Royal College of Physicians

About: Royal College of Physicians is a education organization based out in London, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Health care & Audit. The organization has 1002 authors who have published 1445 publications receiving 46244 citations. The organization is also known as: Royal College of Physicians of London & College of Physicians.

Recommended diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis: Guidelines from the International Panel on the Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract: The International Panel on MS Diagnosis presents revised diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis (MS). The focus remains on the objective demonstration of dissemination of lesions in both time and space. Magnetic resonance imaging is integrated with dinical and other paraclinical diagnostic methods. The revised criteria facilitate the diagnosis of MS in patients with a variety of presentations, including "monosymptomatic" disease suggestive of MS, disease with a typical relapsing-remitting course, and disease with insidious progression, without clear attacks and remissions. Previously used terms such as "clinically definite" and "probable MS" are no longer recommended. The outcome of a diagnostic evaluation is either MS, "possible MS" (for those at risk for MS, but for whom diagnostic evaluation is equivocal), or "not MS."

Global and societal implications of the diabetes epidemic

Abstract: Changes in human behaviour and lifestyle over the last century have resulted in a dramatic increase in the incidence of diabetes worldwide. The epidemic is chiefly of type 2 diabetes and also the associated conditions known as 'diabesity' and 'metabolic syndrome'. In conjunction with genetic susceptibility, particularly in certain ethnic groups, type 2 diabetes is brought on by environmental and behavioural factors such as a sedentary lifestyle, overly rich nutrition and obesity. The prevention of diabetes and control of its micro- and macrovascular complications will require an integrated, international approach if we are to see significant reduction in the huge premature morbidity and mortality it causes.

Applications of Mathematics to Medical Problems

Abstract: In the majority of the processes with which one is concerned in the study of the medical sciences, one has to deal with assemblages of individuals, be they living or be they dead, which become affected according to some characteristic. They may meet and exchange ideas, the meeting may result in the transference of some infectious disease, and so forth. The life of each individual consists of a train of such incidents, one following the other. From another point of view each member of the human community consists of an assemblage of cells. These cells react and interact amongst each other, and each individual lives a life which may be again considered as a succession of events, one following the other. If one thinks of these individuals, be they human beings or be they cells, as moving in all sorts of dimensions, reversibly or irreversibly, continuously or discontinuously, by unit stages or per saltum, then the method of their movement becomes a study in kinetics, and can be approached by the methods ordinarily adopted in the study of such systems.

Contributions to the Mathematical Theory of Epidemics. II. The Problem of Endemicity

Abstract: In a previous communication an attempt was made to investigate mathe­matically the course of an epidemic in a closed population of susceptible individuals. In order to simplify the problem certain definite assumptions were made, namely, that all individuals were equally susceptible, and that death resulted, or complete immunity was conferred, as the result of an attack. The infectivity of the individual and his chances of death or recovery were represented by arbitrary functions, and the chance of a new infection occurring was assumed to be proportional to the product of the infected and susceptible members of the population. In spite of the introduction of the arbitrary functions, it was shown that in general a critical density of population existed, such that if the actual density was less than this, no epidemic could occur, but if it exceeded this by n an epidemic would appear on the introduction of a focus of infection, and further that if n was small relative to the population density, the size of the epidemic would be 2 n per unit area. It was shown that these conclusions could be readily extended to the case of a metaxenous disease, that is, one in which transmission takes place through an intermediate host. It is the purpose of the present paper to consider the effect of the continuous introduction of fresh susceptible individuals into the population. It appeared desirable to investigate this point, since it might make it possible to interpret certain aspects of the incidence of disease not only in human communities where there is usually an influx of fresh susceptible individuals either by immigration or by birth, but also in the animal experiments carried out by Topley and others—where fresh animals were introduced at a constant rate into the cages in which cases of disease were already present—from which certain definite results were obtained.