As the recent Ebola epidemic demonstrated, the world is not only smaller than ever, but it is also more intricately connected. Exotic diseases once confined to the third or developing world are now everyone's concern. Global has truly become local. Having some knowledge of and com-petencies in global health is not only relevant , but also essential, for every family physician. Many family physi...

Since January 2013, an unusual increase in hepatitis A cases has been detected in northern Italy. A total number of 352 cases were reported to the integrated surveillance system between January and the end of May 2013 and this represents a 70% increase compared to the same period of the previous year. The outbreak is ongoing and the public health authorities are continuing their investigations ...

Although classically recognized as a disease of infants and children, the reported incidence of Bordetella pertussis infection in adolescents and adults has increased at a remarkable rate over the past decade. During 2004, more than 25,000 cases of pertussis were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the highest total since 1959; of these, 34% were in individuals age...

background: polymorphisms in the immune related genes are important in the clinical outcome of helicobacter pylori infection. myeloperoxidase -463 g/a polymorphism has been shown to reduce enzyme expression and activity. objective: the aim of the present study is to investigate the association of myeloperoxidase g-463a polymor-phism with clinical outcome of helicobacter pylori infection. method...

Optimising the care of patients with leg ulcers is prob‐ lematic not least because of the lack of universally accepted evidence based guidelines.1 Several systematic reviews into the effects of, for example, debridement, compression, topical treatments (including dressings), antimicrobial agents, and newer treatments (such as topical negative pressure devices) have predictably led to the conclu...

We read with interest the study by Cervellin et al., the largest study of admission hyponatraemia in intracapsular femoral neck fractures to date [1]. This work adds to the substantial and growing body of evidence detailing associations between hyponatraemia and fractures. We agree that hyponatraemia is an important and underappreciated problem in femoral fractures and other fragility fractures...

iscussions about evidence-based medicine (EBM) have engendered both positive and negative reactions from clini-cians, researchers, and policymakers since the term was first coined in the early 1990s (1, 2). These discussions were brought to the forefront again in a recent commentary by Dr. Bernadine Healy, former Director of National Institutes of Health (NIH), in US News and World Report(3). S...

TO THE EDITOR—We thank Dr Pai for highlighting the importance of optimal dosing of polymyxins [1]. As described in our original paper [2], a number of commonly used approaches to account for body size were extensively evaluated via population modeling and covariate analysis. These body size models included allometric and linear scaling by both total body weight (TBW) and lean body weight (LBW),...

133 I In nt te er rn na at ti io on na al l J Jo ou ur rn na al l o of f M Me ed di ic ca al l S Sc ci ie en nc ce es s Human toxoplasmosis is one of the most common parasitic zoonoses worldwide. As for other zoonoses, veterinarians play an important role in the education of the human population regarding the risk of infection. Knowledge of the parasite's biological charateristics, life cycle a...

Dear Editor, The practice of emergency medicine is the ability to perform indicated clinical procedures in a skillful and safe manner. 1,2 Due to multiple factors, including the unpredictable nature of emergency medicine, clinical experience may be quite variable. So clinical experience in the emergency department (ED) is the foundation of emergency medicine. 3-6 In teaching hospitals, clinical...