CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne
-
Supplementary health care insurance is the fastest growing segment of the insurance industry in Canada, but not because of a rise in the number of policy holders. Instead, revenue increase is primarily due to price increases for insured services, such as prescription drugs or semi-private hospital coverage, and the expansion of private coverage into areas vacated by public health insurance. The role of private insurance in the evolving Canadian health care system was debated during a recent conference sponsored by the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis at McMaster University.
-
Although it was well advertised, few Canadian physicians attended a recent conference on Lyme disease in Vancouver. The apparent lack of interest upsets the president of the Lyme Borreliosis Society, who says many patients have been misdiagnosed, mistreated or untreated and "are now chronically disabled." Interestingly, the disease seems to be much more common in the US than Canada. In New York State, for instance, more than 26,000 cases have been diagnosed, but in nearby Ontario the total is only 200.
-
Medicine has many unsung heroes, and among them are physicians who spend their careers providing medical care in remote areas. In this article, Ronald Porth remembers the life of his father, Dr. Frank Porth, who for more than 30 years provided medical care on native reserves and in rural parts of the Prairies.
-
Biography Historical Article
A question of rhythm: recent advances in growth hormone research.
Research by Dr. Gloria Shaffer Tannenbaum at the McGill University-Montreal Children's Hospital Research Institute has led to the development of a new test to differentiate children who are deficient in growth hormone from those who are short but growing normally. ⋯ A subsequent challenge with GHRH is then used to identify children with a genuine deficiency. Tannenbaum's research also indicates that there are sexual differences in the pattern of growth hormone release and that growth hormone regulates its own secretion by means of a negative feedback system.
-
Biography Historical Article
Forensic dentistry joins DNA analysis as important tool for police work.
A Vancouver dentist who works as a teacher, researcher and administrator at the University of British Columbia has a unique extracurricular interest. Dr. David Sweet, one of four forensic odontologists in Canada, has put names to unidentified bodies and the remains of car-crash victims, helped convict child abusers and provided evidence in robbery cases.