A motion by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada to restrict specialty examinations to Canadian- and US-trained physicians has met a storm of protest from provinces facing acute physician shortages in remote areas. The motion was called a "recipe for disaster" for provinces such as Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland that traditionally have recruited specialists from Commo...

This field study investigated the distribution of the freshwater snails of the family Ampullariidae in 18 provinces of Thailand. The introduced Pomacea canaliculata has wide distribution in the studied provinces. Pila angelica, P. ampullacea and P. pesmei still have limited distribution. Pila polita, which is absent in the south, now can be found in Phangnga, a southern province of Thailand. Mo...

A new species, Apteroloma zhejiangensesp. n., is described from Zhejiang Province, China. The habitus and sexual characters of the new species are illustrated. Apteroloma jinfo Růžička, is reported for the first time from China: Hubei and Hunan Provinces, and Apteroloma potanini (Semenov, 1893) from Ningxia and Henan Provinces. Presence of Apteroloma kozlovi Semenov-Tian-Shanskij & Znojko in Se...

BACKGROUND Among the available data provided by health information systems, data on mortality are commonly used not only as health indicators but also as socioeconomic development indices. Recognizing that in Iran accurate data on causes of death were not available, the Deputy of Health in the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOH&ME) established a new comprehensive system for death reg...

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...

China has frequently been questioned about the data transparency and accuracy of its energy and emission statistics. Satellite-derived remote sensing data potentially provide a useful tool to study the variation in carbon dioxide (CO2) mass over areas of the earth's surface. In this study, Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) tropospheric CO2 concentration data and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis ...

The characterization of essential oils of Mentha aquatica L grown in two Provinces of Vietnam was performed by means of gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) techniques. The major constituents of the essential oils were epi-bicyclosesquiphellandrene (58.9% and 52.4% respectively) and limonene (21.1% and 31.4% respectively) for Tha...

OBJECTIVE: Some research suggests that social, political, and cultural life in the U.S. and Canada are growing divergent. We use health lifestyle theories to extend prior research and compare the U.S. and Canada on population health indicators. METHODS: The population health indicators include health behaviors, fertility, and cause-specific mortality for each of the United States (and Washingto...

A second iteration of a draft covenant for the Anglican Communion (the St. Andrew’s Draft) is now circulating; and it is likely that some version thereof will be presented to the Bishops of the Communion when they meet in Canterbury this summer. At some point after this gathering, a covenant proposal will be circulated among the provinces of the Communion for ratification. There is no doubt tha...