Selection for postgraduate training.

Background: Selection for an educational programme requires meticulous planning and the adoption of sound educational principles to decide on how and what should be assessed. This article provides a step-wise guide for developing a selection process for postgraduate specialty training, based on the best practice in the literature.

Method: The literature on selecting applicants for educational programmes was reviewed to categorise the selection methods according to their purpose, and their relative strengths and weaknesses.

Prevalence and clinical characteristics of maternally inherited diabetes and deafness caused by the mt3243A > G mutation in young adult diabetic subjects in Sri Lanka.

Aims: The maternally inherited mt3243A > G mutation is associated with a variable clinical phenotype including diabetes and deafness (MIDD). We aimed to determine the prevalence and clinical characteristics of MIDD in a large South Asian cohort of young adult-onset diabetic patients from Sri Lanka.

Methods: DNA was available from 994 subjects (age of diagnosis 16-40 years, age at recruitment < or = 45 years).

Plasma homocysteine in polycystic ovary syndrome: does it correlate with insulin resistance and ethnicity?

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with insulin resistance and premature coronary artery disease (CAD). Hyperhomocysteinaemia is a recognized risk factor for atherosclerosis, particularly among migrant South Asians, and has recently been shown to be correlated positively with the degree of insulin resistance/hyperinsulinaemia.

Objectives: To compare total plasma homocysteine (Hcy) in PCOS with controls from ethnic groups at high and low risk of insulin resistance.

Sudden unexpected death due to familial hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a familial condition with a very distinct risk of sudden death in males in certain families. The disease appears to be not uncommon in Sri Lanka. A sudden death in a 26-year-old healthy man is reported: At autopsy the heart was 500 g due mainly to left ventricular hypertrophy, and showed histological changes consistent with cardiomyopathy.