Unlike most Western nations, Israel does not recognize full separation of church and state but seeks instead a gentle fusion of Jewish and democratic values. Inasmuch as important religious norms such as sanctity of life may clash with dignity, privacy, and self-determination, conflicts frequently arise as Israeli lawmakers, ethicists, and healthcare professionals attempt to give substance to t...

The goal of this case study is to examine how foresight, embodied in the precautionary principle, can lead to robust and flexible decisions that meet the needs of the present, but that can be adapted to meet the changing needs of the future. Recently there has been much debate over the use of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) in petrol. Concerns in particular over the potential for contamination o...

Many Western nations face a critical shortage of skilled professionals in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). However, despite abundant opportunities, few women prepare themselves for careers in these fields. Several of those concerned with the problem have proposed that new media programming, such as television dramas with women engineers, computer professionals and/or eng...

Type 1 diabetes has become one of the most studied polygenic disorders. It effects over 1.4 million people in the US, with a rising incidence in many western nations. It is clear that there is a strong hereditary component in the development of disease, with siblings at higher risk than offspring and both at higher risk than the general population. It is also clear that autoimmunity plays a lar...

In 1993 I went to a UNESCO/CROP conference in Paris organised around the theme: Economic Growth and its Significance for Poverty Reduction. The conference participants were an unusual blend of academic disciplines with historians, sociologists, economists, psychologists and political scientists, with a range of perspectives from Marxist to New Right. They came from countries at all stages of ec...

With an incidence of 16% and a risk of mortality of 4% sepsis in preterm newborns with a birth weight <1,500 grams remains a burden problem. Despite antibiotic treatment, the incidence of sepsis stayed stable over the past decades in western industry nations, however there was a shift within the spectrum of pathogens from group B streptococci (GBS) to gram negative microbes. Preterm infants hav...

Purpose The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is increasing in East Asian countries as well as in Western nations. However, information regarding the prevalence of the use of CAM in community-based populations is inconsistent and has not been systematically reviewed. This review examines the prevalence of CAM use in the Republic of Korea, focusing on (1) factors that possibly ...

A case of visceral leishmaniasis in a young American Peace Corps volunteer is reported. Both clinical and epidemiologic evidence strongly supported the diagnosis; however, hepatic and splenic aspirates for the causative organism were negative. The diagnosis was eventually confirmed through serology, employing indirect immunofluorescence and complement fixation testing of serum. The patient clin...

In today's cost-conscious environment, understanding the economic implications associated with disease processes and their treatments is as important as understanding their clinical impact. Medical expenditures for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the indirect costs of morbidity can represent a substantial economic and social burden. Very little economic information con...

Research on political activism compares the ways that citizens participate, the processes that lead them to do so, and the consequences of these acts. The standard paradigm was established in earlier decades by the seminal works in the social psychological tradition: Gabriel A. Almond and Sidney Verba’s The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations (1963), Sidney Verba an...