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From a social psychology perspective, the experience of dying is created by an individual’s expectation that they will die very soon, usually from a terminal illness. In epidemiological terms, this means that, in the minds of many people, the dying experience is not commonly linked to heart disease, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, or other diseases that…

It is undeniable that the most pernicious effects of racism on health are exerted through institutional mechanisms that are difficult to measure in standard epidemiological studies. Residential racial segregation that refers to the physical separation of ethnoraces in different residential areas is one example of such an institutionalized mechanism. Historically, the dominant group in many…

In general, there are three possible factors to consider in the perception, attribution, and reporting of racism: (1) overestimation due to system blame, external attribution, or aspects of identity or social position/context that may lead to enhanced vigilance, hypersensitivity, etc.; (2) underestimation due to internalized racism, internal attribution, or aspects of identity or social position/…

The field of religious studies, itself drawing on multiple disciplinary orientations, conceptualizes the link between health and religion – or religious traditions – in two primary ways. The first focuses on the interpretation, or exegesis, of primary texts with content related to healing. The second addresses lived phenomena involving practices and worldviews with direct and…

  Introduction Drug use has developed historically as part of wider social practices. Drug-related harms, including harms to health and social order, need to be understood in a sociocultural context, as do the regulatory frameworks that have developed to control drug demand, supply, and use. Contemporary drug policy reflects an uneasy balance between public health…

While QALYs have become the dominant outcome measure for cost-effectiveness analyses in health and medicine, there has been steady debate in the literature about the advantages and disadvantages of QALYs, touching on an array of issues – ethical, conceptual, and practical. A good list of references for these debates through the mid-1990s may be found…

The most important contribution of radiobiology to clinical radiation oncology is in the field of fractionation. Although conventional fractionation regimen is a debatable term, altered fractionation regimens (hyper fractionation, accelerated fractionation, hypo fractionation) have been employed in a number of tumor sites with success, improving local tumor control and overall survival, albeit with occasionally observed…

Although radiation therapy is frequently given as a single treatment modality, it is also used in combination with other treatment modalities. When combined with surgery, radiation therapy can be given either as preoperative or postoperative radiation therapy. The potential advantages of preoperative radiation therapy include eradication of subclinical or microscopic disease beyond the margins of…

The European Renaissance is conventionally considered to be the period covering part of the fifteenth century and the sixteenth. At the beginning of the sixteenth century a maritime quarantine center was opened in the French port of Marseilles. The selective concentration of quarantine stations in ports is typical of this period, since sea trade was…

Rabies is generally transmitted through the bite of an infected mammal to another mammal. Rabies is believed to be capable of infecting all mammals. Both historically and currently, rabies was and is transmitted to humans primarily by canines, as well as by agriculturally important species such as cattle, horses, and sheep. Unless prevented by the…