At the time of writing, in July 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has already inflicted dramatic international restrictions, including airports closing and limiting international travel. It has been suggested that re-opening of airports should involve and even rely on testing travelers for COVID-19. This paper discusses the methodology of estimating the detection and diagnostic accuracy of COVID-19 tests. It explains the clear distinction between the technical characteristics of the tests, the detection measures, and the diagnostic measures that have clinical and public health implications. It demonstrates the importance of the prevalence of COVID-19 in terms of determining the ability of a test to yield a diagnosis. We explain the methodology of evaluating diagnostic tests, using the predictive summary index (PSI), and the minimum number of tests that need to be performed in order to correctly diagnose one person, which is estimated by 1/PSI. In a population with low prevalence, even a high-sensitivity test may lead to a high percentage of false positive diagnoses, resulting in the need for multiple high-cost tests to achieve a correct diagnosis. Thus, basing a policy for opening airports on diagnostic testing, even with the best test for COVID-19, has some limits.
Because of rising antivaccine activism and some key global policy missteps, we risk eroding more than 70 years of global health gains. This is occurring through an enabled and empowered antiscience ecosystem, with anti-Semitism and the targeting of Jewish biomedical scientists at its core.
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most prevalent subtype of vasculitis in adults. In recent years, there has been substantial improvement in the diagnosis and treatment of GCA, mainly attributed to the introduction of highly sensitive diagnostic tools, incorporation of modern imaging modalities for diagnosis and monitoring of large-vessel vasculitis, and introduction of highly effective novel biological therapies that have revolutionized the field of GCA. This article reviews state-of-the-art approaches for the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment options of GCA.
Surprisingly, an utterly imaginative “portrait” has become synonymous with Maimonides forever. How and when did this particular portrait become associated with Maimonides? This and many other intriguing questions regarding this portrait are systematically addressed, and its origins, possible inspiration, and hidden objectives are revealed.
This paper is provided for the convenience of our readers and represents a full edited transcription of the Rambam Grand Rounds Lecture by Dr. Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet. The lecture was given on October 2, 2014. The Editorial Board wishes to express its gratitude to Dr. Horton for giving permission to present his Rambam Grand Rounds lecture in Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal, in both the original video format and in this printed form.
On May 28, 2014, colleagues from the Mayo Clinic visited Rambam Health Care Campus to gather and exchange ideas and knowledge. American and Israeli caregivers and scientists shared with each other the daily challenges of their practice in many and varied settings. This issue is dedicated to the presentations given and the collaborative efforts we are building as a result of that visit. We hope this issue will serve as an example of the fruitfulness of international collaboration to enhance and propagate medical knowledge worldwide.
Surgical Apgar Score is a simple, 10-point scoring system in which a low score reliably identifies those patients at risk for adverse perioperative outcomes. Surgical techniques and anesthesia management should be directed in such a way that the Surgical Apgar Score remains higher to avoid postoperative morbidity and mortality.
Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal was once a new and unknown publication. Today we have more than 17,000 subscribers from 146 nations and territories. We published 39 scientific medical papers in 2017 out of 61 submitted manuscripts.
We are now indexed by PubMed and Thompson Reuters Emerging Sources Citation Index, to name a few. Next year, the Journal is scheduled to receive an official impact factor from Thompson Reuters.
We are not so unknown anymore.
As a new Journal, most of the papers submitted were naturally reviews. However, the most important aspect for the promotion and advancement of medicine is publication of original research. To promote such efforts the editors of Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal established in 2017 the Maimonides Best Published Original Research Prize. This annual prize of $1,000 is to be awarded to the first author of the best original research paper published in the journal over the previous year.
To the Editor,
I thank Rabbi Spitz for his thoughtful analysis. However, I humbly disagree with his conclusion that it is premature to classify e-cigarettes as “downright prohibited.”
To the Editor, the article of Krutikov and Manson1 was interesting. However, no comment was made on the impact and related clinical epidemiology of the chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection during the 2014–2015 epidemics in Latin America, the most recent area affected by CHIKV. Certainly, persistent musculoskeletal manifestations of the disease have been shown to affect a highly variable proportion of infected patients (even >87%). Following the epidemics in La Réunion Island and India,2 and now in Latin America, this disease is having a significant impact. ...
