The impact of laxative use upon symptoms in patients with proven slow transit constipation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Constipation severity is often defined by symptoms including feelings of complete evacuation, straining, stool frequency and consistency. These descriptors are mostly obtained in the absence of laxative use. For many constipated patients laxative usage is ubiquitous and long standing. Our aim was to determine the impact of laxative use upon the stereotypic constipation descriptors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Patients with confirmed slow transit constipation completed 3-week stool diaries, detailing stool frequency and form, straining, laxative use and pain and bloating scores. Each diary day was classified as being under laxative affect (laxative affected days) or not (laxative unaffected days). Unconditional logistic regression was used to assess the affects of laxatives on constipation symptoms.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ninety four patients with scintigraphically confirmed slow transit constipation were enrolled in the study. These patients reported a stool frequency of 5.6 ± 4.3 bowel motions/week, only 21 patients reported <3 bowel motions/week. Similarly, 21 patients reported a predominant hard stool at defecation. The majority (90%) of patients reported regular straining. A regular feeling of complete evacuation was reported in just 7 patients. Daily pain and/or bloating were reported by 92% of patients. When compared with laxative unaffected days, on the laxative affected days patients had a higher stool frequency (OR 2.23; <it>P </it><0.001) and were more likely to report loose stools (OR 1.64; <it>P </it><0.009). Laxatives did not increase the number of bowel actions associated with a feeling of complete evacuation. Laxative use had no affect upon straining, pain or bloating scores</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The reporting of frequent and loose stools with abdominal pain and/or bloating is common in patients with slow transit constipation. While laxative use is a significant contributor to altering stool frequency and form, laxatives have no apparent affect on pain or bloating or upon a patients feeling of complete evacuation. These factors need to be taken into account when using constipation symptoms to define this population.</p

Idiopathic slow-transit constipation: an almost exclusively female disorder.

The original publication can be found at www.springerlink.comCharles H. Knowles, S. Mark Scott, Chris Rayner, Abdulhakim Glia, Greger Lindberg, Michael A. Kamm, Peter J. Lunnis

Ventilation-Based Strategy to Manage Intraoperative Aerosol Viral Transmission in the Era of SARS-CoV-2

In operating theaters, ventilation systems are designed to protect the patient from airborne contamination for minimizing risks of surgical site infections (SSIs). Ventilation systems often produce an airflow pattern that continuously pushes air out of the area surrounding the operating table, and hence reduces the resident time of airborne pathogen-carrying particles at the patient’s location. As a result, patient-released airborne particles due to the use of powered tools, such as surgical smoke and insufflated CO2, typically circulate within the room. This circulation exposes the surgical team to airborne infection—especially when operating on a patient with infectious diseases, including COVID-19. This study examined the flow pattern of functional ventilation configurations in view of developing ventilation-based strategies to protect both the patient and the surgical team from aerosolized infections. A favorable design that minimized particle circulation was deduced using experimentally validated numerical models. The parameters adapted to quantify circulation of airborne particles were particles’ half-life and elevation. The results show that the footprint of the outlet ducts and resulting flow pattern are important parameters for minimizing particle circulation. Overall, this study presents a modular framework for optimizing the ventilation systems that permits a switch in operation configuration to suit different operating procedures

Structure and properties of nanoscale materials: theory and atomistic computer simulation

We present a review of a few research topics developed within the "Theory and Atomistic Computer Simulation" Department at CINaM. The bottom line of the scientific activity is to use up-to-date theoretical and computer simulation techniques to address physics and materials science problems, often at the nanometric scale, in close contact with experimental groups. It ranges from the study of the structure and properties of molecular systems for organic electronics to metallic clusters and alloys, magnetic oxides, nuclear fuels and carbon-based nanostructures. These studies are motivated by fundamental research questions as well as more applied goals including environmental and energy issues, or information technologies. This broad spectrum of activities requires a large range of techniques, from theory and ab initio calculations to semi-empirical models incorporated in Monte Carlo or molecular dynamics simulations. Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd