Over the past centuries, mortality and morbidity patterns have been changing all over the world albeit with variations in timing and pace. These changes have been referred to as the epidemiologic transition (Omran 1971, 1982). The main features of the transition include a decline in mortality, an increase in life expectancy, and a shift in the leading causes of morbidity and mortality from infe...

Editorial on Omran et al. Thromb Haemost 2012; 108: 65-73. Haemostasis refers to the continuous process of balancing the (sometimes iatrogenic) proand anti-thrombotic forces. The delicacy of this balance is exemplified by conditions, such as atrial fibrillation (AF), which cause a chronic prothrombotic distortion, but the consequent use of antithrombotic therapy increases the risk of major blee...

populations has been of interest since Thomas Malthus in 1798 argued that ‘population growth will always tend to outrun the food supply’ and that ‘betterment of the lot of mankind is impossible without stern limits on reproduction’.1 Since then, the theories on the health of populations in transition have developed2 with the groundbreaking contribution given to public health by Abdel Omran.3 In...

The second epidemiologic transition is defined as “the age of receding pandemics”, wherein mortality declines, life expectancy increases, and population growth occurs. The major causes of death also shifted from predominantly acute infectious diseases to degenerative and “man-made” diseases (Omran, 1983). The aim of this study was to determine the timing of the transition in Zürich (Switzerland...

In the last editorial, Omran Bakoush (1) has emphasized the value of bedside teaching in clinical settings. This raises a question whether lecturing is synonymous with teaching? When one of the senior professors was asked about lectures he said, ‘I would rather teach on ward rounds or in a small conference than lecture if that can be arranged.’ This brings out a reflective thought that whether ...

Background: Epidemiologic transition of diseases is taking place globally. Therefore, it is necessary that more work is done to unravel the situation in respect to cardiac diseases in the developing world. Aim: The research was conducted to ascertain the cardiac causes of death in adults and by extension to further unravel the epidemiologic transition in relation to cardiac diseases in the deve...

To overcome harmonic structure distortions of complex tones in the low frequency range due to the frequency to electrode mapping function used in Nucleus cochlear implants, two modified frequency maps based on a semitone frequency scale (Smt-MF and Smt-LF) were implemented and evaluated. The semitone maps were compared against standard mapping in three psychoacoustic experiments with the three ...

treatment approaches in children. Eur Respir J 2009; 34: 1264–1276. 3 Bush A, Chodhari R, Collins N, et al. Primary ciliary dyskinesia: current state of the art. Arch Dis Child 2007; 92: 1136–1140. 4 Lucas JS, Walker WT, Kuehni CE, et al. Primary ciliary dyskinesia. In: Cordier J-F, ed. Orphan Lung Diseases. Eur Respir Monogr 2011; 54: 201–217. 5 Jorissen M, Willems T, Van der Schueren B, et al...