CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal articles from July 2007

CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal archives from July 2007

Deaths.(Obituary)
July 3, 2007... Bauman, Leslie (Laszlo), North York, Ont.; Semmelweis Orvostudomanyi Egyetem, Hungary, 1951, diagnostic radiology. Died Feb. 24, 2007, aged 85. Bell, Robert Hudspeth, Peterborough, Ont.; University of Toronto, 1941. Died Feb. 13, 2007,...

CMAJ's Salon: lateral thinking about health.(Salon)(Editorial)
July 3, 2007... Salon: a gathering of stimulating people under the roof of an inspiring hostess, partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through conversation and reading (Wikipedia). Welcome to CMAJ Salon,...

Governing Conservatives unveil new science and technology blueprint.(News)
July 3, 2007... It is entirely axiomatic that upon taking office in Canada, new federal governments decry the absence of a coherent national science and technology strategy and promptly launch an exercise to address the deficiency. Months or years later,...

US Senate passes FDA Revitalization Act.(News)
July 3, 2007... Legislation aimed at strengthening the US Food and Drug Administration's ability to scrutinize new and existing drugs passed the Senate last month, but it may not be the elixir needed to quell growing concern over prescription drug safety in...

Healing in Sadaam's Hospital.(News)
July 3, 2007... For staff at what once was Sadaam Hussein's personal hospital, it is almost all trauma, all the time. "In the majority of hospitals in Canada or the US, you don't see that much trauma, on average, maybe 5 or 10%, mostly from motor vehicle...

Newfoundland launches judicial inquiry.(News)
July 3, 2007... A provincial judicial inquiry has been struck to determine how and why hundreds of breast cancer patients received inaccurate hormone receptor tests at Newfoundland and Labrador's main medical laboratory. Meanwhile, about 100 patients and...

Secret locker room game causing concussions.(News)
July 3, 2007... There's a dangerous new game being played out in the locker rooms of hockey rinks and arenas across North America. Although most coaches, parents and certainly most doctors have never heard of "Helmets and Gloves" (also called locker boxing and...

User fee minuet.(News @ a glance)(Brief article)
July 3, 2007... User fee minuet: Claude Castonguay, former provincial Liberal cabinet minister, so-called father of Quebec medicare and recent advocate of user fees, has been appointed by Quebec's minority government to head a 3 person task force to examine...

Training flap.(News @ a glance)(British Medical Association Chair James Johnson has resigned)(Brief article)
July 3, 2007... Training flap: British Medical Association Chair James Johnson resigned last month after 4 years at the helm when tempers flared over a letter he wrote to a newspaper defending the controversial Medical Training Application Service, which is...

Marijuana profiteering.(News @ a glance)(Brief article)
July 3, 2007... Marijuana profiteering: Auditor-General Sheila Fraser has announced that her office is "in the early stages of an audit of certain user fees" associated with Health Canada's medicinal marijuana program. But Fraser cautioned in a letter to New...

Global deaths.(News @ a glance)(mortality forecasts)(Brief article)
July 3, 2007... Global deaths: Mortality rates for communicable, maternal, perinatal and nutritional causes will decline over the next few decades, except for HIV/AIDS, according to the World Health Organization's annual World Health Statistics report....

It's a wrap.(News @ a glance)(vaccines for avian influenza)(Conference news)(Brief article)
July 3, 2007... It's a wrap: The World Health Assembly wrapped up its 60th session by adopting a resolution requiring the World Health Organization and its 193 member states to establish an international stockpile of vaccines for H5N1 and influenza viruses...

Canadian dispatches from medical fronts: Fort McMurray.(Dispatch)(Brief article)
July 3, 2007... In the minds of many, being a boomtown translates into a run on gold faucets and lineups at luxury car dealerships. Nothing could further from the truth, as oilsands capital Fort McMurray is discovering as it attempts to cope with explosive...

An all-inclusive vacation.(Teaching Case Report)(gastrointestinal disorders)(salmonella)(Clinical report)
July 3, 2007... The Case: A 70-year-old man presented with a 3-day history of abdominal cramping, nonbloody diarrhea and fever. The patient had returned 2 weeks earlier from a trip to a 5-star all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, where he...

Postpartum pneumomediastinum (Hamman's syndrome).(Clinical Vistas)(Clinical report)
July 3, 2007... This patient's symptoms of substernal pain had evolved progressively, beginning a few days after a rapid but otherwise normal vaginal delivery 2 months before we examined her. Aside from the chest pain, she felt well and had no fever, chills,...

Resurgence of early congenital syphilis in Alberta.(Public Health)
July 3, 2007... In Alberta, the first case of congenital syphilis in over 10 years was reported in 2002. This was after a resurgence in the province in 2000 of locally acquired infectious syphilis, in many cases affecting people who reported casual or...

Rate of methadone use among Aboriginal opioid injection drug users.(Research)(Clinical report)
July 3, 2007... Abstract Background: Previous studies have shown elevated rates of health-related harms among Aboriginal people who use injection drugs such as heroin. Methadone maintenance therapy is one of the most effective interventions to address the...

Use of implantable cardioverter defibrillators in Canadian and US survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.(Research)(Clinical report)
July 3, 2007... Abstract Background: Cardiac arrest due to ventricular arrhythmia in the absence of a reversible cause or contraindication has been a class I indication for insertion of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator since 1998. We compared and...

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators work--so why aren't we using them?(Research)
July 3, 2007... Few medical therapies pose the issue of how to avoid sudden cardiac death as starkly as does the implantable cardioverter defibrillator--a device that is implanted like a pacemaker, which has been well established as a safe and effective means...

Canada's health care system and the sustainability paradox.(Commentary)
July 3, 2007... Physician leaders, (1) newspaper columnists, (2,3) representatives of the business community (4) and even some health policy analysts (5) have all expressed concerns that publicly funded health care is unsustainable. The current federal health...

Arithmetic failure and the myth of the unsustainability of universal health insurance.(Commentary)
July 3, 2007... Since its inception, the sustainability of Canada's universal health insurance (medicare) has been a concern. A search for "sustainability" and "unsustainability" on the CMAJ Web site yielded some 40 editorials, papers, letters, synopses, and...

Clinical trial registration: looking back and moving ahead.(Commentary)
July 3, 2007... Key summary points * In addition to accepting registration in any of the 5 existing registries, the ICMJE will accept registration of clinical trials in any of the primary registers that participate in the WHO International Clinical Trial...

Congratulations to our colleagues at Open Medicine.(Commentary)
July 3, 2007... On Apr. 18, 2007, the world of medical publishing became larger with the debut of Open Medicine, a new online-only general medical journal. We welcome the arrival of a new venue that shares CMAJ's objective of providing timely dissemination of...

CMA driver's guide.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
July 3, 2007... I have concerns about the CMA's guidelines on determining medical fitness to drive. (1) All Canadian provinces and territories currently use the medical standards produced by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) (2) to...

The disease burden of alcohol consumption.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
July 3, 2007... Although we appreciate Tony George's Public Health piece on problem drinking, (1) there is an underlying assumption in the article that most of the disease burden of alcohol consumption is associated with alcohol use disorders, and this is not...

Physician migration: pitting one province against another.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
July 3, 2007... Nick Busing's recent guest editorial on physician shortages raised many important issues that need to be addressed. (1) I am concerned, however, that Busing did not discuss the interprovincial migration of physicians, a key issue that may...

Imaging error.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
July 3, 2007... As a radiologist, I routinely enjoy the case reports with imaging in the Practice section of CMAJ. Unfortunately, it seems that the imaging content of reports is not always reviewed by someone with imaging expertise. This is demonstrated...

Apology.(Letters)(Correction notice)
July 3, 2007... A recent news story on the HPV vaccine (1) was illustrated with a photograph of 2 young girls. In fact, that photo was taken by the Canadian Press for an article on juvenile arthritis, and, in accordance with the terms of CMAJ's contract with...

Sine waves and brush strokes.(Lifeworks)(Anne Tweed: Sound Shapes Peer Gallery)
July 3, 2007... Anne Tweed: Sound Shapes Peer Gallery, Lunenburg, NS May 19-30, 2007 The series of paintings Sound Shapes explores the shape of the sounds of speech and the perceptual confusion that can arise as hearing diminishes. I have previously...

Language in a context.(Room for a view)(lip reader's opinions)
July 3, 2007... The lips come together--"M" "P" "B"--so easy to recognize, but which of the 3 is it? I have no time to consider all the possibilities; the conversation goes on relentlessly, leaving me behind, hung up on "M" words, when it should have been "B"...

Memory for MMSE.(mini-mental state examination)(Poem)
July 3, 2007... Memory for MMSE "Spell WORLD for me" I say. "As in the world you live in." You look me in the eyes, Your face drawn and taught with anticipation. You rub your forehead, Slowly, thoughtfully, The veins on...

Biographies of healers.(Dictionary of Medical Biography, vols. 1-5)(Book review)
July 3, 2007... Dictionary of Medical Biography Vols 1-5 William F. Bynum and Helen Bynum, eds. Greenwood Press; 2007 1616 pp US$749.95 (set) ISBN 0-313-32877-3 This offering of 5 volumes is more in the tradition of an academic encyclopedia than a...

Reflecting on the past and planning for the future/Retrospective et prospective.(Editorial)(Editorial)
July 3, 2007... This new volume provides me with the opportunity to look back on my first 6 hectic months at the helm of our great journal, to highlight our accomplishments and to give you a glimpse into forthcoming changes. Our accomplishments include a...

Mumps in young adults: the canary in the coal mine/Les oreillons chez les jeunes adultes: le canari dans la mine de charbon.(Editorial/Editorial)(Editorial)(Report)
July 17, 2007... To many people, mumps belongs to a bygone era of childhood diseases that are now prevented by immunization. But mumps is once more on the move, with recent outbreaks in many industrialized countries involving mainly older youth and young adults...

Afghanistan: outside the comfort zone in a war zone.(News)
July 17, 2007... Published at www.cmaj.ca on July 4, 2007 As might have been expected, it was the unfamiliar that first struck anesthesiologist and Canadian Forces Lieutenant-Commander Dr. John Macdonald: the extraordinary heat; the pervasive dust; the...

Malaise at Mirwais.(News)(Mirwais Hospital in Khandahar, Afghanistan)
July 17, 2007... Published at www.cmaj.ca on July 4, 2007. For the seriously ill, being treated at Khandahar's Mirwais Hospital is all but a death sentence, says an ex-Vancouver paramedic who now serves as country director for a non-governmental...

Hoax raises awareness about organ shortages.(News)
July 17, 2007... The advance billing caused an uproar but when reality TV actually met organ donation, it was revealed to be a hoax. The effect on organ donation rates is unknown. The brouhaha erupted last month when a Dutch television station announced...

Health Canada dithers while "fertility preservations" proceed.(News)(ESRM Biotech)
July 17, 2007... A private Toronto-area fertility clinic that is offering women the chance to freeze their eggs for a decade or more is opening up a new thread in the contentious debate over fertility treatments and technology. ESRM Biotech is the first...

Dalhousie helps address mental health crisis.(News)(Dalhousie University )(Brief article)
July 17, 2007... The need was and is extensive: more people in this South American country suffer from a mental health condition than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Yet, Guyana may now be among the world's most progressive nations in treating...

Mercury disposal sole health concern with fluorescent lights.(News)
July 17, 2007... The mythology is certainly pervasive: fluorescent lighting variously causes carcinomas, breast cancer, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases, headaches, eye strain, fatigue, depression and even sexual dysfunction. Break a...

Mumps misery.(News@ a glance)(Brief article)
July 17, 2007... Mumps misery: Some 460 confirmed cases of mumps have now been reported in 8 Canadian provinces in the ongoing outbreak of the acute viral infection, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. As of June 8, the outbreak remains centred in...

On the philanthropic war front.(News@ a glance)(The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated US$105 million)(Brief article)
July 17, 2007... On the philanthropic war front: Hey, Larry! The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated US$105 million to the University of Washington to help create an Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation to analyze and evaluate the relative merits...

HIV testing.(News@ a glance)(Brief article)
July 17, 2007... HIV testing: The World Health Organization and UNAIDS (the joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) have issued new guidance for HIV testing and counselling within member nations. Rather than client-initiated testing, health care providers...

Liquor labeling.(News@ a glance)(health warning labels on all alcohols)(Brief article)
July 17, 2007... Liquor labelling: The British government and alcohol industry have reached a voluntary agreement to place health warning labels on all beer, wine and hard liquor packaging that indicate the number of units of alcohol (1 unit is 1/3 of an ounce)...

Serology lab.(News@ a glance)(GlaxoSmithKline to build new facility)(Brief article)
July 17, 2007... Serology lab: Global giant GlaxoSmithKline will pump $50 million into an upgrade of its Laval, Que., facility, including construction of a serology lab in the vacant basement of the facility and the hiring and equipping of 60 new staff. The...

The obesity waltz.(News@ a glance)(expanding obesity rates in China)(Brief article)
July 17, 2007... The obesity waltz: Concerns about expanding obesity rates have prompted the government of China to make dance classes mandatory for elementary and secondary students, commencing Sept. 1. The classes will "suit the physical and psychological...

Double-dipping.(News@ a glance)(Medicina to shut its operations)(Brief article)
July 17, 2007... Double-dipping: The Montreal-based medical brokerage firm Medicina opted to shut down its operations after the Regie de l'assurance maladie du Quebec ordered it to stop paying medical specialists for offering patients more rapid access to...

Coalition complaint.(News@ a glance)(The Coalition of Associations for Foreign Trained Doctors)(Brief article)
July 17, 2007... Coalition complaint: The Coalition of Associations for Foreign Trained Doctors has asked the Quebec Human Rights Commission to investigate whether immigrant physicians are being systematically discriminated against when applying for hospital...

Wrinkles ironed.(News@ a glance)(30 undergraduate training spots at University of New Brunswick)(Brief article)
July 17, 2007... Wrinkles ironed: An Anglophone medical training program will be established at the University of New Brunswick's Saint John campus. The New Brunswick government has announced that it has now resolved logistical issues surrounding the...

Lord help us.(News@ a glance)(Bernard Lord named as scholar-in-residence)(Brief article)
July 17, 2007... Lord help us: Ousted New Brunswick Conservative premier Bernard Lord has been named the first "scholar-in-residence" at the newly minted Institute for Strategic Analysis and Innovation, a health care think-tank established at the McGill...

Burden of proof.(News@ a glance)(no link between autism and measles vaccine)(Brief article)
July 17, 2007... Burden of proof: Although studies have found no causal link between autism and childhood vaccines containing thimerosal, the parents of a 12-year-old Arizona girl have asked the US Court of Federal Claims to find that their child's autism was...

Hip surgery.(News@ a glance)(for senior citizens report)(Brief article)(Clinical report)
July 17, 2007... Hip surgery: Senior citizens who have broken hips and are forced to wait longer than 1 day in hospital for surgery are 22% more likely to die than those treated within a day of admission, according to a Canadian Institute for Health Information...

Foreign credentials.(News@ a glance)(Foreign Credentials Referral Office to provides grants to foreign credentials )(Brief article)
July 17, 2007... Foreign credentials: The federal government has unveiled the first phase of its newly minted Foreign Credentials Referral Office, a $32.2 million, 5-year initiative created in the 2007 federal budget to help International Medical Graduates and...

Canadian dispatches from medical fronts: whaling.(Dispatch)(eyewitness glimpses of the medical front)
July 17, 2007... The sun rose slowly as I picked up the pacemaker programmer at my Yellowknife clinic, headed to the airport, and flew north into darkness. As I landed in Inuvik--north of the Arctic Circle--it rose a second time, even more reluctantly. The...

What every physician should know about transfusion reactions.(Practice)(Case study)
July 17, 2007... [infinity] See related article page 149 Blood transfusions can be lifesaving in the appropriate setting. The vast majority of transfusions are completed without incident, but every transfusion recipient is at risk of a variety of adverse...

Transfusion-related acute lung injury.(Clinical Vistas Briefs)(cases)(Case study)
July 17, 2007... [infinity] See related article page 141 A 67-year-old man with diabetes mellitus, chronic cystitis and hematuria was given 2 units of packed red blood cells because of severe iron-deficiency anemia (hemoglobin 54 g/L). Although he was pale,...

Postprimary tuberculosis.(Clinical Vistas Briefs)(Case study)
July 17, 2007... This 37-year-old man who was homeless was admitted to hospital and treated for pulmonary tuberculosis. Five months later, the patient returned to hospital with a 5-kg weight loss and a 2-month history of anorexia, low-grade intermittent fevers...

Disseminated tubercular osteitis.(Clinical Vistas Briefs)(case study)(Case study)
July 17, 2007... A 26-year-old man from India who had lived in France for 1 year experienced low back pain, fever and weight loss. After 3 weeks of it, he came to hospital. His medical history included kidney stones and alcohol abuse, but was negative for...

Cystic tuberculous constrictive pericarditis.(Case study)
July 17, 2007... A 76-year-old woman with a history of childhood tuberculosis was examined before admission to a tuberculosis sanatorium. Over the past 4-5 years, she had been experiencing peripheral edema and episodes of shortness of breath upon exertion. Her...

Indoor air quality and the risk of lower respiratory tract infections in young Canadian Inuit children.(Research)(Clinical report)
July 17, 2007... ABSTRACT Background: Inuit infants have the highest reported rate of hospital admissions because of lower respiratory tract infections in the world. We evaluated the prevalence of reduced ventilation in houses in Nunavut, Canada, and...

Vitamin D-deficiency rickets among children in Canada.(Research)(Clinical report)
July 17, 2007... ABSTRACT Background: Based on regional and anecdotal reports, there is concern that vitamin D-deficiency rickets is persistent in Canada despite guidelines for its prevention. We sought to determine the incidence and clinical...

Respiratory tract infections in Inuit children: "Set thine house in order".(Research)
July 17, 2007... Lower respiratory tract infection is a major cause of illness and death among the Inuit children of Nunavut. In peak years the attack rate of bronchiolitis among Inuit infants has reached 57% in some communities. (1) In the Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin)...

Active surveillance: an essential tool in safeguarding the health and well-being of children and youth.(Research)(Clinical report)
July 17, 2007... In this issue, Ward and colleagues (1) report the findings of their study of the incidence of vitamin D-deficiency rickets in Canada. Through the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program, they identified 104 confirmed cases of vitamin...

Why internationally adopted children should be screened for tuberculosis.(Public Health)
July 17, 2007... Pediatric tuberculosis is important medically and indicative of a public health problem. Once infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, children are at increased risk of tuberculosis disease, including severe forms such as central nervous...

Acute decompensated heart failure.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
July 17, 2007... Although Larry Allen and Christopher O'Connor's review of the management of acute decompensated heart failure (1) was generally well written, I have reservations about their interpretation of the evidence concerning the role of loop diuretics,...

Eating well.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
July 17, 2007... The criticism levelled at Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide (1) in a recent CMAJ news piece (2) does not take into account the evidence that underpins the recommendations in the guide nor the extensive consultation process that preceded its...

Access to the medical literature.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
July 17, 2007... We fully agree with Brad MacKay (1) that nationwide access to the Cochrane Library is a priority, especially because only 10%-15% of Canadians, mostly medical students and academic researchers, currently have access to this resource. However,...

Macrolide resistance in streptococcal pharyngitis.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
July 17, 2007... The infectious disease specialists in our hospital recently noticed increasing rates of complications in immunocompetent adults and children with streptococcal pharyngitis, secondary to treatment failure. Complications such as postpharyngitis...

Correction.(Correction notice)
July 17, 2007... A recent story (1) about the sale of the Sir Frederick Banting homestead that appeared in the News section should have stated that the 100-acre farm was bequeathed to the Ontario Historical Society. The CMAJ apologizes for any inconvenience...

Love and invention.(Reluctant Genius: The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell)(Book review)
July 17, 2007... Reluctant genius: The passionate life and inventive mind of Alexander Graham Bell Charlotte Gray HarperCollins Canada; 2006 464 pp Can$36.95 ISBN-10: 0-00-200676-6 Most Canadians know that "Alec" Bell invented the telephone, used it first...

Night calls.(Annotations)(telephone and the operator in doctor's home )
July 17, 2007... The telephone changed the lives of patients and their doctors in Canada. The text below gives a memorable picture of the role that the telephone and the operator played in one doctor's home in a small town in the 1920s. The author is writing of...

Listening with the heart.(One thousand words)
July 17, 2007... These "little doctors" are actually street children who are living at a shelter run by a humanitarian organization. Even with their broken past, these children were the most inspiring and uplifting people I have ever met. The hardest part of...

Deaths.
July 17, 2007... Notice Readers are invited to submit brief remembrances of recently departed colleagues. Colourful writing is encouraged, but please limit your notice to 150 words. Send to pubs@cma.ca; fax 613 565-5471. Notice Almond, David George,...

Contrary history: socialized medicine and Canada's decline.(Salon)
July 17, 2007... There is no greater fallacy than the idea that Canada's system of socialized medicine is essential to our system of national values. Without it, Roy Romanow and others tell us, we would not be Canadian. This is intellectual hogwash. ...

Where's the health in Afghanistan's reconstruction?
July 31, 2007... Published at www.cmaj.ca on July 4, 2007. Assume, for a moment, that you felt compelled to help equip something along the lines of a 10-bed intensive care unit at a hospital located in a war zone, in which your counter-insurgency measures...

Reconstruction de l'Afghanistan : ou est la sante?(Editorial)
July 31, 2007... Supposons un instant que vous vous sentiez le devoir d'aider a equiper une unite de soins intensifs de 10 lits dans un hopital situe en zone de guerre ou vos mesures antisubversives font des victimes. Oublions le luxe : pas de machines a...

National standards for forensic pathology training slow to develop.(News)
July 31, 2007... A groundbreaking review of autopsies performed by a former Ontario pathologist has sparked a national debate about the training and accreditation of the medical professionals who investigate criminally suspicious deaths and homicides. In...

Bernstein bails presidency.(News)(Dr. Alan Bernstein)
July 31, 2007... Weary of serving as the "scapegoat" for researchers who are disgruntled about declining success rates in grant competitions, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) President Dr. Alan Bernstein will walk away from the final 3 years of his...

Lancet publisher to sell arms business.(News)(Reed Elsevier)
July 31, 2007... Responding to pressure from physicians, readers and leading medical journals, the company that publishes The Lancet will stop hosting trade shows that promote arms and the defence industry (CMAJ 2007;176[10]:1265). Reed Elsevier will begin...

Canadian Blood Services to screen for Chagas disease.(News)
July 31, 2007... Canadian Blood Services will commence testing for a tropical disease rarely found north of the 49th parallel when the blood donation production process is overhauled in mid-to-late 2008. Dana Devine, Canadian Blood Services vice-president...

The struggle to reduce maternal mortality.(News)
July 31, 2007... Consider this: in the 20th century, there were more maternal mortalities than deaths from tuberculosis, suicide, traffic accidents and AIDS combined. Even today, 2 decades after the global health community signed on to the Safe Motherhood...

Ugandan government resolves to make safe motherhood a priority.(News)
July 31, 2007... While progress on reducing maternal mortality is moving at an excruciatingly slow pace in much of the world, Uganda, where 6000 women die annually of pregnancy-related causes, recently passed a resolution of Parliament making safe motherhood a...

HPV approval.(News @ a glance)(human papillomavirus vaccine)(Brief article)
July 31, 2007... HPV approval: Nova Scotia will become the first province to implement vaccinations for the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). Commencing in the 2007-08 educational year, the province will provide 3 doses of the HPV vaccine over a 6-month period for...

Birthing strategies.(News @ a glance)(Brief article)
July 31, 2007... Birthing strategies: The federal government should invest $60 million over 5 years to create a national birthing strategy, including a distinct Aboriginal version, to help redress an ongoing Canadian slide in international comparisons of...