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Biomedical subjects

P D Welsby

Publications and source records attributed to P D Welsby.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Chickenpox, chickenpox vaccination, and shingles.

Chickenpox in the United Kingdom, where vaccination is not undertaken, has had a stable epidemiology for decades and is a routine childhood illness. Because of vaccination, chickenpox is now a rarity in the USA. In the UK vaccination is not done because introduction of a routine childhood vaccination might drive up the age at which those who are non-immune get the illness (chickenpox tends to be more severe the older you are), and the incidence of shingles may increase. The United Kingdom is waiting to see what happens in countries where vaccination is routine.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Anthrax: a disease in waiting?

Anthrax was a relatively unknown disease in the Western world until 2001, when spores were maliciously mailed in the US, causing five deaths. The mortality of the disease, the stability of its spores and the subsequent lack of person-to-person spread make anthrax an attractive biological weapon for terrorists with a desire for targeted mass destruction.

Anthrax↗
PubMed2004

The 12, 24, or is it 26 cranial nerves?

Many of our perceptions are gained through interpretative organs that we assume to be providing objective accounts. Notably, however, neither vision nor hearing provide an objective account of reality. This paper challenges the "conventional wisdoms" held regarding the optic, auditory, and hypoglossal nerves, and the nerves of eye movement.

Cochlear Nerve↗
PubMed2004

Malaria in the UK: past, present, and future.

There is strong evidence that malaria was once indigenous to the UK, that global warming is occurring, and that human activity is contributing to global warming. Global warming will have a variety of effects, one of which will probably be the return of indigenous malaria.

Forecasting↗
PubMed2003

The stethoscope: some preliminary investigations.

Textbooks, clinicians, and medical teachers differ as to whether the stethoscope bell or diaphragm should be used for auscultating respiratory sounds at the chest wall. Logic and our results suggest that stethoscope diaphragms are more appropriate.

Auscultation↗
PubMed2002

Are Darwinian principles now extinct?

Darwin's theory of evolution is one book long, and contrary to popular representation The Origin of Species nowhere contains a succinct statement of the theory. To avoid fundamental misunderstandings, any critique of this hypothesis has to commence with what the writer understands to be the fundamental premise on which the theory is based. The essence of Darwin's theory is that there is a struggle for existence: organisms possess stable patterns of inheritance, but can develop occasional variations that interact with the environment. Those organism possessing fitter variations are naturally and specifically selected for a greater chance of surviving in order to reproduce so that, over several generations, gradual but cumulative natural selection 'filters out' the less advantageous variations of the ancestral organisms. As a consequence, new species (descendants that could only breed amongst themselves) develop.

Biological Evolution↗
PubMed2000

Health advice and the traveller.

We studied advice given by travel agents, the experiences of recent travellers, and the hidden costs for travellers to Kenya. There was a wide range of advice given by United Kingdom travel agents, much of it at variance with advice given by other travel agents and much of it incorrect. Nevertheless travel agents have a responsibility to give advice because they are often the only point of contact for health advice.

Bacterial Infections↗
PubMed1999

Reductionism in medicine: some thoughts on medical education from the clinical front line.

In clinical medicine, a balance needs to be struck between reductionism (the view that a system can be fully understood in terms of its isolated parts) and holistic complexity appreciation (the view that the whole may not be discernible from knowledge of its parts). Reductionism, which currently is associated with renaming of old well-established ideas, minimizes the reality of complexity in patients with several diagnoses. Holistic complexity appreciation on the other hand may encourage unscientific assessments. A balance between the two needs to be maintained if the needs of students and patients are to coincide.

Education, Medical↗