Kidney Punch

A funding model that works (for me)

John Pickering • Sep 26, 2014

• acute care,
• Canterbury District Health Board,
• Canterbury Medical Research Foundation,
• Emergency Care Foundation,
• Emergency Department,
• my work,
• science funding,
• translational research

I’ve been a strong critic of the bias towards project rather than people based funding in public grants for science research.  Now, I celebrate being the recipient of people based funding thanks to a combined initiative of the Emergency Care Foundation, the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation, and the Canterbury District Health Board. What has transpired is … Continue reading → … Read More

It’s all about the math, dummy!

John Pickering • Sep 18, 2014

• election,
• electoral commission,
• electoral maths,
• Fun,
• mathematics,
• Overhang,
• Party vote,
• Vote2014NZ,
• Wasted vote

No one understands the electoral maths of the NZ electoral system including the electoral commission apparently. Last night I put the latest figures from the “Poll of Polls” into the electoral commission calculator and I discovered the calculator was broken! I put the figures in with United Future winning one electorate seat, but when it crunched … Continue reading → … Read More

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World Science Week: Where are we in the world?

John Pickering • Aug 26, 2014

• budget,
• Green Party,
• Labour Party,
• National Party,
• OECD,
• OECD countries Research and Development expenditure,
• Research and Development,
• United Future,
• World Science Week

It’s World Science Week.  So, where are we in the science world?  One measure showing our commitment to science is our expenditure on R&D.  If we compare ourselves to the other OECD countries, we see that we are right at the bottom of the pile at 1.27% of GDP and have recently been overtaken by Hungary. … Continue reading → … Read More

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Policy our lives depend on: Health research in election 2014

John Pickering • Aug 21, 2014

• ACT,
• election,
• greens,
• Health Policy,
• Internet Mana,
• Labour Party,
• Maori Party,
• National Party,
• New Zealand First,
• politics,
• research,
• United Future

We all care about health – ours, our family’s, and even that of one or two politicians (perhaps). We also care that the 15 billion dollar annual health budget is spent on health care that works.  I contend that both these cares are only as good as the health research that underpins the treatments we receive.  Therefore, … Continue reading → … Read More

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Cheesecake files: A stadium full

John Pickering • Aug 06, 2014

• Acute Kidney Injury,
• Biomarkers,
• kidney,
• Kidney Attack,
• my work,
• Urine

As we’ve been enjoying the World Cup and the Commonwealth Games my latest cheesecake appeared in print online. The topic once more is Kidney Attack biomarkers – those pesky little proteins in the urine that appear when your kidney is injured.  This time I have been getting stuck into some math (sorry) to try and … Continue reading → … Read More

HRC success in Christchurch

John Pickering • Jun 09, 2014

• Christhchurc,
• grants,
• Health,
• Health Research Council,
• medicine,
• University of Otago

The Health Research Council announced Programme and Project grant recipients.  Here’s the list from the Christchurch campus of the University of Otago in which I get a brief mention :).  If others have abstracts of successful grants they’d like posted on this blog, then please let me know. *****Update: It’s come to my attention that this … Continue reading → … Read More

$20bn for Medical Research!

John Pickering • May 15, 2014

• $100Dialysis,
• Australia,
• budget,
• future fund,
• HRC,
• medical research,
• NHMRC,
• Tony Abbott

Alas, not in New Zealand, but close … our Australian counterparts in medical research appear on the face of it to have scored big in what appears otherwise to be a grim Australian budget.  An AUD$20bn medical research “future fund” is to be established. This effectively means that by 2022-3 there will be twice the … Continue reading → … Read More

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Does being unconscious mean you should miss out?

John Pickering • May 14, 2014

• Acute Kidney Injury,
• clinical trial,
• Coma,
• Critically Ill,
• ethics,
• Intensive Care Unit,
• research,
• The Auckland Herald

The front page of the Herald this morning questions the participation of unconscious patients in clinical trials. While I understand Auckland Women’s Health Council co-ordinator Lynda Williams unease, I also detected a failure to understand the process of how progress in medicine is made. First, all research in such cases is approved by ethics committees which include … Continue reading → … Read More

Oh hell

John Pickering • Apr 16, 2014

• Acute Coronary Syndrome,
• Cardiac Arrest,
• Chest Pain,
• ed,
• Emergency Department,
• Emergency Room,
• ER,
• Heart Attack,
• Myocardial Infarction

Oh Hell, that hurts!  I sat down in a hurry. My first thought was “I’m having a heart attack.”  My second was “Don’t be silly you’re only 49 and probably just gobbled lunch too quickly, again.”  Jess came up to me and said “Gosh, you look pale.”  I mumbled something about a bit of pain.  … Continue reading → … Read More

A day to celebrate

John Pickering • Mar 13, 2014

• $100Dialysis,
• Dialysis,
• Home dialysis,
• kidney,
• Nephrology,
• pee,
• Urine,
• Wearable Artificial Kidney,
• World Kidney Day

If it weren’t for your kidneys where would you be? You’d be in the hospital or infirmary, If you didn’t have two functioning kidneys. (with apologies to John Clarke aka Fred Dagg) Happy World Kidney Day everyone. This blog started off life as $100 Dialysis because I believe that if we can make a computer … Continue reading → … Read More