Student BMJ articles from April 2002

Student BMJ archives from April 2002

Editor's choice.(Editorial)
April 1, 2002... I was always fascinated by the world of forensic medicine: I wanted to be the person in court; helping solve gruesome crimes, and getting involved in that "most fascinating sphere of police work." This glamorous image was no doubt thanks, in...

Undergraduate medicine's legal wrangle: teaching in forensic medicine is woefully lacking at undergraduate level and this has serious implications for us all. (Editorials).
April 1, 2002... Forensic medicine is the medical specialty that links medicine with the law, incorporating forensic pathology (a subspecialty of histopathology) and clinical forensic medicine. Over the past 50 years forensic medicine as an academic subject...

Come join the good samaritans. (Editorials).(Editorial)
April 1, 2002... Planning to leave the UK for your elective? Or perhaps you're staying domestic. No matter where you are, would you and should you intervene to help in an unexpected situation? Anahita Kirkpatrick, a senior medicolegal adviser with the Medical...

Between a rock and a hard place: helping medical students cope with the rigours of undergraduate training. (Editorials).
April 1, 2002... Much has been published about the stress and hardship endured by medical students during their undergraduate training. Several determinants of this stress have been investigated, such as financial hardship, relationship difficulties, and...

Students protest in London over loans. (News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Thousands of students descended on London last March to urge Tony Blair to scrap student loans. An estimated 15 000 people marched along the high profile route past the House of Parliament and 10 Downing Street, culminating in a rally in...

Nottingham is most popular university, say UCAS. (News).(University and Colleges Admissions Service report)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Nottingham has overtaken Leeds as the most popular university in Britain. Official figures published by the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show that it is attracting more applications than any other higher education...

Increasing incidence of sexually transmitted infections in UK. (News).
April 1, 2002... A dramatic increase in sexually transmitted infections in the UK has created a desperate need for more sexual education in schools and specialist clinics for young people according to a new report. The report, Sexually transmitted...

Bush moves to tighten security around scientific research. (News).(George W. Bush United States)
April 1, 2002... In the wake of the anthrax attacks last October (BMJ 2001;323:942,951), the Bush administration has been taking measures to improve secrecy about science research, in the hope of keeping biological weapons out of hostile hands. The move...

Sweaty palms could be inherited. (News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The unfortunate affliction of a slimy handshake may be genetic and not-as previously thought-a sign of nervousness. American scientists from the University of California at Los Angeles found that people with sweaty plains have a 28% chance of...

Too much sleep can kill. (News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Excessive sleeping may increase your risk of an early death by up to 15%, according to a new analysis of data collected on one million people by the American Cancer Society. The figures cast doubt on the reputed benefits of eight hours' sleep...

Creative consulting: psychoneuroimmunology, the mindbody. (Education).
April 1, 2002... Traditionally, medicine has kept the mind separate from the body. Now things are changing as people realise that the psyche and the soma are constantly interacting. In the sixth article in our series, David Reilly and Tansy Harrison look at...

Iron: keeping blood healthy; in the seventh article in our series on nutrition, Sarah Schenker explains how iron is essential to keep our bodies running smoothly and how to make sure you are getting enough. (Education).(nutrition; includes article on anaemia development)
April 1, 2002... The body has a requirement for iron because of the central role that it plays in energy metabolism and in the production of red blood cells (erythropoesis). Iron is a transition metal and takes part in redox processes--for example, reduction...

Abdominal x rays made easy: normal radiographs. (Education).
April 1, 2002... Understanding x ray films is something that all clinical students should get to grips with. Starting out as a doctor, you will not need to be an expert but you will need to know the basics. Ian Bickle and Barry Kelly present the first part of...

Hidden confusion: the options for treating asthma: asthma treatment involves a bewildering array of factors. Daniel Aston tries to clear a way through the quagmire that is inhalers, guidelines, drugs, and more. (Education).
April 1, 2002... For a respiratory consultant who sees patients with asthma every day it is probably second nature to prescribe a "Ventolin metered dose inhaler with a Volumatic spacer." They will know that the patient will soon be happily inhaling salbutamol...

Careers in forensic and legal medicine. (Careers).
April 1, 2002... Forensic medicine is often seen as a glamorous yet morbid field of work, a myth perpetuated by television stars like the notorious Quincy, ME. but it's not all solving crimes and post mortems. richard jones and roy palmer describe the...

How to perform well at interview: Sarah Burnett gives some tips on how to shine. (Careers).
April 1, 2002... If your curriculum vitae has impressed the selectors (1) the day will come when you have to attend for interview. The principles are not so different from those for the interviews you may have had to get into medical school, but for a job,...

Kypros Nicolaides: the BBC star and pioneer of fetal medicine talks to Clare Hughes about his success and how he climbed the career ladder. (Profile).(Interview)
April 1, 2002... Professor Kypros Nicolaides is the star of BBC1's Life before birth, a two part documentary shown earlier this year. It showed Kypros battling to save the lives of seriously ill fetuses by transfusing platelets and laser treating a lung...

Grim glamour: what is forensic pathology like as a career? (Careers).(Rob Chapman)(Interview)
April 1, 2002... Rob Chapman is one of the few full time Home Office accredited forensic pathologists in practice in England and Wales. He agreed to be interviewed by Richard Jones via mobile phone, having just finished a postmortem examination after a...

Influenza vaccination rates and informed consent in Dutch nursing homes: survey of nursing home physicians. (Papers).
April 1, 2002... Influenza is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among residents of nursing homes. (1) Many nursing homes therefore aim at high vaccination rates. To meet this aim some homes use tacit consent policies, in which the vaccine is given...

Vitamin C: perfect prophylaxis? Helen Barratt wonders if vitamin C really does help sort out that all too common illness, the cold. (Life).
April 1, 2002... Every winter, at the slightest sign of a sniffle, my mother whips out the "extra strength" vitamin C tablets and stands over us while we take them. She is convinced that they provide all the protection we need from coughs and colds. Any...

Learning from history: the value of a BSc in the history of medicine. (Life).(Andrew Moscrop medical student U.K.)(Column)
April 1, 2002... "Can anyone tell me who invented the stethoscope?" The consultant peered over his half moon lenses, from beneath a pair of bushy grey brows, surveying the medical students shuffling awkwardly in front of him. We were silent. We could not tell...

Lauren Roche: former prostitute Lauren Roche took a long and difficult path to becoming a doctor. She tells Ruth Little how she overcame abuse, drugs, and alcohol and is now a general practitioner and author. (Profile).
April 1, 2002... "I finished medical school in November 1991. Only ten years earlier I was working as a prostitute," writes Lauren Roche in part two of her autobiography: this New Zealander has overcome incredible obstacles to achieve her dream of becoming a...

High tech heaven in Japan. (Life).(medical internships in Japan)
April 1, 2002... Japan is renowned for having an ancient and elegant culture, steeped in tradition and history. It is also a wealthy and busy country with, to the Western eye, some unique quirks. With all of this comes a range of health problems. Philip...

Planning your elective--Japan: Mark Wilson discusses the healthcare system in Japan and gives you some tips. (Life).
April 1, 2002... Situated in the north Pacific, and composed of four main islands, Japan has a health care system to be proud of. Its success reflects its economic prosperity over the past 50 years. Despite this, Japan is not a popular elective destination...

Bent not Broken. (Reviews).(Book Review)
April 1, 2002... Lauren Roche Zymurgy Publishing, [pounds sterling]6.99, pp 267 ISBN 1 903 50602 6 Rating: **** Most doctors I know started medical school straight after school or after undergraduate study. A New Zealander named Lauren Roche...

A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities. (Reviews).(Book Review)
April 1, 2002... Jan Bondeson IB Tauris, [pounds sterling]12.95 ISBN 1 86064 228 4 Rating: ***** Ever since the clash of medicine and science, around the beginning of the last century, things have not been quite the same. How do I know?...

Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers. (Reviews).(Book Review)
April 1, 2002... Michael Baden and Marion Roach Simon & Schuster, [pounds sterling]25.00 ISBN 0684867583 Rating: **** As with sex and psychology, we all know something about death. Michael Baden and Marion Roach are expert forensic...

Bodies. (Reviews).(Book Review)
April 1, 2002... Jed Mercurio Jonathan Cape, 2002, [pounds sterling]10.99 ISBN 0224061976 Rating: *** Written in the first person, Bodies follows the journey of a graduate, straight out of medical school, through his preregistration year...

Saving Faces: portraits by Mark Gilbert. (Reviews).(National Portrait Gallery, London/Leeds City Art Gallery/Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, U.K.)
April 1, 2002... National Portrait Gallery, London, 27 February until 21 April 2002, open daily l0 am to 6 pm and until 9pm on Thursday and Friday, admission free Leeds City Art Gallery, July-August 2002 Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter,...

A day in the life of a stalker's victim: being stalked can send people dipping into the realms of paranoia, and they come to realise that uncertainty is here to stay. (Personal View).(diary)(Column)
April 1, 2002... I expect that under anyone's serene exterior lie untold secrets. Mine relate to my stalker. Superficially, the humdrum of life continues, with routine largely unruffled. Underneath, however, even though my stalker interferes far less in a...

Doctor who? (Soundings).(James Thomas medical student U.K.)(Column)
April 1, 2002... A patient is spouting some incoherent babble, the GP is trying to tease some sense Out of them, and behind him I'm using every iota of mid morning energy to keep my eyes open. I casually wonder if I'm creasing my shirt more than necessary so...

Magnetic resonance. (Minerva).(prenatal alcohol exposure in children)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Magnetic resonance scans showed a number of structural brain abnormalities in 17 children with school problems who had been exposed to alcohol in utero. Deviations in the development of the vermis were the most sensitive indicator of prenatal...

Liver metastases. (Minerva).(diagnostic research)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Liver metastases associated with gastrointestinal malignancies tend to present late, and radiological investigations can give false negative results in the early stages. Looking for a simple laboratory technique to detect liver metastases,...

Antinuclear antibodies, commonly associated with autoimmune diseases. (Minerva).(may be used as test in coronary atherosclerosis)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Antinuclear antibodies, commonly associated with autoimmune diseases, may in future join other tests for coronary atherosclerosis. Unaware of the artery status of 70 people, two observers scored positively for the antibodies. Of those with...

The outcome of medical negligence cases depends on the skills of the expert. (Minerva).(United Kingdom research)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The outcome of medical negligence cases depends on the skills of the expert witness in court in explaining the scientific facts or uncertainties involved (British Journal of Surgery 2002;8:134-7). Two similar UK court cases of accidental...

Swiss university hospital. (Minerva).(implicit medical care rationing to elderly)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Implicit rationing of medical care for people over 75 has been uncovered in a Swiss university hospital. Of 406 consecutive patients admitted with acute cardiac problems (for which there are well established, evidence based management...

Radiofrequency ablation. (Minerva).(snoring cure research)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Radiofrequency ablation of the soft palate to cure snoring caused by palatal vibration has recently come into vogue. It's associated with less morbidity than either surgery or laser treatment, but it's an expensive technique and little is...

BMJ readers. (Minerva).(Health Information Forum, www.inasp.info/health/index.htmk#3)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... BMJ readers are invited to "work with others to improve access to information for health professionals in developing countries." The Health Information Forum is a series of practical meetings held in London, organised by the International...

Removing indwelling urinary catheters at midnight seems. (Minerva).(to offer health care advantages)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Removing indwelling urinary catheters at midnight seems to offer appreciable advantages over the conventional practice of removing them at 6 am. A prospective randomised trial of removal of catheter at midnight and 6 am found that patients...

Social mores may be contributing to the re-emergence of syphilis in Britain. (Minerva).(investigation)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Social mores may be contributing to the re-emergence of syphilis in Britain. An investigation of one recent outbreak of syphilis found that most of the infected participants were homosexual men who bad unprotected oral sex. Asking partners to...

A nurse led chronic pain clinic. (Minerva).(gastropathy (54%) side effect when taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... A nurse led chronic pain clinic set up to help general practitioners in Belfast revealed that 54% of patients taking regular non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were at risk of gastropathy from their medication. These patients were over 60...

Helicobacter pylori. (Minerva).(antibiotics research)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Compliance with eradication therapy for Helicobacter pylori might improve with shorter courses. A new short term quadruple therapy regimen of amoxicillin, clarithromycin, and lansoprazole or ranitidine for five days (or the same...