Postgraduate Medical Journal articles from March 2003

Postgraduate Medical Journal archives from March 2003

Medical research and ethnic minorities. (Editorial).
March 1, 2003... Research--know thyself A few years ago, I was a member of an international and interdisciplinary research team that was developing "a cross-cultural approach to health care ethics". Our work resulted in a volume that is widely used in...

Thalidomide and its derivatives: emerging from the wilderness. (Review).
March 1, 2003... Goggin, P.M. Forty years on from its worldwide withdrawal, thalidomide is currently undergoing a remarkable renaissance as a novel and powerful immunomodulatory agent. Over the last decade it has been found to be active in a wide variety...

What is osteoporosis? (Review).
March 1, 2003... Osteoporosis is a very common disorder, which results in an increase in fracture risk. The annual cost attributable to hip, vertebral, and wrist fractures in England and Wales is [pounds sterling]1.7 billion. Significant mortality and morbidity...

Preventing cardiogenic shock protects patients with acute MI. (Echo).(myocardial infarction)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... More patients admitted with acute myocardial infarction (MI) could be saved if cardiogenic shack (CS) was prevented, concludes a review. Early recognition of cardiogenic shock is crucial but tricky, the authors say. Decreased peripheral...

Psychopharmacological treatments in persons with dual diagnosis of psychiatric disorders and developmental disabilities. (Review).
March 1, 2003... People with developmental disabilities are at considerable risk for the development of comorbid psychiatric conditions. Psychopharmacological treatments may have a crucial role in a multidisciplinary and multimodal approach to the management of...

New PMJ online submission and review system. (Bench > Press).(Postgraduate Medical Journal)
March 1, 2003... I am pleased to inform authors and reviewers of Postgraduate Medical Journal's new online submission and review system. Bench>Press is a fully integrated electronic system which uses the internet to allow rapid and efficient submission of...

Introduction to health economics for the medical practitioner. (Review).
March 1, 2003... Against a background of increasing demands on limited resources, health economics is exerting an influence on decision making at all levels of health care. Health economics seeks to facilitate decision making by offering an explicit decision...

Ethical problems in clinical practice. (Review).
March 1, 2003... Ethics is about judgment, which is rarely black and white. This paper highlights some of the ethical dilemmas that face practising clinicians in their everyday life and restates how useful the General Medical Council guidance is to make...

Management of irritable bowel syndrome. (Best Practice).
March 1, 2003... The diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is made on clinical grounds with appropriate limited investigations to exclude organic disease. IBS is common and may have a significant impact on a patient's quality of life. Psychological...

Plantar fibromatosis. (Images in Medicine).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... A 56 year old woman presented with a hard subcutaneous mass in the plantar aspect of the right foot. This isolated mass demonstrated slow growth over four months, but there was no local pain or fever. On magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the...

Urinalysis for interleukin-8 in the non-invasive diagnosis of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. (Original Article).
March 1, 2003... Background and aims: Given its role in mediating inflammation, the use of urinary interleukin-8 (IL-8) was assessed in the non-invasive diagnosis of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. Methods: IL-8 was measured by an enzyme linked...

Web editor. (Postgraduate Medical Journal).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... We are looking for a web editor to join the editorial team of the Postgraduate Medical Journal. Working closely with the team based in Leicester and the web master for BMJ journals at BMA House, the web editor will be instrumental in developing...

Prospective cohort study showing changes in the monthly incidence of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. (Original Article).
March 1, 2003... Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) remains a serious opportunistic infection in HIV infected individuals. Seasonal changes in climate are associated with changes within individual susceptibility to infection. The possibility of monthly...

Anomalous aortic arch anatomy: three dimensional visualisation with multislice computed tomography. (Images in Medicine).
March 1, 2003... A 72 year old woman, who presented with severe interscapular pain suggestive of aortic dissection, underwent further evaluation with multislice computed tomography. The contrast enhanced axial images showed extensive intraluminal haematoma...

Holistic obstetrics: the origins of "natural childbirth in Britain. (History of Medicine).
March 1, 2003... The term "natural childbirth" denotes an approach to childbirth characterised by a bias towards physical and mental hygiene in the management of pregnancy and labour. It emerged in Britain in the interwar period, partly as a response to the...

William Withering (17 March 1741). (Medical Anniversary).
March 1, 2003... William Withering (1741-99) was born into a family of physicians in Shropshire. His father was a successful physician at Wellington, and his maternal grandfather had delivered Samuel Johnson. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh...

Haemoglobin Marseille-Long Island and interpretation of HbAlc: which HbAlc result is the "right answer"? (Case Report).
March 1, 2003... A woman was screened for diabetes using glycated haemoglobin (HbAlc). Vastly different results were obtained by high performance liquid chromatography (45%), immunoassay (2.9%], and affinity chromatography (4.2%) compared with the non-diabetic...

Raynaud's phenomenon after radical radiotherapy for tumours of the head and neck. (Case Reports).
March 1, 2003... Endothelial cell injury is implicated in the development of radiation induced tissue damage and may also be involved in the pathophysiology of secondary Raynaud's phenomenon. Two patients are presented in whom the typical symptoms and signs of...

Treatment options for common bile duct stones. (Self Assessment Questions).
March 1, 2003... An 83 year old woman presented with a two week history of right upper quadrant pain, pale stools, dark urine, and itch. In the previous five years there had been two episodes of similar symptoms, ultrasound scan showing multiple gall bladder...

An unusual cause of persistent vomiting. (Persistent Vomiting).(Angelchik gastric prosthesis complications)
March 1, 2003... An 85 year old woman presented to the outpatient department with a three month history of persistent vomiting and weight loss with associated retrosternal and epigastric discomfort. She had undergone a partial gastrectomy for benign ulcer...

A limping year old child with no history of illness or trauma. (Limping Child).(Legg-Calve-Perthes disease)
March 1, 2003... A 6 year old Asian-American boy was taken to a paediatrician by his parents because they noticed that he had been limping for the past week and had begun to complain of pain in his right knee. He had never previously experienced any episodes of...

Middle aged man with groin pain. (Groin Pain).(inguinal hernia)
March 1, 2003... A 47 year old man, an electrician, presented with pain and discomfort in his left groin over a period of six months. One of the intravenous urograms from a series taken during the course of investigations is shown (fig 1). QUESTIONS ...

An elderly man with chest pain, shortness of breath, and constipation. (Geriatric Medicine).(colonic hepatodiaphragmatic interposition)
March 1, 2003... An 81 year old man was admitted to hospital with fractured neck of his right femur. From the 11th day after surgery he developed recurrent episodes of retrosternal and right lower chest pain associated with shortness of breath, sweating,...

Letters.(Infections and glycolipids)(Phantom lymphadenopathy. An association with chronic fatigue syndrome)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2003... Infections and glycolipids A recent case report in the journal described a Gaucher's disease patient, dangerously infected with salmonella that responded poorly to antibiotic treatment. (1) However, use of enzyme replacement with...

Narrative-based Primary Care: A Practical Guide.(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... By John Launer. (Pp 264; [pounds sterling]21.95.) Radcliffe Medical Press, 2002. ISBN 1-85775-539-1. **** The progressive decline in GPs' morale has resulted not only from an increasing workload, but also from awareness that patients, the...

How to Survive in Anaesthesia, 2nd ed.(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... By Neville Robinson and George Hall. (Pp 191; [pounds sterling]22.50.) BMJ Books, 2002. ISBN 0-7279- 1683-1, **** This is aimed at trainees in their first year of anaesthesia. The book's lighthearted, easy reading style cleverly passes on...

Pathways in Surgery, 3d ed.(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... Edited by Michael Hobsley and Paul Boulos. (Pp 427; [pounds sterling]29.99.) Arnold Publishers, 2002. ISBN 0-340-6311 86-4. *** Teaching medicine is an art, constantly undergoing change, with mechanisms for imparting knowledge being...

Statistics in Clinical Practice, 2nd ed.(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... By David Coggan. (Pp 109; [pounds]14.95.) BMJ Books, 2002. ISBN 0-7279-1609-2. **** This book starts by describing how statistics are used to summarise data in numerical and graphical form. Particular topics included are different forms of...

Calendar.(Calendar)
March 1, 2003... Warwick University Short Course 7-10 July 2003: Techniques and applications of molecular biology: a course for medical practitioners. A four day residential course for those in the medical profession wishing to improve their understanding...