In this paper I propose that only part of our experience of events, and products in particular, should be coined aesthetic. This part, the aesthetic experience, is restricted to the (dis)pleasure that results from sensory perception. The main part of the paper is devoted to explaining why we experience certain things as gratifying to our senses. Following thinking in evolutionary psychology, it...

Cultural values and beliefs about the primary care physician bolster the myth of the lone physician: a competent professional who is esteemed by colleagues and patients for his or her willingness to sacrifice self, accept complete responsibility for care, maintain continuity and accessibility, and assume the role of lone decision maker in clinical care. Yet the reality of current primary care m...

Phakolytic glaucoma is a distinct entity characterized by oedematous and hazy cornea, deep anterior chamber, slightly turbid aqueous, and hypermature cataract. Intractable glaucoma results from obstruction of the anterior chamber angle by proteinaceous lens matter and characteristic macrophages (Flocks, Littwin, and Zimmerman, I955; Becker andShaffer, I965;Goldberg, I967;Duke-Elder, I969). Fort...

B12 deficiency is the leading cause of megaloblastic anemia, and although more common in the elderly, can occur at any age. Clinical disease caused by B12 deficiency usually connotes severe deficiency, resulting from a failure of the gastric or ileal phase of physiological B12 absorption, best exemplified by the autoimmune disease pernicious anemia. There are many other causes of B12 deficiency...

In 1936 we reported the occurrence of severe ketosis “immediately following hypoglycemic shock in insulin-treated diabetics, who for some time prior to the insulin shock were well under control on diets containing 120 to 250 gm. of carbohydrates with commensurate doses of insulin” (1). Since 1935, when we first observed this causal connection between hypoglycemia and ketosis, appreciation of th...

The concept of tumor suppressor networks comes as a logical consequence of the increasing understanding of the biology of tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes. Indeed, it has been gratifying to realize during the past decade that the products of tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes are often involved in the kind of guardian–delinquent relationship, or cat-and-mouse game suggested by the genetic...

Surgical treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) can provide gratifying symptomatic improvements for many individuals who suffer from persistent disabling symptoms despite the best available medical management. Current surgical therapies include ablative techniques (thalamotomy and pallidotomy), augmentative techniques (nondestructive) (deep brain stimulation), and restorative techniques (tissue ...

Knowledge of local antibiotic sensitivities is crucial to creating appropriate empiric antibiotic guidelines. The new National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) Data Warehouse allows clinicians to access collated spreadsheets of culture isolates and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns for their facilities. We used this service to study the trends in blood culture (BC) results at GF Jooste Hosp...

I often happens in the history of science that researchers, guided by quite different basic concepts and using different methods, obtain results which can be unexpectedly synthesized to produce interesting conclusions and which require us to view scientific questions in a new light. The very fact that we start with a diversity of viewpoints and observations strengthens our conclusions and gives...

Many journals focusing on health have fairly similar missions which revolve around publishing and disseminating scientifically rigorous health information of national or international significance that enables policy-makers, researchers and practitioners to be more effective (1) or, expressed in simple and clear terms, ‘delivering science for better health.’(2) In keeping with the aims and obje...