Kidney Punch

Publication police and how to choose where to publish

John Pickering • Nov 03, 2014

• journal,
• open access,
• open access journal,
• publish,
• research funding

“I confess, I published behind a paywall.  I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t want to, but but but I’m almost out of funds and and …..”             Publication Police files, Nov.3 2024 Will peer pressure eventually lead to discrimination against those who publish behind a paywall?  Is it now […] … Read More

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

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

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

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

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