The XMRV/chronic fatigue syndrome controversy is still fresh in our minds. You might remember that I decried the effect the issue might have on patients. Another side to the tale is told by freelance journalist Nigel Hawkes, in a Feature article in last week’s BMJ, Dangers of research into chronic fatigue syndrome$. Hawkes highlights the…
We’re a smidgen the other side of the summer solstice; the days are long and bright and the air is thick with the scent of strawberries, chilled rose wine and barbeques… reason to be cheerful one would think?
Here at F1000 we’re big fans of John Ioannidis’s work. He continues to be a zealous (in the best sense) promoter of the basic tenets of the scientific method and the design, execution and reporting of clinical studies. His 2005 paper in PLoS Medicine is still the most viewed article on F1000 (and most viewed…
I’ve been following the developing story of NDM-1, an enzyme that confers antibiotic resistance to gram-negative bacteria, since before the first article on its appearance was published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases in August last year (see F1000 evaluations). At the time, many of the cases of infection in India – but not all –…
Did you catch the vaccine issue of The Scientist? It features F1000 Members Robin Weiss and Gene Shearer (with Adriano Boasso), writing about the history and future of vaccination and an unusual but potentially effective alternative vaccination strategy.
“Research is one of the most exciting ways to spend your time” — Jo Handelsman How do you study the genomes of organisms that can’t be grown in the lab? Jo Handelsman at Yale is interested in the impact of small molecules produced by microbes, or their hosts, on the nature and robustness of microbial…
A piece of basic research made it into even mainstream news sites yesterday: the finding that the peptide thymosin ß4 can prime adult cardiac epithelium to produce new muscle cells after a heart attack. Getting the heart to regenerate itself after injury is a goal of the British Heart Foundation’s campaign to ‘Mend Broken Hearts’,…
Twitter, what is it good for? Yesterday evening, a good fifty or so scientists, clinicians, students, journal editors and other interested parties took part in a twitter journal club–as far as I know, the first of its kind. The Twitter Journal Club, or #TwitJC, is the brainchild of Fi Douglas and Natalie Silvey; a Cambridge…
Imagine there was a disease, with often devastating consequences, the causative agent of which remains elusive. Then, a paper is published identifying such a potential virus, causing great rejoicing especially among patient advocacy groups, who have struggled to convince medics that the disease is a real one–that is, not only psychosomatic. They have hope now…
On Monday we reported on a trial showing that early retroviral treatment can protect partners of HIV-infected individuals. The findings are so good that the data were released early by the interim review board. This must put a smile on the face of Anthony Fauci, who has made great contributions to understanding how HIV destroys…
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