The Utah Early Neuropathy Scale: a sensitive clinical scale for early sensory predominant neuropathy

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72400/1/j.1529-8027.2008.00180.x.pd

Expert Advice on Community-based Grid Containment of COVID-19 Pandemic by the General Practice Network & Regional Medical Consortium

The COVID-19 containment has become a top global public health concern. China has obtained a phased achievement in containing COVID-19 pandemic, during the process, primary medical institutions and general practitioner teams in regional medical consortiums have played a key role. To better guide and standardize the development of regional medical consortiums, give full play to the bridge role and grid management of general medicine in COVID-19 pandemic containment, and consolidate the achievements of COVID-19 pandemic containment further, we invited a group of related experts to develop the Expert Advice on Community-based Grid Containment of COVID-19 Pandemic by the General Practice Network & Regional Medical Consortium (the First Version for Trial Implementation) (hereinafter referred to as the Expert Advice) following in-depth analysis and thorough consideration of literature review results, suggestions extensively collected and practical evidence, which mainly includes the following aspects: the essential characters of the general practice network & regional medical consortium, organizational structure, contents and separation of responsibilities and duties, operation mechanism, content of the work, workflow, training and assessment. We hope the Expert Advice will contribute to the construction and operation of the general practice network & regional medical consortium in various regions for COVID-19 containment

Increased oxidative stress as a risk factor in chronic idiopathic axonal polyneuropathy

Chronic idiopathic axonal polyneuropathy (CIAP) is a disorder with insidious onset and slow progression, where no etiology is identified despite appropriate investigations. We aimed to investigate the role of oxidative stress as a risk factor for the pathogenesis of CIAP. Sera of patients with CIAP were tested for protein carbonyl (PC) and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8H). As a control group, we recruited patients with gluten neuropathy. Twenty-one patients with CIAP and 21 controls were recruited. The two groups did not differ significantly regarding demographics or clinical characteristics (i.e., neuropathy type or disease severity). After adjusting for gender, having CIAP was positively correlated with both the 8H titer (standardized beta coefficient 0.349, p = 0.013) and the PC titer (standardized beta coefficient 0.469, p = 0.001). Oxidative stress appears to be increased in CIAP and might have a role in the pathogenesis of the disease

From staff-mix to skill-mix and beyond: towards a systemic approach to health workforce management

Throughout the world, countries are experiencing shortages of health care workers. Policy-makers and system managers have developed a range of methods and initiatives to optimise the available workforce and achieve the right number and mix of personnel needed to provide high-quality care. Our literature review found that such initiatives often focus more on staff types than on staff members' skills and the effective use of those skills. Our review describes evidence about the benefits and pitfalls of current approaches to human resources optimisation in health care. We conclude that in order to use human resources most effectively, health care organisations must consider a more systemic approach - one that accounts for factors beyond narrowly defined human resources management practices and includes organisational and institutional conditions