The information behaviour of Kenyan medical scientists

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN040677 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Arthrheuma Society of Kenya consensus report: Recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis

Objectives: This study aims to recommend Arthrheuma Society of Kenya (ARSK) proposed Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) management and to compose a national expert opinion management of RA under guidance of current guidelines and implantation and dissemination of these international guidelines into our clinical practice.Materials and methods: A scientific committee of nineteen experts consisting of nine rheumatologists, three rheumatology nurses and seven physicians was formed. The recommendations, systemic reviews, and meta-analysis including pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment were scrutinized paying special attention with convenient key words. The draft ARSK recommendations for management of RA opinion whose roof consisted of international treatment recommendations, particularly the assessment of American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/ European League Against Rheumatism was composed. Assessment of level of agreement with opinions by task force members was established through the Delphi technique. Voting using a numerical rating scale assessed the strength of each recommendation.Results: Panel comprised of six basic principles and recommendations including pharmacological and nonpharmacological methods. All of the recommendations had adequate strength.Conclusion: ARSK expert opinion for the management of RA was developed based on scientifi c evidence. These recommendations will be updated regularly in accordance with current developments.Keywords: Arthrheuma Society of Kenya, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Management guideline

The impact of the method of consent on response rates in the ISAAC time trends study

BACKGROUND: Centres in Phases I and III of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) programme used the method of consent (passive or active) required by local ethics committees. METHODS: Retrospectively, relationships between achieved response rates and method of consent for 13-14 and 6-7-year-olds (adolescents and children, respectively), were examined between phases and between English and non-English language centres. RESULTS: Information was obtained for 113 of 115 centres for adolescents and 72/72 centres for children. Both age groups: most centres using passive consent achieved high response rates (>80% adolescents and >70% children). English language centres using active consent showed a larger decrease in response rate. Adolescents: seven centres changed from passive consent in Phase I to active consent in Phase III (median decrease of 13%), with five centres showing lower response rates (as low as 34%). Children: no centre changed consent method between phases. Centres using active consent had lower median response rates (lowest response rate 45%). CONCLUSION: The requirement for active consent for population school-based questionnaire studies can impact negatively on response rates, particularly English language centres, thus adversely affecting the validity of the data. Ethics committees need to consider this issue carefully. © 2010 The Union