PURPOSE: To evaluate a sample of Internet sites advertising statins for sale to the general public. METHODS: A simulated customer search and evaluation of retrieved sites using evaluation tools focussing on quality (Q) and safe medicine use (SMU). Sites retrieved on 17 November 2010 were systematically analysed from 19 November ...

This research deals with the design of leaflets of medicines, evidencing the problems resulting from the lack of Brazilian normalization to promote the use of the graphical representation of instructional texts warnings. It approaches studies related to the effectiveness and efficiency of information systems, highlighting the semiotics and the cultural ...

Aims and objectives.  To explore patients' perspectives on the significance of informal carers in their information management. Background.  Being well informed is considered a prerequisite for the ability of heart failure patients to manage their lives at home. Developing knowledge about the informal caregiver's role in patient information management is ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The aims of this study were to evaluate the awareness of and attitudes towards the 2005 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines for Heart Failure (HF) of the cardiologists in Pakistan and assess barriers to adherence to guidelines. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in person from March ...

Postdischarge mortality and morbidity from acute heart failure syndrome (AHFS) are high, affecting nearly half of all discharged patients within 90 days. Emergency department therapy remains largely empiric, with minimal evidence to support definitive recommendations to guide therapy. However, lessons learned from recent registries and trials suggest an approach to ...

A popular saying holds that if one can hear a heart murmur in the middle of a loud and busy emergency department, then by definition the murmur is significant. Whether or not this is actually true, it does capture the frustration emergency physicians feel when trying to diagnose or manage ...

In clinical practice, atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most commonly encountered arrhythmia. With the aging of the US population, the number of patients with AF that physicians encounter will increase. Atrial fibrillation management involves a combination of rate- and rhythm-control strategies with thromboprophylaxis, a complicated endeavor given side effect profiles ...

Heart failure (HF) is a severe heart disease. The use of autologous bone marrow stem cells (BMCs) mobilization in the treatment of HF has been a hot topic to research both in Western medicine and Chinese medicine (CM). There are many clinical trials and experiments on study of BMCs mobilization ...

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to identify the prevalence of the use of vitamin/mineral supplements or natural/herbal remedies, concurrent use of pharmaceutical medication, and to profile those most likely to use these complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) in the treatment of five chronic conditions identified as national health ...

Abstract: BACKGROUND: No formal guidelines exist to guide physicians caring for sarcoid patients in their screening for management of cardiac sarcoidosis patients. We conducted a modified Delphi study to investigate if a consensus could be reached on the best approaches for screening for and management of cardiac sarcoidosis. METHODS: A ...

It is time to challenge the issue of pleasure associated with the core of medical practice. Its importance is made clear through its opposite: unhappiness-something which affects doctors in a rather worrying way. The paper aims to provide a discussion on pleasure on reliable grounds. Plato's conception of techne is ...

Diagnosis and management of acute heart failure syndromes are described in the most recent ESC/ESICM guidelines. However, physicians dealing with these patients in their daily practice may need guidance in choosing therapeutic alternatives as soon as the dyspneic patient arrives to the emergency department. Herein, practical recommendations for the very ...

New guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation (AF) have recently been published by the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association, and Heart Rhythm Society (ACCF/AHA/HRS) task force on practice guidelines, the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS), and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Although they all refer to the ...

A review of cardiology in Israel by Prof. Gad Keren.

Heart failure, a major clinical problem affecting millions of people, may be modified by the genetic diversity of the affected individuals. A novel medical approach, personalized medicine, seeks to use genetic information to "personalize" and improve diagnosis, prevention, and therapy. The personalized management of heart failure involves a large spectrum ...

Digoxin is the oldest cardiac medication used in contemporary medicine. With a complex pharmacokinetic profile and narrow therapeutic index, its use in managing patients with atrial arrhythmias or heart failure can present a challenge to today's clinicians. Digoxin dosing based on patient-specific factors such as age, lean body weight, and ...

A generation ago the nineteenth century was at the heart of medical historical scholarship, as the era when modem medicine was born. Over the last decade or so things have changed: other centuries vie for center stage, and former key "turning points," like hospital medicine and laboratory medicine, are now ...

Several characteristics of Egyptian culture and civilization could be identified in prehistoric and ancient historic Geto-Dacian territories, belonging to modern Romania (Fig. 1). From early times, magic, religion and philosophy have been part of pre-scientific medicine. Therefore these aspects are to be tackled when speaking of medicine in mythological or ...

To compare medicine administration by two nurses to a patient with swallowing difficulties and: To assess the safety of medication administration to a patient with dysphagia. To explore possible system changes to ensure safety standards are understood and adhered to. Administering medicines to patients with dysphagia is complex and nurses ...

A dynamic method (DM) recently proposed for the management of captive subdivided populations was evaluated using the pilot species Drosophila melanogaster. By accounting for the particular genetic population structure, the DM determines the optimal mating pairs, their contributions to progeny and the migration pattern that minimize the overall co-ancestry in ...

Pharmacy dispensing databases provide a comprehensive source of data on medicines use free from many of the biases inherent in administrative databases. There are challenges associated with using pharmacy databases however. This paper describes the methods we used, and their performance, so that other researchers considering using pharmacy databases may ...

The practice of sedation for digestive endoscopy continues to evolve throughout the world. In many countries, there is a trend for increased utilization of sedation during routine endoscopic procedures. Sedation improves patient satisfaction with endoscopy and the willingness to comply with screening guidelines and it improves the quality of examination. ...

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to examine the content validity of occupational health and safety (OHS) management audit methods. METHODS: The documentation used by five broader public sector service organizations to audit OHS management in workplaces was analyzed with reference to a recent OHS management standard (CSA Z1000). RESULTS: A relatively ...

OBJECTIVE: The measurement properties of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management audits might be important in some applications, especially when audit scores are treated as performance measures. The review, therefore, sought to identify and summarize the research evidence on the measurement properties (e.g., reliability, validity) of methods of OHS management ...

The management of anorectal abscess and anal fistula has changed markedly with time. Invasive methods with high resulting rates of incontinence have given way to sphincter-sparing methods that have a much lower associated morbidity. There has been an increase in reports in the medical literature describing the success rates of ...

The manager of a psychiatric practice must create and direct a clinical delivery system, design and oversee the administrative services necessary to support the system, and guide the business operations that contribute to its success. Regardless of the size of the practice, the psychiatrist administrator must handle seven core administrative ...

BACKGROUND: Our aim was to determine whether anaesthetists routinely confirm their ability to ventilate a patient's lungs by a facemask before the administration of a neuromuscular blocker and the rationale for this practice. METHODS: An online survey of trainee and non-trainee anaesthetists working in hospitals forming part of the Central ...

A new method is described to determine and to rank the significance of the environmental aspects of a local authority, as a basis for the implementation of an environmental management system (EMS). The method is especially important as for the requirements of the EU "Environmental Management and Audit Scheme" (EMAS), ...

Fatigue is often a consequence of physical training and the effective management of fatigue by the coach and athlete is essential in optimizing adaptation and performance. In this paper, we explore a range of practical and contemporary methods of fatigue management for Olympic athletes. We assesses the scientific merit of ...

The safe management of medicines within the theatre complex, from storage to administration, is a key component in preventing patient safety incidents. Simple measures, such as double-checking or clear labelling, can be utilised to reduce the risk of inadvertent drug administration. However, the recognition that human factors contribute to errors ...

Antibody formation as an immune reaction to a 'foreign' protein antigen is an expected physiological reaction that is in many cases intentionally triggered, for example in the case of vaccinations. However, an unwanted immune response to a therapeutic protein may lead to a loss of efficacy and/or to severe side ...

BACKGROUND: Beta emitters, such as (90)Y, are increasingly being used for cancer treatment. However, beta emitters demand other precautions than gamma emitters during preparation and administration, especially concerning shielding. AIM: To discuss practical precautions for handling beta emitters in general, and specifically determine proper shielding for (90)Y, while comparing to ...

BACKGROUND: Equity of service provision by age, ethnicity and sex is a key aim of Government policy in the UK. The prevalence, natural history and management of common chronic conditions, such as diabetes and hypertension, vary between ethnic groups. Developing and monitoring responsive local services requires accurate measures of ethnicity ...

The inauguration of the Obama administration is likely to enhance the role of genome medicine in clinical care and national economics.

Graduation date: 1978

Four new natural products possessing vibralactone skeleton, 1,5-secovibralactone (1), vibralactone B (2), vibralactone C (3) and acetylated vibralactone (4), together with known compound vibralactone (5), had been isolated from cultures of the basidiomycete Boreostereum vibrans. The structures of 1-4 were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic methods. The absolute configuration ...

Errors in medicine administration often go unnoticed and unreported. This article describes three medicine-related errors and provides recommendations to reduce risk. All medicine-related errors should be reported locally and to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) so that they can be collated and trends identified. Electronic prescribing and patient/medicine identification ...

Osteonecrosis of the jaws is a major complication associated with long-term use of bisphosphonates. While osteonecrosis can arise from other precipitating conditions, bisphosphonate-induced jaw osteonecrosis (BJON) is highly associated with long-term administration of pamidronate (Aredia) and zoledronic acid (Zometa), which are two intravenous bisphosphonate formulations. The underlying pathogenesis of BJON ...

CONCLUSION: Logon is superior to click to trigger larger and more consistent vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs). OBJECTIVES: To record and compare the parameters of VEMPs evoked by bone- and air-conducted logon (l-VEMPs) and click (c-VEMPs). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Air- and bone-conducted l-VEMPs and c-VEMPs were recorded in 28 normal ...

The chapter reviews certain practical aspects related to Vipassana , a first-person method taught by the Buddha, to probe one's stream of conscious experience, its contents and related material events. Although references to Vipassana are found scattered throughout the Pali literature the most comprehensive and detailed account with regard to ...

The purpose of this study was to use a four-fluid nozzle spray drier as a new one-step method for preparing rifampicin (RFP)-containing mannitol microparticles. A RFP-acetone/methanol (2:1) solution and aqueous solutions of mannitol (MAN) were simultaneously supplied through different liquid passages of a four-fluid nozzle spray drier and then dried ...

N,N(')-bis(5-aminosalicyl)-L-cystine (5-ASA-Cys) was prepared by a simple synthetic route. 5-ASA-Cys was not degraded in pH 1.2 and 6.8 buffer solutions, and in the homogenates of the upper intestine. In marked contrast, 5-ASA-Cys was deconjugated extensively to liberate 5-ASA in the cecal contents. Upon oral administration of 5-ASA-Cys to rats, the ...

AIM: To evaluate the effect of polypropylene mesh-reinforced pancreatojejunostomy on pancreatic leakage. METHODS: Seventeen consecutive patients with paraampullar malignancy received polyprolene mesh-reinforced pancreatodudeonectomy and the Child's method was used to rebuild the alimentary tract. RESULTS: The mean time of polyprolene mesh-reinforced pancreatojejunostomy was 22 min. Anastomosis could endure 30-500 cm ...

Many methods for determining pesticide residues in food have been reported. Although natural medicines should be confirmed to be as safe as food, few methods for determining pesticide residues in natural medicines have been reported. In this study, 56 pesticides were detected in natural medicines with a simple, rapid sample ...

This study investigated vocal cues that differentiate sarcastic utterances from non-sarcastic utterances. Utterances were drawn from videotapes of participant interviews and arranged on a master tape for analysis. Utterances that were identified as sarcastic by speakers and recognized as sarcastic by listeners were randomly arranged with utterances identified and recognized ...

There is well-founded concern that a chemical or radioactive agent will at some point be used as a weapon of terror. There are several antidotes that, if used correctly in a timely fashion, can help lessen the harm caused by these agents. This article is meant to introduce the clinician ...

OBJECTIVES: To compare the power of the Healy, single-outlier Grubbs, skewness and kurtosis tests for outliers and their applicability to quality control (QC). DESIGN AND METHODS: Power to detect outliers was calculated in simulated samples of twenty normal variates, one or two of which were shifted in mean or increased ...

Regardless of administrative performance in managing reimbursement and overhead, income will fall below expectations if physician productivity fails to reach key thresholds. How do group practice administrators "manage" physician production levels when the owners can frequently undervalue the relationship between compensation levels and their own productivity? Answer: carefully and indirectly.

This study determines the relative effect of financial incentives, practice characteristics, and regulatory guidelines on the utilization of documentation and coding technology among physician practices employing HIM professionals. A total of 442 HIM professionals, 9.78 percent of the surveyed population, completed a Web-based survey regarding their practices and E/M documentation ...

The Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has been split into widely separated facilities, leading to much time being spent traveling between facilities for meetings. We installed an open-source AccessGrid multi-media-conferencing system using (largely) consumer-grade equipment, connecting 6 sites at 5 separate facilities. The ...