Survives a lightning strike

Lightning strikes are not rare, but for a man to survive the ordeal of having millions of volts passed through his body during such a lightning strike is extremely rare. In this article the author recounts his personal experience of examining a patient who was just struck by lightning. The author describes the symptoms presented by the patient on the first two days following the incident.peer-reviewe

Avian representations from prehistoric and medieval sites on the Maltese Islands

The aim of this publication is to catalogue the avian representations discovered in local prehistoric and medieval sites, to illustrate as many of these as possible and to register a hitherto unrecorded find of a miniature clay bird from Mnajdra (Qrendi, Malta) and of a North African oil lantern with a bird emblema on its disc.peer-reviewe

Advances in ENT imaging

Over the last ten years or so radiology has shown dramatic technological developments especially in cross sectional imaging and the investigation and management of the complex ENT patient has benefitted enormously. Plain radiographs are being utilised less and less as their limitations are becoming more apparent and various studies have shown for example a 75% discrepancy between plain sinus radiographs and coronal sinus CT in children1,2 . The incorporation of small and flexible ultrasound transducers with high-resolution imaging into the tips of endoluminal catheters has allowed good quality endoluminal ultrasound. Recently endolaryngeal ultrasound has been clinically evaluated in 38 patients with a variety of laryngeal pathology including vocal fold polyps, laryngeal cysts, chronic laryngitis, epithelial dysplasia and cancer 5 . Using this technique tumour size and infiltration could be measured and involvement of the thyroid cartilage or anterior commissure could be visualised. Not surprisingly it was not able to detect any specific changes in the sonographic picture of patients suffering from chronic laryngitis, epithelial dysplasia or microinvasive cancer. Although these results are encouraging, its relative lack of availability will result in it only having a limited role in evaluating laryngeal pathology.peer-reviewe

Avulsion fracture of the Iliac Crest : a clinical and radiological evaluation 17 years later

The authors present the case of a sports-related avulsion fracture of the iliac crest, which happened in 1987, in an 18-year old adolescent. This was diagnosed using plain radiography, and was managed non-surgically. They recently reviewed the patient both clinically and radiologically and are here reporting their findings 17 years down the line.peer-reviewe

The Indo-Pacific affinities of some Maltese tertiary fossils

A review of the Maltese fossil record reveals an unsuspected marked IndoPacific affinity, suggesting a biostratigraphic link between the central Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific in mid-Tertiary times. The family and sometimes even the genus of some Maltese Oligo-Miocene fossils still survive in the Indo-Pacific province after having become completely extinct from the Mediterranean region. The fossils reviewed in this paper are the Cidaridae (which are also revised to reveal the presence of Prionocidaris and Phyllacanthus) , Coelopleurus, Echinoneus, Laganum, Apatopygus, Clypeaster, Tomistoma, Trionyx, Trilasmis, J{ uphus, and Nautilus - all of which have an Indo-Pacific affinity. The survival of such a fauna in the Indo-Pacific region is attributed to two main factors: the former connection of Tethys to the Indo-Pacific, thereby allowing eastward migration of the central Mediterranean fauna into this Ocean, and climatic and other ecological conditions prevailing in the central Mediterranean region during mid-Tertiary times having been analogous to those now prevailing in the Indo-Pacific.peer-reviewe

Two contra-veleno cups made from Terra Sigillata Melitensis

This paper is part of a Monograph on Terra melitensis or rock excavated from St. Paul's Grotto where the Apostle of the Gentiles is said to have spent his three months enforced stay on the Island following his shipwreck in A.D.60. The Cave is traditionally thought to possess the property of rock regeneration and its limestone was said to be of great medicinal value in many illnesses and to possess the miraculous property of averting or neutralising the effects of poison. Cups made from this powdered limestone were consequently often referred to as Contra-Veleno Cups. Only two such specimens have been traced so far and these are both described and figured in this paper. One of the cups, now forming part of the Sloane Collection in the Department of British and Medieval Antiquities at the British Museum, London, has fossil palatal teeth and crinoid ossicles embedded in its inside base. The second specimen, which is being described and figured for the first time, belonged to the "Giuseppe Monti 1733 Collection", and is now preserved at the Museo Cappellini, Istituto di Geologia e Paleontologia dell'Universita' di Bologna, Italy.peer-reviewe

A focus on Gozo

In the distant past, all knowledge that did not relate to God was considered mundane and was dumped under the heading Geology (Geos: earth; logia: study of) - in contradistinction to Theology (Theos: God). It was not before the second half of the 16th century that Geology was used in its modern, restricted sense, in a manuscript attributed to Juanelo Turrientes (Lopez de Azcona, 1987: 48). In the printed form, the term 'Geology' appeared a century later when M. P. Escholt published his Geologia Norvegica in 1657. Geology, as we know it today is a science related to the study ofrocks and to the natural processes/forces acting upon them. Broadly speaking the geology ofGozo is not much different from that of Malta, but there are a few sedimentary structures as well as some geomorphogical and tectonic features which are more evident on one island than on the other. Gozo is the second largest and the most northern island of the Maltese archipelago, which lies on a Northwest-Southeast axis, with a slight Northeast tilt. As a result of this gentle tilt to the north-east, we can see, to south-west of Gozo, Ta' Cenc cliffs, made ofrocks from the lowermost Formation on the Maltese Islands, towering to a height of about 140 meters above sea level, whilst on the north, at Marsalforn, the overlying Globigerina Limestone is brought down to sea level. Further westwards on the same coastline, Wied il-Ghasri, excavated in the lowermost geological Formation (Lower Coralline Limestone), is invaded by the sea to form a miniature Fjord.peer-reviewe

Brucellosis

Brucellosis (also known as undulant fever, Mediterranean fever, Malta fever), is a specific disease of animals which is occasionally transmitted to man, by direct or indirect contact. It is caused by small, Gram-negative, non-sporeforming coccobacilli of the genus Brucella.peer-reviewe