Japanese life expectancy increased by about 13.7 years during the first decade after World War II, despite the country's post-war poverty. Although it is known that medical progress explains part of this increase, roles of non-medical factors have not been systematically studied. This study hypothesizes that non-medical factors, in addition to medical factors, are associated with the rapid incr...

Introduction As we celebrate our 75th birthday the eponymous title of the lecture series reminds us of the lifetime dedication given to our specialty by Col L W Harrison, DSO. He was the son of a Lancashire general practitioner and qualified in medicine in Glasgow in 1897. Two years later he joined the Army Medical Corps and served in the South African war and in the first world war. He tells u...

Though the defense ministry has been a bastion of male power, a growing number of states have appointed women to this portfolio. What explains men’s dominance in these positions? Which factors predict women’s ascension to this post? With comprehensive cross-national data on women’s ministerial appointments in the post-Cold War era, we develop and test three sets of hypotheses concerning women’s...

Laborers and soldiers from China and Southeast Asia recruited during the First World War by Britain and France have been suggested as the origin of the 1918 influenza pandemic in Western Europe. This study aimed to review the available data to better understand the sources and origins of the 1918 influenza pandemic, and clarify whether, in fact, there was an Asian connection to its onset. We re...

At the end of November 1914 Lord Moulton (1844-1921) became the director of explosives production in the War Office. A 70-year-old jurist may seem an extraordinary choice, but he was an extraordinary man. He was Senior Wrangler at Cambridge, was elected to the Royal Society for research on electricity, and learned about chemistry as a barrister for dye and explosives manufacturers. He assembled...

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Between 1989 and 2004, Liberia experienced a devastating civil war that resulted in widespread trauma with almost no mental health infrastructure to help citizens cope. In 2009, the Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare collaborated with researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital to conduct a rapid needs assessment survey in Liberia with local key informants (n = 171) to examine t...