Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) has emerged as a novel target for controlling plasma levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and decreasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. At present it is clear that the major classes of commonly prescribed lipid-lowering medications increase serum PCSK9 levels and fail to protect ...

Medical comorbidity in patients with mood disorders has become an increasingly important clinical and global public health issue. Several specific medical conditions are associated with an increased risk of mood disorders, and conversely, mood disorders are associated with increased morbidity and mortality in patients with specific medical disorders. To help ...

The use of ionizing radiation for medical diagnostic tests and interventional procedures has grown substantially over the past two decades and there is now considerable concern expressed in both the medical literature and the lay press of the harmful effects of radiation exposure. Although there is some controversy regarding whether ...

Obesity and overweight are today recognised as subject to harmful stigma. Through an analysis of discussions of obesity in major American newspapers, the medical literature, and pharmaceutical advertising in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, I document a significant shift in medical thinking about overweight and obesity based in psychiatry, and ...

BACKGROUND: Optimal revascularization strategy is still under debate in patients with coronary artery disease, particularly due to the results of the Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With TAXUS and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX) trial. Although medical prevention has been clearly shown to be beneficial in coronary artery disease, it has been ...

There is occurring a progressive increase in peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in the United States and around the World. This is undoubtedly associated with deterioration in health status and an increase in cardiovascular risk factors. There are multiple old and new antithrombotic and anticoagulation medications that have been used for ...

Background: Short-term medical missions are common in medical educational settings and could possibly affect student learning. Little research has been conducted about the potential of these missions on students' transformative learning, in particular as it relates to empathy and multicultural awareness. Methods: Eight podiatric medical students who participated in short-term ...

Scant data are available on the annual incapacitation rate of aircrew. This study analyzes all incapacitations occurring among UK commercial pilots, in flight and off duty, in 2004 to derive a baseline minimum annual incapacitation rate for the UK commercial pilot population. The study cohort was all professional pilots holding ...

Chronic daily headache is a major worldwide health problem that affects 3-5% of the population and results in substantial disability. Advances in the management of headache disorders have meant that a substantial proportion of patients can be effectively treated with medical treatments. However, a significant minority of these patients are ...

The purpose of this article is to understand the way in which medical physicists take into account treatment effectiveness and safety when selecting a treatment plan, with respect to the medical prescription and the technical, human and organizational resources available. Data-gathering was based on the allo-confrontation method: 14 medical physicists ...

OBJECTIVE: To develop an automated method based on natural language processing (NLP) to facilitate the creation and maintenance of a mapping between RxNorm and a local medication terminology for interoperability and meaningful use purposes. METHODS: We mapped 5961 terms from Partners Master Drug Dictionary (MDD) and 99 of the top ...

BACKGROUND: German animal terms have been used to name oral cleft deformity for centuries. However, their contemporary use and influence on cleft patients remain unstudied. OBJECTIVE: The main aim of this study was to evaluate the current use of German animal terms for oral cleft and their influence on the ...

The purpose of the study is to provide data about long-term survivors with full trisomy 13 (t13). Mothers of 30 long-term survivors with full t13 completed an online survey. Survey data were downloaded into an SPSS database. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze survey data. Tracking Rare Incidence Syndrome (TRIS) ...

ObjectiveCurrent techniques for knowledge-based Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) of ambiguous biomedical terms rely on relations in the Unified Medical Language System Metathesaurus but do not take into account the domain of the target documents. The authors' goal is to improve these methods by using information about the topic of the ...

In June 2001, the then president of the Max Planck Society addressed a formal apology to survivors of Nazi medical crimes. Starting from this ritual of repentance, the paper examines the participants' diverse views of how to deal with the medical crimes of National Socialism. In comparison with the DGPPN, ...

Oocyte cryopreservation for fertility preservation, in both medical and elective situations, has significantly increased as freezing technology has improved. Slow freezing techniques demonstrated ∼50-80% survival of mature oocytes, however vitrification with ∼97% survival has become the preferred method for oocyte cryopreservation around the world. Our work investigated the effect of ...

PURPOSE: To assess medical students' attitude toward occupational health (OH) in Brazil and Germany before and after a compulsory OH course. METHODS: A questionnaire regarding the attitude toward OH was completed by medical students at the beginning of the OH teaching term at the Federal University of Paraná in Curitiba, ...

By their very nature, overseas medical missions (and even domestic medical charities such as "free clinics") are designed to serve "vulnerable populations." If these groups were capable of protecting their own interests, they would not need the help of medical volunteers: their medical needs would be met through existing government ...

Stroke is a major cause of death and disability worldwide. Without improvements in prevention, the burden will increase during the next 20 years because of the ageing population, especially in developing countries. Major advances have occurred in secondary prevention during the past three decades, which demonstrate the broader potential to ...

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2011; 18:1-6 © 2011 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine ABSTRACT: The clerkship director (CD) serves as a faculty leader within a school of medicine and plays a vital role in the hierarchy of undergraduate medical education. Collectively, CDs across specialties serve a multitude of roles ...

Limited production capacity and concerns about raw materials mean common medications are in short supply. How can your facility avoid a crisis?

Given the increasing number of operational nuclear reactors worldwide, combined with the continued use of radioactive materials in both healthcare and industry, the unlikely occurrence of a civilian nuclear incident poses a small but real danger. This article provides an overview of the most important historical, medical, and scientific aspects ...

Attention has been drawn to the potential risks of several medications in the long-term care setting. Most of these medications deemed as inappropriate affect the central nervous system and are indicated only for select populations with specific conditions. Many of these drugs are prescribed without clear indications and continued indefinitely ...

Background: Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most common neurological diseases. Although a large number of medications have been tested, there are only two first-line medications, primidone and propranolol, which is a situation that has not changed in approximately 30 years. Several recent reviews have summarized the current pharmacotherapeutic options ...

This report describes ambulatory care visits made to physician offices in the United States. Statistics are presented on selected characteristics of the physician's practice, the patient, and the visit. The data presented in this report were collected in the 2007 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), a national probability sample ...

At the time of writing, Afghanistan is the pre-eminent theatre of operations for UK military forces, which form a lead element in the International Security Assistance Force. Many junior medical officers (MOs) can expect to see service on Operation HERRICK in the south of the country, in support of deployed ...

The recent 90 year anniversary of the end of the First World War is an opportune time to reconsider the important role of the Royal Army Medical Corps in this conflict. One area which has been neglected is the role of the Royal Army Medical Corps in responding to infectious ...

The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), coordinates federal Emergency Support Function (ESF) #8 preparedness, response, and recovery actions. To address these needs, the ASPR can draw on trained personnel from a variety of ...

The Industrial Revolution saw the creation of many new jobs, but probably none more curious than that of zookeeper. The London Zoological Gardens, established for members in 1828, was opened to the general public in 1847. In 1852 the "Head Keeper in the Serpent Room", Edward Horatio Girling, spent a ...

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 sets out the requirement for the introduction of responsible officers for the NHS. The paper states that these individuals will be responsible for ensuring that doctors who are revalidated meet the required standards. It is not known how well prepared prospective responsible officers ...

Since 2001, the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner has collaborated with Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center Violence Intervention Program and their Sexual Assault Center. The partnership was established at the suggestion of the district attorney's office to enhance the clinical recognition of sexual assault in the ...

Counterfeiting medicine has become such a sophisticated crime that it has attracted the attention of the world's largest police organization, Interpol. In November, these top cops wrapped up an operation in South East Asia, in which they helped seize around 20 million counterfeit drugs and arrested more than 30 people. ...

To assess elective surgery consent practices amongst senior house officers from a selection of UK ENT departments, and to compare results with similar surveys in 2002 and 2005. A telephone survey of senior house officers in 40 UK ENT departments was conducted to assess departmental consent policies and knowledge of ...

A package gas turbine generator was installed at a small, 4.3-MW cogeneration power plant of a mixed use development with office, retail, hospital, residential, and other occupancies. Shortly after commissioning, noise complaints were received from nearby medical offices about undesirable tonal noise intrusions. At another nearby hospital building, a neurosurgery ...

General Duty Medical Officers (GDMOs) may deploy within days of completing their Entry Officers Course thereby missing the pre-deployment training undertaken by the Regiment that they join. They can be attached to a unit that they have never worked with and it is often the first time that they have ...

In World War II, Edward D. Churchill volunteered as a combat consultant. In this role, he mentored many junior surgeons and challenged the Army leadership to treat hemorrhagic shock with blood rather than plasma. These lessons have continued relevance for today's Senior Visiting Surgeons and our military medical corps.

Of the key Health Plan patient satisfaction measures used in Kaiser Permanente Colorado, ease of contacting the physician's office with a medical question was consistently rated as the lowest quarterly patient satisfaction measure. Furthermore, medical office staff had become dissatisfied with their inability to contact patients who had previously left ...

A royal otitis. The young king of France, Francis II, the eldest son of Henry II and Catherine de Medici, died in Orleans from the effects of the complications of a chronic otitis on 6 December 1560. Based on texts of the time, the paper discusses the nature of the ...

Data generated in all clinical trial are recorded on the data collection instrument Case report Form / Electronic Case Report Form by investigators located at various sites in various countries. In multicentric clinical trials since different investigator or medically qualified experts are from different sites / centers recording the medical ...

Whether it's a basic Mr. Coffee or a gadget that sports a snazzy device for grinding beans on demand, the office coffee machine offers a place for serendipitous encounters that can improve the social aspect of work and generate new ideas. What's more, a steaming cup of joe may be ...

AIM: To determine the views of new house officers (HO) on professionalism and unprofessional behaviour following dismissal in January 2007 of a HO who was caught video-taping nurses in the shower. METHODS: An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was administered during new house officers' orientation. Using a Likert scale (1 = strongly ...

The submarines responsible for the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent have carried a junior doctor as their medical officer since the program's inception. The Vanguard Class of submarine carries approximately 150 men and deploys for about 3 months at a time. One of the central tenets of submarine operations is to ...

This article surveys some descriptions of the Fore people made on early contact in the 1950s by patrol officers, social anthropologists and medical doctors. Sorcery accusations and cannibalism initially impressed these outside observers, though gradually they came to realize that a strange and fatal condition called kuru was a major ...

BACKGROUND: Frontal sinus ostium stenosis (FSOS) is problematic even for expert surgeons. Balloon catheter (BC) technology has been recently introduced to rhinology. The aim of this study is to assess technical feasibility and effectiveness of BC dilatation of FSOS in the office setting. METHODS: This retrospective, multi-institutional case series describes ...

One solution to mistaken identification by a crime's victims and eyewitnesses is to use a virtual officer to conduct identification procedures. Results from a study comparing a virtual officer with a live human investigator indicate that the virtual officer performs comparably to the human in terms of identification accuracy, emotional ...

Medical civil-military operations are a critical combat multiplier directly supporting the counterinsurgency fight. Army Medical Department Soldiers support medical civil affairs activities at all levels from platoon to the United States Mission-Iraq (Department of State) initiatives enhancing the legitimacy of medical services in the Iraq Ministry of Health, Ministry of ...

Janet Woodcock, MD, Deputy Commissioner for Operations/Chief Medical Officer at FDA, closed the workshop. She stated that, "QbD represents an evolution and not a revolution" that is in response to the increasing cost pressures on both the regulatory agencies and industry to control the escalation of drug prices. She acknowledged ...

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's The Lives of Others, set in the German Democratic Republic in 1984, five years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, has been called the first accurate depiction of the psychological terror wielded by the Stasi, the East German secret police, who safeguarded the dictatorship of ...

OBJECTIVES: To highlight newly revised guidelines on sterile medication compounding released by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP 797) in December 2007, and the implications on immunotherapy vial preparation. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A policy review. RESULTS: The newly revised USP chapter on sterile medication guidelines was released December 2007 and ...

M.G., an orthopaedic surgeon, is stopped in the hallway of his hospital by one of his medical colleagues. The physician begins to ask several questions regarding a recent onset of shoulder pain. M.G. suggests that the colleague be seen in the office so that a complete evaluation of the shoulder ...