Unexplained complaints in primary care: evidence of action bias.

Purpose: Primary care physicians sometimes encounter patients with clinical complaints that do not fit into a recognized diagnostic pattern. This study was undertaken to assess the way physicians respond to patients whose symptoms are unusual or unexplained that is, what approach they take in the absence of a working hypothesis.

Methods: We surveyed 130 primary care physicians affiliated with 3 academic centers in Israel, presenting 5 clinical vignettes describing patients who had unusual complaints, no clear diagnosis, and no apparent need for urgent care.

[Cancer survivorship: an evolving medical field].

More than a quarter of a million IsraeLi citizens live today with the diagnosis of cancer being a part of their past medical history. The volume of this population is going to enlarge in coming years. These patients tend to suffer from several unique medical and psychosocial difficulties due to their original malignant disease and its risk factors, as a consequence of the antineoplastic treatments they had received, and as a result of exceptional presentation of concomitant non-neoplastic diseases.

Imported melioidosis, Israel, 2008.

In 2008, melioidosis was diagnosed in an agricultural worker from Thailand in the southern Jordan Valley in Israel. He had newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus, fever, multiple abscesses, and osteomyelitis. Burkholderia pseudomallei was isolated from urine and blood.

Head lice treatments and school policies in the US in an era of emerging resistance: a cost-effectiveness analysis.

Background: Head lice are a common infection in school-age children worldwide. Several authorities in the US have recommended different treatments and school policies in order to control this disease. Recent concerns of emerging lice resistance worldwide raise the necessity to reassess the current recommendations.

The effect of brushing on hair loss in women.

Background: Hair loss is a common, bothersome problem among women.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of different brushing frequencies on hair loss in women.

Methods: This was a non-randomized crossover study.