One of the editors of a new online journal Globalisation and Health (http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/, with free access) says: “Modern public health has a love-hate relationship with macro-economics, global trading systems and a whole range of policy clusters that don't, on the surface, have much to do with human health. It's up to a new generation of thinkers and policy-shapers to recognise those connections. We need to figure out what helps and what hinders the way we deliver health services and feed those insights into the wider policy conversation.”

Impaired sight or hearing in elderly people causes problems, but the impairment of both these senses is rather more serious. Analysis of data from the US based “longitudinal study on aging” shows that a fifth of adults aged 70 or older reported dual sensory impairment, and that high levels of dual impairment increased the difficulty of preparing meals, shopping, and using the telephone, all of which are critical in helping older people to improve or maintain their functional independence (Gerontologist 2005;45: 337-46).

Did you know that randomised controlled trials for the BMJ now need to be registered? If you are conducting a randomised controlled trial that begins enrolling patients after 1 July 2005 you must register it in a public trials registry at or before the start of enrolment …