BioMed Central Podcast

In this study, Rebecca is looking at family perceptions of OCD and whether these are associated with their coping responses. She stresses that should a link exist, clinicians must challenge these perceptions as part of therapy for families living with OCD.

In this BMC podcast, Dr. Dan O’Neill, from the Royal Veterinary College in London, discusses his latest research looking at the incidence of corneal ulceration in dogs, a painful disease found in many flat faced breeds.

In this latest BMC podcast, we speak to Sophie Faulkner, an occupational therapist from the Greater Manchester and Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, about the need to address sleep appropriately in those with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

An aging population means that palliative care needs could increase by 42% in 23 years. In this podcast, we speak to Dr. Simon Etkind, who tells why action is needed now.

In this podcast, Dr. Elodie Briefer and her team at ETH, Zürich have been looking at emotional contagion in horses. In their study, they've shown that horses can perceive acoustic cues and distinguish sounds between familiar and unfamiliar horses. Elodie suggests that horses should not be isolated and that group housing allows them express their social behaviours. Read the research here: https://frontiersinzoology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12983-017-0193-1

Jean-Louis Vincent talks about the future of Critical Care by BioMed Central

In this podcast, we speak to Dr. Maria Barnes, a Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol. Dr. Barnes discusses the impact that financial hardship can have on individuals and Interventions needed to identify those in need and aid them to access practical, reliable and free advice from support agencies. https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-017-1235-0

In a recent study published in BMC Biology, Dr. Frank Jiggins and his team at the university of Cambridge have discovered that Ae. Aegypti mosquitos from an urban population in Senegal, West Africa, were more closely related to populations in Mexico and Sri Lanka than they were to a nearby forest population. Listen to this podcast to find out more. https://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12915-017-0351-0

In this podcast, we speak to Symen Ligthart, a Ph.D. student at Erasmus university medical centre in Rotterdam. Here, he discusses his epigenetic research on the association between specific DNA methylation sites and low-grade inflammation. Symen asks 'What genes are these sites influencing and can they be used a therapeutic targets?'

In this podcast, Shaun discusses the benefits of open access, improving the efficiency of trials and how social media can help promote research.

In this podcast, we talk to Heather Rogers about the history of heart disease as a public health problem. Heather also discusses the contribution of advancements in scientific knowledge about stress in the 1950’s and 60’s that support the hypothesis of stress as a one cause of disease.

During the last 50,000 years in Europe, Bison have experienced population expansion, contraction and extinction as a result of environmental and climatic changes. In this podcast, Eva-Maria Geigl discusses past climate changes, population dynamics and the origin of bison in Europe. https://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12915-016-0317-7

We discuss peer review with Professor Ian Cree, section editor for BMC Cancer.

Elizabeth Moylan, senior editor for research integrity at BMC, discusses peer review and the importance of recognition for reviewers.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome: detection, outcomes and prognoses by BioMed Central

Reporting guidelines for health care simulation research by BioMed Central

What is sepsis and why is sepsis awareness in the general public and healthcare staff critically important? In this podcast, we talk to Jean-Louis Vincent, Editor-in-Chief of Critical Care, about this and more. Listen to find out more! Sepsis is a serious medical condition characterized by a whole-body inflammatory response that occurs due to an infection. It is the primary cause of death from infection, being lethal in over one third of patients in hospital care. “It’s not a particular disease of a particular group of patients,” according to Jean-Louis Vincent. He points out that even healthy individuals can develop sepsis in response to infections such as pneumonia. What’s key is treating and reversing the effects of sepsis is time. “We cannot lose any minute, time counts,” says Jean-Louis Vincent. Patients who have developed sepsis, or are at risk, need to be seen and treated immediately. An obstacle to treatment is awareness of the condition and its symptoms – both within the general public and healthcare staff. In this podcast we talk to Jean-Louis Vincent about what sepsis is, why awareness of sepsis is important and how the research into new treatments is progressing. Short blog: http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/on-medicine/?p=32093 Visit Critical Care: http://ccforum.biomedcentral.com/ Image on SoundCloud shows Morganella morganii, which can give rise to sepsis, grown on a blood agar plate, (c) Pete Seidel/CDC 2010.

What are coronaviruses, where do they come from and why is it in the interest of public health to monitor them? We discuss this and more with Linfa Wang, Editor-in-Chief of Virology Journal, in this episode. Listen to find out more! “The emergence and outbreak of SARS and MERS taught us a very heavy lesson about the price we need to pay if we don’t actively monitor the infection dynamics and also outbreak potentials of coronaviruses,” says Linfa Wang. Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that can infect animals and humans. Amongst the most prominent strains of coronavirus are SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, which are the causative agents behind SARS and MERS respectively. The origins of coronaviruses are a key topic in the field as strains that are now only found in bats and other animals, “may have the potential to cross species and infect humans,” as Linfa Wang points out. He has been studying coronaviruses for over ten years and played a leading role in the discovery that bats are the natural reservoir of SARS-CoV. In this podcast, we talk with him about what coronaviruses are, how they are spread, their bat origins and why it’s important to monitor them. The thematic series on coronaviruses in Virology Journal further presents some of the most recent research in the field. Visit Virology Journal: http://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/ Find the thematic series on coronaviruses here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/CoV Episode description from: http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/on-biology/2016/01/20/podcast-coronaviruses-origins-and-dangers/ Image on SoundCloud shows a Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) virion, (c) NIAID 2014.

While cancer survival has improved over recent decades with better treatments, anti-cancer drugs can also have adverse effects on the cardiovascular health of patients. In this BioMed Central podcast, we find out more from editors of our new Cardio-Oncology journal about how research is trying to mitigate this problem. Listen to hear more about the origins and future of the field, the scale of the problem and how it affects patients! Cardio-oncology is an emerging field in medicine that looks at the effects of cancer treatment on the cardiovascular system. The ultimate aim of the field is to find a balance between the efficacy of cancer treatments and reducing the cardiovascular problems that can result from those treatments. The editors of the new journal Cardio-Oncology are Steven Lipshultz, Joseph Carver and Giorgio Minotti. Short blog: http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/on-medicine/2015/12/02/podcast-cardio-oncology-cancer-treatments-affect-heart/ Journal website: http://cardiooncologyjournal.biomedcentral.com/ Image on SoundCloud shows a breast cancer cell, (c) NCI 1980.

How do you reduce the risk of cross infection and how do you cut the number of MRSA cases in a hospital? On our new BioMed Central podcast, you'll hear all about this from the perspective of an infection control nurse, who deals with pathogens and multidrug-resistant organisms on a daily basis. Listen to find out more! Antibiotic-resistant organisms such as MRSA as well as particularly pathogenic organisms such as group A strep can pose a health risk to staff and patients alike in healthcare settings. To counter this risk, it’s important to implement infection prevention and control measures. One such measure is having a specialist team on location that monitors infection rates and cleanliness and teaches staff about how to minimise the risk of cross infection. “We’re essentially the infection detectives,” says Roz Wallis, an infection control nurse at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London. For this podcast, Srimathy Sriskantharajah talked to her to find out how infection control works in practice, how hospital staff attitudes on this issue have changed and how we might be able to cope with the increase of antimicrobial resistance in future. Short blog on this podcast: http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/on-medicine/2015/10/26/infection-control-and-prevention-podcast/ Image of MRSA shown on SoundCloud (c) 2006 NIAID