To ventilate or not to ventilate: A qualitative analysis of physicians' experience during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Little is known about experiences of physicians when deciding on initiating life support during medical crises of mass casualties and undersupply. We performed a qualitative analysis of interviews with 14 physicians about their decision-making experience when considering initiating mechanical ventilation in patients with severe COVID-19 during the early pandemic. Three themes were revealed: (a) The accumulating clinical experience with invasive ventilation, and the physicians' perception of ventilation as effective or futile in these patients; (b) Preferences of patients and their families regarding mechanical ventilation; and (c) Economic, logistic, and organizational considerations of the undersupplied healthcare system.

The Association between Health and Culture: The Perspective of Older Adult Hospital In-Patients in Israel.

People from different cultures are often hospitalized while the staff treating them do not have sufficient knowledge about the attitudes and feelings of the patients regarding culture and health. To fill this gap, the aim of this study was to examine the perspective of Israeli older adult hospital in-patients regarding the association between health and culture and to understand the meaning of the participants' experiences with regards to the medical staff's attitude towards them. This study was carried out using qualitative methodology that followed the interpretive interactionism approach.

The association between serum uric acid and diabetes mellitus is stronger in women.

Objective: Previous studies have demonstrated an association between increased serum uric acid (SUA) levels and incident diabetes. Most clinical and epidemiological investigations, however, focused solely on male populations or did not analyze men and women separately. We assessed the association between SUA levels and diabetes incidence in a large cohort of apparently healthy men and women.

Pregnancy course and outcome in women traveling to developing countries.

Background: The issue of travel to developing countries during pregnancy has not been sufficiently studied. The aim of this study is to investigate the rate, course, and outcome of pregnancies in women who traveled to developing countries while pregnant, or became pregnant during such travel.

Methods: Women visiting two major travel clinics in Israel for consultation within the years 2004 to 2009, who were pregnant or declared an intention of becoming pregnant during travel were contacted.

Human African trypanosomiasis in a traveler: diagnostic pitfalls.

Abstract. An Israeli traveler returning from Tanzania presented with a relapsing febrile illness. A diagnosis of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense infection was established by blood smear after nearly a month.

[Morbidity of Israeli travelers after traveling to developing countries].

Background: International tourism, including traveling to developing countries, has become increasingly popular. The number of Israeli travelers to developing countries is estimated at approximately 170,000 annually.

Aim: This study aims to analyze the morbidity among returning Israeli travelers.

Lipoid pneumonia: a preventable complication.

Background: Lipoid pneumonia is a pneumonitis resulting from the aspiration of lipids, and is commonly associated with the use of mineral oil as a laxative. LP is relatively unfamiliar to clinicians and is probably underdiagnosed.

Objectives: To increase physicians' awareness of LP, its diagnosis and prevention.

The clinical manifestations of lithium intoxication.

Background: Lithium has been a part of the psychiatric pharmacopoeia for more than half a century. Its efficacy is marred by a narrow therapeutic index and significant toxicity.

Objectives: To increase physicians' awareness of the various manifestations of lithium intoxication.

[Bezoars: from ancient talismans to modern disease].

Bezoars are concretions of foreign materials that are created in the intestinal tract of various animals and humans. They have been known to western medicine since ancient times, when they were used for countering and preventing poisoning. In modern times bezoars were described as an unusual cause for various gastrointestinal symptoms.