29 research outputs found
Bioethics bonanza
Over the past couple of years, the Bioethics Consultative Committee has been active in promoting an understanding of bioethical issues within the medical profession, as well as more generally among the paramedical, and indeed the lay public. As part of this programme, a conferences was held on three consecutive evenings in November 1999 and dealt with three different topics, namely, Patient Rights, Reproductive Technology and Transplantation.peer-reviewe
The social face of medicine
In this article the author describes the social aspect of medicine in Malta. The author mentions the need to enhance the medical curriculum and include a set course of bioethics within the 5-year curriculum. The author states that in Malta social aspects of medicine are only touched by medical students during the course of study. The minds of future generations of students should be broadened to include formal teaching on the significance of a humane approach to patient care. Their education should give due importance to the relevance of the social structures of society and their impact on disease and medical practice.peer-reviewe
Organ and tissue transplantation
A report is delivered on the First International Congress of the Transplantation Society (Paris 1967). The recent interest in transplantation of organs is largely due to the technical advances in surgical procedures making it possible to replace organs in the human, as well as to an increased understanding of the basic biological problems underlying the rejection of such grafts. At this first International Congress, widely ranging topics were discussed, including organ transplantation, mechanism of graft rejection, methods of immunosuppression, genetics of transplantation, bone marrow transplantation, and cancer as homograft. New techniques of organ transplantation, new concepts in the antigenic structure of cells, new methods of purifying subcellular fraction of antilymphocytic serum, new drugs to combat rejection phenomena, and above all a fresh outlook on the mode of action of these drugs at a molecular level, will doubtless render this an exciting new approach to biology in general and to clinical problems in particular.peer-reviewe
Glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in Malta : a preliminary study
It has been suggested that glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PD) affects more than 100 million people of all races throughout the world. The special relevance of this problem to Malta can readily be appreciated when it is remembered that G6PD deficiency is particularly common in countries bordering the Mediterranean. For the purpose of this survey samples of blood were obtained from the following: i) normal people - blood donors, students at various colleges, and staff; ii) patients from the wards at St. Luke's Hospital Malta suffering from a variety of surgical or medical disorders; and iii) diabetic patients under treatment. The results are tabulated in table 2. Eight hundred samples were examined: 555 males and 245 females. Ten males and 2 females were found to be enzyme deficient - an incidence of 1.8% and 0.8% respectively. There was no significant difference between the diabetic and either the normal or the ordinary patients groups. The lower incidence of G6PD deficiency in females can be explained by the relative lack of sensitivity of the BCB test in heterozygotes.peer-reviewe
Ethics and the medical practitioner
Historically, the inculcation of good ethical practice within the Maltese medical community has been achieved through a high ethical standard assumed by the teachers which was passed on to their students. In this article the author describes three important aspects related to medical ethics: teaching ethics to medical students; specific issues relating to medical practice in Malta; ethics and medical research.peer-reviewe
Quality assurance
The concept of quality assurance refers more specifically to the process of objectifying and clearly enunciating goals, and providing means of assessing the outcomes. In this article the author mentions four fundamental elements of quality assurance which should be applied in the medical profession in Malta. These elements should relate to professional performance, resource utilisation, risk management and patient satisfaction. The aim of the medical professionals in Malta is to provide the best medical practice possible of which the patient may be truly satisfied.peer-reviewe
Biochemical markers in cancer of the ovary : a review
The ideal tumour marker would be one which is detectable before obvious clinical involvement. A number of biochemical markers have been used to diagnose carcinoma of the ovary. This article names several aspects of ovarian tumour markers such as CA125, Tissue Polypeptide Antigen (TPA), Lipid -Associated Sialic Acid (LASA-P), CA 19-9 and others.peer-reviewe
The immunologic diagnosis of cancer
In view of the explosive nature of the advance in immunology in the last decade, it is inevitable that immunological techniques would be used in an attempt to facilitate the diagnosis of cancer. The purpose of this communication is to put into perspective the various attempts that have been made in this field, and to outline the possible outcome of such research. A great deal of fundamental work is still required to delineate the exact biological significance of tumour-specific antigens. Such work at the moment is being carried out in major tumour immunology centres throughout the world, and one would hope that the next ten years will witness the same rate of growth in the application of immunological techniques to the cancer problem that has been characteristic of basic immunological research in the last decade.peer-reviewe
New perspectives in Barrett’s oesophagus
Most of us have been brought up on the dogma that
one important complication of reflux oesophagitis is
Barrett’s oesophagus which in turn is the precursor of
adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus. It appears that this view
gives too glum a picture of what is actually happening.peer-reviewe
Healthy, wealthy and wise
This trio of desiderata is no less valid today than when we were children, but the recipe for success, summarised as ‘early to bed, early to rise’, appears to be too simplistic in a complex world we live in today. And yet, if you ask a hundred people, particularly those of a certain age, when they have started to realise that they are not indestructible any more, what is the most valuable thing in life, the majority would choose health as the most urgent priority. Compared to most countries in the world, Malta is a healthy nation. We are also a happy-go-lucky nation where it seems that some things go reasonably well more through luck than through wise management.peer-reviewe