Felbamate as an oral add-on therapy in six dogs with presumptive idiopathic epilepsy and generalized seizures resistant to drug therapy

Background: Idiopathic or genetic epilepsy commonly affects dogs; affected dogs are often refractory to anti-seizure drug therapy. Felbamate is an anti-seizure drug with established pharmacokinetic and safety data for dogs, but little published evidence of efficacy for managing generalized seizures in this species.Aim: The purpose of this retrospective case series was to evaluate the clinical efficacy and tolerability of oral felbamate in six presumptive epileptic dogs experiencing generalized seizures.Methods: Medical records from six dogs with presumptive idiopathic/genetic epilepsy manifesting as generalized seizure activity, for which oral felbamate was used as an add-on treatment, were reviewed. The number of seizures recorded for the 3-month period immediately before instituting felbamate was recorded for each dog. Short-term (3 months) and long-term (6 months or greater) seizure frequency post-felbamate therapy was recorded for each dog and compared with baseline.Results: Overall, dogs experienced a reduction (82%) in seizures after adding felbamate in the short term, with 5/6 dogs (83%) classified as responders (50% or greater reduction in seizures) and 3/6 dogs (50%) attaining seizure-free status. Mean and median long-term follow-up times were 13 and 11 months, respectively (range: 6 to 23 months). Four of the 6 dogs (67%) remained drug responders at final follow-up, with an average seizure reduction of 98%, 2 of which remained seizure-free at 8 and 21 months. Two dogs (33%) experienced increased seizure activity during long-term follow-up (12 and 23 months) and were considered non-responders. The non-responder dogs had an average long-term seizure reduction of 33%. No dog experienced any obvious adverse effects associated with felbamate administration. However, one dog not included in the analysis because of insufficient (<3 month) post-felbamate follow-up, was weaned off felbamate because of suspected hepatotoxicity.Conclusion: Our small case series suggests that oral felbamate might show promise as an add-on drug for epileptic dogs experiencing generalized seizures resistant to drug therapy. These results warrant a more controlled, prospective investigation into felbamate as a therapeutic agent for canine epilepsy

Can Bedside Ultrasound Inferior Vena Cava Measurements Accurately Diagnose Congestive Heart Failure in the Emergency Department? A Clin-IQ

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis of CHF in patients presenting to the emergency department with undifferentiated dyspnea would allow clinicians to begin appropriate treatment more promptly. Current guidelines recommend B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels for more accurate diagnosis of CHF in dyspneic patients. Although BNP levels are relatively inexpensive, the test is not usually performed at bedside and results may take up to an hour or more. BNP also may have a “gray zone” in which the values can neither confirm nor rule out CHF. BNP has a reported sensitivity of 87% and specificity of 74% at a cutoff of 400 pg/ml. Studies investigating bedside ultrasound inferior vena cava (IVC) measurements for identifying CHF report a specificity of 84% to 96% and sensitivity values ranging from 37% to 93%, depending on the study. Given that ultrasound IVC measurements are performed at bedside and results are available rapidly, it is reasonable to evaluate whether ultrasound IVC measurements obtained by appropriately trained emergency department clinicians, alone or in combination with BNP, may increase diagnostic accuracy of CHF

Deweyan tools for inquiry and the epistemological context of critical pedagogy

This article develops the notion of resistance as articulated in the literature of critical pedagogy as being both culturally sponsored and cognitively manifested. To do so, the authors draw upon John Dewey\u27s conception of tools for inquiry. Dewey provides a way to conceptualize student resistance not as a form of willful disputation, but instead as a function of socialization into cultural models of thought that actively truncate inquiry. In other words, resistance can be construed as the cognitive and emotive dimensions of the ongoing failure of institutions to provide ideas that help individuals both recognize social problems and imagine possible solutions. Focusing on Dewey\u27s epistemological framework, specifically tools for inquiry, provides a way to grasp this problem. It also affords some innovative solutions; for instance, it helps conceive of possible links between the regular curriculum and the study of specific social justice issues, a relationship that is often under-examined. The aims of critical pedagogy depend upon students developing dexterity with the conceptual tools they use to make meaning of the evidence they confront; these are background skills that the regular curriculum can be made to serve even outside social justice-focused curricula. Furthermore, the article concludes that because such inquiry involves the exploration and potential revision of students\u27 world-ordering beliefs, developing flexibility in how one thinks may be better achieved within academic subjects and topics that are not so intimately connected to students\u27 current social lives, especially where students may be directly implicated

Prevalence and predictors of undernutrition among infants aged six and twelve months in Butajira, Ethiopia: The P-MaMiE Birth Cohort

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Child undernutrition is a major public health problem in low income countries. Prospective studies of predictors of infant growth in rural low-income country settings are relatively scarce but vital to guide intervention efforts.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A population-based sample of 1065 women in the third trimester of pregnancy was recruited from the demographic surveillance site (DSS) in Butajira, south-central Ethiopia, and followed up until the infants were one year of age. After standardising infant weight and length using the 2006 WHO child growth standard, a cut-off of two standard deviations below the mean defined the prevalence of stunting (length-for-age <-2), underweight (weight-for-age <-2) and wasting (weight-for-length <-2).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The prevalence of infant undernutrition was high at 6 months (21.7% underweight, 26.7% stunted and 16.7% wasted) and at 12 months of age (21.2% underweight, 48.1% stunted, and 8.4% wasted). Significant and consistent predictors of infant undernutrition in both logistic and linear multiple regression models were male gender, low birth weight, poor maternal nutritional status, poor household sanitary facilities and living in a rural residence. Compared to girls, boys had twice the odds of being underweight (OR = 2.00; 95%CI: 1.39, 2.86) at 6 months, and being stunted at 6 months (OR = 2.38, 95%CI: 1.69, 3.33) and at 12 months of age (OR = 2.08, 95%CI: 1.59, 2.89). Infant undernutrition at 6 and 12 months of age was not associated with infant feeding practices in the first two months of life.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There was a high prevalence of undernutrition in the first year of infancy in this rural Ethiopia population, with significant gender imbalance. Our prospective study highlighted the importance of prenatal maternal nutritional status and household sanitary facilities as potential targets for intervention.</p

Prospectus, November 14, 1984

YOUR COURAGE, DEDICATION AND SACRIFICES ARE NOT FORGOTTEN; Parkland Veterans Honored; Women Veterans receive deserved recognition; Landslide of volunteers hoped for; Recognition needed all year; Blood Drive November; Best Sellers in the Library; PC Happenings; Original performance at Parkland; How to Live to be 1000 is retirees topic; Gallery hosts touring exhibit; EMT refresher workshop scheduled; Parkland, GM cooperate; Student job prospects look great; Man on Street...Question: Did you vote on Tuesday, and whatever you answer, why?; Creative Corner...especially for you!; Doom story...The cataclysm begins; Fluffy White Clouds; Nursing on a psychiatric floor; Ember of Empathy; With Feeling; Hurry Monday!; Contradiction versus deception; the eve of destruction; Homo Sapiens; Essence; Straub has not even begun to hit his stride; Good music sometimes underrated; Anothe Bowie hit; Classifieds; Britter\u27s Knights devastate USA Adidas 113-55 in opener; Lady Cobras finish spectacular season with 39-9-1 clipping; Knights down Nonames 100-30; Cobra cagers have flexibility and depth for \u2784-\u2785 campaign; Stater, Phillips supply one-two punch for Cobrashttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1984/1004/thumbnail.jp

A randomised controlled trial of a care home rehabilitation service to reduce long-term institutionalisation for elderly people

Objectives: to evaluate the effect of a care home rehabilitation service on institutionalisation, health outcomes and service use. Design: randomised controlled trial, stratified by Barthel ADL index, social service sector and whether living alone. The intervention was a rehabilitation service based in Social Services old people's homes in Nottingham, UK. The control group received usual health and social care. Participants: 165 elderly and disabled hospitalised patients who wished to go home but were at high risk of institutionalisation (81 intervention, 84 control). Main outcome measures: institutionalisation rates, Barthel ADL index, Nottingham Extended ADL score, General Health Questionnaire (12 item version) at 3 and 12 months, Health and Social Service resource use. Results: the number of participants institutionalised was similar at 3 months (relative risk 1.04, 95% confidence intervals 0.65–1.65) and 12 months (relative risk 1.23, 95% confidence intervals 0.75–2.02). Barthel ADL Index, Nottingham Extended ADL score and General Health Questionnaire scores were similar at 3 and 12 months. The intervention group spent significantly fewer days in hospital over 3 and 12 months (mean reduction 12.1 and 27.6 days respectively, P < 0.01), but spent a mean of 36 days in a care home rehabilitation service facility. Conclusions: this service did not reduce institutionalisation, but diverted patients from the hospital to social services sector without major effects on activity levels or well-being

Common perinatal mental disorders and post-infancy child development in rural Ethiopia:a population-based cohort study

Objective: To investigate whether maternal common mental disorders (CMD) in the postnatal period are prospectively associated with child development at 2.5 and 3.5 years in a rural low-income African setting. Methods: This study was nested within the C-MaMiE (Child outcomes in relation to Maternal Mental health in Ethiopia) population-based cohort in Butajira, Ethiopia, and conducted from 2005 to 2006. The sample comprised of 496 women who had recently given birth to living, singleton babies with recorded birth weight measurements, who were 15 to 44 years of age, and residing in six rural sub-districts. Postnatal CMD measurements were ascertained 2 months after delivery. Language, cognitive, and motor development were obtained from the child 2.5 and 3.5 years after birth using a locally adapted version of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (3rd Ed). Maternal CMD symptoms were measured using a locally validated WHO Self-Reporting Questionnaire. A linear mixed-effects regression model was used to analyze the relationship between postnatal CMD and child development. Results: After adjusting for confounders, there was no evidence for an association between postnatal CMD and overall child development or the cognitive sub-domain in the preschool period. There was no evidence of effect modification by levels of social support, socioeconomic status, stunting, or sex of the child. Conclusions: Previous studies from predominantly urban and peri-urban settings in middle-income countries have established a relationship between maternal CMD and child development, which contrasts with the findings from this study. The risk and protective factors for child development may differ in areas characterized by high social adversity and food insecurity. More studies are needed to investigate maternal CMD’s impact on child development in low-resource and rural areas

Prospectus, November 28, 1984

SPEAKING COBRAS NAMED COMMUNITY COLLEGE TEAM OF THE YEAR; Central Illinois Vietnam Veterans; Security reports thefts; Parkland election survey told; \u27There are 25 crucified saviors\u27; PC Happenings; Board of Trustees re-elect officers; Who\u27s Who Award nominations listed; Parkland Choral Union to perform \u27Messiah\u27; \u27Messiah\u27 comes again; Life Science Division has open house; Classifieds; Scott advocates negotiation versus doomsday; Creative Corner...especially for you!; Doom Story...The Final Conflict; Through another man\u27s eyes; and that is all; affair; your last veil; living together; Jesus Face; Jesus Died; This Isn\u27t It; wanting; being in love; On Being Forced to Play Backgammon After a Week in the Wilderness; only one; Searls Scouts; Talent scouts looking for fresh talent to work at Busch Gardens in 1985; King\u27s newest not his best; Parkland Community Band performs; Prompters cheer IRT; Cotton releases new solo; Original theatre production at Parkland Written, directed and produced by Lu Snyder; Carol sing is Sunday at UI; High School Quiz Bowl to be broadcast; Howard Player of the Week; Parkland loses on last-second shot; High School Notes; Cobras shoot past Illinois Central, 75-69; Lady Cobras want to schore in \u2784; Koebele plays the leadhttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1984/1002/thumbnail.jp