Recent cessation of smoking and its effect on pregnancy outcomes.

Background: Smoking in pregnancy is associated with a range of adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Aim: To compare adverse pregnancy outcomes for women according to smoking status at the first antenatal visit in an Australian setting.

Methods: A retrospective study using routinely collected data of all births between 1997 and 2006 at the Mater Mothers' Hospital Brisbane (MMH).

Morbidity associated with vaginal hysterectomies in Queensland public teaching hospitals.

Hysterectomies performed vaginally are associated with less perioperative risk than those performed abdominally but the risk is not negligible. There are little sizable and/or contemporary Australian data of adverse outcomes associated with vaginal hysterectomy available. A retrospective analysis was undertaken in each of five Queensland public teaching hospitals of the last 200 women in each centre who underwent a vaginal hysterectomy for benign reasons.

Spinal cord stimulation in chronic pain: a review of the evidence.

This review looks at the evidence for the effectiveness of spinal cord stimulation in various chronic pain states. Spinal cord stimulation can only be effective when appropriate dorsal column fibres in the spinal cord are preserved and able to be stimulated. Spinal cord stimulation has been shown to have little to offer for patients with some diagnoses.

Leptospirosis in the Seychelles.

Objective: To ascertain the incidence of leptospirosis in the Seychelles, identify its sources, review diagnostic features and assess complications.

Design: A prospective survey over a two-year period 1988-1990 of all cases diagnosed as having leptospirosis at Victoria Hospital, the main referral hospital for the Islands.

Results: Eighty cases were diagnosed on clinical grounds with serological confirmation in 58 (73%).