BioMed Central Blog
Working together to benefit patients: meeting the challenge
Can we achieve true collaboration between the National Health Service (NHS), academia, industry and consumers? UK government directives have prescribed this activity but in a commentary published this week in Trials, authors Adams and de Lima argue that these groups are yet to fully embrace the challenges of truly working together.
Commentary
When worlds collide
Clive E Adams, Mauricio S de Lima
Trials 2009, 10:108 (27 November 2009)
[Abstract] [Provisional PDF]
Adams and de Lima suggest that, while clinicians may see research as an academic exercise with limited relevance to clinical practice, industry players are likely to expect a level of inefficiency from the NHS. Furthermore, academics may be discouraged from accepting industry funding due to concerns over conflict of interest. As a result the benefits to patients from relevant research, as well as their potential involvement, may be limited.
Although changes must be made to ensure that the challenges of collaborative working can be met, the authors believe that this cultural shift represents a unique opportunity for industry, academia and the NHS to work together to allow patients the benefit of world-leading research with relevant clinical outcomes.
Victoria Thompson
Assistant Journal Development Editor
Posted by Iain Hrynaszkiewicz at 14:43 Comments (0)
New Co-Editor-in-Chief for Journal of the International AIDS Society
We are delighted to welcome Dr Papa Salif Sow, Professor of Infectious Diseases from the University of Dakar in Senegal, as the new Co-Editor-in-Chief for Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS). Dr Sow has served as Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases since 2002 and is also the President of the African Network of AIDS Physicians in Africa and Coordinator of the Regional Centre for Research and Training at Fann Hospital, Dakar, Senegal. Dr Sow’s extensive experience in raising awareness and medical help for HIV/AIDS sufferers in Africa will greatly help to raise the profile of the journal and ensure that JIAS continues to publish high-quality articles on important aspects of AIDS research from all areas of the world. You can keep up to date with the latest articles by signing up for email article alerts.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Elly Katabira who is stepping down as Co-Editor-in-Chief of JIAS. His contribution to the journal over the last few years is highly valued and we are pleased to have his ongoing support as a member of the Editorial Board.
Posted by Genevieve Horne at 16:57 Comments (1)
Getting into a rhythm – What are the most effective atrial fibrillation treatment methods?
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of cardiac arrhythmia affecting about 1% of the general population. Treatments such as rate controlling therapy and anticoagulants are commonly used to stabilise heart rhythm and prevent complications that may arise from AF. But, how effective are the current range of treatments for AF and does the time of intervention impact on the eventual outcome of this prevalent condition?
In BMC Medicine this week, Paulus Kirchhof dicusses the range of treatments available to AF sufferers and the reasons why these 
treatments do not improve outcomes.
Kirchhof suggests that initiating treatment at an earlier stage may be beneficial for the millions of people afflicted by AF and argues that early diagnosis via the use of newer screening technologies, together with the development and delivery of safer rhythm control interventions are needed to improve outcomes in people with AF.
You, or someone you know, is likely to experience AF, so why not check out the full commentary here.
Mick Aulakh
Assistant Editor, BMC Medicine
Posted by Robin Cassady-Cain at 11:24 Comments (0)
New journal supplements provide useful resource for tackling disease in the developing world
We have published several supplements aimed at improving health in developing countries over the past month.
Last week, a collection of articles published in BMC Public Health concluded that money available to treat HIV/AIDS is sufficient to end the epidemic globally, but only if we act immediately to control the spread of the disease. This approach defies conventional thinking, which recommends gradual spending over 15-20 years. Canadian researchers led by Robert Smith? (the question mark is deliberate and not a typographical error) found that an aggressive program over five years is the only way to end the epidemic given our current resources. The study, part of a supplement on 'The OptAIDS project: towards global halting of HIV/AIDS' was based on a leading-edge mathematical model developed by mathematicians and biologists, who recently earned acclaim for a study on how best to handle a planetary invasion by zombies.
In a new supplement published in Malaria Journal, the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), the release of sexually sterile male insects to wipe out a pest population, is one suggested solution to the problem of malaria in Africa. The supplement, entitled 'Development of the sterile insect technique for African malaria vectors' reviews the history of the technique, and features details about its use in the elimination of malaria.
Finally, in conjunction with the Aids Vaccine 2009 conference in Paris last month, BioMed Central's open access journal Retrovirology published the meeting's scientific abstracts. This meeting was particularly relevant in view of the recent interest in the results of the RV1144 phase III Thai vaccine trial.
Posted by Charlotte Webber at 10:40 Comments (0)
Designer probiotics: the future or too much to stomach?
Although the benefits of probiotics have been postulated for more than 100 years, there has been an increasing interest in the effects of probiotics on ill health and general well being over recent years.
Studies have shown positive outcomes of probiotics in the treatment and prevention of gastrointestinal infections and disease. But are generic probiotics enough? In the review “Probiotics and gastrointestinal disease: successes, problems and future prospects” published in Gut Pathogens, Eamonn Culligan et al. review the treatment of various GI disorders with specific probiotic strains. They also discuss whether the future lies with designer probiotics, which are engineered to specifically target a particular toxin or pathogen, but raise concerns of a negative public reaction to the development of this possible course of treatment.
Will designer probiotics be the future treatment of GI disorders? Or will public resistance for genetically modified organisms hinder its progress?
Posted by Lisa Phelps at 17:33 Comments (0)
Biological adventures into the world of cloud computing
Cloud computing is becoming an increasingly popular phenomenon in the world of computing. Analysing data in ‘the cloud’ involves using a self-service internet infrastructure, where you pay-as-you-go and use only what you need, all managed by the third party provider, typically Amazon or Google.
This technology has so far not been utilised for biological computing applications. The potential uses of cloud computing to analyse the mass of data pouring out of next-generation sequencing projects has, however, been a topic of hot debate in recent months amongst biologists and computational biologist alike.
In this month’s issue of Genome Biology, Ben Langmead and colleagues, from the University of Maryland and the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, present the Crossbow algorithm for the alignment of whole-genome sequence data and the mapping of genetic variation information, such Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs). Crossbow combines the alignment speed of the Bowtie algorithm, together with the SNP calling accuracy of the SOAPsnp algorithm, and allows them to be run on any publicly-available cloud computing cluster.
In the article presenting Crossbow Langmead and colleagues demonstrate how data from a 38-fold coverage of the human genome can be aligned, and the SNPs mapped, in less than 3 hours and for only US$ 85 using the Amazon cloud.
The authors believe this first demonstration of software for biological applications being able to utilise the technology of cloud computing will revolutionise the way we analyse our biological data.
Crossbow is open source and freely available to download here, as well as being provided online with the Genome Biology article.
Liz Gaskell, Senior Assistant Editor, Genome Biology.
Posted by Elisabeth Gaskell at 16:17 Comments (0)
Migraine—Are more effective treatments in sight?
Migraine is a largely inherited neurological disorder leading to a combination of symptoms including headache, visual and aural effects. As any long-time migraine sufferer will tell you, migraine pain is debilitating, and the current treatments are not always very effective. How well do we really understand the mechanism of migraine, and what treatments are available? Are there better treatments coming in the near future? How can we maximise the therapeutic effect of existing treatment?
These are just a few of the questions that Peter Goadsby and Till Springer address in their minireview “Migraine pathogenesis and state of pharmacological treatment options” in BMC Medicine this month. If you suffer from migraine, or see patients with migraine in your day to day practice, how do you feel about progress in this area?
If you’re interested in research, reviews or opinion articles covering topics of medical interest, article alerts are a great way to keep informed of developments in medical research!
Posted by Robin Cassady-Cain at 17:27 Comments (0)
Support solidifies for the U.S. Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPPA)
41 Nobel Laureates and scientists collaborated to show their support for FRPPA, by lobbying Congress thorough an open letter. The legislation seeks to enhance access to federally funded published research articles, ensuring they are made available in an online repository no later than 6 months after publication.
The bill will broaden the reach of scientific data for the benefit of researchers, companies and consumers alike. It is also hoped that the legislation will fuel innovation and entrepreneurship through increased dissemination of ideas, as well as raising the international profile of U.S. originated research.
The bill will bring the U.S. in line with many global research councils' public access policies as well as complementing the NIH public access policy. Furthermore the legislation would increase the accessibility of research for all higher education institutions regardless of size, propagating research to students who might not habitually have access.
Read the full letter to Congress here for a more detailed view.
Posted by Charlotte Webber at 15:33 Comments (0)
Open access and the developing world - read the latest
As part of Open Access Week last month, Walter H. Curioso, M.D., M.P.H, Research Professor at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, talks about his views of open access and how it can help in developing countries
In other open access news, Denise Nicholson recently published her Tips for Developing Countries when reviewing Copyright Laws as part of the African Copyright & Access to Knowledge Project. Her recommendations include:
* ... Do not include protection for non-original databases. (It had little or no positive impact for rightsholders in the EU and created problems for users)". Original databases are protected by copyright like any original work. ...
* Promote Open Access, Open Source Software & Open Licensing (e.g. Creative Commons, etc.)
* Create and populate Open Access Institutional Repositories/Research Archives to showcase African research.
At a meeting on open access in agriculture, held at the International Centre for Crop Research for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad early September, Bruce Alberts, Editor-in-Chief or Science, called for open access to agricultural research in India to help drive development and reduce poverty. According to Alberts 'Given that agriculture is a "critical component" of India's science sector and that the country has a tremendous advantage in terms of diversity in agricultural science and practice, providing open access to agricultural research results could improve in national and state policymaking.'
In a comprehensive article recently published in the Times Higher Education Supplement, reporter Zoe Corbyn explores the pros and cons of open access, particularly in the developing world. In a blog piece entitled 'Revisiting OA', Barbara Kirsop of the Electronic Publishing Trust emphasises the need for instutional repositories in the developing world, concluding:
"Without a strong research base, the poorer countries will forever depend on donations and will be unable to contribute their essential and unique knowledge to the world's information pool."
Posted by Charlotte Webber at 14:44 Comments (0)
Journal of Hematology & Oncology and SJTREM accepted for indexing in MEDLINE
Journal of Hematology & Oncology and Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine (SJTREM) have both been recently accepted for inclusion in MEDLINE.
For Journal of Hematology & Oncology this news comes hot on the heels of the news that the journal has been accepted by Thomson Reuters and will receive its first impact factor next June. The journal was only launched in May 2008 and since published a wide range of articles and has quickly built a strong reputation in its field.
SJTREM transferred to BioMed Central in July 2008 in its 16th year of publication and is the official publication of the Scandinavian Networking Group on Trauma and Emergency Management and is also affiliated with 9 more societies involved in trauma, resuscitation, and emergency medicine in Scandinavia.
Posted by Charlotte Hubbard at 14:31 Comments (0)
All BioMed Central's journals strive to ensure the integrity of the scientific record and, as members of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), have procedures in place to help prevent covert duplicate (redundant) publication. Non-transparent duplication within the citable literature is academically unethical and, even more importantly, can have severe consequences for the evidence-based assessment of medical interventions.
But growth in web technologies and increased transparency in the literature - and data - may be contributing to a shift in our perceptions of what constitutes a prior publication. Innovative online journals with virtually unlimited space provide researchers with opportunities to produce novel (original) contributions to the literature that are clearly and transparently linked to previously published articles. These include significantly extended/re-analysed reports of previously published summary findings in journals such as Trials and legitimate or incremental updates to previous studies in BMC Research Notes. Dyer et al, for example, published a clinical and cost-effectiveness analysis of two treatment options for refractory angina in Trials, where details of the randomised trial results had been previously reported.
These and other developments such as the growth of pre-print servers, availability of articles in multiple languages, mandates for sharing of scientific results, open science - often involving substantial discussion of data placed in the public domain before formal publication - and queries from the research community, have prompted BioMed Central to produce guidance for its journal editors on these issues.
'Guidance on duplicate publication for BioMed Central journal editors' can be found online and includes a quick-reference table for ease of use.
Editorial control rests with the editors of journals published by BioMed Central, and this new guidance should enable our editors to assert their judgment on a case-by-case basis, whilst also providing a useful publication ethics resource for their, and the broader scientific community's reference. It's clear there is a need for flexibility as new technologies and methods of scientific communication emerge. Therefore comments on the guidance - a 'living document' - are actively encouraged.
Posted by Iain Hrynaszkiewicz at 11:03 Comments (0)
The impact of networks on UK clinical trials
In the United Kingdom, we have an expectation of high quality, effective health services which are freely available at the point of demand in the form of the National Health Service (NHS). But have recent efforts to ensure a consistent standard of service throughout the UK had knock-on effects on the ability of clinicians to carry out essential clinical research?
Authors Ng and Weilding argue in a new commentary published in Trials that whilst managed clinical networks (MCNs) and clinical research networks (CRNs) exist to ensure both the quality and equitable distribution of health services, that in practice they actually have made the setting up and conducting of clinical trials in the UK considerably more complex.
Ng and Weilding suggest that the stringent UK Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations - put in place in 2004 following the European Clinical Trials Directive - coupled with greater administrative requirements resulting from MCNs and CRNs themselves, may actually discourage clinicians from undertaking clinical studies, and could result in the failure of some trials.
Do Ng and Weilding's findings of unnecessary barriers and bureaucracy represent the best possible landscape for the testing and future approval of interventions?
Commentary
The impact of networks on clinical trials in the United Kingdom
Sze May Ng, Alan Michael Weindling
Victoria Thompson
Assistant Journal Development Editor
Posted by Iain Hrynaszkiewicz at 10:29 Comments (0)
The Coral genetic linkage map – an essential resource for Coral biology
Coral reefs are diverse marine ecosystems. Overfishing, pollution and the effects of climate change including, ocean acidification (as a result of rising carbon dioxide levels) are destroying these precious environments. Reefs are being lost at an alarming rate and understanding whether/how coral can adapt to these changes could provide clues for aiding their preservation.
In this month’s issue of Genome Biology, Mikhail Matz and colleagues from the University of Texas present a high-resolution genetic linkage map of the reef-building coral Acropora millepora, the first for any coral or any non-bilaterian animal, and the most basal metazoan genetic linkage map to date. This linkage map will enable the identification of the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with adaptation-relevant physiological traits, as well as facilitating population genomics studies and coral genome assembly.
As well as facilitating future studies into coral genomics, biology and ecology, the linkage map itself reveals insights into coral biology. The consensus genetic linkage map contains more than 400 markers distributed over 14 linkage groups. Matz and colleagues also produced separate male and female linkage maps, and found that the female map was 1.3x longer than that of the male, suggesting that this coral may possess sex-specific differences in recombination. The coral map also revealed syntenic regions with other metazoan genomes, allowing the authors to build a picture of the architecture of the ancestral metazoan genome.
This new genetic linkage map provides an important resource for future studies on coral genome structure and enhances our understanding of metazoan genome evolution
You can read the article by Matz and colleagues in this month’s issue of Genome Biology.
Clare Hinkley, Senior Editor, Genome Biology
Posted by Elisabeth Gaskell at 18:01 Comments (0)
Hot on the heels of our recent announcement we have just heard that three more journals have been accepted by Thomson Reuters and are now on course to receive their first Impact Factors. The journals are:
- Biotechnology for Biofuels - Impact Factor due June 2010
- Cell Communication and Signaling - Impact Factor due June 2012
- Journal of Hematology & Oncology - Impact Factor due June 2010
Each of these journals has developed a strong reputation its field and this news is a good indicator of their success to date. We would like to congratulate the Editors-in-Chief of all of these titles.
A total of 94 BioMed Central journals are now tracked by Thomson Reuters; 59 of these currently have impact factors and another 17 are set to receive their first impact factors in June 2010. A full list of all these journals as well as further details on indexing of all BioMed Central titles is available from our website.
Posted by Charlotte Hubbard at 17:48 Comments (0)
National advocacy portals help spread the word about Open Access
The recently announced Open Access for Hong Kong portal, created by the Hong Kong Open Access Committee, is the latest in a series of such national OA advocacy portals which bring together information about the benefits of Open Access scholarly communication, focusing on the needs of academic researchers in a particular country.
These national Open Access portals now include:
- http://open-access.net (Germany)
- http://openaccess.hk (Hong Kong)
- http://openaccessjapan.com (Japan)
- http://openaccess.nl (Netherlands)
- http://openaccess.no (Norway)
- http://openaccess.se (Sweden)
Know of any more? Please let us know...
Posted by Matthew Cockerill at 19:45 Comments (0)