Development of Different Aptitude Test (DAT) for Secondary School Students

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Technology-enabled medication adherence for seniors living in the community: Experiences, lessons, and the road ahead

Singapore National Research Foundation; Singapore Ministry of National Developmen

Identification of incident poisoning, fracture and burn events using linked primary care, secondary care, and mortality data from England: implications for research and surveillance

Background: English national injury data collection systems are restricted to hospitalisations and deaths. With recent linkage of a large primary care database, the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), with secondary care and mortality data we aimed to assess the utility of linked data for injury research and surveillance by examining recording patterns and comparing incidence of common injuries across data sources. Methods: The incidence of poisonings, fractures and burns was estimated for a cohort of 2,147,853 0-24 year olds using CPRD linked to Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and Office for National Statistics (ONS) mortality data between 1997-2012. Time-based algorithms were developed to identify incident events, distinguishing between repeat follow-up records for the same injury, and those for a new event. Results: We identified 42,985 poisoning, 185,517 fracture and 36,719 burn events in linked CPRD-HES-ONS data; incidence rates were 41.9 per 10,000 person-years (95% confidence interval 41.4–42.4), 180.8 (179.8–181.7) and 35.8 (35.4–36.1), respectively. Of the injuries, 22,628(53%) poisonings, 139,662(75%) fractures, and 33,462(91%) burns were only recorded within CPRD. Only 16% of deaths from poisoning (n=106) or fracture (n=58) recorded in ONS were recorded within CPRD and/or HES records. None of the 10 deaths from burns were recorded in CPRD or HES records. Conclusion: It is essential to use linked primary care, hospitalisation and deaths data to estimate injury burden, as many injury events are only captured within a single data source. Linked routinely-collected data offer an immediate and affordable mechanism for injury surveillance and analyses of population based injury epidemiology in England

Isometric handgrip as an adjunct for blood pressure control: a primer for clinicians

Considered a global health crisis by the World Health Organization, hypertension (HTN) is the leading risk factor for death and disability. The majority of treated patients do not attain evidence-based clinical targets, which increases the risk of potentially fatal complications. HTN is the most common chronic condition seen in primary care; thus, implementing therapies that lower and maintain BP to within-target ranges is of tremendous public health importance. Isometric handgrip (IHG) training is a simple intervention endorsed by the American Heart Association as a potential adjuvant BP-lowering treatment. With larger reductions noted in HTN patients, IHG training may be especially beneficial for those who (a) have difficulties continuing or increasing drug-based treatment; (b) are unable to attain BP control despite optimal treatment; (c) have pre-HTN or low-risk stage I mild HTN; and (d) wish to avoid medications or have less pill burden. IHG training is not routinely prescribed in clinical practice. To shift this paradigm, we focus on (1) the challenges of current HTN management strategies; (2) the effect of IHG training; (3) IHG prescription; (4) characterizing the population for whom it works best; (5) clinical relevance; and (6) important next steps to foster broader implementation by clinical practitioners

Omics-based molecular techniques in oral pathology centred cancer: Prospect and challenges in Africa

: The completion of the human genome project and the accomplished milestones in the human proteome project; as well as the progress made so far in computational bioinformatics and “big data” processing have contributed immensely to individualized/personalized medicine in the developed world.At the dawn of precision medicine, various omics-based therapies and bioengineering can now be applied accurately for the diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and risk stratifcation of cancer in a manner that was hitherto not thought possible. The widespread introduction of genomics and other omics-based approaches into the postgraduate training curriculum of diverse medical and dental specialties, including pathology has improved the profciency of practitioners in the use of novel molecular signatures in patient management. In addition, intricate details about disease disparity among diferent human populations are beginning to emerge. This would facilitate the use of tailor-made novel theranostic methods based on emerging molecular evidences