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New report compares Gen X attitudes about climate change in 2009 and 2011

As the nation suffers through a summer of record-shattering heat, a University of Michigan report finds that Generation X is lukewarm about climate change-uninformed about the causes and unconcerned about the potential dangers.

19 Jul 2012

Lack of physical activity causes 1 in 10 deaths

A lack of physical activity, or people’s failure to spend 150 minutes a week doing moderate physical activity (eg, brisk walking for 30 minutes, 5 days a week), causes around 6–10% of four major non-communicable diseases (coronary heart disease [CHD], type 2 diabetes, and breast and colon cancer) worldwide, and was responsible for around 5.3 million of the 57 million deaths globally in 2008.

18 Jul 2012

Giving up smoking associated with weight gain

Giving up smoking is associated with an average weight gain of 4-5 kg after 12 months, most of which occurs within the first three months of quitting, finds a study published on bmj.com today.

11 Jul 2012

Euthanasia and assisted suicide rates in the Netherlands comparable to rates before legalisation

2010 rates of euthanasia and assisted suicide in the Netherlands were comparable to levels before the practices were legalised in 2002, according to new research published Online First in The Lancet and conducted by a Dutch research team from Erasmus MC University Medical Centre, Rotterdam; VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam; Statistics Netherlands, The Hague; and Utrecht’s University Medical Centre.

11 Jul 2012

Elevated levels of atmospheric CO2 accelerate soil carbon loss in forests

Elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide accelerate carbon cycling and soil carbon loss in forests, new research led by an Indiana University biologist has found.

11 Jul 2012

Injury at work more likely for overqualified recent immigrants

Men who are recent immigrants and over qualified for their jobs are more than three times as likely to sustain an injury at work as their appropriately qualified peers who have been in the country for some time, suggests Canadian research published online in Injury Prevention.

10 Jul 2012

Sitting down for less than 3 hours a day could extend life expectancy

Restricting the amount of time spent seated every day to less than 3 hours might boost the life expectancy of US adults by an extra 2 years, indicates an analysis of published research in the online journal BMJ Open.

10 Jul 2012

Does alcohol kill brain cells?

Several origins have been suggested for the idea that alcohol kills brain cells. Some link it to the temperance movement, which called for prohibition of alcohol.

9 Jul 2012

Sports medicine education lacking in UK undergraduate medical degrees

In a Comment published alongside The Lancet Series on sport and exercise medicine, Rod Jaques of the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine UK, and Mike Loosemore of University College London, UK, highlight the lack of specialised training in sports medicine in undergraduate medical training.

6 Jul 2012

Exercise has clear benefits for physical and mental health according to current evidence

In the first Series paper, Sport and exercise as contributors to the health of nations, an international team of researchers set out to examine whether sport and exercise contribute to the health of nations. They argue that although country-wide data on participation in sports are too scarce to draw any firm conclusions in this respect, the existing evidence suggests that regular participation in sports and / or exercise has clear benefits for physical and mental health, and that health professionals need to pay more attention to their patients’ fitness.

6 Jul 2012

Performance-improvement index in sprint increases

In this month's Physics World, Steve Haake, director of the Centre for Sports Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK, reveals that the men's 100 m sprint will be one event not to miss this summer.

2 Jul 2012

Amending U.S. farm bill could save money, help food aid reach millions more

In this post in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog, one of a series "organized by the Huffington Post and the NGO alliance InterAction to call attention to the crisis in the Sahel," Kelly Hauser, agriculture policy manager at ONE, writes that an amendment to the U.S. farm bill "could save money and lives in Africa."

29 Jun 2012

Is curry good for you?

There have been several news stories over the years reporting that curry may be good for us. Most of them refer to a chemical in curry, known as curcumin.

18 Jun 2012

Call for medical bodies to stop opposing assisted dying supported by BMJ

The BMJ today supports a call for leading UK medical bodies to stop opposing assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults.

14 Jun 2012

Consequences of female genital mutilation could be reduced by reconstructive surgery

Reconstructive surgery after female genital mutilation (FGM) appears to reduce pain and restore sexual pleasure in women, according to the first large prospective trial to assess long-term outcomes of a new surgical technique published Online First in The Lancet. Over the past 10 years, between 130 and 140 million women worldwide have been subject to FGM.

12 Jun 2012

Premature cancer death risk may be increased by dental plaque

Persistent dental plaque may increase the risk of dying early from cancer, suggests an observational study published in the online journal BMJ Open.

12 Jun 2012

What are vitamins?

Most people have heard of vitamin C and its effects upon the body; but how much do you know about other vitamins? How many even are there? And what do they all do?

8 Jun 2012

Heart problems in high risk people could be prevented by dark chocolate

Daily consumption of dark chocolate can reduce cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, in people with metabolic syndrome (a cluster of factors that increases the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes), finds a study published on bmj.com today.

1 Jun 2012

Personalized medicine and the Human Genome Project

It’s nearly a decade since the completion of the Human Genome Project, (1) which aimed to sequence the complete human genome.

1 Jun 2012

Industrial action to be taken by doctors for the first time in almost 40 years

Doctors will take industrial action for the first time in almost 40 years over major changes to the NHS pension scheme, the BMA confirmed today. The first day of action will take place on 21 June 2012 and will see doctors providing all urgent and emergency care, but postponing non-urgent cases.

30 May 2012