However, medical writing is not the same as ghostwriting. Ghostwriting is unethical. Medical writers can be legitimate contributors to the medical manuscript. Several international guidelines including the ICMJE guidelines require authors to acknowledge the contribution of medical writers in the published article. Medical writers whose name is publicly associated with the article in turn make an extra effort to ensure that all applicable publication ethics and style guidelines are adhered to. This article discusses the current international

guidelines about the acknowledgement of writing assistance. It also emphasizes on how acknowledging medical writing support can go a long way in curbing the HSP990 chemical structure menace of scientific misconduct including ghostwriting.”
“Aims To report on the use of multi-dose photodynamic therapy (PDT) in the treatment of posterior uveal melanoma. Methods

Prospective case series. 18 patients with posterior uveal melanoma were treated with a minimum of three sessions of PDT. Mean tumour thickness was 1.92 mm (median 1.75, range 0.5-4.4 mm) while the mean basal diameter Selleck C188-9 was 7.1 mm (median 6.3, range 5.2-11 mm). Patients were assessed for visual acuity, complications, tumour status and systemic metastases. Results In 16 cases, the tumour regressed with stable or improved vision in 15 patients (83%) over a mean follow-up period of 28 months (median 26.5, range 12-44 months). One patient developed an edge recurrence on two occasions ultimately requiring proton beam therapy while one patient showed no response to PDT before being successfully treated with proton beam therapy. Two patients Raf inhibition developed scleritis requiring a short course of systemic steroids. No patient developed metastatic disease in the study period. Conclusions Posterior uveal melanomas may be successfully treated with high dose PDT with retention of good vision in the majority of cases, at least in the short-term. Longer follow-up is required to see if these encouraging results are maintained.”
“In total, 120 British female hospice volunteers

completed the NEO five-factor inventory (NEO-FFI) of Costa Jr and McCrae.(1) The NEO-FFI measures the so-called big 5 personality traits of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Compared to both American NEO-FFI norms for adult females(1) and emerging British NEO-FFI norms for adult females,(2) the hospice volunteers scored significantly lower, on average, in neuroticism and significantly higher, on average, in agreeableness and conscientiousness. No significant differences were found on any of the 5 traits between the British female hospice volunteers’ scores and the NEO-FFI scores previously collected from a sample of Canadian female hospice palliative care volunteers.(3) Implications for the recruitment of British hospice volunteers are discussed.