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The phenomenon of diffusion has been extensively studied from different disciplines in the natural and social sciences and has been used in the study of innovation dynamics. Diffusion plays also a central role to the study of disease-spread within a population, being an essential element of epidemiological research. In case of disease-diffusion, the contagious agents spread among susceptible individuals, thus rendering them infected. Those individuals can in turn communicate the disease to other susceptible community members and start an epidemic. These characteristics of disease-spread have been successfully studied by epidemiological theoretical tools. Patent citations, traditionally used as indicators for R&D output, signal the acquisition of knowledge and, in that sense, facilitate diffusion of innovation. In this paper the authors argue that patent citations could be seen as contagious agents and the diffusion of innovation could be studied with tools from the field of epidemiology. In this direction authors draw a theoretical framework for future original research.

Metastasis is the commonest bone tumors. The commonest primary metastasis to the bone are the breast, lung, prostate, kidney, and thyroid. The bone is the third common site of metastatic disease, only the lung and the liver have higher metastatic rate than skeleton. We have no epidemiological studies conducted to evaluate the various aspects of skeletal metastasis like age, sex distribution, presentation, common sites of primary and associated secondary metastases, and investigation from Indian subcontinent. Here we are presenting the first epidemiological study of skeletal metastasis from our region. We have conducted a prospective descriptive study in the Departments of Orthopedics and Radiotherapy, Government Medical College, Kozhikode, during the period of 2007 to 2009. One hundred eleven patients were included in the study above the age of 30 years. Clinical examination and investigation were done on these patients. Skeletal metastasis commonly occurs in the fifth decade of life with modest male preponderance. In most of the cases, the primary site of malignancy was undetected at the time of presentation. Pain was the commonest presented complaint of the patient. The spine is the commonest site affected and the lung was the common site of primary metastasis. Most of the cases were detected by radiogram and confirmation was obtained by minimally invasive technique like FNAC or CNB.

SummaryIn a comprehensive epidemiological study conducted by a census survey in a population of 29,468 individuals in the Agra region of Uttar Pradesh, northern India, 261 cases of conversion symptoms in the form of hysterical fits were detected constituting a prevalence rate of 8.9 per thousand (Dube, 1970). The study population consisted of residents in urban, semi-rural and rural areas. The prevalence rate was significantly higher in urban than in rural areas. Females constituted 96.1% of all cases of hysteria. The highest incidence rate was in the age group 15–24 years. The role of caste, marital status and educational level, found to be associated with the occurrence of symptoms, has been discussed.

This report is based on the findings of an epidemiological study of 29,468 rural, semi-rural and urban inhabitants of the Agra region of Uttar Pradesh. The survey was made in order to find out the prevalence of severe mental disorders and associated conditions in an Indian community. The sampling was purposive and areas selected were contiguous. Census methods were used. All inhabitants were investigated by a team consisting of a psychologist, a statistician, social workers and psychiatrists. After reconnaissance and initial contact by home visits, suspected cases were detected by a searching inquiry and the information so obtained was carefully documented. These cases were subjected to psychiatric examination and abnormal ones identified. Consultation with another psychiatrist was necessary to make a final diagnosis.The lifetime prevalence rate of schizophrenia was 2·2 per thousand, about the same frequency as found in other parts of the world. The maximum number of cases occurred in males between the ages of 15 and 24 and in females between the ages of 35 and 44. Single people, that is, never married, widowed, divorced or separated suffered significantly much more from the disease than bachelors and married people. A significant relationship was found between schizophrenia and castes in Vaish and Brahmin males as compared with others. The highest rate of schizophrenia was found among people in unremunerative status. Intoxicants were used more by schizophrenics than by normal people. Caste group indulgents had their own preferences in drug use, cannabis indulgence being highest among Brahmins. No association of schizophrenia with residence, educational status or sex was found.

Sir Dugald Baird sketches the history of abortion legislation in Great Britain from the beginning of the century. In his views the 1967 Abortion Act has been one of the most important and beneficial pieces of social legislation enacted in Britain in the last 100 years. It has, however, brought problems both of administration in the hospitals and to individual doctors and nurses, particularly when the patients are young single women and even schoolgirls. One of the consequences of the Abortion Act has been a fall in maternal mortality and perinatal mortality rates. Abortion does not seem to be followed by serious emotional sequelae. Nevertheless recent changes in sexual mores have introduced new and serious social problems which are discussed in relation to the role of the doctor in his relationship with patients seeking abortion.

There are many types of models for counterterrorism, explaining different problems that the military faces in the fight against terrorism. This thesis proposes that one of the fundamental assumptions underlying existing models of counterterrorism is that the struggle with terrorists can be understood as a war in the traditional sense of the term. We propose to rethink the struggle against terrorism as a fight against an infection. The epidemic of terrorist ideology within part of the world is a result, from this perspective, of the infectiousness of that ideology. Using the insights of the field of the epidemiology of ideas, this research looks into the models and methods used to understand and fight biological epidemics. We work with the SIR model from mathematical epidemiology, which partitions populations into susceptible, infected, and recovered categories, and apply that model with notional starting rates to the epidemic of terrorist ideology. This research allows another set of assumptions for models used in counterterrorism because the insights gained from viewing terrorism as a symptom of an epidemic can expand our understanding of the problem that we fight.

The incidence of gonorrhea in Canada is apparently increasing rapidly despite laws for the control of the disease. The requirement to report the names of cases of gonorrhea is inhibiting surveillance. Greater control of gonorrhea would be encouraged by rescinding existing legislation and abandoning the legalistic approach to management of the disease.