Future Medicinal Chemistry, a journal published by Future Science Ltd., UK, has published a special focus issue dedicated to boron chemistry, with contributions from academic experts based in Europe, North America and Asia. This special focus issue is guest edited by PV Ramachandran (Purdue University), a Herbert Brown Professor and a leading expert in organoborane research.
The special focus issue is dedicated to the discussion of boron-containing molecules that can aid or act as stand alone therapies in the treatment of diseases. Particular attention has been given to boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), an area of active research for boron chemists for several decades. The issue also provides a forward-looking overview of current efforts, new insights and significant advances in the evaluation and future outlook on this emerging area of medicinal chemistry.
With a selection of absorbing articles including Reviews, Editorials and Preliminary Communications, this issue discusses bio-conjugates for imaging and therapy, boron-containing drug-delivery vehicles, as well as BNCT. In addition, an interview with Fred Hawthorne, one of the pioneers in BNCT research, provides a detailed insight to his research to date. Other additions include the use of antibacterial glycopeptide antibiotics conjugated with benzoxaboroles by Maria Preobrazhenskaya et al. (Gause Institute of New Antibiotics. B.), while an Editorial by Steve Westcott discusses the use of boron-containing capsaicin derivatives for the treatment of cancer.
STM publisher Elsevier, Netherlands, has announced the availability of the first in a series of issue briefs on evidence-based medicine (EBM). The issue brief, 'Building a Business Case for Evidence-Based Medicine,' reveals the urgent need for EBM, as identified in a roundtable discussion of healthcare industry thought leaders at the CMIO Leadership Forum: Transforming Healthcare Through Evidence-based Medicine, last fall in Chicago.
The roundtable discussion, which featured five physicians representing hospital and healthcare technology CMIOs, research directors and clinical professors, was convened by the developers of ClinicalKey, Elsevier's clinical insight engine designed to help physicians quickly locate accurate answers to their clinical questions. The issue brief, based on the roundtable, emphasises the need for a business case for EBM as a central necessity to enhancing the American healthcare system. According to findings highlighted within the brief, making the business case for EBM will not be attributed to a single event or destination, but will become more of a process or journey.
EBM is a long-term, problem-based learning process that involves conversion of information needs into focused questions; identification of the best evidence for answering a question; review of evidence for validity and clinical usefulness; application of results to clinical practice; and evaluation of how the evidence performs in clinical applications. Identified within this brief are opportunities and strategies that will assist the healthcare system through the EMB journey.
The issue brief is available for download at http://ckey.co/ckebmbiz. Subsequent briefs will focus on EBM implementation and the future of EBM.
Open access publisher BioMed Central, UK, has announced the launch of the Journal of Therapeutic Ultrasound in partnership with the Focused Ultrasound Foundation and the International Society for Therapeutic Ultrasound.
Therapeutic ultrasound is a fast growing field and all parties involved believe that having a dedicated open access journal in this area can only speed up the development and eventual adoption of this important clinical tool by the wider medical community.
The Journal of Therapeutic Ultrasound encompasses all aspects of therapeutic ultrasound, namely, the stimulus, inhibition, or modification of tissue function or structure via insonification. Led by Editors-in-Chief Arik Hananel, Focused Ultrasound Foundation, USA and Robert Muratore, Quantum Now LLC, USA, with an international editorial board consisting of the best in the field of focused ultrasound, this open access, peer-reviewed, online journal focuses mainly on translational and clinical research.
The launch edition includes two research articles. One looks at the impact of vaporized nanoemulsions on ultrasound-mediated ablation. If these results can be replicated in the clinic, microbubbles could improve the efficiency of high intensity ultrasound treatment of solid tumors. An editorial on 'The Journal of Therapeutic Ultrasound - broadening knowledge in a rapidly growing field' by Editors-in-Chief Arik Hananel and Robert Muratore, is also featured.
All Article-Processing Charges (APC) for the journal are currently covered by the Focused Ultrasound Foundation.
Scientific publisher Nature Publishing Group (NPG), UK, has introduced new measures to improve the consistency and quality of reporting in the life sciences research published in the journals Nature and Nature Research. An editorial in Nature highlights the problems that result from publishers exerting insufficient scrutiny and failing to publish enough information for other researchers to assess the reliability of results.
It also announces measures to improve procedures at the Nature journals, including systematically ensuring the reporting of key methodological details, increasing the space given to methods sections, and examining statistics more closely.
Central to the initiative is a checklist that will prompt authors to disclose technical and statistical information in their submissions and encourage referees to consider aspects important for research reproducibility. It focuses on a small number of often-incompletely reported elements of experimental and analytical design that are crucial to the interpretation of research results. It also consolidates several existing policies about data deposition and presentation. In addition, the Nature journals will employ statisticians as consultants on certain papers, abolish length restrictions on methods sections and encourage authors to provide data underlying figures in papers.
The editorial concludes that 'tackling these issues is a long-term endeavour that will require the commitment of funders, institutions, researchers and publishers' and urges others to 'do whatever they can to improve research reproducibility'.
Open access publisher BioMed Central has launched a new open access journal, Journal of Molecular Psychiatry, with its first published articles.
The new journal aims to disseminate state-of-the-art research focussing on psychiatric conditions, their diagnosis, therapy and prevention, by providing a platform for the rapid communication of scientific work focussing on the elucidation of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders. The first articles to be published showcase the extensive range of topics covered in the journal. This includes a review discussing the use of post-mortem analysis of brain tissue as a possible tool to gain a deeper insight into the neurobiology of different psychiatric disorders, as well as an article reporting an investigation into the effect of Methylphenidate, a drug commonly used to treat ADHD, on neuronal stem cell differentiation.
Journal of Molecular Psychiatry will join BioMed Central's growing portfolio of psychiatry journals. The journal is supported by an expert Editorial Board.
