Consumption of food containing mercury has been identified as a health risk. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and the National Academy of Sciences recommend keeping the whole blood mercury level < 5.0 microg/L or the hair level < 1.0 microg/g. This corresponds to a reference dose (RfD) of 0.1 microg/kg body weight per day. All patients in a 1-year period (n = 720) who came fo...

Most pediatric and adolescent concussion patients will heal within 1 month. However, 10% to 20% of adolescent concussions will take longer than 1 month to heal. In this subgroup, prolonged symptoms might include vestibular system deficits, residual neck muscle whiplash injury, exercise intolerance/dysautonomia, and memory issues. At this stage in recovery, these problems respond better to “acti...

PURPOSE To examine the relation between follow-up office visits after emergency discharge and the risk of emergency readmissions in patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). SUBJECTS AND METHODS We used population-based data to identify all patients in Alberta, Canada, who had at least one emergency visit for asthma or COPD between April 1, 1996, and March 31, 1997...

AIMS The rapidly increasing number of patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) places a large burden on follow-up providers. This study investigated the possibility of longer in-office follow-up intervals in primary prevention ICD patients under remote monitoring with automatic daily data transmissions from the implant memory. METHODS AND RESULTS Conducted in 155 ICD recipi...

BACKGROUND In 2000, Ontario, Canada, initiated a universal influenza immunization program (UIIP) to provide free influenza vaccines for the entire population aged 6 mo or older. Influenza immunization increased more rapidly in younger age groups in Ontario compared to other Canadian provinces, which all maintained targeted immunization programs. We evaluated the effect of Ontario's UIIP on infl...

Current issues in dentistry including a focus on patients' wishes for outcomes and dentists' role in that process raise important questions that cannot be addressed by quantitative, statistical study alone. The intriguing complexities and ambiguities that are emerging with ever-improving techniques and materials in dentistry, as well as competing demands for attention in dental health, require ...

A s I approach the end of my 12th year as a faculty member at Sacramento State, I find myself with a relatively long mental list of students who have been through my classes, earned their degrees, and moved on to the next stages of their careers. It is always fun to get phone calls, e-mails, Facebook status updates, and even office visits from them. (While working on this letter, I was visited ...

PURPOSE Telehealth is a care delivery model that promises to increase the flexibility and reach of health services. Our objective is to describe patient experiences with video visits performed with their established primary care clinicians. METHODS We constructed semistructured, in-depth qualitative interviews with adult patients following video visits with their primary care clinicians at a ...

Methods PM2.5 and temperature measurements were obtained from satellite data for all of Ontario [2]. Physician office visits were stratified into two groups based on the literature: air pollution-sensitive (acute respiratory infections, allergic rhinitis, asthma, bronchiolitis, diabetes, otitis media) and air pollution-insensitive (gastroenteritis, injuries). Claims data were obtained for every...

CONTEXT Although bipolar disorder may have its onset during childhood, little is known about national trends in the diagnosis and management of bipolar disorder in young people. OBJECTIVES To present national trends in outpatient visits with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and to compare the treatment provided to youth and adults during those visits. DESIGN We compare rates of growth betwee...