Contents: April 2004

Editorials

What's new in the studentBMJ
The studentBMJ is changing in line with its readership and developments in medical education, as Deborah Cohen and others explain

Why do doctors use treatments that do not work?
Jenny Doust and Chris Del Mar argue that doctors use treatments for many reasons-including their inability to stand idle and do nothing

Medics worldwide: news and opportunities from the IFMSA

News

Dirty water creates an education drain

Drug resistant tuberculosis soars in eastern Europe

Ireland bans smoking in pubs and restaurants

New UK doctors cannot handle smoking cessation

Patient groups slam dentists' Botox plan

In brief...

Information for students with disabilities

Education

Emotions revealed: recognising facial expressions
In the first of two articles on how recognising faces and feelings can help you communicate, Paul Ekman discusses how recognising emotions can benefit you in your professional life

Essential microbiology
Suneeta Kochhar, Matthew Strutt, and John Philpott-Howard guide you through the key principles of clinical microbiology

Acute care: Volume resuscitation
In the third part of our acute care series,Nicola Cooper explains volume resuscitation Normal versus abnormal fluid needs

10 minute consultation: Persistent crying in babies

Picture quiz: A teenage problem

Imaging competition

Careers

How to care for survivors of torture
All doctors in the United Kingdom can expect to see patientsat some stage in their career who have been tortured .Caroline Jewels, Helen Maguire,Brian Fine, and Carol Cheal discuss how to identify and support survivors of torture

Let us prey...
In today's world of easy access to information, it is becoming more common for doctors to be the stalker's target.Ronan McIvor gives some advice to help minimise your risk of being stalked by patients and also what to do if you are being stalked

Surgeon under fire
After war broke out in Chechyna, plastic surgeon Khassan Baiev helped his fellow citizens until he fled to the United States. Ioana Vlad finds out more

The advice zone
Got a career or university related problem that needs answering? Can't find the right person to point you in the right direction? Log on to the Advice Zone at www.bmjcareers.com/advicezone to post a question or to see if one of our experts has already solved your problem

Papers

Paper plus: Does prescribing heroin help addicts?
Leanne Tite considers how randomised controlled trials were used to investigate whether heroin addicts may be better off being given heroin rather than methadone

Life

European views about accession
Ioana Vlad finds out what our European colleagues in both member and accession states think about workflow between member states come 1 May

Free for all
Do you rush off to attend a free lunch and talk on hospital placements? Or is your white coat weighed down by a pocket full of free pens? Upasana Tayal looks into the cost of these freebies

Painting the future
Sanjit Bagchi and Prasun Chaudhury caught up with doctor, artist, and researcher Lizzie Burns during her recent exhibition in India as part of the Medical Research Council's Medical Research Revealed project

On the good ship Anastasis
"Bringing hope and healing the poor." Doctors on board the Anastasis operate on people who need it most. Abi Boys spent a year away from her medical degree to help out

Sars one year on
Bella Dave considers the impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome

Are ribbon campaigns making us loopy?
Michael Fitzpatrick, a general practitioner, claims that disease awareness increases anxiety--and newspaper and magazine circulations--much more than it increases diagnosis

Ribbon development
With so many now to choose from, do ribbons make people more disease aware--or just more confused? Rebecca Coombes discusses

Where have all the men gone?
The number of men choosing to become doctors is dwindling. Karen Herbert considers why

Letters

Physician assistants are a quick fix

Measures to prevent drug addiction

Prejudiced,poignant,pathetic, or publishable?

Reviews

Balint groups: psychosocial nonsense or a real insight into the doctor-patient relationship?

Bedside Stories: Confessions of a Junior Doctor

What's on the web?volunteer opportunities

Pain: Pasion, Compassion, Sensibility

Kitemarks won't cure "cyberchondriacs"

Learning in English makes sense

Eyespy