DADOS-Survey: an open-source application for CHERRIES-compliant Web surveys

BACKGROUND: The Internet has been increasingly utilized in biomedical research. From online searching for literature to data sharing, the Internet has emerged as a primary means of research for many physicians and scientists. As a result, Web-based surveys have been employed as an alternative to traditional, paper-based surveys. We describe DADOS-Survey, an open-source Web-survey application developed at our institution that, to the best of our knowledge, is the first to be compliant with the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES). DADOS-Survey was designed with usability as a priority, allowing investigators to design and execute their own studies with minimal technical difficulties in doing so. RESULTS: To date, DADOS-Survey has been successfully implemented in five Institutional Review Board-approved studies conducted by various departments within our academic center. Each of these studies employed a Web-survey design as their primary methodology. Our initial experience indicates that DADOS-Survey has been used with relative ease by each of the investigators and survey recipients. This has been further demonstrated through formal and field usability testing, during which time suggestions for improvement were incorporated into the software design. CONCLUSION: DADOS-Survey has the potential to have an important role in the future direction of Web-survey administration in biomedical research. This CHERRIES-compliant application is tailored to the emerging requirements of quality data collection in medicine

Vulnerable Children, Young People, and Families: Policy, Practice, and Social Justice in England and Scotland

This chapter begins by highlighting the rise of vulnerability as a term in social policy, and the three-level approach that is used to examine it. The first level is definitional, examining the possibility of defining vulnerability and vulnerabilities through a consideration of relevant literature and a number of recent policy documents. The second looks at how policy developments in Scotland and England have diverged, particularly since 2010, and how vulnerability has become more central to education policy in England. The third level focuses on practice, presenting research undertaken by the authors into a programme developed to support vulnerable children, young people, and families in Northern England as a case study exemplifying some of the factors affecting the effectiveness of programmes in which schools played an important but not central part. This practice perspective is still too often overlooked in discussions of policy and definition, and it is suggested that its inclusion will contribute to the ongoing debate about both how best to support vulnerable families and the implications for education and social justice

Oscillucusis and sudden deafness in a migraine patient Oscilucusia e perda auditiva em um paciente com migranea

Migraine is a complex disease that includes neurologic, gastrointestinal and autonomic symptoms, although headache is most common feature. In a portion of cases headache is preceded by focal neurologic symptoms termed auras. Auditory symptoms only rarely occur as part of an aura. We describe a patient whose 13-year migraine history that included the abnormal perception an oscillation of the intensity of ambient sounds (oscillucusis). During a migraine attack immediately after oscillucusis, the patient developed acute and permanent sudden deafness. Clinical and neurologic examinations revealed only profound hearing loss in her left ear. Audiometric testing confirmed the sensorineural nature of the hearing loss. The clinical aspects and physiopathology of auditory symptoms in this case and in patients with migraine is reviewed.<br>Migrânea é desordem complexa que inclui sintomas neurológicos, gastrointestinais e autonômicos, na qual a cefaléia é o achado predominante. Em uma parcela de pacientes o quadro álgico pode ser antecipado por sinais neurológicos focais conhecidos como aura. Descrevemos um paciente que iniciou sua historia de migrânea acompanhada por sensações de flutuações nos sons ambientes (oscillucusis) por treze anos. Durante uma crise de cefaléia imediatamente após a oscillucusia o paciente desenvolveu um quadro agudo e permanente de perda auditiva. Exames clínicos e neurológicos revelaram somente uma perda profunda da audição em ouvido esquerdo, cuja natureza sensorioneural foi confirmada por uma avaliação audiométrica. Os aspectos clinicos e fisiopatológicos dos sintomas auditivos encontrados neste caso e em pacientes com migrânea com aura são revisados e comentados

The role of the nonsurgical oncologist in the management of advanced transitional cell cancer. Part II: metastatic disease

TCC may arise at any site in the urinary tract, and when advanced or metastatic can be regarded by the nonsurgical oncologist as a single tumour type. TCCs commonly develop histologically and may be admixed with areas of squamous carcinoma, adenocarcinoma or peripheral neuro-ectodermal tumour. In most cases this does not alter the therapeutic approach, although it might alter the outcome.TCCs arise most commonly in the bladder, where they are the fourth most common cancer in men and eighth most common in women, responsible for &gt;5000 deaths annually in the UK. They occur increasingly commonly with age, and advanced disease in the elderly is a common clinical management problem, which necessitates adjustment to treatment regimens.Locally advanced disease is routinely managed by cystectomy, with the possibility of bladder reconstruction for selected patients. However, more recently there has been renewed interest in bladder-sparing approaches, including radiotherapy and chemo/radiotherapy. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been evaluated in large randomized trials and similar international studies are ongoing, testing the usefulness of adjuvant chemotherapy after chemotherapy. These nonsurgical approaches to this group of cancers will be considered in this review, with an emphasis on data obtained from prospective randomized trials.</p