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BioMed Central Update Share this update      Important news Call for proposals: Get involved with #SpotOn17 This years’ SpotOn conference, hosted by BioMed Central, Nature Research & Digital Science, will be held at the Crick Institute on Saturday, 18 November with the theme ‘What makes a great researcher: tools and skills’. SpotOn17 will be a dynamic, highly interactive meeting of researchers, science communicators, technologists, and those interested in science policy. Get involved with the conference, and add your ideas, in this Google doc. #scidata17: Better Science through Better Data Following the success of last year's event, Better Science through Better Data (#scidata17) is back on 25thOctober for a day of talks and demos exploring how open research is put into practice. The journal Scientific Data and our parent publisher, Springer Nature, are again partnering with the Wellcome Trust to stage the event, which will cover the benefits, unintended consequences and practicalities of collecting, managing and publishing research data. The event will focus on the needs of early career researchers to help them and their research community make the best use of their research data. Tickets will be available herefrom 4th September. Enter our “Research in Progress” photography competition Entries are still open for BMC’s first ever "Research in Progress" photography competition. We're looking for images that reflect innovation and curiosity from the perspective of our research communities. The winners will receive a cash prize and become part of the new look of BMC, with their photos featured on our website and printed materials. Don't miss to enter by September 17th. Visit our blog for more info. New guidance for reporting patient and public involvement in research There is growing evidence of the benefits of patient and public involvement and engagement in research to ensure that it is asking the right questions and is usable in practice. However, reporting of patient and public engagement in research is often less than adequate. Co-Editors-in-Chief of Research Involvement and Engagement, Sophie Staniszewska and Richard Stephens, discuss the first international guidance for reporting patient and public involvement in research, co-published in Research Involvement and Engagementand The BMJ. BMC at Planet Earth Institute Spotlight Seminar Dr. Diana Marshall, Publisher of the BMC series journals, discussed the importance of open access to research for public health development at the PEI Spotlight Seminar on 4th July. Addressing the topic “The Future of Public Health in Africa,” Dr Marshall pointed out that open access journals allow researchers and medical practitioners in low-income countries to learn about the latest research trends and novel experimental approaches. A recent example is an article by Kwaku Poku Asante et al, examining knowledge of antibiotic resistance and prescription practices in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. News from our journals Journal of Eating Disorders - Call for Papers The Journal of Eating Disorders is currently accepting manuscript submissions to its new thematic series, "Exercise and Eating Disorders: Raising the bar in the treatment of over-exercise in people with AN." Exercise is an important determinant of outcomes in eating disorders and its restriction in treatments is often strongly resisted and poorly understood. This call is for papers on all aspects of compulsive exercise in eating disorders and especially those that address its management. The editors invite submissions before 31st December 2017. Further information can be found here. Special issue on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Services and HIV: Call for papers You are invited to submit to a special supplement issue on the Integration of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Services (SRHR) and HIV Prevention, Treatment, and Care Services across Sub-Saharan Africa. Selected papers will be published in BMC Infectious Diseases, BMC Public Health and Reproductive Health. The goal of this open access special supplement issue is to provide a forum for the discussion of the history, present state, and trajectory of the integration of SRHR and HIV responses in Sub Saharan Africa. Full details, including how to submit manuscripts, can be found here. BioMed Central in the news Removal of invasive shrub could be an easy way to help reduce malaria transmission Removing the flowers of an invasive shrub from mosquito-prone areas might be a simple way to help reduce malaria transmission, this study published in Malaria Journal suggests. Removing the flowers from villages in Mali decreased the local mosquito vector population by nearly 60%. The research generated significant global coverage with the majority of stories appearing in India and the USA. It was covered by IFL Science in Canada, KBC in Kenya, BBC News in the UK and PBS Newshour, Voice of America and STAT News in the US. NASA is studying fungi to keep space travelers safe on new worlds Human presence in closed habitats that may one day be used to explore other planets is associated with changes in the composition of the fungal community – the mycobiome – that grows on surfaces inside the habitat, according to a study published in Microbiome. The research attracted the attention of the international media. It was widely syndicated in the US and reported by outlets including GenomeWeb, Ars Technica, Smithsonian Magazine and Gizmodo. In the UK, it was covered by outlets including Daily Mail (print) and International Business Times. In India, it was reported by outlets including Times of India and it was also picked up by EFE in Spain and Cosmos Magazine in Australia. Tall men and obese men at higher risk of aggressive prostate cancer A study published in BMC Medicinesuggests that men who are tall and obese are at increased risk of high grade prostate cancer and prostate cancer death. The research was widely reported by national and international media. In the UK, it was covered by outlets including The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent and Daily Mail. It was widely syndicated in the US and reported by outlets including Fox News, Irish Times and The Australian. 9/11 survivors may be at increased risk of heart and lung disease years later Research published in Injury Epidemiologysuggests that people who were exposed to the dust cloud or sustained physical injuries during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001 may be at increased long-term risk of asthma, other respiratory diseases and heart attack. In the US, the research was covered by Associated Press from where it was syndicated widely to local outlets. It was also reported by Reuters in the UK, by CBC in Canada, by ABC.es in Spain and widely syndicated in India. Fake news: study tests people’s ability to detect manipulated images of real-world scenes People can detect a fake image of a real-world scene only 60% of the time, and even then can only tell what is wrong with the image 45% of the time, according to research published in Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications. The article generated significant global coverage. It was picked up by several press agencies including Austrian Press Agency, DPA in Germany, SDA in Switzerland and Associated Press in the US, which led to wide syndication of the story. It was also covered by O Globoin Brazil, IFL Science in Canada, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung(print), Spiegel, and Süddeutsche Zeitung in Germany, Times of Indiaand The Hindu in India, Irish Examiner, La Repubblica in Italy, EFE in Spain, The Scotsman and Daily Mail in the UK, and by Science Magazine, FOX News, Los Angeles Times, Live Science and the Washington Post in the US. MRSA emerged years before methicillin was even discovered This study, published in Genome Biology, used some of the oldest MRSA isolates – which were identified over 50 years ago – to show that MRSA emerged long before the introduction of the antibiotic methicillin into clinical practice. The research caught the attention of the international media, including Scientific American and GenomeWeb in the US and International Business Times in the UK. Psychopaths are better at learning to lie, say researchers Published in Translational Psychiatry, this study suggests that individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits are better at learning to lie than individuals who show few psychopathic traits. The findings indicate that people with high psychopathic traits may not have a ‘natural’ capacity to lie better, but rather are better at learning to lie. The research was covered by outlets including IFL Science in Canada, El Mundo in Spain, The Independent and Daily Mail in the UK and Newsweek in the US where it was also syndicated to local outlets via Associated Press. Study highlights potential health consequences of selectively breeding German Shepherd Dogs According to this study published in Canine Genetics and Epidemiology, German Shepherd Dogs could be predisposed to health conditions such as arthritis because of the way they have been bred in recent decades. The research was reported in the UK by outlets including Daily Mail, Telegraph and The Times. International outlets that picked up the story included Gizmodo in the US and Australia and N-TV in Germany. Sugar-sweetened drinks and your metabolism The most-read blog across the BMC blog network in July was also the most-read blog posted on the BMC blog network to date. It accrued a total of 70,853 views. Author Shanon Casperson, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Research Biologist at the Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center, describes the findings of a new study published in BMC Nutrition that a combination of sugar sweetened drinks and a protein rich meal decreases metabolic efficiency, which can lead to more fat being stored. Following a press release by the BMC Comms team, the research was also widely reported by the international media. It was covered by IFL Science in Canada, Irish Independent and Irish Examiner, Daily Mail and The Times in the UK, and LiveScience in the US. Supplements BMC Public Health The policy landscape for Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) in South Asia Research Trials The COMET Handbook Reviews BMC Health Services Research Enhancing the depth and breadth of healthcare services in communities: insights, innovations, and applications Research BMC Medical Genomics Proceedings of the 5th iDASH Privacy and Security Workshop 2016 Research BMC Proceedings Reflections on ‘medical tourism’ from the 2016 Global Healthcare Policy and Management Forum Proceedings Health Research Policy and Systems People and research: improved health systems for West Africans, by West Africans Research BioMed Central on the Road European Society for Biomaterials 2017 Athens, Greece, 9/4/2017 European Society for Medical Oncology - ESMO Madrid, Spain, 9/8/2017 Open Access Tage 2017 Dresden, 9/11/2017 European Society of Pediatric Rheumatology Athens, Greece, 9/14/2017 2017 National Academic Conference for Cell Biology Xiamen, China, 9/26/2017 Best wishes, The BMC Update Team Follow BioMed Central:    For further information or enquiries please contact Customer Services at:info@biomedcentral.com. 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