This week in The Lancet the lead editorial is on child health in detention centres and pushes for children to only be detained where absolutely necessary and in that event, that they have full access to healthcare. The other editorials are on the state of public hospitals in Australia and the Oxfam neglected diseases R&D report that we also helpfully summarised last week.

Of particular note in the comments section this week, a comment linked to a research article in the same issue discusses the efficacy of a new dispersible artemether-lumefantrine tablet compared to the currently available tablets used to treat infants with malaria. The current tablets have a bitter taste, and so may be vomited, and must be crushed by family members at home before they can be taken, risking lowered doses. The study establishes that the new tablets are as effective as the current ones and there are hopes that these new types of tablets will improve treatment adherence in children.

There is also a comment on the genetics of age-related macular degeneration, linked to an article which implicates the SERPING1 gene through a SNP analysis. If you would like to know more about this condition there is a very authoritative seminar on age-related macular degeneration in this issue as well.

A further comment links with the results of the INTEREST trial published in The Lancet this week, comparing the outcomes of patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer on gefitinib or docetaxel.

Of strong interest to people interested in the ethics and practice of medical journalism, a comment by a set of authors involved in Down Syndrome research or education, including two who have recently resigned from the journal in question, criticise the lack of a transparent peer-review process for a controversial editorial published in Down Syndrome Research and Practice and picked up by the UK’s Channel 4 News. In addition there are two China comments; one on the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the other on schistosomiasis control, and a comment on the need for clear regulation of telemedicine.

This week’s issue also has a report on President-elect Obama’s plans for global public health, reviews of a book on the origins of psychoanalysis and a book on China’s one child policy, and a very interesting perspective on medicine in ancient Egypt.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 21st, 2008 at 2:26 pm and is filed under The Lancet Digest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.