Canadian dispatches from medical fronts: Whaling

Criteria for cancelling helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) dispatches.

INTRODUCTION In The Netherlands there is no consensus about criteria for cancelling helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) dispatches. This study assessed the ability of the primary HEMS dispatch criteria to identify major trauma patients. The predictive power of other early prehospital parameters was evaluated to design a safe triage model for HEMS dispatch cancellations. METHODS All t...

Whales and whaling: contributions by the medical profession.

extended knowledge of osmosis. In his textbook, Elements of chemistry, there are eight pages on osmosis and he clearly indicated its probable importance in biology. Extracts of this section were quoted at length in many of the textbooks of physiology, widely read by medical students and doctors at times when great cholera epidemics were raging. The failure of the medical and chemical establishm...

The International Whaling Commission—Beyond Whaling

Since its establishment in 1946 as the international body intended tomanagewhaling, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has expanded its areas of interest to ensure the wider conservation of whales. Several key conservation topics have been taken forward under its auspices including climate change, chemical and noise pollution, marine debris and whale watching. Work on each of these topi...

Dispatches from abroad: laughter amid the land mines.

Dispatches from abroad: aground in a sea of TB.

ral Sea, Karakalpakstan — It's another punishingly hot day as I make my way to the project sites for a routine supervisory visit. Médecins sans Frontières is in this remote , semi-autonomous region of Uzbekistan to help the local Ministry of Health combat a frightening tuberculosis epidemic. By training local health care workers and providing drugs, laboratories , and water and sanitation upgra...