Bmc Med
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In this podcast, we talk to Professor Michael O'Donovan about the latest genetic advances in schizophrenia based on research data from the Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. Functional and prediction studies from the identified genetic loci are described together with future directions in psychiatric genetics and its interplay with the environment. The podcast for this interview is available at http://media.biomedcentral.com/content/movies/supplementary/s12916-015-0417-1-s1.mp3.
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The academic community is under great pressure to publish. This pressure is compounded by high rejection rates at many journals. A more recent trend is for some journals to send invitations directly to researchers inviting them to submit a manuscript to their journals. ⋯ The majority of invitations included an unsubscribe link (n = 187; 60.1%). About half of the invitations came from biomedical journals (n = 179). We discuss strategies researchers and institutions can consider to reduce the number of invitations received and strategies to handle those invitations that make it to the recipients' inbox, thus helping to maintain the credibility and reputation of researchers and institutions.
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Chronic diseases contribute a large share of disease burden in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Chronic diseases have a tendency to occur simultaneously and where there are two or more such conditions, this is termed as 'multimorbidity'. Multimorbidity is associated with adverse health outcomes, but limited research has been undertaken in LMICs. Therefore, this study examines the prevalence and correlates of multimorbidity as well as the associations between multimorbidity and self-rated health, activities of daily living (ADLs), quality of life, and depression across six LMICs. ⋯ Findings highlight the challenge of multimorbidity in LMICs, particularly among the lower socioeconomic groups, and the pressing need for reorientation of health care resources considering the distribution of multimorbidity and its adverse effect on health outcomes.