Tag: health
Frailty screening: Doing good and avoiding harm

Ageing populations bring both opportunities and challenges for the economy, services and society. Screening for frailty aims to match the healthcare offered with a person’s needs, circumstances and capacity to benefit. Professors Mary McNally, Lynette Reid and William Lahey from Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada, explore the legal and ethical implications of frailty screening to ensure concerns with both doing […]
Science and Oslerian friendship support therapeutic caring of the neglected in India and China

Professor Terence Ryan, dermatologist and Emeritus Fellow of Green Templeton College in Oxford, UK, is currently mentoring two studies that explore how friendship can impact on health and wellbeing. Both programmes centre on the principles of William Osler, who maintained that science (a care technology) and humanity (a care attitude) must work together holistically, and they demonstrate that friendliness can […]
When grow healthy rhymes with grow happy

Happiness is acknowledged as a new goal of global policies. Parents play an important role in a child’s happiness, but what skills are needed to build a happy childhood and a solid foundation for happiness in later life? A complex approach, integrating parenting, social relationships, play, nutrition, physical activity and sleep is required. And ultimately, a happy child has more […]
Pathogenic microorganisms targeted by complex cellular communications

When the human body is challenged by infection, the defences of the immune system are called into action. Dr Malini Sen of the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology is leading research into the role of a protein called Wnt5a in defending against invading pathogenic microorganisms. Wnt5a is found in macrophages, large white blood cells that form one of the first lines of defence […]
Using technology to improve needle procedures

Dr Gabor Fichtinger is Chair of Cancer Care Ontario Research and Professor at Queen’s University School of Computing in Kingston, Ontario. His interests are in computer-assisted surgery and interventions. Dr Jan Fritz is the Director of Interventional MR Imaging and an Assistant Professor of Radiology and Radiological Science at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland. The two have […]
Extinct giants, a new wolf and the key to understanding climate change

After its last excavation in the 1970s, a group of palaeontologists, genetics experts and cavers led by vertebrate palaeontologist and mammalian carnivore specialist Dr Julie Meachen of Des Moines University, have re-opened excavations at Natural Trap Cave (NTC) in North America. During this project, Dr Meachen hopes to uncover the secrets of the mass extinction of the last ice age […]
High pressure talk with Professor Rhian Touyz

At the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Science (ICAMS) at the University of Glasgow, world-renowned researchers are dedicated to discovering mechanisms of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in their quest to advance new treatments and to develop improved prevention, management and diagnostic strategies. Professor Rhian Touyz takes an innovative new approach to preventing CVD by conducting extensive research into other intricately linked […]
CPHA: The heart of Canadian public health

Health related issues, such as diabetes, heart disease or obesity, can often be hugely influenced by public health initiatives. In her role as Chair of the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA), Dr Suzanne Jackson champions a public health perspective on important public policy discussions that impact the health and well-being of Canadians. She spoke to us about CPHA’s influence since […]
Expanding capacity of non-communicable disease research and training in Thailand

Dr Kathleen Potempa is Professor at the School of Nursing in the University of Michigan, where she served as Dean from 2006 to 2016. A globally renowned leader in nursing, education and science, she has a long academic career focusing on cardiovascular fitness in physically impaired populations, nursing, leadership, and community-based approaches to improving health. She is currently collaborating with […]