Do you have any regrets about entering medicine?

Do today''s students have any second thoughts about their decision to pursue a career in medicine? Gabriel Leung, who graduates in June from the University of Western Ontario, considers the problems and dilemmas that have confronted him and his classmates during their short careers and muses on the uncertain future today''s physicians face.     

Lessons my $3101 cat taught me about universal health care

Dr. Brian Goldman describes how his cat''s experience with veterinary medicine has helped shape his views about Canada''s health care system.     

Dr. Max King: the sad life and early death of Mackenzie King's physician brother

While researching her best-selling biography, Mrs. King: The Life and Times of Isabel Mackenzie King, CMAJ contributing editor Charlotte Gray discovered a wealth of information about Dr. Dougal Macdougall (Max) King. Although he never became as famous as his older brother Mackenzie, Gray presents a convincing argument that Dr. Max King''s life and early death speak volumes about medicine and the medical profession at the turn of the century. She also argues that Mackenzie King''s own life would have been much different had his brother not died at the too young age of 42. Gray''s book was nominated for the Viacom Award, which honours the best nonfiction book published annually in Canada.     

Sir William Osler revisited.

The basis of Sir William Osler''s fame is elusive to almost all and the appropriateness of such recognition is questioned by many. His many contributions as a practitioner, teacher, writer, and scientist in medicine do not adequately explain his prominence 60 years following his death. It was his participation in the covenant of medicine and the special components of that relationship that may account for his hold on his followers today.     

The road to Wisconsin

In this article Lynne Sears Williams of Calgary describes her family''s decision to leave for the US, where her husband, Dr. Jim Williams, will pursue his career in family medicine. The decision was not made easily, she writes, but eventually a love for Canada was outweighed by her husband''s desire to practise medicine without the financial and other constraints facing physicians in Canada.     

我国微生物学相关方向研究生论文选题变化分析(1999-2018年)

【背景】当前微生物学研究正处于发展的重要时期,研究生学位论文作为研究生阶段的主要产出,在一定程度上体现了微生物学研究的热点和发展方向,但当前的大多文献计量分析以Web of Science、知网等收录的期刊论文为主,忽略了研究生论文数据库的重要作用。【目的】通过分析我国研究生学位论文的研究选题,为探究我国微生物学相关方向的研究生学位论文的选题热点及变化趋势提供数据支持。【方法】利用文献计量学方法,对1999-2018年收录于中国博硕士学位论文全文数据库的237 562篇以微生物为研究主题的论文进行分析。【结果】发现1999-2018年我国微生物学相关的研究生论文总体呈现增长趋势,学位论文发文量排名前三的科研机构是浙江大学、中国科学院大学和南京农业大学。通过关键词网络分析发现,近10年我国微生物学相关研究生论文的研究领域呈现多样化,关键词网络更加密集,研究主要集中于环境、人类医学和动物医学等领域,与国际热点领域基本一致,但基础微生物研究相对不足。近年来备受关注的一些新兴领域如宏基因组、蛋白质组、工程与药物等在研究生论文选题中仍需加强。【结论】文献分析结果为研究生及其导师选题、推动我国微生...     

The Oslerian Tradition and Changing Medical Education: A Reappraisal

Although only 21 of Sir William Osler''s 45 years in academic medicine were spent in US medical schools (1884 to 1905), he played a major role in shaping modern medical education in this country. The integration of scholarship with patient care, together with the science and art of medicine, was central to Osler''s teaching and writing throughout his career. A classic generalist and a charismatic clinical teacher, he taught by example and was as concerned with the ideals of medicine as with its science and knowledge.Many changes have reshaped the content, process and concerns of American medical education since Osler''s time. Subspecialization and balkanization of medical education and practice have become dominant. Many of the important issues in medicine today do not fit neatly into the domain of any of the established specialties or medical organizations. There is now an urgent need to promote generalist attitudes in medicine, and the Oslerian tradition has much to offer in approaching today''s problems in medical education and practice.     

Integration of Family Medicine into University Teaching Hospital in Israel: A Pilot Project

In accordance with the recommendation of the Mann Committee established by the Israel Medical Association a centre for family medicine serving 11 villages was established at Beit Shemesh, Israel, in 1970; this was affiliated with the department of internal medicine at Hadassah University Hospital. The centre''s doctors have become fully-fledged members of the department, and have full access to its resources and participate actively in its service, teaching, and research activities. They teach family medicine to students at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School and have the same academic responsibilities and privileges as all other faculty members. This affiliation has raised the standard of the health service provided.     

Making sense of shadows: Dr. James Third and the introduction of x-rays, 1896 to 1902.

The discovery of x-rays was announced by German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen in December 1895. This review of the introduction of the use of x-rays in Kingston, Ont., shows the rapidity of their adoption in Canadian medicine. By February 1896 "x-ray photographs" were being taken by Captain John Cochrane of the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston. Initially a scientific and popular curiosity, the new rays were quickly applied to medicine, and by the fall of 1896 the Kingston General Hospital had acquired its own x-ray apparatus. The hospital superintendent, Dr. James Third, became a leading practitioner and promoter of radiographic diagnosis and radiation therapy. He published, in 1902, the first comprehensive review of the diagnostic and therapeutic uses of x-rays by a Canadian physician. Third''s writings reveal his technical knowledge, his organized approach to the application of radiography to clinical medicine and his cautious attitude. Like other physicians who have witnessed the introduction of new diagnostic techniques, Third feared that the new technology would usurp the physician''s clinical skills.     

Archival data on wild food plants used in Poland in 1948

Background

The author reports on the plants, rituals and spells used against worms and the so-called scantu (fright) in some areas of Sicily. The work is based on ethnobotanical research carried out, prevalently, between 2002-2006, in some areas of Eastern, South-Eastern, North-Central and South-Central Sicily.

Methods

This research is based on dialogue. Senior 'healers' were contacted; furthermore, doctors, teachers, farmers and in general 'experts' with herbs and 'magic' rituals. Information was collected about the way the plants of folk medicine are prepared. The interviewees were also invited to recite prayers and spells against helminthiasis.

Results

The author has highlighted the importance of how, in some parts of Sicily, some ailments like helminthiasis and other correlated pathologies like scantu are 'treated' and, especially within the rural social classes, by folk medicine remedies, herbal practises, particular prayers, rituals and spells.

Conclusion

As regards health/illness, it should be noted that in the last ten years conventional medicine has provided very satisfactory results even resolving potentially mortal pathologies. However, in certain social classes, there is no real collaboration between conventional and folk medicine; so for some senior citizens, the 'healer' with his rituals and empirical and magical herbs is still the person to turn to for the 'cure' of particular ailments. Interest in these practises from ancestral heritage in an advanced country like Italy, is only relevant if the aim is to recoup a cultural identity which is already in decline. It is significant to report a piece: on 14 October 2007 the news on a well-known national Italian TV channel reported an interview with a 94 year-old man from Arbatax (Sardinia) referred to as a 'healer' because both his townspeople and others from all over the world go to him for his cures. He is not paid except in kind and has been known to cure St. Anthony's fire, burns, scalding and marine fungal infections, by smearing his saliva over the infected part and reciting 'special words'.     

Canadians pay for harsh economic policies with their health,physicians warn.

Canada''s fiscal policies are damaging the health of Canadians, two physicians told a conference that examined globalization''s impact on the country. Near-record unemployment levels and the recent recession have forced 41% of families in which the parents are 30 or younger to live below the poverty level; more than 21% of Canadian children are also considered to live in poverty. The impact tight fiscal policies have on health and well-being are enormous, say the dean of medicine at the University of Western Ontario and the chair of the Canadian Institute of Child Health.     

The Role of the Practising Physician in Medical Student Recruitment

The role that the practitioner of medicine can play in assisting recruitment to medical schools is examined. Although the total enrolment in universities has increased sharply in the past decade, the group applying to enter medicine has decreased. The output of Canada''s 12 schools of medicine—850 graduates per year-falls significantly short of the number of new physicians required to maintain the present physician:population ratio. With the expanded output of physicians required in future, an active program of recruitment will be necessary. The recruitment program organized by the practising physicians of British Columbia and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia is outlined.     

The Montana collections of Francis Duncan Kelsey

Francis Duncan Kelsey amassed one of the important early herbaria of Montana plants from 1885 to 1893. His Montana collections contain over 1200 specimens of algae, bryophytes, ferns, angiosperms, and fungi and include at least 41 that serve as types. Originally donated to the Oberlin College Herbarium (OC), the Montana collections, records, and later correspondence of Kelsey are now housed at the Miami University Herbarium (MU). The mycological collections of Kelsey are numbered, dated, and include site information; his other collections are unnumbered and often lack precise dates and/or localities. Kelsey's Montana fieldwork itineraries and sources of exchange are presented. All valid and legitimate names based on Kelsey's Montana collections are listed with pertinent information from his collection notebooks.     

The future of genomic medicine is here

A report on the 6th annual Future of Genomic Medicine conference, held at the Scripps Seaside Forum, La Jolla, CA, USA, March 7-8, 2013.On his flight over to San Diego to lead the Future of Genomic Medicine (FoGM) conference, Dr Eric Topol (Scripps Translational Science Institute, USA) used a heart monitor device attached to his smartphone to diagnose a distressed passenger with atrial fibrillation. Already, mobile technologies such as this one are beginning to transform medicine, and genome sequencing, with its rapidly decreasing costs, is no exception. As we get closer to mini-sequencers and what George Church (Harvard Medical School, USA) termed ''wearable sequencing'', a future of genomically informed medicine becomes possible. The FoGM conference integrated the patient-oriented perspective of genomic medicine, along with cutting-edge technologies and data integration, and developing methods and models in the aim of clinical utility.     

What's so special about Osler?

Sir William Osler was an outstanding figure in American and British Medicine during the early years of this century. Over fifty years after his death, his name is still remembered and honored, whereas other leaders who were equally important in the eyes of their contemporaries have been relegated to the realm of history. This brief review attempts to discover what special qualities have kept Osler''s memory vivid. No single characteristic of his skill, science, or personality seems in itself to explain his continuing reputation. Rather, a combination of his eminence in several different medical schools, his presence at a time of revolution in medical teaching and thought, his authorship of one of the most successful medical textbooks, and an enthusiastic claque of ex-students and colleagues seem to have combined to maintain his memory as a leader of medicine.     

Humane handling of end-of-life issues the aim of program at U of O medical schools.

The University of Ottawa medical school has launched a program to help students deal with end-of-life issues. One of its speakers is a cancer patient upset with a physician''s handling of his case. Organizers hope to gauge the impact of the program through a study of its effectiveness.     

Informed Consent in California: Latent Liability Without `Negligence'

Informed consent is a legal obligation due from a physician to his patient, an obligation which may not be met by the physician''s skillful treatment of his patient. It may only be met by the treating physician obtaining from his patient knowing authorization for carrying out the intended medical procedure. The physician is required to disclose whatever would be material to his patient''s decision, including the nature and purpose of the procedure, and the risks and alternatives. The disclosures should be made by the physician to his patient, and not through use of consent forms which are not particular to individual patients. To minimize any subsequent claim by the patient that there was a lack of adequate disclosures, the physician should record in the patient''s chart the circumstances of the patient''s consent, and should not rely on the patient''s unreliable ability to recall those circumstances.