British journal of hospital medicine
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Fulminant sepsis following splenectomy remains a major problem. Even with the administration of pneumococcal vaccine and prophylactic antibiotics fatalities still occur. A better understanding of the complex immunological function of the spleen, its preservation as much as possible during surgery, potent vaccine and perhaps more effective antibiotics will, hopefully, help reduce mortality in some of these cases in future.
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Junior doctors, and to a lesser extent medical students, suffer higher rates of stress and depression than the general population. While some of the causes of these problems may lie with the individual, others are associated with organizational and career factors and with a training which still does not prepare them for those first postgraduate years.