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This article reports that one of the few pieces of unadulterated good news in medicine recently is the 100% success of one of the vaccines being developed to block human papillomavirus and hence cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is a horrible disease and many older general practitioners will remember the tragedies of women in their 40s and 50s who died a painful death from it, before it became less common. The family-values brigade have warned that the vaccine will encourage promiscuity if given to young girls.

The article focuses on sexual dysfunction in human beings. It is possible to learn to live with chronic illness, disability and even pain, with proper care and support from the medical profession. But one thing guaranteed to make a happy person miserable is the disruption of a satisfying sex life. Despite media hype to the contrary, there is no such thing as 'pink Viagra' to help women with flagging libidos. Many men are more troubled by premature ejaculation than erectile dysfunction. Sex, or lack of it, can make all the difference to a patient's well-being and relationships.

This article presents the author's views on the appraisal of clinical evidence for treatment of women with early stage of breast cancer with Herceptin. She says that Herceptin, already in use for women with metatastic breast cancer, is not yet licensed for early-stage cancer, much less appraised or approved by NICE. Despite positive results presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting earlier in 2005, manufacturer Roche has not yet applied for an extended licence. NICE has already agreed, unusually, to start its appraisal before any license is granted.

Presents an introduction to the articles published in the September 15, 2005 issue of the journal "Update."

The article presents corrections to several articles, which were published in previous issues of the journal "Update." In the author Roger Gadsby's article reviewing inhaled insulin, it was said that the preparation will not replace short-acting insulin taken with meals, the reverse is true that inhaled insulin will replace short-acting prandial insulin, but not long-acting injections. The author Chris Cates's article on statistical analysis used the example of a meta-analysis of long-acting beta agonists versus leukotriene receptor antagonists. 'Beta agonists' was wrongly replaced with 'beta blockers'.

Presents the author's comments on the history of medical progress. View that the history of medical progress is the history of eminent people being proved wrong; Focus on the story of hormone replacement therapy, which five years ago was celebrated as a panacea for women of a certain age; Report that treating hay fever with steroid injections has gone out of favor, but a new appraisal of the evidence suggests it is an effective and safe treatment for a debilitating condition.

In this article the author explains that he first heard of inhaled insulin when he was a reporter for another medical magazine, almost 10 years ago. Being new to the field, he wrote his story about this promising new technology and sat back, confidently expecting to see it on the market soon. This year, finally, it looks like this long-awaited development is ready to launch. Three inhaled insulin products are known to be in the pipeline and the first of these are promised by the end of this year, licensing authorities permitting.

This article discusses about the papers on asthma. After years in which little seemed to change, the past month has seen two new research papers that offer different ways of thinking about the disease. It has been accepted in the Great Britain that regular use of inhaled corticosteroids is the key to good asthma control. Yet research from the U.S.; where attitudes to steroids are more cautious; suggests patients with mild disease who take medication only when they feel they need it suffer no ill-effects.

Presents an introduction to the April 21, 2005, issue of the journal "Update."

Presents an introduction to the March 17, 2005 issue of the journal "Update."

This article reports that prescribing used to be a relatively straightforward business--doctor made diagnosis, doctor checked BNF, doctor wrote script, patient took tablets. The doctor did not have to deal with a patient who had checked their condition out on the Internet and found a brand new drug the doctor had never heard of, or read in the Daily Mail that the tablets they had just been prescribed were being withdrawn due to safety concerns. They are expected to keep up to date with everchanging evidence and advice, to make delicate risk assessments about individual patients based on these shifting sands--and then to make sense of it all for the confused patient.

The article presents the first issue of "Update" for 2005. This is started the year with a couple of brand new series: Summerton on the Art of Diagnosis and Garwood on Ethics and Medical Law. Both demonstrate the centrality of trust in the doctor-patient relationship. Doctors are probably more familiar with this than most and guard carefully their status as the most trusted professional group, demonstrated in survey after survey. The editors of the journal want to make clear the policy on accepting articles and they are publishing the criteria for authors writing for the journal. All articles are subject to independent peer review by the board of advisors.

Presents an introduction to various articles published in the December 2004 issue of the journal "Update."

In the article, the author provides information on the changes that have taken place in this issue of the journal "Update," and responds to several readers' comments on the journal. He informs about the results of a reader research program earlier this year. More than two-thirds of the readers said they would be happy to receive Update as a monthly journal, so the journal has taken the plunge. This also means much bigger issue sizes, to cover a wider range of topics in each issue. These aim to bring everything a reader need to know this month--hot research papers, news from NICE and the department of health, new products and more--in easily digestible snippets. The backbone of the magazine will, however, remain the in-depth clinical articles, written by experts in their field.

Presents an introduction to articles published in the October 2004, issue of "Update."

Presents an introduction to articles published in the October 2004, issue of "Update."

This article presents information about hypertension patients. Hypertension targets are now so low as to be unachievable for most ; patients, especially older people and those with diabetes. That was the stark claim of two general practice lecturers from the University of Aberdeen in the British Medical Journal recently. The law of diminishing returns means that dropping those all-important last few millimetres of mercury to target level will involve more effort for the physician and the patient than the initial drop when the first drug is prescribed. British Hypertension Society and NICE recommend different treatment strategies for the management of hypertension.

The article explains advantages of the periodical "Update." General practitioners see "Update" as a trusted source of knowledge, unlike much of the unsifted free information available on the Internet. One can cut out and keep articles, or file them in PDF folders. One can flick through "Update" in lunch hour, or read it on the train. The periodical is being made more responsive and interactive. A great example is the new interactive CD-ROM, which lets the readers work through different scenarios and treatment options for COPD.