Every tribe, every tongue, every nation sings hallelujah' was the chorus of the theme song for the four-yearly ICMDA Students' and Junior Graduates' World Congress. It was highly appropriate as 500 students and junior graduates of medicine and dentistry were gathered in Australia, from over 50 nations, all worshipping the...
Gripping my hand, the female patient asked, 'Doctor, can I ever be forgiven?' She was talking about an abortion done decades before. Lovemaking without cost is the elusive Holy Grail of the sexual revolution. A policy that isn't working The morning after pill, one form of emergency contraception, was hailed...
Anniversaries are a good time to give thanks for where you've come from and to re-evaluate your current direction. This issue marks 35 years since Nucleus first hit the doormats of Christian medical students in October 1971. The birth of a legend Those days were times of change for students...
In my time in paediatrics last year I discovered what would have to be my favourite illness – croup. It can be diagnosed on inspection, and rapidly resolves with adrenaline and an oral corticosteroid. Worried parents bring in their child with acute respiratory distress, occasionally on the verge of arrest,...
Eating disorders have become a media obsession in recent years, fuelled by the struggles of celebrities such as Mary-Kate Olsen, Geri Halliwell and Paul Gascoigne. Confessions of compulsive binging, secret vomiting, obsessive exercise and laxative abuse make sensational reading, while graphic images contrasting 'healthy' and 'skinny' celebrities appeal to our...
Most people have heard of Dr David Livingstone; his expeditions into the unmapped interior of Africa are legendary. Yet what is often forgotten is that his motivation was not personal recognition and success but a deep, heartfelt desire to serve God and bring him glory. Livingstone had a love of...
Introduction: the need to interpret Most of us believe that the Bible can be understood by everyone, even medical students! This Nucleus series, based on the book How to Read the Bible for all its Worth,[1] aims to inform your reading of the Bible. The book has helped me...
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col 3:17) Have you ever struggled to figure out what following Jesus means in your work? Having completed my first year of...
I was in Sydney this summer for the ICMDA World Congress that brought together 56 national Christian medical movements. On pages 4-6 Eleanor Romaine describes the conference where John Wyatt was confronted afresh with the greatness of God manifested in the reality of the worldwide church. Whilst there, I was...
The moral status of the embryo Editor, Issues concerning the fetus have been around for a long time but scientific interest in stem cells is more recent. One important question is whether the embryo has a soul. Here I agree with Peter Saunders. The author has indicated that an 'eternal...
Euthanasia update Moves are afoot to widen Swiss regulations on assisted dying. Current law only allows terminally ill patients to access physician assisted suicide. The moves are supported by Ludwig Minelli, founder of Dignitas, the Swiss clinic that has helped 54 Britons to die. The Supreme Court will hear a...