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News

MPs support no change in 24 week limit on abortion

Great Britain's abortion laws survived the first serious assault on them in almost two decades this week, when an attempt to make them more restrictive was defeated in the House of Commons.
Also on this topic:
Abortion act: Where do we draw the line?
Survival of extremely premature babies: 1994-9 compared with 2000-5
Survival after extremely preterm birth
Abortion round the world

News

MPs vote to allow creation of "admixed" embryos

Scientists will be allowed to create "admixed" human and animal embryos for research in the United Kingdom after MPs voted voted 336 to 176 against an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill that would have banned the creation of such embryos.

Students

Tricky exam questions

Medical students are experts in examinations. But what should they do if they're tipped off about the answer to a question in a forthcoming exam? Report the source of the leak? Keep quiet? Share it with their fellow students? Have your say on the Student BMJ poll.

Research

Doctors' versus patients' global assessments of treatment effectiveness: empirical survey of diverse treatments in clinical trials

In 240 trials included in Cochrane systematic reviews, doctors' and patients' global assessments of treatment effects - increasingly used as study end points - mostly agreed. The accompanying editorial says that clinical trials should allow patients to document serial changes in their health status. This would avoid reliance on global aseessments from doctors' or patients' perspectives.

Comment

Quality improvement in the NHS

After more than a decade of reforms to the NHS in England, a Nuffield Trust report says a national quality programme is now needed. Nick Black, professor of health services research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, identifies four key challenges if quality improvement is to gain prestige and take its rightful place alongside highly respected activities such as research and education.

Blogs

The latest from the blogs

Domhnall MacAuley: Drug taking in sport
Anna Donald: Confessions of a chemo-veteran
Liz Wager: Training and the placebo effect

Careers

Working as a GP in the private sector

Every considered working as a GP for the UK private sector? Find out more about the career opportunities and potential contractual issues.

Comment

GPs filling the gap left by inadequate dental services

A shortage of NHS dentists in the UK means that GPs are doing their work without adequate remuneration, writes Alastair Bint. An increasing number of patients are visiting GP surgeries with dental problems. Dr Bint recorded a 1600% rise in the number of dental related consultations over the past 10 years in his Surrey practice of more than 10 000 registered patients.