Edward Picot’s blog (incorporating Dr Hairy)

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

Numbers nine to eleven in a series of eleven short information videos about wellbeing, designed to be shown in the waiting room of the doctor’s surgery where I work.

9. Social Media – https://youtu.be/VCaz82zE76U
6. Humour – https://youtu.be/rHoSGD2PKEQ
7. Resilience – https://youtu.be/leBqSKJuU-8

Numbers five to eight in a series of eleven short information-videos about wellbeing and life-satisfaction, designed to be shown in the Waiting Room of the doctor’s surgery where I work.

5. Creativity – https://youtu.be/iysdK3FdcK8
6. Pets – https://youtu.be/cE5AyfyVWWs
7. Money – https://youtu.be/FPzjg6A5qN8
8. Mindfulness – https://youtu.be/tEN0a711PoM

The first four in a series of ten short information-videos about wellbeing and life-satisfaction, designed to be shown in the Waiting Room of the doctor’s surgery where I work.

1. Introduction – https://youtu.be/Lon8w_dACC4
2. Connecting with other people – https://youtu.be/B19GFLNAMuk
3. Learning – https://youtu.be/Ot4A6xOrOdQ
4. Staying active – https://youtu.be/EUwIK6poKJI

The Under-Secretary for Health cooks up a fiendish new inspection regime for doctors’ surgeries, and Dr Hairy gets an extremely bizarre phonecall from his mother – with hilarious results!

YouTube – https://youtu.be/azwID6hgXOs
Vimeo – https://vimeo.com/191198092

– Edward Picot
http://edwardpicot.com – personal website

A short song/video about the tribulations of a professional busybody – an inspector of doctors’ surgeries, in fact. This will eventually appear as part of the third series of Dr Hairy videos (collectively entitled “Dr Hairy and the QCQ”), but hopefully it also works as a stand-alone. Loosely based on “The Seeker” by The Who, which is a particular favourite of mine. Made using InkScape, Blender, Kdenlive, Audacity and the Gimp.

YouTube – https://youtu.be/dRWQEC1YbEc
Vimeo – https://vimeo.com/189668021

Bat sleeping

Bat waking

Dog sleeping

Dog waking

Squeaker flying one way

Squeaker flying the other way

Headstone with clouds

The Research Summaries for September are now online – a bit late as usual. These are the last of the present series of Research Summaries: we’ll now put them all together in the form of a book, and start a new series after a couple of months’ break.

Subjects covered this time:

Statins evidence: when answers also raise questions
BMJ 2016;354:i4963
Association between electronic cigarette use and changes in quit attempts, success of quit attempts, use of smoking cessation pharmacotherapy, and use of stop smoking services in England: time series analysis of population trends
BMJ 2016;354:i4645
Electronic cigarettes and smoking cessation in England
BMJ 2016;354:i4819
Positive language leads to positive wellbeing
BMJ 2016;354:i4426
Recurrent otalgia in adults
BMJ 2016;354:i3917
Prevention of tick-borne diseases: an overview
DOI: 10.3399/bjgp16X687013
Exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction: a common and overlooked cause of exertional breathlessness
DOI: 10.3399/bjgp16X687001
GPs’ demoralisation is due to our loss of human connection
DOI: 10.3399/bjgp16X686833
Influenza vaccination: in the UK and across Europe
DOI: 10.3399/bjgp16X686677
Decriminalising sex work in the UK
BMJ 2016;354:i4459

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

David Wilk interviews Peter Costanzo of Associated Press

I’ve been following David Wilks’ ‘Publishing Talks’ podcasts for some years now, and every so often he comes up with something really interesting. This one is an interview with Peter Costanzo, currently working for the Associated Press, but formerly associated with digital publishing ventures for NBC and various others; and it’s full of perceptive remarks about why ebooks haven’t supplanted print books, why ‘enhanced’ ebooks (new media literature) have failed to take off commercially, how the publishing industry has managed to protect the status quo in the face of digital change more effectively than the record industry, and just the mechanics of the modern publishing marketplace in general – the dominance of Amazon, the failure of both Apple and Google to challenge that dominance, the dominance of the Kindle as the main reading device, etc. Well worth a listen if you’ve got 45 minutes to spare.