5,149 research outputs found

    Get screened: a pragmatic randomized controlled trial to increase mammography and colorectal cancer screening in a large, safety net practice

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    Abstract Background Most randomized controlled trials of interventions designed to promote cancer screening, particularly those targeting poor and minority patients, enroll selected patients. Relatively little is known about the benefits of these interventions among unselected patients. Methods/Design "Get Screened" is an American Cancer Society-sponsored randomized controlled trial designed to promote mammography and colorectal cancer screening in a primary care practice serving low-income patients. Eligible patients who are past due for mammography or colorectal cancer screening are entered into a tracking registry and randomly assigned to early or delayed intervention. This 6-month intervention is multimodal, involving patient prompts, clinician prompts, and outreach. At the time of the patient visit, eligible patients receive a low-literacy patient education tool. At the same time, clinicians receive a prompt to remind them to order the test and, when appropriate, a tool designed to simplify colorectal cancer screening decision-making. Patient outreach consists of personalized letters, automated telephone reminders, assistance with scheduling, and linkage of uninsured patients to the local National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection program. Interventions are repeated for patients who fail to respond to early interventions. We will compare rates of screening between randomized groups, as well as planned secondary analyses of minority patients and uninsured patients. Data from the pilot phase show that this multimodal intervention triples rates of cancer screening (adjusted odds ratio 3.63; 95% CI 2.35 - 5.61). Discussion This study protocol is designed to assess a multimodal approach to promotion of breast and colorectal cancer screening among underserved patients. We hypothesize that a multimodal approach will significantly improve cancer screening rates. The trial was registered at Clinical Trials.gov NCT00818857http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78264/1/1472-6963-10-280.xmlhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78264/2/1472-6963-10-280.pdfPeer Reviewe

    Acute lung injury in paediatric intensive care: course and outcome

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    Introduction: Acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) carry a high morbidity and mortality (10-90%). ALI is characterised by non-cardiogenic pulmonary oedema and refractory hypoxaemia of multifactorial aetiology [1]. There is limited data about outcome particularly in children. Methods This retrospective cohort study of 85 randomly selected patients with respiratory failure recruited from a prospectively collected database represents 7.1% of 1187 admissions. They include those treated with High Frequency Oscillation Ventilation (HFOV). The patients were admitted between 1 November 1998 and 31 October 2000. Results: Of the 85, 49 developed acute lung injury and 47 had ARDS. There were 26 males and 23 females with a median age and weight of 7.7 months (range 1 day-12.8 years) and 8 kg (range 0.8-40 kg). There were 7 deaths giving a crude mortality of 14.3%, all of which fulfilled the Consensus I [1] criteria for ARDS. Pulmonary occlusion pressures were not routinely measured. The A-a gradient and PaO2/FiO2 ratio (median + [95% CI]) were 37.46 [31.82-43.1] kPa and 19.12 [15.26-22.98] kPa respectively. The non-survivors had a significantly lower PaO2/FiO2 ratio (13 [6.07-19.93] kPa) compared to survivors (23.85 [19.57-28.13] kPa) (P = 0.03) and had a higher A-a gradient (51.05 [35.68-66.42] kPa) compared to survivors (36.07 [30.2-41.94]) kPa though not significant (P = 0.06). Twenty-nine patients (59.2%) were oscillated (Sensormedics 3100A) including all 7 non-survivors. There was no difference in ventilation requirements for CMV prior to oscillation. Seventeen of the 49 (34.7%) were treated with Nitric Oxide including 5 out of 7 non-survivors (71.4%). The median (95% CI) number of failed organs was 3 (1.96-4.04) for non-survivors compared to 1 (0.62-1.62) for survivors (P = 0.03). There were 27 patients with isolated respiratory failure all of whom survived. Six (85.7%) of the non-survivors also required cardiovascular support.Conclusion: A crude mortality of 14.3% compares favourably to published data. The A-a gradient and PaO2/FiO2 ratio may be of help in morbidity scoring in paediatric ARDS. Use of Nitric Oxide and HFOV is associated with increased mortality, which probably relates to the severity of disease. Multiple organ failure particularly respiratory and cardiac disease is associated with increased mortality. ARDS with isolated respiratory failure carries a good prognosis in children

    Botulinum toxin type A versus botulinum toxin type B for cervical dystonia

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    Trabalho Final do Curso de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, 2016Background This is an update of a Cochrane review first published in 2003, and previously updated in 2009 (no change in conclusions). Cervical dystonia is the most common form of focal dystonia and is a disabling disorder characterized by painful involuntary head posturing. Botulinum toxin type A (BtA) is usually considered the first line therapy for this condition, although botulinum toxin type B (BtB) is an alternative option, with no compelling theoretical reason as to why it might not be as, or even more effective, than BtA. Objectives To compare the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of botulinum toxin type A versus botulinum toxin type B in cervical dystonia. Search methods We identified studies for inclusion in the review using the Cochrane Movement Disorders Group trials register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, reference lists of articles and conference proceedings, last run in October 2015. Search was unrestricted by language. Selection criteria Double-blind, parallel, randomised, placebo-controlled trials (RCTs) of BtA versus BtB in adult patients with cervical dystonia. Data collection and analysis Two independent authors assessed records, selected included studies, extracted data using a paper pro forma and evaluated the risk of bias. Disagreements were solved by consensus or by a third author. We performed one meta-analysis for the comparison BtA versus BtB. We used random-effects models in the presence of considerable heterogeneity and fixed-effect models when there was no heterogeneity. We performed no subgroup analyses. The primary efficacy outcome was overall improvement on any validated symptomatic rating scale. The primary safety outcome was the proportion of participants with any adverse event.Main results Three RCTs of low-to-moderate overall methodological quality including 270 participants with cervical dystonia were included. Two studies exclusively enrolled patients known to have a positive response to BtA treatment, therefore including an enriched population with higher probability of benefit from BtA treatment. None of the trials were independently funded. All RCTs evaluated the effect of a single Bt treatment session using doses between 100 and 250U of BtA and 5000 to 10000U of BtB. We found no difference between the two types of botulinum toxin in terms of overall efficacy and safety, as assessed by the Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale (TWSTRS) and the number of adverse events, respectively. However, when compared to BtA, treatment with BtB was associated with an improvement of 0.99 points (95% CI: 0.12 to 1.85; I2=0%) on the TWSTRS pain sub-scale at weeks 2-4 after injection, as well as with an increased risk of treatment-related dysphagia with a risk ratio (RR) of 0.49, favouring the BtA group (95% CI: 0.32 to 0.75, I2=27%) and sore throat/dry mouth, with a RR of 0.42 favouring the BtA group (95% CI: 0.31 to 0.57, I2=77%). The two types of botulinum toxin were otherwise shown to be clinically non-distinguishable in all the remaining outcomes. Authors' conclusions A single treatment session of BtA and a single treatment session of BtB are equally effective and well tolerated in the treatment of adults with certain types of cervical dystonia. Treatment with BtB causes a greater decrease disease-associated pain whilst also increasing the rate of dysphagia and sore throat/dry mouth when compared to treatment with BtA. Overall, there is no clinical evidence to support or not support the preferential use of one form of botulinum toxin over another. There is no evidence from RCTs neither regarding comparative development of secondary non-responsiveness to botulinum toxin nor regarding quality of life domains with either treatment.A distonia cervical compreende uma patologia neurológica pouco frequente com impacto negativo na qualidade de vida dos doentes. O tratamento de primeira linha é com efetuado com recuro a injecções intramusculares de toxina botulínica, que está disponível comercialmente em dois tipos: a toxina botulínica tipo A e a toxina botulínica tipo B. Esta revisão sistemática Cochrane visa comparar estes dois compostos em relação à sua eficácia e segurança no tratamento da distonia cervical. Após um processo de pesquisa sistemática para ensaios aleatorizados sobre o tema, extração de dados e combinação dos mesmos com recurso a técnicas de combinação por meta-análise, demonstrou-se que não existem diferenças nos perfis de eficácia e segurança entre ambas as formulações de toxina botulínica, com as exepções de uma subescala de doença (avaliador dor) e a proporção de doentes com efeitos adversos específicos

    A review of the effectiveness of lower limb orthoses used in cerebral palsy

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    To produce this review, a systematic literature search was conducted for relevant articles published in the period between the date of the previous ISPO consensus conference report on cerebral palsy (1994) and April 2008. The search terms were 'cerebral and pals* (palsy, palsies), 'hemiplegia', 'diplegia', 'orthos*' (orthoses, orthosis) orthot* (orthotic, orthotics), brace or AFO

    Aerobic exercise and telomere length in patients with systolic heart failure : protocol study for a randomized controlled trial

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    Background: Heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is a syndrome that leads to fatigue and reduced functional capacity due to disease-related pathophysiological mechanisms. Aerobic exercise (AERO) plays a key role in improving HF outcomes, such as an increase in peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak). In addition, HF promotes cell senescence, which involves reducing telomere length. Several studies have shown that patients with a worse prognosis (i.e., reduced VO2 peak) also have shorter telomeres. However, the effects of AERO on telomere length in patients with HFrEF are still unknown. In an attempt to fill this gap, we designed a study to determine the effects of 16 weeks of aerobic training (32 sessions) on telomere length in HFrEF patients. Methods: In this single-center randomized controlled trial, men and women between 50 and 80 years old will be allocated into two different groups: a moderate-intensity aerobic training and a control grouTelomere length, functional capacity, echocardiographic variables, endothelial function, and walking ability will be assessed before and after the 16-week intervention period. Discussion: Understanding the role of physical exercise in biological aging in HFrEF patients is relevant. Due to cell senescence, these individuals have shown a shorter telomere length. AERO can delay biological aging according to a balance in oxidative stress through antioxidant action. Positive telomere length results are expected for the aerobic training group

    HP Newsletter Sept. 09 Download Full PDF

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    A multidisciplinary program for achieving lipid goals in chronic hemodialysis patients

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    BACKGROUND: There is little information on how target lipid levels can be achieved in end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients in a systematic, multidisciplinary fashion. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed a pharmacist-directed hyperlipidemia management program for chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients. All 26 adult patients on chronic HD at a tertiary care medical facility were entered into the program. A clinical pharmacist was responsible for laboratory monitoring, patient counseling, and the initiation and dosage adjustment of an appropriate 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitor (statin) using a dosing algorithm and monitoring guidelines. The low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol goal was ≤ 100 mg/dl. A renal dietitian provided nutrition counseling and the nephrologist was notified of potential or existing drug interactions or adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Patients received a flyer containing lipid panel results to encourage compliance. Data was collected at program initiation and for 6 months thereafter. RESULTS: At the start of the program, 58% of patients were at target LDL cholesterol. At 6 months, 88% had achieved target LDL (p = 0.015). Mean LDL cholesterol decreased from 96 ± 5 to 80 ± 3 mg/dl (p < 0.01), and mean total cholesterol decreased from 170 ± 7 to 151 ± 4 mg/dl (p < 0.01). Fifteen adjustments in drug therapy were made. Eight adverse drug reactions were identified; 2 required drug discontinuation or an alternative agent. Physicians were alerted to 8 potential drug-drug interactions, and appropriate monitoring was performed. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate both feasibility and efficacy of a multidisciplinary approach in management of hyperlipidemia in HD patients
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