Psychosocial effects of the 1994 plague outbreak in Surat, India.

The plague outbreak in Surat, India in September 1994 stirred a nationwide panic and a near international isolation of India. These are aspects that need serious attention. A large amount of damage to India's image and an immense economic loss occurred.

Health research, a key to equity in health development.

This paper reinforces the idea of integrating more closely the social and medical sciences with an emphasis on people. The nexus between health and development is examined together with national research capability building as part of essential national health research progress. Suggestions are made identifying the most urgent requirements for further action.

Challenges and opportunities--one vitamin, two minerals.

Millions of people suffer and many die from lack of minute traces of nutrients. Methods of prevention are cheap and simple. Their universal application could yield health and economic benefits comparable to those achieved by smallpox eradication.

Medical education: how is change to come about?

The challenge to medical education as we enter the last decade of the century and face the next millenium is how to utilize the new knowledge of human learning to train medical students in applying the fruits of rapidly advancing science and technology to the moral imperative of fulfilling social needs. To bring about the reforms defined in the Edinburgh Declaration, adopted as globally applicable by the World Conference on Medical Education, intrinsic and extrinsic elements must act in synergy. The intrinsic elements are teachers, students and institutional frameworks; the extrinsic elements political will, administrative commitment and societal pressure.

Importance of vaccines in child survival.

It is estimated that 4 million children die each year of vaccine-preventable diseases and that another 4 million are permanently disabled. Although vaccination is the most cost-effective health technology, there is a gap between what we know and what we apply. We seem to be succeeding more in attaining new knowledge than in applying what we know.

Waterborne non-A, non-B hepatitis.

Waterborne non-A, non-B hepatitis (NANB) is responsible for outbreaks of hepatitis with a predilection for young adults. The disease is usually mild, except in pregnant women, who have a high case-fatality rate from fulminant hepatic failure. Diagnosis is largely based on the epidemiological findings of faecal contamination of drinking water and serological exclusion of hepatitis A and B virus infection.

Aflatoxin B1-induced injury in monkeys.

Short-term effects of small doses of aflatoxin (0.05 mg/kg of body weight twice a week) were studied in rhesus monkeys fed low-protein and high-protein diets. Animals on high- and low-protein diets without aflatoxin administration served as controls.