Does Internet and computer 'addiction' exist? Some case study evidence

It has been alleged that social pathologies are beginning to surface in cyberspace (i.e., technological addictions). To date, there is very little empirical evidence that computing activities (i.e., internet use, hacking, programming) are addictive. Anecdotal evidence indicates that the typical “addict” is a teenager, usually male, with little or no social life, and little or no self-confidence. This article concentrates on five case studies of excessive computer usage. It is argued that of the five cases, only two of them describe “addicted” subjects. Addiction components criteria were used in the assessment. The excessive usage in the majority of cases was purely symptomatic and was highlighted how the subjects used the Internet/computer to counteract other deficiencies

Illness Severity among Non-English, Non-Spanish Speaking Patients in a Public Emergency Department

Background: Patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) have poor health outcomes compared to English proficient patients. Most studies on language proficiency and health disparities focus on Spanish. Objective: This study examines whether non-Spanish speaking LEP patients experience greater disparities than Spanish speaking LEP patients by comparing disease acuity and language proficiency in an emergency department. Design: This is a retrospective case-control study from November 2010 to February 2012 comparing differences between non-English non-Spanish (NENS) speaking patients to English speaking patients with differences between Spanish speaking and English speaking patients. Main outcomes: Primary endpoints include the emergency severity index (ESI) score, area of triage, days in hospital, and the rates of admission, in-hospital surgery, intensive care unit admission, and all-cause mortality. Results: Among all of the study patients, the average age was 55.1 (+/- 12.4). Comparing the NENS sample to the English sample yielded differences in surgery rates (NENS 11.3%, English 1.9%, p=0.002), admission rates (NENS 38.8%, English 24.7%, p=0.025), and days in hospital (NENS 2.49 +/-5.43, English 1.93+/-8.56, p Conclusions and relevance: We were able to demonstrate greater healthcare needs among NENS patients compared to the other two groups. The NENS patients were more likely to be admitted, have surgery, and stay longer than those speaking English or Spanish. These findings are important because they suggest further research, awareness of these disparities by healthcare providers, and public health interventions focusing on this population are warranted

Steroid-Induced Psychosis Presenting as Alice in Wonderland Syndrome

A 40 year old overweight male with a history of bronchial asthma, hypertension, and “schizophrenia” was admitted for intractable bronchial asthma. He did not have a history of drug or alcohol use. Upon admission, he was treated with high doses of IV methyl prednisone, oral prednisone, and triamcinolone inhaler. He developed complex visual hallucinations which decreased following tapering of prednisone and discontinuation of the triamcinolone. EEG showed diffuse slowing suggesting a toxic metabolic state

The ripple effects of US immigration policy on refugee children: A Canadian perspective

Since 2016, an estimated 40,000 individuals have crossed the Canadian/U.S. border, seeking asylum, impacted by changing U.S policies on immigration.3 Some come from countries affected by the U.S. immigration ban, while others come as the result of failed refugee claims, worsening discrimination and immigration enforcement. In this perspective piece, we outline how domestic U.S policy can have rippling effects internationally, focusing on Canada. From direct health impacts from mental health and trauma, to limited access to health care, the impact on housing and employment, and finally the subtle but poignant shift in Canadian values, we argue that the impacts of U.S immigration policy are not only felt domestically, but globally. Finally, we seek to identify ways in which child health advocates and policymakers alike can support the well being of refugee claimant children across both borders

A 3 Week Geriatric Education Program for 4th Year Medical Students at Dalhousie University

Purpose -Population demographics are shifting towards an increased average age. Yet, many medical schools still do not have mandatory comprehensive education in Geriatric Medicine. In 2001, the Division of Geriatric Medicine at Dalhousie University developed a required three-week geriatric course for fourth year medical students. This paper describes the details of the curriculum so that it can be reproduced in other settings. Results - The curriculum was successfully implemented. An examination, held at the end of each 3-week rotation, documented extensive learning of important concepts in Geriatric Medicine. The students gave positive feedback about the benefits of this training program. Conclusion -A well developed formal education program teaches students specific skills in Geriatric Medicine, which may improve the care of the growing elderly populatio

Studies in the reactions of N, N-Dimethyl chloramine and a variety of tri coordinate phospohorus compounds

In this work the reactions "between various phosphorus (III) species and dimethyl chloramine have been studied. In all cases the phosphorous (III) species were oxidised to phosphorus (v), in most cases by ohloramination, that is by the addition of the dimethylamino group to the phosphorus producing a phosphonium cation with chloride as the anion. Me(_2)NCl + PX(_3) → Me(_2)NPX(_3)(^+)Cl(^-) This reaction occurred in the cases of Me(_2)NPCl(_2), (Me(_2)N)(_2)PCl, (C(_6)H(_5)O)(_5)P, Me(_2)N(C(_6)H(_5))PCl, (C(_6)H(_5))(_2)PCl and C(_6)H(_5)PCl(_2) although in the latter two cases the salt was too unstable to be isolated as the chloride but the systems could be stabalised as the tetrachloroborate or hexachloroantirnonatesalts. It is likely that dimethyichloramine chloraminated trimsthyl phosphite to give a similar species, but this decomposed quickly giving chlororethane and Me(_2)NP0(0Me)(_2). In the case of (Me(_2)N)(_2)P chlorination occurred giving (Me(_2)N)(_3)PCl(_2) and (Me(_2)N)(_2). Phosphorus trichloride seemed to be an intermediate case, as, in the presence of excess phosphorus trichloride the following reaction occurred:- 4PCl(_3) + 3Me(_2)NCl → Me(_2)NPCl(_4) + Me(_2)NPCl(_3)PCl(_6) + Me(_2)NPCl(_2

Development and evaluation of clustering techniques for finding people

Typically in a large organisation much expertise and knowledge is held informally within employees' own memories. When employees leave an organisation many documented links that go through that person are broken and no mechanism is usually available to overcome these broken links. This match making problem is related to the problem of finding potential work partners in a large and distributed organisation. This paper reports a comparative investigation into using standard information retrieval techniques to group employees together based on their webpages. This information can, hopefully, be subsequently used to redirect broken links to people who worked closely with a departed employee or used to highlight people, say indifferent departments, who work on similar topics. The paper reports the design and positive results of an experiment conducted at Risø National Laboratory comparing four different IR searching and clustering approaches using real users' web pages

The creation of the Faculty of Community Medicine (now the Faculty of Public Health Medicine) of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom

The National Health Service Act 1946 transferred responsibility for the non-voluntary hospitals and certain clinical services from the public health departments of counties and county boroughs to new regional hospital boards, thereby substantially reducing the functions of their medical officers of health and creating a separate cadre of doctors concerned with the planning and management of hospital and specialist services. At around the same time there was pressure to develop in each medical school a department of social and preventive medicine with full-time staff involved in research work. Reviewing the situation 20 years later, the Royal Commission on Medical Education recommended that doctors in public health, medical administration or related teaching and research should form a single professional body concerned with the assessment of specialist training for and standards of practice in 'community medicine'. Immediately after the publication of the Commission's Report in 1968, J. N. Morris invited leaders in the three strands of activities to meet and discuss the proposal. A series of informal meetings led to the setting up, in 1969, of a Working Party (chairman, J. N. Morris) which negotiated with the Royal Colleges of Physicians of Edinburgh, Glasgow and London for them to create a faculty of community medicine. In November 1970 the Colleges set up a Provisional Council (chairman, W. G. Harding), later Board, and the Faculty formally came into existence on 15 March 1972. The key decisions and some of the complications and hitches encountered in achieving this radical outcome are described in this paper

The view from Fortingall: the worlds of the Book of the Dean of Lismore

No abstract available