New genetic test to decide treatment for difficult childhood asthma

Researchers in Dundee and Brighton have reported in the journal Clinical Science a randomised study using gene testing aimed at improving treatment selection in children with asthma.
The gene variant (Arg16 genotype) they tested has previously been reported to be associated with failure to respond to commonly used beta-2 agonist bronchodilator inhaler treatment.
My comments below on the potential and limitations of the study were included in a briefing by the Science Media Centre.

Prof Donald Singer, Member of the British Pharmacological Society and Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of Warwick, said:
“This study is important in providing evidence that simple genetic testing can be used to personalize selection of medicine in clinical practice – in this case applied to treatment choice in children with poorly controlled asthma.
“Their main outcome – less time off school because of asthma – is important both for children and their families. The authors were careful to consider poor compliance with asthma treatment as an important alternative explanation for their findings. However this is a small study and needs to be confirmed in larger well-controlled clinical trials.”

Research paper:
Tailored second-line therapy in asthmatic children with the Arg16 genotype.  Lipworth BJ et al., published in Clinical Science on Tuesday 8^th January 2013.

Favourite poems with a medical theme - 2013

To mark the 2013 International Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine, the organisers invite nominations of your favourite poem with a medical theme.

'Medical' is to be interpreted in the broadest sense. Nominations may be from anyone anywhere in the world and for poems written by a poet from anywhere in the world and in any language. The poem may to be contemporary or from any historical period.

You can see examples at 'favourite poems on a medical theme' of comments received and find links to many of the nominated favourite poems in 2012.

And some recent nominations:

John Betjeman - 'Before Anaesthetic ...'

Nazim Hikmet - 'Angina Pectoris' 

...

The Hippocrates Prize of £5000 for the winning poem in both the Open International and the UK NHS category is one of the highest value awards in the world for an unpublished poem in English on a medical theme.

There is also a new Hippocrate Prize of £500 for Young Poets aged 14 - 18 years, from anywhere in the world.

Awards for the 2013 Hippocrates Prize will be presented by the judges on Saturday 18th May 2012 at the  4th International Symposium on Poetry and Medicine, to be held at the Wellcome Collection in London.

Closing dates for 2013 Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine
Open International category - 31st January, 2013
NHS UK category - 31st January, 2013
Young Poets category - 1st March, 2013

Key 2013 dates and deadlines for the Hippocrates Initiative for Poetry and Medicine

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The Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine is an annual international award for an unpublished poem on a medical subject. With a 1st prize for the winning poem in both the Open International and the NHS category of £5,000, the Hippocrates prize is one of the highest value poetry awards in the world for a single poem.

Since its launch in 2009, the Hippocrates Prize has attracted over 4000 entries from 44 countries, from the Americas to Fiji and Finland to Australasia.

Awards are in 3 categories: 

- an Open category, which anyone in the world may enter; 

- an NHS category, which is open to UK National Health Service employees, health students and those working in professional organisations involved in education and training of NHS students and staff.

- a category for Young Poets aged 14 - 18 years

1st Feb 5pm GMT deadline for the Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine
The 2013 Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine  has a  £5000 1st prize both in a UK NHS category and an Open International category.  Judges are poet Jo Shapcott, science writer and Science Museums Director Roger Highfield, and medical doctor and writer Theodore Dalrymple.

There have been entries to date for 2013 Hippocrates awards from 16 countries in North America, Europe, Africa, South Asia and Australasia.

The Hippocrates Prize is for unpublished poems in English on a medical theme, up to 50 lines, in addition to the title and lines between verses.
Entries are online.

1st March deadline for the Hippocrates Prize for Young Poets
Also two months until the 1st March 2013 deadline for the new Hippocrates Prize for Young Poets which has a £500 1st prize.

The Hippocrates Prize for Young Poets - judged by poet Claire Pollard - is for unpublished poems in English on a medical theme, up to 50 lines, in addition to the title and lines between verses.

For the Hippocrates Prize for Young Poets  entries are online and poets should be aged 14 to 18 years old on the 1st March 2013 submission deadline. Entries for this new prize may either be made by individual young poets, or on their behalf by parents, schools or colleges.

Palazzo Ca' Pesaro Papafava in the heart of Venice

Saturday 21st - Sunday 22nd September 2013, Venice: Hippocrates workshop on Poetry and Medicine 
The Hippocrates in Venice workshop will consist of lectures, breakout sessions, round table discussions on the interface between poetry and medicine, both from a humanities perspective and from the perspectives of health professionals, patients and poets.
The venue is the 15th Century Palazzo Ca' Pesaro Papafava in the heart of old Venice, Italy.
To express interest in attending, email the organisers.

Saturday 18th May 2013, London: International Symposium on Poetry and Medicine
The Symposium will take place at the Wellcome Collection rooms in London. Abstract submission and registration is currently open for the symposium, which will include poster sessions, lectures, round table discussions and poetry readings by 2013 Hippocrates Awards judge: poet Jo Shapcott. There will be sessions on historical and contemporary themes, illness and poetry, poetry as therapy, poetry in the education of medical students, nurses and doctors, and poetry as an aid to health professionals.

Wellcome Collection, London

The programme of lectures, round table discussions, poetry readings and the Hippocrates Awards Ceremony will be published on the Symposium website. The winners and commended entrants will be announced by the judges at the end of the 4th International Symposium on Poetry and Medicine.

The 2013 Symposium Faculty includes: Theodore Dalrymple (Doctor and writer; 2013 Hippocrates Prize Judging Panel); Michael Hulse (Speaker and Chair; Writing Programme, Warwick):Roger Highfield (Director of External Affairs, Science Museum Group, London: 2013 Hippocrates Prize Judging Panel); Anne Hudson Jones (Speaker: Harris L Kempner Professor in Humanities in Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston); Hugues Marchal (Speaker: Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literature, Basel University, Switzerland); Femi Oyebode (Psychiatrist, University of Birmingham); Jo Shapcott (Poet, Royal Holloway College, London; 2013 Hippocrates Prize Judging Panel); Donald Singer (Speaker and Chair; Warwick Medical School).