[Dissemination of medical knowledge to the public in Iceland by a country doctor 1782-1834].

Jón Pétursson (1733-1801) was an apprentice af the first Chief Medical Officer of Iceland. In 1765 Pétursson enrolled in the Medical Faculty at the University of Copenhagen. In 1769 with the Faculties approval he published a monograph on the so called Icelandic Scurvy.

[Death and dying - definition and determination.].

For the first half of this century there was no major dispute over the criteria for death. This was to change dramatically with major technological breakthroughs in modern medicine starting with the advent of the respirators. The consequences of their use raised serious questions about the traditional ways of diagnosing death.

Subjective versus interviewer assessment of global quality of life among persons with schizophrenia living in the community: a Nordic multicentre study.

Background: Few studies have investigated differences between subjective and externally assessed quality of life in individuals with a severe mental illness. In a sample of 387 patients with schizophrenia living in the community the present study investigated the association between subjective and interviewer-rated quality of life, clinical and sociodemographic factors related to the two assessments, and if discrepancies in the assessments were related to any clinical or social features of the patients.

Method: The study was a Nordic multicentre study with a cross-sectional design.

Schizophrenia and contact with health and social services: a Nordic multi-centre study.

Background: In a Nordic multi-centre study investigating the life and care situation of persons with schizophrenia living in the community, factors explaining use of health and social services were examined.

Method: Four hundred and eighteen individuals with schizophrenia from 10 sites were interviewed about their contact with different services (support functions within and outside the mental health services, general practitioners (GPs), physicians in the mental health, psychotherapy, day-care and inpatient treatment), psychopathology, social network and needs for care.

Results: Physicians and support contacts within the mental health system were most used and GPs and psychotherapy least.

The relationship of needs and quality of life in persons with schizophrenia living in the community. A Nordic multi-center study.

The relationship between needs for care and support and subjective quality of life was investigated in a cross-sectional multi-center study including 418 individuals with schizophrenia from 10 centers in Nordic countries. Needs in 22 domains were investigated by interviews with key workers and their patients using the Camberwell Assessment of Need scale, and quality of life by the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile. The results showed that key workers rated slightly more needs than patients.

Living situation, subjective quality of life and social network among individuals with schizophrenia living in community settings.

Objective: To investigate the relationships between characteristics of the living situation in the community and subjective quality of life and social network among community-based individuals with schizophrenia.

Method: A total of 418 individuals with schizophrenia from 10 sites were interviewed with regard to quality of life, psychopathology, social network and needs for care. Characteristics of the living situation investigated were: living alone or not, living with family or not, and having an independent or a sheltered housing situation.

The Nordic Study on schizophrenic patients living in the community. Subjective needs and perceived help.

In a community sample of 418 persons diagnosed with schizophrenia, subjective needs and perceived help was measured by the Camberwell Assessment of Need (CAN). The mean number of reported needs was 6.2 and the mean number of unmet needs 2.

Predictors of social relations in persons with schizophrenia living in the community: a Nordic multicentre study.

Background: Deinstitutionalisation has led to persons with serious mental illness spending most of their time outside psychiatric institutions. Not much is known about their social life. The paper presents the results of structured interviews with non-institutionalised persons with schizophrenia about treatment, care and social network.

Comparison of key worker and patient assessment of needs in schizophrenic patients living in the community: a Nordic multicentre study.

Objective: The present study is part of a Nordic multicentre study investigating the life and care situation of community samples of schizophrenic patients. The specific aim of the present part of the study was to examine the agreement between patients and their key worker concerning the presence of met and unmet needs in a number of life domains, and help or support given in these domains.

Method: The comparisons were based on 300 matched pairs of assessments of need using the Camberwell Assessment of Need interview.

Predictors of subjective quality of life in schizophrenic patients living in the community. A Nordic multicentre study.

As part of a Nordic multi-centre study investigating the life and care situation of community samples of schizophrenic patients the aim of the present part of the study was to examine the relationship between global subjective quality of life and objective life conditions, clinical characteristics including psychopathology and number of needs for care, subjective factors such as satisfaction with different life domains, social network, and self-esteem. A sample of 418 persons with schizophrenia from 10 sites was used. The results of a final multiple regression analysis, explaining 52.

[The role of carbon monoxide and ethanol in fire casualties: A retrospective study of carboxyhemoglobin and blood ethanol levels in fire victims].

The study included 36 fire casualties that were submitted to post-mortem pathological and toxicological examination at the Departments of Forensic Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Iceland, during the period 1971-1990. Twenty eight were males and eigth females. The mean age was 45.

Latent thyroid carcinoma in Iceland at autopsy.

The annual incidence rate of thyroid carcinoma in Iceland is high, 4.4 pr. 100,000 men, and 11.

Tumours in Iceland. 10. Malignant tumours of the female breast. A histological classification, laterality, survival and epidemiological considerations.

The Icelandic Cancer Registry has records of 1,720 cases of malignant tumours of the female breast diagnosed in 1,659 patients in the 30-year period 1955-1984. Of these, 1,658 tumours were invasive. Sufficient histological material existed for 1,666 malignant tumours to make it possible to classify them according to the criteria published by the WHO.

Tumours in Iceland. 9. Malignant tumours of the ovary. A histological classification, epidemiological considerations and survival.

In the period 1955-1979, 337 patients with carcinoma of the ovary were reported to the Icelandic Cancer Registry. Sufficient histological material existed for 314 of these to make it possible to classify the tumours according to the Histological Typing of Ovarian Tumours of WHO (11). The tumour was in the right ovary in 85 and the left in another 85 patients.

Familial breast cancer in Iceland.

Women who have relatives known to have had breast cancer are at an increased risk of getting the disease compared with the general population. On the basis of an extensive collection of family trees of women with breast cancer, the magnitude of this increase in risk is computed. Previously published results on other breast cancer risk factors are drawn upon and it has been possible to take account of some of these e.

Incidence of different morphological types of thyroid cancer in the Nordic countries.

In order to determine the incidence of different morphological types of thyroid cancer in the Nordic countries, all cases of thyroid cancer reported to the national cancer registries of Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden over periods ranging from 1 to 14 years were re-examined (a total of 706 cases) by one or two pathologists from each country. The age-adjusted incidence rate for Iceland was clearly higher than those for the other Nordic countries. The rate for Finland was the lowest, and a five-fold difference was seen between Iceland and Finland.

Causes of death in a subarctic population.

Some of the main causes of death prior to 1900 are mentioned, including disastrous epidemics of high mortality such as plague, smallpox and the so-called hunger epidemics. Also discussed are two chronic diseases remarkable for Iceland in old times i.e.