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There is no perfect recipe to balance work and life in academic research. Everyone has to find their own optimal balance to derive fulfilment from life and work. [Image: see text]

There is disagreement between the American and the European guidelines for hypertension management in regard to the optimal blood pressure target in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Randomized clinical trials and meta‐analyses of individual patient data pooled from these trials do not clearly support an intensive blood pressure target for the entire population of CKD patients with hypertension. However, some evidence suggests that in CKD patients with proteinuria strict blood pressure control might confer benefit in terms of renal outcome. Tailored treatment strategy based on the individual’s proteinuric profile and tolerability along with standardization of blood pressure measurement methodology including out‐of‐office evaluation are of paramount importance in patients with CKD.

My father passed away at 102 years old. He lived, aged, and died well. But that is rare in the United States and globally. The World Health Organization defines palliative care “throughout the life course” as improving quality of life for patients and families and relieving pain and suffering, while paying special attention to physical, psychosocial, and spiritual functioning. That’s the global vision, but then there’s the reality. Palliative care, in practice, has been little more than pain relief at life’s end — and in much of the world, not even that. We need to reimagine palliation, embracing a communal or relational ethics of caring for the whole person, embedded in families and communities. What would healthy living, aging, and dying in a just society look like?

Surrogate endpoints for clinical proof of concept (POC) trials in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are based upon expert pathological review of liver biopsies. During early development, these long-term POC studies (≥48 weeks) add cost and time to the "Go/No Go" decision process. However, it is possible to conduct short-term noninvasive POC studies utilizing biomarkers and magnetic resonance imaging. Here, we discuss the use of shorter noninvasive POC studies relative to biopsy-driven studies for drug development in NASH.

Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) are synthetic, psychoactive drugs that are generally not under international regulatory control. NPS are frequently sold as alternatives to classic "street drugs" such as ecstasy or LSD. However, little is known about their pharmacology and toxicity and they therefore pose unknown health risks. Further, risk for harms are elevated because users often do not know what they are taking, and therefore cannot predict dose, potency, or other potential properties.

Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit substance among youth. Recent policy developments and ongoing debate related to this drug underscore the urgent need to “clear the smoke” and better understand what the scientific evidence says about the health and behavioral effects of cannabis use, particularly on youth whose brains are undergoing rapid and extensive development.

Information given in previous Opinions “Welfare of cattle kept for beef production” (SCAHAW, 2001) and “The risks of poor welfare in intensive calf farming systems” (EFSA, 2006) is updated and recent scientific evidence on the topics reviewed. Risks of poor welfare are identified using a structured analysis, and issues not identified in the SCAHAW (2001) beef Opinion, especially effects of housing and management on enteric and respiratory diseases are reviewed. The Opinion covers all systems of beef production, although the welfare of suckler cows or breeding bulls is not considered. The Chapter on beef cattle presents new evidence and recommendations in relation to heat and cold stress, mutilations and pain management, digestive disorders linked to high concentrate feeds and respiratory disorders linked to overstocking, inadequate ventilation, mixing of animals and failure of early diagnosis and treatment. Major welfare problems in cattle kept for beef production, as identified by risk assessment, were respiratory diseases linked to overstocking, inadequate ventilation, mixing of animals and failure of early diagnosis and treatment, digestive disorders linked to intensive concentrate feeding, lack of physically effective fibre in the diet, and behavioural disorders linked to inadequate floor space, and co‐mingling in the feedlot. Major hazards for white veal calves were considered to be iron‐deficiency anaemia, a direct consequence of dietary iron restriction, enteric diseases linked to high intakes of liquid feed and inadequate intake of physically effective fibre, discomfort and behavioural disorders linked to inadequate floors and floor space.