Chemical weapons

Chemical warfare has been widely condemned since it was first used on a massive scale during the first world war. Chemical weapons are cheap, can cause mass casualties, and are relatively easy to produce, even by developing nations. They have been used in many conflicts during the 20th century (box), most recently by Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war,1 as well as in terrorist attacks.

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Immigrants from Chernobyl-affected areas in Israel : the link between health and social adjustment.

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Somatic symptoms in Gulf War mortuary workers.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

The objective of this article is to examine the relationship between exposures to the dead and the development of somatic symptoms.

METHODS:

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US military veterans' perceptions of the conventional medical care system and their use of complementary and alternative medicine.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is growing quickly in the USA, prompting hypotheses about why people turn to CAM. One reason for increasing use of CAM modalities may be dissatisfaction with the conventional care system. However, recent studies suggest that dissatisfaction is not a major factor.

OBJECTIVES:

This paper provides another perspective on the possible relationship between dissatisfaction with conventional care and the use of CAM.

METHODS:

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Thinking about risk : Can doctors and patients talk the same language?

Different mathematical expressions of risk are difficult enough for the doctor, but are likely to be harder for patients. Misselbrook and Armstrong showed that patients make very different choices about treatment depending on which of the above risk statistics they used as the basis of their judgement. Rather than empowering patients, such risk models can therefore make them yet more dependent on their doctors. Mathematical models are designed for the world of the doctor and do not fit easily with the world of the patient. So how can we proceed?

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New York besieged : 11 September and after.

Epidemiologists all over the world have been good enough to express their concerns and worries about how we, and other friends and colleagues in New York, fared in the terror provoked on 11 September. This annotation responds to the editors’ invitation that we convey something from our vantage point.We welcomed their interest. The experience is, so far, unique in history. Our account is personal, that of four individuals, all related (Sally married to Ezra, and Ezra born to Mervyn and Zena).

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Predicting medically unexplained physical symptoms and health care utilization : A symptom-perception approach.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

The present study investigated the contribution of demographic characteristics (age, gender, socioeconomic status [SES]) and symptom-perception variables to unexplained physical symptoms and health care utilization. In addition, the consequences of the use of four frequently applied symptom-detection methods for relations among study variables were examined.

METHOD:

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Belgian coca-cola-related outbreak: intoxication, mass sociogenic illness, or both?

Abstract

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Post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Post-traumatic stress disorder.

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