Screening for drug-resistant tuberculosis Rapid tests are needed to prevent the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis. This study compares non-commercial microscopic-observation drug susceptibility and thin layer agar assays. Article The Lancet Infectious Diseases (online September 1) Full text| PDF

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Two genome-wide association studies, one in international cohorts and one based in Finland, investigate genetic variation associated with risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Reflection and Reaction The Lancet Neurology (online August 31) Full text| PDF

Duchenne muscular dystrophy A randomised trial tests whether ciclosporin A given alone or in combination with steroids improves muscle strength in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Article The Lancet Neurology (online August 27) Full text| PDF

• Health-systems strengthening: current and future activities
  Comment The Lancet (online September 3)
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• EMF directive still poses a risk to MRI research in Europe
  Comment The Lancet (online September 3)
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• The CURRENT-OASIS 7 trial
  Article The Lancet (online September 1)
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• Sucrose for pain relief in babies
  Article The Lancet (online September 1)
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• Ivabradine and chronic heart failure (SHIFT)
  Article The Lancet (online August 29)
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• Heart rate as risk factor for chronic heart failure (SHIFT)
  Article The Lancet (online August 29)
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Scientists in the USA, including National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins, are in shock after a federal district court issued an injunction on President Barack Obama’s rules on embryonic stem cell research. Obama had lifted restrictions placed on a previous amendment by former President George W Bush. Collins said the court decision “pours sand into the engine of discovery”.

Bolivia has declared a health alert in La Paz after a 14-year-old boy died from bubonic plague. The disease has killed three people in neighbouring Peru in the past 2 months. Health controls and programmes for disease prevention have been intensified in the area in an attempt to prevent the disease from spreading.

The US Food and Drug Administration has released two documents to help chain restaurants comply with new federal requirements for nutrition labelling. Under the new law, food establishments with 20 or more locations will be required to provide calorie and nutritional information for menu items, food on display, and self-service food.

China’s top legislature has, for the first time, dropped the death penalty for 13 non-violent economic crimes such as smuggling of cultural relics and faking of tax receipts, in the latest amendment to the Criminal Law. The revision would cut the 68 crimes at present punishable by death by about a fifth to 55.

More This Week in Medicine:

• Design for poverty
• UK NHS inundated with complaints
• Sexual health in Fiji
• Mumbai malaria
• Hypertension in pregnancy
• trike “threatens health”
• World Water Week
• Cuba cuts cigarette subsidy

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2.	HDL cholesterol and residual risk of first cardiovascular events after treatment with potent statin therapy: an analysis from the JUPITER trial Article (2010) Lancet 376 (9738), pp. 333-339 Full text| PDF
3.	Ulipristal acetate versus levonorgestrel for emergency contraception: a randomised non-inferiority trial and meta-analysis Article (2010) Lancet 375 (9714), pp. 555-562 Full text| PDF
4.	Celecoxib versus omeprazole and diclofenac in patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis (CONDOR): a randomised trial Article (2010) Lancet 376 (9736), pp. 173-179 Full text| PDF
5.	Risk factors for ischaemic and intracerebral haemorrhagic stroke in 22 countries (the INTERSTROKE study): a case-control study Article (2010) Lancet 376 (9735), pg. 112-123 Full text| PDF

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“Since more than 7 million individuals are estimated to be infected [with Chagas disease], unrestricted treatment of such a large population has epidemiological and public health consequences of paramount proportions...”

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