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Biomedical subjects

M Jefferys

Publications and source records attributed to M Jefferys.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Cultural aspects of ageing: gender and inter-generational issues.

A broad review is made of the economic, social and political developments that accompanied the 20th century demographic transition in the developed industrialized societies of Europe and North America and their implications for older people, emphasizing changes in work patterns, the position of women, family and household structures. The denigration of older people is not new, but there is greater consciousness of the disadvantaging aspects of ageist expressions. The different stages of economic development and family systems and norms in developing societies now undergoing the demographic transition in Asia and elsewhere are likely to make the lives of older people there very different from those experienced during the transition period in Europe.

Age Distribution↗
PubMed1996

Euthanasia: sociological perspectives.

The potential of medicine to intervene to prolong or shorten the life of those considered to be dying or of those whose life is rated as of little or even negative value has only recently surfaced. It is an issue likely to affect society and the normative social relationships which that society believes it is duty to promote. It is probable that, covertly, members of the medical profession have long played a role in speeding up the process of dying, with or without the consent of affected individuals. The openness, however, with which the moral issues involved in hastening or prolonging life by medical means are now discussed is a late 20th century phenomenon. Sociologists are beginning to study the circumstances surrounding the issues and the wider societal implications of possible changes in the law, professional practices and normative values. Their work may well begin to influence public policy as well as private practice.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Medical sociology and public health: interdisciplinary relationships 1950-90.

Relationships between epidemiology and sociology applied to medicine are traced from the early 1950s to the late 1980s, against the background of developments taking place in the disciplines and in the career opportunities of their proponents. Negative tensions between them are ascribed to the identity crisis which public health/community medicine faced during the period, to its weak position in the hierarchy of medical specialties and to the emphasis given by sociologists to the analysis of power structures within health services. Positive tension arose from the intellectual discourse between them and the opportunities for mutual exchange of ideas.

History, 20th Century↗
PubMed1989

The medical school as a social organization.

The paper reviews sociological research on the medical school as a social organization from the 1950s to the present. Despite significant differences between societies in the organization of medical education, such research has been largely confined to the USA. Some reasons for this are suggested. Ways in which the climate and organization of medical schools--at least in Great Britain--have changed in the recent past are described as well as reasons for such changes. It is argued that more research into these processes and into the organizational obstacles to change, including cross-national studies, are needed.

Education, Medical↗
PubMed1987

Surgery after initial chemotherapy for localized small-cell carcinoma of the lung.

Despite the high response rates induced by chemotherapy, many patients with limited small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) relapse at the site of primary disease. Failure of radiotherapy to overcome this has led to the use of surgery as part of a combined modality approach. Between December 1981 and December 1985, 189 patients with SCLC were assessed for suitability for surgery after an initial three cycles of chemotherapy (doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and etoposide). Fifty-seven were found to have limited disease, and of these, 19 were ineligible or unfit for surgery. Of the 38 eligible patients, 84% had an objective response to three cycles of chemotherapy and 25 were deemed suitable for surgery after restaging. At thoracotomy, four were inoperable, nine had a lobectomy, and 12 had a pneumonectomy. There was no evidence of viable SCLC in four resection specimens (one stage 1, two stage 2, one stage 3 at presentation), no viable SCLC but an entirely separate focus of viable poorly differentiated squamous carcinoma (SqLC) in one, and the remaining specimens contained viable SCLC. Survival of patients selected to undergo tumor resection was excellent (median survival, 33 months; plateau phase, 48% alive at 3 to 5 years), but survival of the entire group with limited SCLC was not dissimilar from that reported in previous series of limited-stage tumor treated with chemotherapy alone. Long-term survival appeared to be largely restricted to those with no evidence of viable SCLC at surgery (no viable SCLC, zero of five relapsed; viable SCLC, 13 of 16 relapsed and/or died). This prospective study confirms the feasibility of the combined modality approach, but suggests that any improvement in overall survival is likely to be small. Until the results from multicenter randomized trials are available, surgery, as part of a combined modality program, should be regarded as experimental.

Actuarial Analysis↗
PubMed1986

Britain's National Health Service in 1986: comments from a native user.

The National Health Service continues to assimilate its restructuring under the Griffiths Plan of central administration, while retaining its basic premise of the individual's right to medical services. This transition has generated unease and resistance among healthcare practitioners and professional organizations. Under the current structure, some professional responses, such as the method of delivery of nursing services, prove unfeasible in many hospital situations.

Efficiency↗