The research summaries and quiz for May 2017 are now online. Subjects covered this time:

How medicine has exploited rationality at the expense of humanity: an essay by Iona Heath
BMJ 2016;355:i5705

Medical and psychosocial factors associated with antibiotic prescribing in primary care: survey questionnaire and factor analysis
Br J Gen Pract 16 January 2017; bjgpmar-2017-67-656-tau-hong_lee-fl-p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X688885

Antibiotic prescribing during office hours and out-of-hours: a comparison of quality and quantity in primary care in the Netherlands
Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (656): e178-e186. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X689641

Can compassion help cure health-related disorders?
Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (657): 177-178. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X690329

The chronotherapy of hypertension: or the benefit of taking blood pressure tablets at bedtime
Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (657): 171. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X690269

Overdiagnosis of COPD: precise definitions and proposals for improvement
Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (657): 183-184. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X690389

Primary care management of overactive bladder symptoms: evaluation and treatment
Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (657): 187-188. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X690413

Opioid analgesic dependence: where do we go from here?
Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (657): 154-155. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X690065

Off-label indications for antidepressants in primary care: descriptive study of prescriptions from an indication based electronic prescribing system
BMJ 2017;356:j603

Off-label prescribing of antidepressants
BMJ 2017;356:j849

For more information about Dr Hairy’s Research Summaries, please visit http://www.drhairy.org/concrete5/index.php/research-summaries/

The research summaries and quiz for April 2017 are now online. Subjects covered this time:

Do training and CPD foster truly reflective GPs?

Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (655): 83. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X689305

Eosinophilic oesophagitis: an insidious but treatable cause of sore throat

Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (655): 91-92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X689341

Funding for general practice in the next decade: life after QOF

Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (654): 4-5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X688477

New concepts in iron deficiency anaemia

Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (654): 10-11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X688465

GPs’ opinions of health assessment instruments for people with intellectual disabilities: a qualitative study

Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (654): e41-e48. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp16X688585

Healing doctors through groups: creating time to reflect together

Br J Gen Pract 2016; 66 (651): e776-e778. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp16X687469

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin: primary care diagnostic technology update

Br J Gen Pract 2016; 66 (651): 542-543. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp16X687505

FTO genotype and weight loss: systematic review and meta-analysis of 9563 individual participant data from eight randomised controlled trials

BMJ 2016;354:i4707

Obesity treatment—are personalised approaches missing the point? (The causes of the obesity epidemic may have little to do with gene profiles)

BMJ 2016;354:i4980

Risk of erectile dysfunction associated with use of 5-α reductase inhibitors for benign prostatic hyperplasia or alopecia: population based studies using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink

BMJ 2016;354:i4823

For more information about Dr Hairy’s Research Summaries, please visit http://www.drhairy.org/concrete5/index.php/research-summaries/

The third in a new series of puppet-animations about the life and misadventures of an ordinary (but rather hirsute) GP.

Mrs Hattersley wants to reorganise Dr Hairy’s surgery to make it more Feng Shui. When he refuses to allow her, she decides to report him to the QCQ. In the meantime, Grabber is anxious to try out his new app, LifeTunes – with hilarious consequences!

YouTube – https://youtu.be/igTNByhWDTU
Vimeo – https://vimeo.com/211002674

The Reprover originally appeared in 2008, and I wrote a review of it for The Hyperliterature Exchange (http://hyperex.co.uk/reviewreprobateur.php). It has now been rebuilt and made available free online for the first time – you can access it at https://leréprobateur.fr/en/ .

It’s well worth exploring. A non-linear story spanning several decades and told from several points of view, it’s a very unique, funny and ingeniously-constructed piece of new media magic realism, told in a mixture of text, video and illustration which quickly becomes completely absorbing and natural-seeming after you’ve clicked through a few sections.

Also available online is a more recent work by Francois Coulon, Prise Multiple (https://prisemultiple.fr/), another witty, clever and beautifully-executed work, this time a series of videos, in which the same couples can be seen talking about their relationships in four different styles, depending on which button you click – net-video, reality-TV, fluffy romantic or pseudo-intellectual (the last is my favourite).

The Research Summaries + quiz for March are now online. Subjects covered this month:

Rethinking brief interventions for alcohol in general practice

BMJ 2017;356:j116

Association between continuity of care in general practice and hospital admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions: cross sectional study of routinely collected, person level data

BMJ 2017;356:j84

Continuity of primary care matters and should be protected

BMJ 2017;356:j373

How to prevent the microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes beyond glucose control

BMJ 2017;356:i6505

Political crisis in the NHS

BMJ 2017;356:j218

Renin angiotensin system inhibitors for patients with stable coronary artery disease without heart failure: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials

BMJ 2017;356:j4

External validation and comparison of three prediction tools for risk of osteoporotic fractures using data from population based electronic health records: retrospective cohort study

BMJ 2017;356:i6755

Low back pain and sciatica: summary of NICE guidance

BMJ 2017;356:i6748

PCSK9 inhibitors for hypercholesterolaemia

BMJ 2017;356:j188

Novel psychoactive substances: identifying and managing acute and chronic harmful use

BMJ 2017;356:i6814

To find out more about Dr Hairy’s Research Summaries, please visit http://www.drhairy.org/concrete5/index.php/research-summaries/

The second in a new series of puppet-animations about the life and misadventures of an ordinary (but rather hirsute) GP.

Dr Hairy has to visit first his own mother, then Grabber’s mother – plus Grabber’s two sisters Pongo and Krups – with hilarious consequences!

YouTube – https://youtu.be/JOdVB3IzxGE
Vimeo – https://vimeo.com/205105659

 

The 2nd Cranbrook Video Festival, on the theme of Wellbeing, took place yesterday at the Crane Surgery in Cranbrook, Kent, and it was a great success. Many thanks to all those who submitted and let me use their work, and a special thanks to Carolina Khouri for turning up to the event – she got a spontaneous round of applause for her video “Ball on a Beach”. Below is a link to the final programme for the event, which was chock-full of good things, and images from all of the videos.

programme

The London-Worldwide Comedy Short Film Festival – https://www.facebook.com/worldwidecomedyshortfilmfestival/ – took place on 12th Feb at the Hackney-Attic Picturehouse in London, and my animation The Squeaker was in it, along with a host of other stuff.

After a bit of a break, Series 4 of Dr Hairy’s Research Summaries has just launched. Subjects covered this time:

Redesigning healthcare to fit with people
BMJ 2016;354:i4536
Anxiety in teenage girls rises sharply in past decade, finds study
BMJ 2016;354:i4649
What is the most effective treatment for frozen shoulder?
BMJ 2016;354:i4162
Best practice for HRT: unpicking the evidence
Bjgp16X687097
Identification of patients with non-metastatic colorectal cancer in primary care: a case-control study
Bjgp16X687985
Red eyes in children: red flags and a case to learn from
Bjgp16X688309
Migraine and risk of cardiovascular disease in women: prospective cohort study
BMJ 2016;353:i2610
Migraine and vascular disease: the medical implications of migraine are not limited to the brain
BMJ 2016;353:i2806
Plantar heel pain
BMJ 2016;353:i2175
Occupational asthma
BMJ 2016;353:i2658
How similar are biosimilars?
BMJ 2016;353:i2721

For more about Dr Hairy’s Research Summaries, visit http://www.drhairy.org/concrete5/index.php/research-summaries/

It’s also worth mentioning that Series 3 of Dr Hairy’s Research Summaries is now available in book form:

Just £15! If you happen to want to buy a copy (and who wouldn’t), please visit the Dr Hairy catalogue page.

Three short videos based on Eric Satie’s Gnossiennes, and designed to be used as interludes between the text-videos in the Wellbeing project.

The paintings in Gnossienne 2 are by Edward Hopper.

Gnossienne 1 – https://youtu.be/4ktm1Cw7xKE
Gnossienne 2 – https://youtu.be/mVfII9Cnq2U
Gnossienne 3 – https://youtu.be/CZwS9Vv1zP0