Archive for October 2009
Useful updates for healthcare people from Fade Library
I’m not sure how I discovered Fade library, which is Liverpool PCT’s Library Service [http://www.fade.nhs.uk/liberty/gateway/gateway.exe?application=Liberty3&displayform=frame] but they have a mailing list (excerpts below), a blog [http://fadelibrary.wordpress.com/] and are on Twitter [http://twitter.com/fadelibrary @fadelibrary] and are well worth a look.
<a href="http://fadelibrary.wordpress.com/" title="(http://fadelibrary.wordpress.com)” style=”FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 22px; COLOR: #888; FONT-FAMILY: Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif; TEXT-DECORATION: none;”>Fade Library
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- Draft Statutory Instrument Relating to Health
- The Primary Medical Services (Directed Enhanced Services – Pandemic Influenza (H1N1) Vaccination Scheme) and Statement of Financial Entitlements (Amendment) (No. 6) Directions 2009
- Developing specialties in medicine: protocol for handling applications for new CCT specialties, new sub-specialties and for decommissioning specialties which are no longer needed
- Birth to Five (2009 edition)
- The Pregnancy Book 2009
- H1N1 swine flu vaccination programme: Information materials and vaccine schedule information
- UK Health News 10/29/2009
- International Health News 10/29/2009
- Cheshire and Merseyside Health News 10/29/2009
- Cumbria and Lancashire Health News 10/29/2009
- Greater Manchester Health News 10/29/2009
- Another 15 Minutes…Health News from the Fade Library 28th October 2009 Podcast
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Draft Statutory Instrument Relating to Health Posted: 29 Oct 2009 10:05 AM PDT Posted in Legislation, Statutory Instruments Tagged: Grey Literature, Legislation, Regulated Activities, Statutory Instruments |
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Posted: 29 Oct 2009 10:02 AM PDT Skinny: These Directions come into force from 30 October and require PCTs to offer to enter into a Directed Enhanced Service with their existing primary medical care contractors who hold a list of registered patients, by 13 November, to deliver the H1N1 vaccine to patients in the priority groups identified in the CMO letter of 13 August 2009. Publisher: DH Size of Publication: 29p Published: 29/10/2009 Additional Document: Covering note Posted in Immunisation, Influenza, Legislation, Pandemic Tagged: H1N1, Immunisation, Influenza, Legislation, Pandemic, Regulations |
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Posted: 29 Oct 2009 08:38 AM PDT Title: Developing specialties in medicine Skinny: Lists the protocol for handling applications for new CCT specialties, and for decommissioning specialties which are no longer needed. Publisher: DH Size of Publication: 20p Published: 28/10/2009 Posted in Grey Literature, Medical Education, Medical Specialties, Medical Staff, NHS Tagged: Education, Grey Literature, Medical Staff, Training |
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Posted: 29 Oct 2009 08:02 AM PDT Title: Birth to Five 2009 Skinny: Birth to Five gives parents information on:
Birth to Five aims to:
Publisher: DH Size of Publication: 192p Published: 29/10/2009 Posted in Children, Grey Literature, Infants, Neonates, Parenting Tagged: Grey Literature, Health Education, Health Promotion, Parenting, Patient Information, Pregnancy |
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Posted: 29 Oct 2009 07:56 AM PDT Title: The Pregnancy Book 2009 Skinny: Updated to reflect new policies, changing social trends and advice and guidance. The Pregnancy Book is a complete guide to:
The Pregnancy Book aims to:
Publisher: DH Size of Publication: 196p Published: 29/10/2009 Posted in Grey Literature, Health Promotion, Obstetrics Tagged: Grey Literature, Health Education, Health Promotion, Patient Information, Pregnancy |
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H1N1 swine flu vaccination programme: Information materials and vaccine schedule information Posted: 29 Oct 2009 07:47 AM PDT Title: Information materials and vaccine schedule information Skinny: Dear Colleague letter about the information materials for the H1N1 swine flu vaccination programme that are now published on the Department of Health website. Publisher: DH Size of Publication: 2p Published: 28/10/2009 Posted in Influenza, Pandemic Tagged: Grey Literature, H1N1, Immunisation, Influenza, Pandemic |
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Posted: 29 Oct 2009 05:51 AM PDT Alcohol worse than ecstasy – drugs chief – The Guardian 29th October 2009 “Alcohol and tobacco are more harmful than many illegal drugs, including LSD, ecstasy and cannabis, according to a paper from a drugs expert. Professor David Nutt, chairman of the government’s advisory committee on the misuse of drugs, criticised politicians for “distorting” and “devaluing” the research evidence in the debate over illicit drugs.” tags: Smoking, Alcohol, Health, News, Drugs of Abuse, UHN, The Guardian Additional Stories
Question time: Clarissa Dickson Wright – The Guardian 29th October 2009 “The celebrity chef on her alcoholism, Tony Blair and why she would be prepared to go to prison for her right to hunt” tags: Alcohol, Addiction, Health, News, UHN, The Guardian Private healthcare shrank by 4% under Labour – The Guardian 29th October 2009 “Health analysts believe that improvements to NHS coupled with the recent recession have drawn patients away from private sector” tags: Private Sector, NHS, Health, News, UHN, The Guardian Radical brain surgery via nose begins in UK – The Guardian 28th October 2009 “Surgeons in British hospitals are carrying out groundbreaking brain surgery that involves entering the skull through a patient’s nose to remove tumours. Until now, neurosurgeons have had to split the facial skeleton or peel back the scalp and remove the front of the skull to operate, leaving patients in hospital for several days – at risk of developing epilepsy and stroke, and unable to drive for a year. But the new technique means a patient can be back at home within 48 hours and swiftly return to a normal life.” tags: Surgery, Neurology, Health, News, UHN, The Guardian Additional Story
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Conference: Does Genetics Matter? Help, Hype and the New Horizon of Epigenetics (Progress Educational Trust)
Diabetes researcher Mark McCarthy is also speaking at this… Epigenetics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics
Progress Educational Trust‘s annual conference ‘
DOES GENETICS MATTER? HELP, HYPE AND THE NEW HORIZON OF EPIGENETICS’, takes place in East London on Wednesday 18 November 2009.
This conference has a unique format as the majority of the running time is dedicated to questions from the floor so that the audience can shape the discussion and play an active role. One of the highlights of the day will be will be Professor Irwin McLean’s presentation on the genetics of eczema and allergic asthma. It will also be the first public event to address epigenetics before a mixed lay and specialist audience.
Please email Sandy Starr sstarr / at / progress.org.uk for details of discounted rates for bookings of five or more people.
Further details of the conference, including how to book, are available on PET’s BioNews website at http://www.bionews.org.uk/page_45356.asp and are also included below.
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DOES GENETICS MATTER? HELP, HYPE AND THE NEW HORIZON OF EPIGENETICS
A conference organised by the Progress Educational Trust
Supported by the Medical Research Council and Clifford Chance
9.30am-5pm, Wednesday 18 November 2009
Clifford Chance, 10 Upper Bank St, London E14 5JJ
Tickets: ??120
Concessions: ??60 (Friends of PET)/??30 (students and unwaged)
Send cheques (payable to ‘Progress Educational Trust’) to:
Events, Progress Educational Trust, 140 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8AX
Lunch and refreshments will be provided on the day
Enquiries: call 0207 278 7870 or email (as above)
As genetics vies with stem cells for centre stage in human biomedical research, there are dangers of both overselling future benefits (for example, the power of personal genomics) and overlooking past triumphs (for example, help for families threatened by serious monogenic/Mendelian disease). The Progress Educational Trust‘s 2009 annual conference will provide a critical examination of the current state of play in human genetics. It will be the first public event to address epigenetics before a mixed lay and specialist audience, and will feature exciting new insights into the epigenetic capture of early developmental experience and how this might explain the link between fetal/childhood adversity and later risk of adult disease.
9.30am-10am: Registration
10am-10.10am: Introduction
DOES GENETICS MATTER? HELP, HYPE AND THE NEW HORIZON OF EPIGENETICS
Speaker:
– MARCUS PEMBREY (Chair of the Progress Educational Trust and Emeritus Professor of Paediatric Genetics at the Institute of Child Health)
10.10am-11.15am: Session 1
FAMILIES WITH MONOGENIC DISEASE
Monogenic diseases showing Mendelian patterns of inheritance are rare when considered individually, but taken in the aggregate they affect a significant minority of the population. This proportion only increases when one considers family members, who may not suffer directly from monogenic diseases, but fear developing them or transmitting them to their offspring. Families benefit greatly from accurate genetic diagnosis, counselling, carrier testing and the offer of prenatal or preimplantation genetic diagnosis, all of which are now possible as a result of genetic research including completion of the Human Genome Project. The timescale for developing effective gene therapy has been exaggerated, but there is progress.
Speakers:
– DIAN DONNAI (Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of Manchester)
– IRWIN McLEAN (Professor of Human Genetics and Head of Molecular Medicine at the University of Dundee)
– ADRIAN THRASHER (Professor of Paediatric Immunology and Director of the Centre for Immunodeficiency at the Institute of Child Health)
Chair:
– DR CHRISTINE PATCH (Chair of the British Society for Human Genetics and Consultant Genetic Counsellor and Manager at Guy’s Hospital)
11.15am-11.45am: Refreshments
11.45am-1.15pm: Session 2
GENETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY TO COMMON COMPLEX DISORDERS
The most popular approach to genetic studies of common complex disorders such as diabetes and coronary artery disease has been the genome-wide association study. This involves examining the entire genome without a specific hypothesis in mind, merely looking for replicable associations between genetic variation and a given disorder. This approach has identified many genetic variants that are a demonstrable factor in the risk of inheriting a particular complex disorder, but variants identified in this way tend only to account for a small proportion of the heritable component of such disorders. Does ‘missing heritability‘ suggest that the genetic component of common complex disorders has been overestimated?
Speakers:
– JOHN BURN (Professor of Clinical Genetics and Head of the Institute of Human Genetics at Newcastle University)
– STEVE JONES (Professor of Genetics and Head of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London)
– MARK McCARTHY (Professor of Diabetic Medicine at the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism)
– DAVID MELZER (Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Peninsula Medical School)
Chair:
– STEVE HUMPHRIES (Professor of Cardiovascular Genetics and Director of the Centre for Cardiovascular Genetics at University College London)
1.15pm-2.15pm: Lunch
2.15pm-3.30pm: Session 3
EPIGENETICS: RESPONDING TO LIFE BY SWITCHING GENES ON AND OFF
Does the genome-wide association study’s focus on DNA differences overlook the dynamic, responsive aspects of genes in action? Not all genes are active in all tissues all of the time. They are activated or silenced according to the needs of particular cells or the whole organism during development, and in response to the prevailing nutritional, physical or social environment throughout early life. There is short-term regulation of gene activity, and there are enduring changes in gene activity during growth and development that help shape an individual’s constitution and future health. Epigenetics is the study of these enduring patterns of gene activity across the genome, and what triggers them.
Speakers:
– JONATHAN MILL (Lecturer in Psychiatric Epigenetics at the Institute of Psychiatry)
– MARCUS PEMBREY (Chair of the Progress Educational Trust and Professor of Paediatric Genetics at the Institute of Child Health)
– KAREN TEMPLE (Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of Southampton)
Chair:
– MARILYN MONK (Emeritus Professor of Molecular Embryology at the Institute of Child Health)
3.30pm-4pm: Refreshments
4pm-5pm: Session 4
SO ARE WE MAKING PROGRESS?
The conference will conclude with a discussion that recapitulates points from earlier sessions, and asks what all of this will mean in practice. Will ‘genetic determinism‘ be replaced by ‘epigenetic determinism‘, and become yet another thing to blame one’s parents for? Or will discoveries of the molecular mechanisms underlying the interplay between inheritance and the prevailing environment during development lead to a more nuanced understanding of nature and nurture?
Chair:
– JOHN BURN (Professor of Clinical Genetics and Head of the Institute of Human Genetics at Newcastle University)
Ethnobotanist Nat Bletter on giving tomato leaves a swerve
My attempt to stave off the impending explosion of tomato leaf eatershttp://goodfoodonkcrw.vox.com/library/post/eating-tomato-leaves-a-rebuttal.html
#scicomm events from STEMPRA (science tech eng med PR assoc’n) media law | TV expts
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STEMPRA is an organisation which has its own rather fab mailing list – I’ve been a member for a couple of years, ever since I went to an event. Recommend signing up if you have ??15 to spare and an interest in science communication http://www.stempra.org.uk/
“Stempra, the science, technology, engineering and medicine public relations association, is an informal network set up to bring together people working in science communication. We offer the opportunity for people to get together and share information and expertise – via events, a newsletter and email discussion list.”
There is some cross over on the list with PSCI-COM (which is free, browsable at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=psci-com [scroll down a bit] and joinable at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=PSCI-COM&A=1).
_________________________________
STEMPRA events
(science, technology, engineering and medicine public relations association)
Cost: Free for Stempra members, ??15 for non-members (includes Stempra membership) – further details below.
Do you know your media law? – Wednesday 18 November
Libel-related stories have peppered our papers in recent weeks, from the case of Simon Singh versus the British Chiropractic Associaton, to the injunction against the Guardian that was eventually dropped by oil trader Trafigura.
Romana Canneti, a media lawyer who advises a range of newspapers including the Independent, will talk about her work proofing articles for potential libels, and offer tips and advice on ways to avoid getting into trouble with the libel laws.
Tea/coffee refreshments will be provided before the event, and the talk will be followed by a reception.
Date: Wednesday 18 November 2009
Time: Doors open at 6.30pm, talk starts at 7.00pm Venue: The Wellcome Trust, 215 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE Map: www.wellcome.ac.uk Cost: Free for Stempra members, ??15 for non-members (includes annual membership fee) To register: please email events@stempra.org.uk
The rise of the TV Experiment – Thursday 3 December
How should press officers respond to requests for live caterpillars or petri dishes filled with cancer cells? How do you get ethical approval for a TV presenter to be experimented on by your scientist? With the rise of programmes like Brainiac and pseudo-experiments conducted on TV, producers seem to be asking more and quirkier things of us than ever before.
These and other issues will be debated at our Christmas session featuring guest speaker Jonathan Sanderson, an ex-physicist with many years experience in television. Jonathan has worked on Adam Hart-Davis’ Local Heroes, ITV’s Big Bang, STV’s How2 and most recently online for BBC One’s Bang Goes the Theory. Jonathan will offer insights into what goes on behind the camera and share tips on how press officers can best work with TV crews.
UCL chemists Rosie Coates and Matthew Waugh will scorch some christmas puddings to kick off the festivities. Wine, soft drinks and ‘festive’ nibbles will be served. However, the puddings themselves are unlikely to be edible after passing through the hands of the chemists.
Date: Thursday 3 December 2009
Time: 7.00 – 9.30pm Venue: Old Refectory, Main Building, UCL, Gower St, London WC1E 6BT Map: www.ucl.ac.uk Cost: Free for Stempra members, ??15 for non-members (includes Stempra membership joining fee) To register: please email events@stempra.org.uk
To find out more about these and other events, please visit www.stempra.org.uk.
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[Shoreditch] Growing Kitchen Half Term Activities
Date: 26 October 2009 09:20:01 GMT
To:
Subject: Growing Kitchen Half Term ActivitiesHi Everyone,Please pass this info on to any children you might think are interested.FREE Seasonal Halloween costume making workshops and devising a sound and movement performanceThis week – 11am – 4pmWednesday 28thThursday 29thSaturday 31st – Community feast and costume performance showcase.The activities will take place between the W.I.S community hall on Cropley street and the Growing Kitchen Garden – Napier Grove. All participants will need to bring a packed lunch.Please RSVP if interested and for more information.Thank youlouiseGrass Shoots CollectiveThe Growing Kitchen Garden
#soundart sound science event Mon 26 Oct 09 at London’s Horse Hospital
Dr Mick Grierson’s demo of his computer brain interface – generating noise environments from brain waves!
Patrick Degenaar, on visual prosthetics for augmented vision – and the prospects for bionic eyes
Lauren Stewart on what our brain does with music, and why some people (with amusia) just don’t get it.
Joydeep Bhattacharya on why sounds stir our emotions. Also:
Strings – an interactive sonic textile installation, a junk instrument making session and From Honey to Ashes bring us electronic music with their custom built sound environmentshttp://www.myspace.com/fhta There will be talks and there will be sounds. Take some in and make your own! 26th Oct 7.30PM
The Horse Hospital,
The colonnade,
[Job vacancy] ~??22k Science in Society Officer at the British Science Association
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One from psci-com mailing list
– sorry I think this is going to be a bit of a habit, I think Posterous is brill and “reduces to almost zero the transactional cost of sharing information”, or something like that 🙂
Jo
———————————————
You may be interested in the following vacancy at the British Science Association, based in London:
Science in Society Officer, ??21 – 24.5K depending on experience
The Science in Society Officer is part of the team delivering and developing the science in society programme of the British Science Association. This programme consists of regular and occasional activities targeted at three key audiences: scientists, science communication practitioners and lay publics.
For a job description please visit
http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/web/AboutUs/CurrentVacancies To apply: Please send your CV and covering letter that summarises your interest in this post. Please provide evidence of your ability to match the criteria outlined in the Person Specification and send it to:
mailto:recruitment@britishscienceassociation.org I’ve deleted the bit where you can ring someone for an informal chat but if you Google the psci-com archives at JISCmail I’m sure you’ll find it or you can ask me.
The closing date is Friday 23 October and interviews will take place on Friday 30 October.
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CHAIN: Contact, Help, Advice and INformation network for healthcare professionals / researchers
I am a member of CHAIN (I first heard about it in Trisha Greenhalgh’s fab “How to read a paper” as a suggested resource for tapping into the knowledge of fellow colleagues around the globe) and find it interesting and useful. If you work in healthcare or healthcare research you might like to be a member too.
Did you know that there are now over 8000 people on CHAIN? There are 2730 frontline healthcare professionals, 2210 researchers, 2020 educators, 2388 managers and 585 information professionals. Of these 5890 working in England, 793 in Scotland, 460 in Ireland, 175 in Wales, 401 in Canada, 199 in Australia, 70 in Scandinavia and 181 elsewhere in the world.
Not all CHAIN members realise how easy it is to tap into the cumulative experience of the network, nor are they aware of how helpful and supportive CHAIN members tend to be… as illustrated by these quotes from members of CHAIN:
* “Just to let you know that I’ve had a good response from half a dozen people offering websites and offers to discuss – so thanks very much” a CHAIN member, May 09
* “Thanks for circulating this – I have already been passed some useful information by members.” a CHAIN member, Feb 09
* “Just to let you know I have had about 8 responses to my query, all pretty useful.” a CHAIN member, Feb 09
Whenever you would like advice or information from other CHAIN members, seek feedback on your own work, or draw attention to events or resources, this is very simple to do. Just e-mail enquiries@chain-network.org.uk and we will circulate a message for you.
You can also use the CHAIN online directories yourself. You can use the directories to identify and make contact with other members who have experience relevant to you. Simply go to: http://chain.ulcc.ac.uk/chain/index.html and from the menu column on the left click on Search Directory. On the next page click on the bullet ‘click here to search the directory’. After entering your username and password you will be ready to start a search. You can either confine your search within individual component of CHAIN or search across all 4 components of the network (search all CHAINs). Searching is pretty intuitive, and most people find it simple to do once they start playing with the directories. You can either use both check-boxes or look for keywords to find people. Once you have found people, simply e-mail them saying that you are a CHAIN member and found them from the online directory. (NB If you find that need help with searching, e-mail: enquiries@chain-network.org.uk).
We hope that you are already finding CHAIN a useful resource, and will make further use of the network to the benefit of yourself and your fellow members. We are committed to making it work even better as an aid to sharing learning and providing a source of support to all working in the sphere of cancer care. Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time with feedback or ideas which you think might help us in this objective.
Best regards,
The CHAIN Team
CHAIN Website: http://chain.ulcc.ac.uk/chain/index.html
Search the web and raise funds for Diabetes UK at www.everyclick.com/diabetesuk/
Diabetes UK, the charity for people with diabetes
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#scicomm Student survey on virtual science conferences
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This came in via psci-com (science communication mailing list) and I thought might be of interest to many on Twitter.
Jo
—————— Original message ——————-
Survey on virtual conferencing
As part of my post graduate diploma in Science Communication at Birkbeck
College, University of London, I am investigating scientists??? attitude towards the development of new technologies which enable us to organize conferences in virtual worlds. Science conferences are a very important communication platform within scientific communities and the way in which we organize science conferences can greatly influence the effectiveness of communication and networking amongst scientists. I am interested to hear the opinion of scientists as well as science communicators. If you would like to participate in this survey, please follow the link below. http://www.biochemistry.org/Conferences/VirtualConferencing/tabid/718/Default.aspx or http://is.gd/4enry
Many thanks for your help.
Kind regards,
Frances |
#ukscitweetup ? October evening event at the Natural History Museum, London
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This sort of thing seems like a likely candidate for a bit of #ukscitweetup-ing – I think they’re to have these every month, I’ve been to a few in the past.
This came from psci-com the mailing list hosted at JISCmail and run by Wellcome – it’s the mailling list all about the public engagement with science, ie science communication, and it’s brilliant (events, job listings, arguments – the lot – google JISCMAIL PSCI-COM and have a wander in the archives.
Anyway, Thursday 29 October 2009 – creepy crawlies.
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Jo Brodie's secondary blog 