This week in the BMJ
Volume 333, Number 7578, Issue of 25 Nov 2006Does birth weight affect school performance in twins?
This week in the BMJ
Does birth weight affect school performance in twins?
Ninth grade test scores did not differ between twins and singletons despite twins being on average 908 g lighter at birth say Christensen and colleagues (doi: 10.1136/bmj.38959.650903.7C) in their follow-up study of a Danish birth cohort. The authors examined the school performance of 3411 adolescent twins and 7796 randomly selected singletons and found that birth weight had a minimal impact on school performance when other factors were controlled for. Birth weight was positively associated with test score in both twins and singletons, but the effect was small.
![[To top]](/icons/back.gif){kind=icon}
This week in the BMJ
Teaching social leaders in Bulgaria about HIV prevention
HIV education targeted at social leaders of young Bulgarian Roma (Gypsy) men significantly reduced other men's self reported prevalence of unprotected sex, say Kelly and colleagues (doi: 10.1136/bmj.38992.478299.55). The authors assessed 286 men from 52 social networks for high risk sexual behaviour. They then randomised a group of social leaders to receiving an intervention that taught them how to communicate HIV prevention methods to peers, while other leaders received no intervention. The study identifies a useful tactic for intervening in a population that may be distrustful of outsiders.
This week in the BMJ
Remember to check for polyarticular septic arthritis
Septic arthritis can occur in more than one joint and the diagnosis should not be missed, say Christodoulou and colleagues (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39020.401331.68) in their lesson of the week. The authors reflect on their management of an elderly man who presented with painful swelling of both knees and a wrist, in whom a diagnosis of reactive arthritis was initially suspected. After the patient's condition worsened, pus was aspirated from the joints and cultured; this led to the discovery of a sinister underlying disease process.
This week in the BMJ
How to manage prostate cancer
Dietary interventions have no effect on death or disease-free survival in men with prostate cancer, say Wilt and Thompson (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39022.423588.DE) in a clinical review of the management of this condition. The authors discuss evidence regarding risk factors for prostate cancer and its prevention, detection, and treatment to help primary care clinicians answer patients' questions. Most men with this disease have no symptoms and their tumours are detected by routine rectal examination; however, the positive predictive value of this test is poor.
What's new
Keep updated
Services
Tools
Online poll
Resources
Print issues
