical team to implant an entirely synthetic organ—a trachea—into a patient. And Norman Williams, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, talks about the college’s plans for improving the quality of surgical research.

In this week’s podcast Jeremy Myerson, from the Royal College of Art, tells us how good design techniques can make cities more friendly places to grow old gracefully. Clive Ballard, from Kings College London, explains how important pain relief is for dementia patients. Elizabeth Draper, from the University of Leicester, talks us through her investigation into how socioeconomic class affects how women deal with severe congenital abnormalities during pregnancy.

In this week’s podcast we discuss publishing medical details with former health editor of The Sun, Jacqui Thornton. Rogaia Abuelgasim Abdelrahim, the UN Population Fund’s deputy representative in Somalia, explains how the drought and subsequent crop failure there has been exacerbated by existing political problems and led to widespread famine. And Natalie Grazin, Assistant Director of the Health Foundation, talks about making shared decision making a reality.

In this week’s podcast, Sue Rabbit Roff describes how she thinks a system of paid for kidney donations could work in practice. Al Story, clinical lead of the Find and Treat programme – a travelling team who scour the streets of London for tuberculosis – explains the programme’s mission.

A recent study compared cost efficiency of different healthcare systems around the world. We hear from Colin Pritchard, from Bournemouth University, about how the NHS came out near the top. Also this week, the International Committee of the Red Cross has a mandate under the Geneva convention to protect the victims of both international and internal armed conflict. Head of mission Geoff Loane explains why they’re finding that increasingly difficult to do.

Last week BMJ Group held an inaugural global health conference http://globalhealth.bmj.com/ in London, looking at policies for sustainable and effective healthcare. David Heymann, chair of the UK Health Protection Agency, and Martha Gyansa-Lutterodt, Director of Pharmaceuticals at the Ministry of Health, Ghana, discuss how vertical aid programmes can lead to systemic improvements in lower income countries. And, Kalipso Chalkidou, Director of NICE International, explains a bit more about its work. Also, smoking is known to increase TB mortality. A modelling study this week suggests that the number of excess deaths from TB, caused by tobacco consumption, could be as high as 40 million over the next 40 years. Stanton Glantz, Director of the Centre for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, joins us to set out the numbers.

In this week’s podcast, Shaun Walker reports on alcohol consumption in Russia. Ewan Hoyle explains why he wants the Lib Dems to discuss drug policy. And we found out how realistic comic book villains’ mental health problems are.