Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) have been reported to cause or exacerbate insomnia, sometimes requiring discontinuation despite adequate therapeutic response. The authors present a series of 13 cases of MAOI-associated insomnia managed with addition of trazodone. Twelve patients (92%) had an initial positive response, with nine (69%) able to continue on ...

Syrup-form medicines have been shown to cause dental caries in chronically sick children. The acid production of 10 syrupy medicines sweetened with sucrose, fructose, sorbitol, xylitol and saccharin or with a combination of these was tested. The subjects consisted of 7 dental students with low buffering capacity and high levels ...

The sugar content of twenty-four liquid medicines commonly prescribed for infants and young children were measured and the type of sugars present were also identified in four randomly selected samples. All the liquid medicines tested contained sugar, in the range of 29.4% to 61.2%. Sucrose appeared to be the most ...

Pseudofolliculitis barbae is a chronic, distressing and potentially disfiguring dermatologic disorder that occurs predominantly in black men. The condition is caused by hairs curling back into the skin and is characterized by papules, pustules and, occasionally, keloidal scars over the beard region. Management includes cessation of shaving, the use of ...

To detect the differences in patterns of prescribing between general practitioners with high and low costs, the costs in prescribing seven symptomatic and seven systematic drug groups were studied in 23 practices with low costs and 23 with high costs in the Belfast area. This was done by extracting information ...

In Sri Lanka, as in India, two formally structured systems of medicine exist side by side. While Western-style biomedicine is believed to be useful, Ayurvedic medicine is well established and commonly used. Underlying one explanation for the persistence of such plural medical systems is a functional theory, suggesting that each ...

In an attempt to reconcile discrepant findings in the literature (Elliott, 1986; Thomson, 1983), walking speed, prior practice, and walking delay were manipulated to determine if they had an impact on locomotor distance estimation. Contrary to suggestions by Thomson (1986), walking variability in the direction of locomotion depended only on ...

The toxicological screening of 200 urine samples from 55 known heroin users claiming to be abstinent revealed that in 18% of samples (24% of users tested) opiates were unexpectedly detected. Other substances, many of which were psychoactive drugs, were identified in 35% of samples. Cocaine was not detected in any ...

A drug formulary comprising 249 preparations of 132 drugs and drug combinations was prepared by the partners in a three-doctor general practice serving more than 5000 patients. No attempt was made to change to generic prescribing nor were repeat prescription drugs altered. Introduction of the formulary in September 1981 was ...

The epidemiology of prescribing long-term digoxin was studied in 241 patients from six group general practices. Each patient was assessed for the initial reason for prescribing digoxin and present clinical status, and the serum digoxin concentration was measured between six and 12 hours after the previous dose.The results show that ...

Propylhexedrine, a sympathomimetic with varied medicinal uses, is one of the compounds to be reviewed by the Expert Committee convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) to determine whether the compound should be scheduled under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances. This paper reviews the pharmacology, medicinal uses, toxicity and abuse-potential ...

A 1 in 200 sample of the Southampton electorate was sent a postal questionnaire in January, 1984. Of the 740 adults surveyed, 443 (59.9%) returned completed questionnaires. One hundred and eighty-eight (42.4%) of those replying had been prescribed a medicine within the previous month. Two hundred and seventy-five respondents (62%) ...

The 24-h respiratory excretion of dimethyl selenide (DMSe) and urinary excretion of trimethylselenonium (TMSe) were studied in adult male rats injected with 2 mg Se/kg as selenobetaine [(CH3)2Se+CH2COOH] or its methyl ester, labeled with 75Se and 14C. The DMSe was trapped by means of 20% benzyl chloride in xylene. TMSe ...

Prescribed daily dose (PDD) of phenoxymethylpenicillin was estimated in a multipractice study in 1979 and in 1983. PDD increased from 2.08 mio IU in 1979 to 2.32 mio IU in 1983. PDD was independent of number of daily doses, and factors related to practice. Only slight variations with diagnosis and ...

Hydroxyapatite ceramics have been increasingly used as an inert prosthetic material in the practice of reconstructive surgery and dentistry. However, the use of this material, which has excellent biostability and biocompatibility, has not yet been popular with most neurosurgeons. The purpose of this paper is to describe three kinds of ...

The information that is supplied to general practitioners by the Prescription Pricing Authority and family practitioner committees has severe limitations if used for self audit of prescribing. We studied the demand for and the extent to which general practitioners would collaborate in developing a system for providing more pertinent information ...

After introducing a computer assisted repeat prescribing programme into a south London practice improvements were made in several aspects of practice organisation. Time was saved by doctors and receptionists; prescriptions were produced more rapidly; information in the records about drugs that were available for repeat prescription was improved; and queries ...

The dispensing of generic preparations at four dispensing chemist shops was investigated by means of a questionnaire. Certain generic prescriptions result in the dispensing of proprietary products despite the existence of generic preparations, and the pharmacist may be reimbursed for the cost of the proprietary drug which has been dispensed. ...

A trainee and a trainer in general practice each copied their prescriptions for one week. After a conscious effort to increase the extent of their general prescribing, this exercise was repeated. A considerable change in prescribing habit is demonstrated.

The standardised report of the Prescription Pricing Authority, which is concerned with the prescribing characteristics of practices, was used as an epidemiological tool to evaluate the prescribing representativeness of practices. Study practices were compared with average prescribing results from family practitioner committees, which are specific for the geographical district and ...

Records of prescriptions that originated from one group practice and were dispensed at one pharmacy were maintained for one year. The information recorded included the age and sex of the patients, the name of the prescribing doctor, and the drug(s) prescribed and their cost. Analysis of the records showed considerable ...

This article examines the biography of Florence Nightingale written by Cecil Woodham-Smith. Originally published in 1951, this biography was reprinted in 1983 by Atheneum. Much has been written about the life and beliefs of Nightingale. Often these accounts are contradictory and confusing to the reader. This review contrasts and compares ...

A study of 20 trainers and their trainees in general practice showed that trainees had a statistically significant improvement in their diagnosis of otitis media during their trainee year and also became quicker in the time taken for history taking and examination. There was a fall in trainees' prescribing of ...

The relationship of perceptual similarity and sex in both manager and subordinate performance appraisals within manager-subordinate dyads was investigated. Perceptual similarity accounted for a sizable percentage of performance rating variance. Significantly lower performance appraisals were found in dyads in which there was mutual perceptual dissimilarity between managers and subordinates.

Adults who were initially less sensitive to a diagonal, 10 c/deg sinusoidal grating, practiced detecting it for 3000 yes-no signal detection trials. Following practice all observers had improved their relative sensitivity to the diagonal and most were as sensitive to the diagonal as to cardinal (horizontal or vertical) orientations. Practicing ...

A survey of the prescribing pattern of topical treatment in a Family Practitioner Committee District revealed that 49.6% of topical preparations contained steroids and of these 11.2% were for diluted products. The majority (84%) of prescribed steroid dilutions on general practice prescription forms (F.P. 10's) were for Betamethasone-17-valerate and 83% ...

National Health Service prescriptions written by general medical practitioners in one urban Area were analysed over a fifteen-month period to classify doctors into those who prescribed a named drug early or relatively later in its market life. A questionnaire, designed to answer a number of hypotheses intended to characterize these ...

The number of prescribed medicines dispensed in England and Wales increased by 21% between 1969 and 1977. Surveys carried out at the Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care have been used to compare the reported consumption of prescribed medicines in those two years. Although there were some changes in ...

The effects produced by perezone, which was isolated from Perezia cuernavacana Rob. et Greenm., and hydroxyperezone monoangelate, from Perezia hebeclada (D.C.) A.Gray, on intestinal motility in vivo and in vitro in animal experiments are reported. It is suggested that hydroxyperezone monoangelate is a laxative principle present in certain species of ...

A survey of the prescribing habits of a group practice of 10,500 patients was conducted during a three-month period to compare the pattern of repeat prescribing with that practised during consultations. Further analysis into therapeutic groups and categories depending on the length of treatment prescribed was performed. The results obtained ...

The total prescribing in an urban general practice was recorded over a six-month period and classified according to the length of time that drugs were continued. The number of patients receiving any prescription rose with age, as did the total number of items per patient prescribed for; while the continued ...

The use of prescribed medicines was investigated by interviewing a random sample of 836 people aged 18 and over, living in England and Wales. Two fifths of respondents had taken some prescribed medicine, excluding an oral contraceptive, in the two weeks before the interview; nearly a quarter of all people ...

The number and therapeutic grouping of prescriptions given to children before reaching their fifth birthday were examined. The records of 92 children were looked at. Between them they had received 1,241 individual prescriptions of which 33 per cent were for antibiotics, and 31 per cent for an antihistamine or cough ...

Two recent surveys, one by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the other by the Victorian College of Pharmacy in conjunction with the Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, cast light on prevailing medication patterns. These surveys, for the first time, indicate not only patterns and trends in the taking ...

In his everyday work the family physician sees many patients whose problems have been diagnosed but for whom postponement of an active treatment plan is indicated. The physician must therefore prescribe procrastination in a carefully planned way. I describe some ideas and practical methods for doing this.

Compliance with regular medicine taking has been assessed in 81 patients, aged 65 and over, living at home. Interview assessment, home tablet count, and retrospective review of general practice prescription record cards provided three indices of compliance.Deviation by more than 10 per cent from absolute adherence to the prescription was ...

In a returned-medicines campaign lasting 3 weeks 362000 tablets and capsules were returned in 11400 containers from a population of 1.05 million. This yield was considered low. A comparison of hospital admission figures for childhood poisoning before, during, and immediately after the campaign suggests that the publicity and the destruction ...

The information a patient needs about a prescribed medicine can be determined by considering what responsibilities he can assume in relation to taking medicine. When the medicine has been dispensed the patient needs to know how to take the drug; how to store the drug; how it is expected to ...

Prescriptions issued by 14 general practitioners during December 1974 were examined to elicit possible determinants of differences in doctors' prescribing costs per registered patient. Higher costs were associated with a generally increased prescribing rate but differences were particularly marked for certain drug groups (such as anti-rheumatic drugs). Costs were not ...

A survey of prescribed medicines was carried out in 192 homes, broadly representative of households in England and Wales. The average home had 3.2 containers of such medicines; 56 per cent were in current use, 16 per cent in occasional use, and 28 per cent were never used. One fifth ...

An independent group, mainly clinical pharmacologists and physicians from 16 countries, worked out what they thought was the minimum information needed by the general public for the sensible use of six medicines that are widely self-prescribed (aspirin, paracetamol, ferrous sulphate, aluminium hydroxide, senna, and a multivitamin preparation). For each medicine ...

Anxieties about prescribing were examined in two seminars for trainee general practitioners. These were caused by four main problems: inadequacies in diagnostic skill, treatment policy, understanding or experience, and anxiety about control of the treatment. Ways of reducing these anxieties, for example by sharing them with the patient, are discussed.

Several surveys have confirmed that the majority of patients who take an overdose of drugs have seen their general practitioner within the preceding few weeks; as many as a third attend within the previous week.We studied 130 patients who had taken an overdose and interviewed 122 of the general practitioners. ...

A household survey investigated the nonprescribed medicine use of 3,481 persons in the Baltimore SMSA in 1968-69. Of respondents, 30 per cent used a nonprescribed morbidity-related medicine in two days. Rates of use are higher for adults, females and whites in all economic classes, and do not increase with increasing ...

From 120 practicing physicians in Shiraz, Iran, 40 were selected to identify their attitude toward the use of antibiotics. A young, healthy man who complained of mild fever and cold symptoms was referred to them and 37 of them prescribed inappropriate doses of antibiotics. It is assumed that the behavior ...

Data derived from 1968-69 household survey of 3,481 persons in the Baltimore Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area revealed rates of medicine use and characteristics of users. In the 2 days before interview, 56% of the study population used one or more medicines. Users of prescribed medicine (33%) averaged 1.8 different kinds, ...

A retrospective study of morbidity and prescribing habits in a tropical practice is presented. The common symptoms of pain, cough, and fever accounted for 60 per cent of all cases seen while analgesics accounted for 30 per cent of all drugs prescribed.

As concern has been expressed about danger to patients, a survey about repeat prescribing via the receptionist was carried out in a group practice.About one quarter of the prescriptions in the study period were ;receptionist repeats' and these were compared with a group of repeat prescriptions obtained in the course ...

Analysis of data derived from 130 reports of jaundice occurring after anaesthesia with halothane showed a significant relation between the number of exposures to this anaesthetic and the rapidity with which jaundice develops after exposure. This is considered to provide strong evidence of a cause-effect relationship between the use of ...

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