BACKGROUND In 2004, the Japanese government permitted medical graduates for the first time to choose their training location directly through a national matching system. While the reform has had a major impact on physicians' placement, research on the impact of the new system on physician distribution in Japan has been limited. In this study, we sought to examine the determinants of physicians'...

OBJECTIVE Youth have distinct health care needs that are not always met within a framework designed for children or adults. In Canada, little attention has been given to how youth utilize health care services and limited data are available. The aim of this study was to identify whether age, sex, socio-economic status (SES) and geographic location were significant mediators of youth health care ...

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to longitudinally examine the geographic distribution of physicians in Japan with adjustment for healthcare demand according to changes in population age structure. METHODS We examined trends in the number of physicians per 100 000 population in Japan's secondary medical areas (SMAs) from 2000 to 2014. Healthcare demand was adjusted using health expe...

Epidemiology At five years of age, 15 to 25 percent of children wet the bed. With each year of maturity, the percentage of bed-wetters declines by 15 percent. Hence, 8 percent of 12-year-old N octurnal enuresis is a common problem, affecting an estimated 5 to 7 million children in the United States and occurring three times more often in boys than in girls. Unfortunately, only about one third o...

Noninvasive in vivo imaging techniques have become an important diagnostic aid for skin cancer detection. Dermoscopy, also known as dermatoscopy, epiluminescence microscopy, incident light microscopy, or skin surface microscopy, has been shown to increase the clinician's diagnostic accuracy when evaluating cutaneous neoplasms. A handheld instrument called a dermatoscope or dermoscope, which has...

Nationwide implementation of Family Physician (FP) program started in 2005 and targeted almost 25,000,000 citizens residing in rural areas and cities with less than 20,000 populations in Iran. Despite its blatant initiation that resulted in some modest achievements, the future of FP looks unclear in Iran. Thus far, no longitudinal evaluation of the implementation and impact of FP program has be...

PURPOSE Family physicians provide the majority of elderly patient care in Canada. Many experience significant challenges in serving this cohort. This study aimed to examine the medical problems of patients referred to a care of the elderly physician, to better understand the geriatric continuing medical education (CME) needs of family doctors. METHODS A retrospective chart review of patients ...

Etiology Although viral infection is the most common cause of pericarditis, the condition has many possible causes (Table 1), including bacterial infection, myocardial infarction, trauma, malignancy, uremia, hypothyroidism, collagen vascular disease, and the effects of certain drugs, notably hydralazine (Apresoline) and procainamide (Pronestyl). Purulent pericarditis as a result of bacterial in...