Postgraduate Medical Journal articles from August 2003

Postgraduate Medical Journal archives from August 2003

Please publish me: what do the editorial board and referees look for in papers submitted to the Postgraduate Medical Journal?(Editorial)
August 1, 2003... The Postgraduate Medical Journal is committed to ongoing medical education across the whole range of specialties and in many different countries. Clearly the requirements of clinicians vary with different settings. Will an epidemiologist in...

Urogenital infections in women: can probiotics help?(Review)
August 1, 2003... Urogenital infections not caused by sexual transmission, namely yeast vaginitis, bacterial vaginosis, and urinary tract infection remain a major medical problem in terms of the number of women afflicted each year. Although antimicrobial therapy...

Primary care management of carpal tunnel syndrome.(Review)
August 1, 2003... Carpal tunnel syndrome of mild to moderate severity can often be effectively treated in a primary care environment. Workplace task modification and wrist splints can reduce or defer referral to hospital for surgical decompression. Nerve and...

Chronic bullous dermatosis of childhood.(Images In Medicine)
August 1, 2003... A 6 year old boy, born of second degree consanguineous parents, presented with mildly itchy blisters all over his body of 20 days' duration. The skin lesions were present for 3-4 days and then ruptured spontaneously. Most of these lesions were...

Assessment and management of pain in infants.(Review)
August 1, 2003... Infants, including newborn babies, experience pain similarly and probably more intensely than older children and adults. They are also at risk of adverse long term effects on behaviour and development, through inadequate attention towards pain...

Is there an epidemic of HIV/AIDS among heterosexuals in the USA?(Review)
August 1, 2003... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, reports HIV infections and AIDS cases in the United States biannually. Trends in the distribution of HIV/AIDS cases according to sex, race or ethnic group, and various categories of...

Intra-articular therapy in osteoarthritis.(Review)
August 1, 2003... The medical literature was reviewed from 1968-2002 using Medline and the key words "intra-articular" and "osteoarthritis" to determine the various intra-articular therapies used in the treatment of osteoarthritis. Corticosteroids and...

Diabetic ketoacidosis in pregnancy.(Review)
August 1, 2003... The occurrence of diabetic ketoacidosis in pregnancy compromises both the fetus and the mother. It usually occurs in the later stages of pregnancy and is also seen in newly presenting type 1 diabetes patients. Despite improvement in its...

Aspects of higher training in emergency medicine.(Original Article)
August 1, 2003... Objectives: To devise and develop a structured questionnaire addressing important issues relating to specialist registrar training in emergency medicine in the UK, and to then administer this questionnaire nationally to higher trainees in order...

Regional survey of temporary transvenous pacing procedures and complications.(Original Article)
August 1, 2003... Objective: A prospective regional survey was carried out to describe the current practice of temporary transvenous pacing in five hospitals in the Wessex region and identify factors that predispose to complications. Methods: Data were...

Cushing's syndrome due to an adrenocortical carcinoma.(Images In Medicine)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... A 46 year old woman presented with a short history of hirsutism, facial plethora, amenorrhoea, progressive weight gain, and hypertension. Cushing's syndrome was suspected and confirmed biochemically. Urine free cortisol concentrations measured...

Objective evaluation of ERCP procedures: a simple grading scale for evaluating technical difficulty.(Original Article)
August 1, 2003... Background and objective: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is a technically demanding endoscopic procedure that varies from a simple diagnostic to a highly complex therapeutic procedure. Simple outcome measures such as...

Retrospective audit of the value of the pancreolauryl test in a district general hospital.(Audit)
August 1, 2003... Objectives: To audit the specificity and value of the pancreolauryl test (PLT) for the diagnosis of pancreatic insufficiency. Design: A retrospective case note review of 47 patients who had a PLT during three consecutive years. ...

Bilateral popliteal aneurysms complicating adult polycystic kidney disease in a patient with a marfanoid habitus.(Case Report)
August 1, 2003... A man born in 1944 presented with an episode of macroscopic haematuria during a urinary tract infection in 1988. He was unusually tall at 2 metres. An intravenous pyelogram and an abdominal ultrasound disclosed the presence of bilaterally...

New murmurs in patients with prosthetic heart valves.(Self Assessment Questions)
August 1, 2003... Answers on p 480. CASE 1 A 58 year old woman with previous replacement of a bicuspid aortic valve (size 23 St Jude Medical prosthesis) in 1994 for aortic stenosis, presented with a three week history of increasing shortness of breath....

An unusual cause of peripheral neuropathy in a diabetic patient on dialysis: "a sural surprise".(Self Assessment Questions)
August 1, 2003... Answers on p 480. Peripheral neuropathy is a common medical problem, with many potential aetiologies. (1) One of the commonest systemic diseases to cause a peripheral neuropathy is diabetes mellitus. (2 3) Patients with end stage renal...

Uncommon cause of hepatosplenomegaly in an immunocompetent patient.(Self Assessment Questions)
August 1, 2003... Answers on p 481. A 35 year old man, non-alcoholic, an electrician by occupation and a resident of Delhi, was admitted with complaints of left upper abdominal discomfort, generalised weakness, lethargy, and exertional dyspnoea for the last...

A conundrum from antenatal testing.(Self Assessment Questions)
August 1, 2003... Answers on p 482. A 30 year old primigravida booked into the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at 13 weeks by her last menstrual period. There was no medical history of note. Booking abdominal ultrasound scan revealed a singleton...

A young woman with palpitations.(Self Assessment Questions)
August 1, 2003... Answers on p 483. A 30 year old woman presented with paroxysmal episodes of palpitations that she had had for two years. Initially the episodes occurred 3-6 months apart but they had become more frequent before presentation. Occasionally,...

Cost effective strategy to risk stratify acute chest pain cases at a district general hospital.(Letters)
August 1, 2003... I read with interest the paper by Miller et al. (1) The "high risk" patients with acute coronary syndrome are kept in hospital these days for a possible early intervention. This is in line with the FRICS-II recommendations. One of the...

Bacillus anthracis diversity in the Far East of Russia.(Letters)
August 1, 2003... Though anthrax has been a cause of death in Russia, especially in regions with highly developed cattle breeding, the Russian Far East has not been considered an area with a high morbidity from the disease. But this region has a recorded history...

Roth's spots: righting a historical wrong.(Letters)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... A recent case report described "Roth's spots" as an unusual presentation of HIV. (1) Unfortunately, white centred retinal haemorrhages have popularly come to be known as Roth's spots despite the fact that Roth never described such lesions....

Get Through Medical School: 1000 SBAs/BOFs and MEQs.(Book Review)
August 1, 2003... Una Coales and Seema Khan. (Pp 287; 19.95 [pounds sterling].) Royal Society of Medicine Press, 2002. ISBN 1-85315-546-2. *** The title of this book says a lot about some attitudes to medical education. It is unlikely that one could get...

Review of ABC of Clinical Haematology.(Book Review)
August 1, 2003... Edited by Drew Provan. (Pp 88; 17.95 [pounds sterling].) BMJ Books, 2002. ISBN 0-7279-1676-9. *** Clinical haematology is a subject which impacts directly across the entire spectrum of clinical medicine and has implications for all medical...

Advanced Surgical Practice.(Book Review)
August 1, 2003... Edited by A A Majid and A Kingsnorth. (Pp 862; 95 [pounds sterling].) Greenwich Medical Media, 2003. ISBN 1-84110-018-8. *** The explosion in information technology was initially predicted to eliminate the need for textbooks and journals....

Advanced Examination Techniques in Orthopaedics.(Book Review)
August 1, 2003... Edited by Nick Harris and David Stanley. (Pp 229; 35 [pounds sterling].) Greenwich Medical Media, 2003. ISBN 1-84110-073-0. *** Examination of the musculoskeletal system is an important part of many clinicians' daily practice. The aim of...

Problems in Pediatric Drug Therapy. 4th Ed.(Book Review)
August 1, 2003... Edited by Louis A Pagliaro and Ann Marie Pagliaro. (Pp 829; $99.) American Pharmaceutical Association, 2002. ISBN 1-58212001-3. **** This textbook is well written and is easy to follow. It is a comprehensive text regarding paediatric...

Managing Change for Effective Clinical Practice.(Book Review)
August 1, 2003... Trisha Greenhalgh, Moria Sarsfield, and Peter Toon. (CD ROM; personal rate: 50 [pounds sterling]+ VAT, any 2 CDS 75 [pounds sterling]+VAT; institutional rate: 75 [pounds sterling]+VAT, any 2 CDS 150 [pounds sterling]+VAT.) BMJ Publishing Group,...

Incontinence in Women.(Book Review)
August 1, 2003... Edited by A B MacLean and L Cardozo. (Pp 458; 48 [pounds sterling], 36 [pounds sterling] to fellows and members of the RCOG.) Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Press, 2002. ISBN 1-900364-67-0. **** The Royal College of...

Paediatric Vade-Mecum. 14th Ed.(Book Review)
August 1, 2003... Edited by T G Barrett, A D Lander, and V Diwakar. (Pp 589; 19.99 [pounds sterling].) Arnold Publishers, 2002. ISBN 0-340-80673-7. *** What is the need for this book? The aspiration is for a portable, easy access, reliable guide. Most...

Heart Failure in Practice.(Book Review)
August 1, 2003... B S P Chin, M K Davies, and G Y H Lip. (Pp 76; 14.95 [pounds sterling].) Royal Society of Medicine Press, 2002. ISBN 1-85315-487-3. **** Heart failure currently accounts for 5% of all medical admissions. All clinicians, irrespective of...

Neurophysiology.(Book Review)
August 1, 2003... R H S Carpenter. (Pp 466; 24.99 [pounds sterling].) Arnold Publishers, 2003. ISBN 0-340-80872-1. **** This is a good book. The first section deals with the general neural mechanisms which underlie the function of the nervous system and...

Books received.(PostScript)(Calendar)
August 1, 2003... The receipt of these books is acknowledged and this listing must be regarded as sufficient return for the courtesy of the sender. Books that appear to be of particular interest will be reviewed space permitted. The journal does not publish...

Diary.(PostScript)(Calendar)
August 1, 2003... Warwick University Short Courses 8-9 December 2003. An introduction to microarray technology and its applications. 17-18 March 2004. An introduction to immunology. For details please contact Dr Steve Hicks, Department of Biological...