History Taking in Clinical Medicine - A Forgotten Art?

The art of history-taking in a headache patient

Headache is a common complaint that makes up for approximately 25% of any neurologists outpatient practice. Yet, it is often underdiagnosed and undertreated. Ninety percent of headaches seen in practice are due to a primary headache disorder where there are no confirmatory tests, and neuroimaging studies, if done, are normal. In this situation, a good headache history allows the physician to re...

Funduscopy: a forgotten art?

Funduscopy is an integral part of the physical examination, especially in older patients in whom visual problems and systemic diseases affecting the fundi (e.g., diabetes mellitus) are more common. We have assessed the views of hospital doctors to funduscopy via a questionnaire survey, reviewed the case notes to see whether or not funduscopy is carried out on older patients, and assessed the vi...

Vaginal delivery: a forgotten art!

Tool Writing: A Forgotten Art?

I n 1994, Shyam Chidamber and Chris Ke-merer defined a set of six simple metrics for object-oriented programs. Although this number swelled to above 300 in the years that followed, I had a case where I preferred to use the original classic metrics for clarity, consistency, and simplicity. Surprisingly, none of the six open source tools I found for collecting metrics fit the bill. Most calculate...

Chikungunya in Mozambique: A Forgotten History

Introduction The control of any infectious epidemicor outbreak-prone disease demands a thorough understanding of geographic distribution in both endemic and epidemic settings. This may require a careful study not only of recent reports but also of activity far back into the historical record. For chikungunya, the historical record provides evidence of the presence of the virus in Mozambique. Re...