Selections from current literature: minor depression

Selections from current literature: benzodiazepines revisited.

Having practised during the era when barbiturates were used as anxiolytics and hypnotics, I have a great appreciation for benzodiazepines. Unlike barbiturates, sudden withdrawal was never fatal, and suicide was virtually impossible if benzodiazepines were used alone. The first drug of this class, chlordiazepoxide (Librium) was approved in the USA in 1961, followed by diazepam (Valium) in 1969, ...

Selections from current literature: PSA screening for prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer has been the focus of several recent reports in the US news media.Additional attention has been focused on this issue due to the disclosure by several prominent US individuals that they have or have had prostate cancer. These include US presidential candidate, Senator Robert Dole, Gulf War hero, retired General Norman Schwarzkopf and the billionaire financier Michael Milken. Suc...

Selections from current literature: abortion, breast cancer and causal inferences.

The association between abortion and breast cancer was first reported in 1981 by Pike. Since that time there have been over 35 publications worldwide that have evaluated this association in an attempt to definitively answer the question of whether abortion is an aetiologic factor in the multicausal web of breast cancer. The results of these studies, both case control and cohort, have been mixed...

Selections from current literature. Treatments for premenstrual dysphoric disorder.

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a regularly recurring cluster of mood and somatic symptoms, occurring during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 20–40% of women have some premenstrual symptoms.1 In ~5% of women of reproductive age, the symptoms are severe enough to seriously disrupt their lives and relationships,2 thereby...

Selections from current literature: focus group technique in chronic illness.