[Diagnosing occupational diseases. Examples from shellfish industry.].

It is very important to report suspected occupational diseases in Iceland to the Administration of Occupational Safety and Health, so they can be diagnosed, investigated in details and improvements made. This article describes the illness of clam workers at Thornórshöfn, a small village in the northern part of Iceland. It lead to a detailed investigation and the diagnosis of clamworkers hypersensitivity pneumonitis.

[Primary care training during internship - quality and organization.].

Aims: In 2000 a new regulation regarding medical licensure came into effect requiring a three-month rotation at a primary health care centre during internship. The aim of this study was to explore the interns' attitude towards this experience, and particularly to find out how well the training was organized, the supervision they received, and the quality of teaching at the health care centres.

Methods: In 2002 a survey was mailed to all interns (a total of 65) who had completed training at primary health care centres during 2000 and 2001.

[Telemedicine in iceland.].

The aim of this survey is to consider the evolution and historical background of telemedicine, as well as reviewing the present status, globally, and locally. General definitions and aims of telemedicine are mentioned and discussed, examples of successful telemedicine implementations in various areas are presented, especially mentioning Canada, Australia and Norway. In Iceland only a few projects within telemedicine have been tried so far; the most extensive one being the successful establishment of a few teleradiology links.

Behavior pattern A and compliance with antihypertensive treatment.

An analysis was performed on cross-sectional data on 512 hypertensive patients to look at the association of behavior pattern A (coronary prone behavior) and compliance with therapy. In a home interview behavior pattern A was assessed by a questionnaire (The Bortner scale), compliance by a vignette, and blood pressure was measured. Noncompliers showed a higher degree of Type A characteristics, that is there was a significant negative association between behavior pattern A and compliance (p = 0.