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Editor's choice

Knowledge and its dissemination

Frontiers

The month in research

Editorials

Coronary revascularisation
Surgery is effective on clinical and economic grounds, but stenting does not seem to be cost effective, says David P Taggart

Chronic disease in adolescence
Adolescence can be hard enough without the additional hassle of a chronic illness and the problems of transition from paediatric to adult services, say David O'Connor and Janet E McDonagh

News

Trust me; trust me not

news bites

Education

All the fun of the fair?
Fun though they seem, amusement parks are not completely without danger. Tiago Villanueva and colleagues shed light on the potential risks of amusement park rides to human health

Leg ulceration in a young woman

The medic's guide to prescribing: Safe and effective prescribing
In the second part of our series on prescribing skills, Kate Wilkinson and Simon Maxwell explain how to write safe and effective prescriptions

Laboratory medicine in primary care: Investigating iron status in microcytic anaemia
Microcytic anaemia is often assumed to indicate iron deficiency, but up to 20-30% of patients will have another diagnosis. Measurement of serum ferritin offers the best means of confirming iron deficiency, say Michael J Galloway and W Stuart A Smellie

Anaesthesia: Regional anaesthesia
In the fourth and final part of our series on anaesthesia, Jonathan M Behar and colleagues discuss regional anaesthesia

Picture quiz: Unilateral pleural effusion with history of asbestos exposure

Careers

IT and medicine
Getting acquainted with rapidly advancing information technology is a prerequisite for clinical competency, say Sarah Aldington and colleagues

Ten tasks in theatre
Allan B Lee and Kelvin K Lim list 10 tasks a junior doctor gets to do in theatre-in order of complexity

People

A cultured Nobel prize winner
In 1982 Barry Marshall and Robin Warren cultured Helicobacter pylori for the first time and defied conventional medical wisdom by declaring the bacteria the cause of most stomach ulcers. Marshall received the Lasker prize in 1995, the most coveted prize in US medicine, because "rarely do the discoveries of a single individual change the lives of countless millions within . . . a decade." And in 2005 Marshall and Warren were awarded the Nobel prize for medicine. Today Marshall is a clinical professor at the University of Western Australia. Ronan W Glynn caught up with him

The head of a royal college
Mayur Lakhani is the youngest ever chairman of the UK Royal College of General Practitioners. His family came to the UK in 1972, when Idi Amin expelled Asians from Uganda, and settled in Leicestershire, where Lakhani is still a general practitioner. He spoke to Vishnu B Madhok about his vision of a bright future for today's medical students-or tomorrow's general practitioners

Papers

Treatment of isolated lesions in the left anterior descending coronary artery: meta-analysis
What is the best way to treat lesions in a branch of the coronary artery-bypass surgery or percutaneous coronary artery stenting? Kirsten Patrick looks at a study that tried to find out

Life

Time out
Shane O'Hanlon explains the benefits of a tough decision he made at medical school-to take a break

11 ways to avoid student debt
Living on cheap baked beans and mashed potatoes? Camille Gajria gives an alternative take on how to avoid debt as a medical student

Kidneys on demand
Did Iran eliminate its waiting list for kidney transplants? And if so, where are the kidneys coming from? Anne Griffin investigates

Time to stop meddling?
The scoring systems used to allocate UK junior doctors' training placements are flawed, argues Neel Sharma

Refusing male medics
Women may have religious or cultural reasons for not wanting men to be involved in their health care. Pashtoon Murtaza Kasi and colleagues consider the implications and suggest some ways forward

Not "just" a GP
Is general practice dull, unimportant, and overpaid? Robin Som hits back at it's critics

Reviews

Seeing is believing

Student conferences

Breaking bad news

A revolution for nausea

In it for the money

Eyespy