This theme issue, based on a Royal Society Discussion Meeting held in April 2014, is a celebration, a reflection and a prediction. To start, we celebrate the memory of Ross Granville Harrison FRS who first showed a century ago that chicken embryo nerve cells could be grown outside the animal [1]. This was the invention needed to begin the animal cell culture industry. Adhesion to a substrate wa...

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic form of arthritis that attacks the spine, causing the vertebrae to fuse, resulting in loss of normal curvature, as well as affecting other joints and organs. New findings concerning the genetic basis of the disease could lead to novel therapies for the condition, which is thought to affect around one in 200 men and one in 500 women, usually developing du...

Over the past few years, there has been mounting concern that much of what is perceived as ‘cutting-edge’ research in the biological sciences cannot readily be reproduced or translated into new avenues for further development (1–3). One contributing factor to this problem may be that the scientific establishment disproportionately rewards investigators who publish their results in ‘prestige’ jo...

We studied the normal spread of excitation on the anterior and posterior ventricular surface of open-chest dogs by recording unipolar electrograms from an array of 1124 electrodes spaced 2 mm apart. The array had the shape of the ventricular surface of the heart. The electrograms were processed by a computer and displayed as epicardial equipotential maps at 1-msec intervals. Isochrone maps also...

Breakthrough pain is defined as the transient exacerbation of pain occurring in a patient with otherwise stable, persistent pain. It is estimated to affect over 50% of patients, particularly those with moderate to severe background pain. Breakthrough pain is one of the most difficult pain syndromes to treat. There are several types of breakthrough cancer pain: incidental type involves flares of...

Little is known about hepatitis C virus (HCV) breakthrough during antiviral therapy, although it would help in understanding HCV resistance to current antiviral treatments. To analyse the implication of virological factors and the vigour of humoral immune responses in this phenomenon, we studied nine chronic hepatitis C patients with a viral breakthrough during IFN/ribavirin combination therapy...

Breakthrough zygomycosis are increasingly reported life-threatening complications among patients with hematological malignancies, especially since the use of broad spectrum antifungal treatments like voriconazole. We report two cases of breakthrough zygomycosis after caspofungin exposure, with a review of literature.

OPINION STATEMENT Nocturnal acid breakthrough is misunderstood and infrequently requires treatment in everyday practice. There are important subgroups of patients in whom esophageal reflux occurs in the presence of nocturnal acid breakthrough in which treatment may be needed.

OBJECTIVES A breakthrough seizure is one occurring after at least 12 months seizure freedom while on treatment. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) allows an individual to return to driving once they have been seizure free for 12 months following a breakthrough seizure. This is based on the assumption that the risk of a further seizure in the next 12 months has dropped <20%. This ana...