Guns and Knives in New Mexico: Patterns of Penetrating Trauma, 1978–1993

Objective: To identify patterns of nonfatal and fatal penetrating trauma among children and adults in New Mexico using ED and medical examiner data.
Methods: The authors retrospectively sampled in 5-year intervals all victims of penetrating trauma who presented to either the state Level-1 trauma center or the state medical examiner from a 16-year period (1978–1993). Rates of nonfatal and fatal firearm and stabbing injury were compared for children and adults.
Results: Rates of nonfatal injury were similar (firearm, 34.3 per 100,000 person-years; stabbing, 35.1). However, rates of fatal injury were significantly different (firearm, 21.9; stabbing, 2.7; relative risk: 8.2; 95% confidence interval: 5.4, 12.5). From 1978 to 1993, nonfatal injury rates increased for children (p = 0.0043) and adults (p < 0.0001), while fatal penetrating injury remained constant. The increase in nonfatal injury in children resulted from increased firearm injury rates. In adults, both stabbing and firearm nonfatal injury rates increased.
Conclusions: Nonfatal injury data suggest that nonfatal violence has increased; fatal injury data suggest that violent death rates have remained constant. Injury patterns vary by age, mechanism of trauma, and data source. These results suggest that ED and medical examiner data differ and that both are needed to guide injury prevention programs.     

Interprofessional approaches to creating safe,high quality health care

Three supplementary perspectives are presented arguing that interprofessional collaboration is both necessary and desirable. Nonetheless, there are often too many serious intra-professional barriers and obstacles to interprofessional collaboration to make it successful. Some of these barriers, it is argued and illustrated, are found in the multiple ways in which professional identity is tacitly acquired and embodied in the practitioners' habitual, everyday practice. The paper then explores ways in which reflection, especially Second order reflection, can help to elucidate and overcome these obstacles, as well as increasing professional adaptability and competence.     

Systematic Reviews Published in the January 2011 Issue of The Cochrane Library

ABSTRACT

The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews is published quarterly as a DVD and monthly online. The January 2011 issue (first quarterly DVD for 2011) contains 4515 complete reviews, 1985 protocols for reviews in production, and 13,521 one-page summaries of systematic reviews published in the general medical literature. In addition, there are citations of 641,000 randomized controlled trials, and 14,018 cited papers in the Cochrane methodology register. The health technology assessment database contains over 9300 citations. One hundred and seven new reviews have been published in the last 3 months, of which five have potential relevance for practitioners in pain and palliative medicine.     

Prise en charge des entorses externes de cheville : étude clinique préliminaire sur l’efficacité du dispositif Myolux™

Ankle sprains are the most common injury of the musculoskeletal system and are associated with significant societal and economic impacts. It has been proven that classical therapeutic strategies may not be effective in preventing recurrent injuries: the recurrence rates reported in the literature can reach 73%. In order to provide an effective rehabilitation solution, a destabilizing orthosis was developed. This device is equipped with a mechanical articulator reproducing the subtalar mechanics and placed under the heel. In this paper, we present the main results of a preliminary clinical study conducted between 2004 and 2007. All subjects included in this study were treated with the abovementioned orthosis during 10 rehabilitation sessions of 30 minutes each. Data show a relatively low recurrence rate of 12% for the overall population. Moreover, it's of primary importance to note that this satisfactory ratio is largely reduced (3% of recurrence rate) for the 29 patients who performed one training session per month after the 10th initial rehabilitation sessions. Hence, the destabilizing orthosis appears to be an effective solution to prevent recurrent ankle sprains. However, joint protection requires long-term and regular training sessions. This result has motivated the development of a similar device allowing patients to perform training sessions at home. Finally, data obtained in this study are promising awaiting the final results of the comparative, multicentric and independent clinical trials currently managed by the Hospices Civils de Lyon.     

Clinical Trial Updates and Hotline Sessions presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2007

This article provides information and commentaries on trials which were presented at the Hotline and Clinical Trial Update Sessions at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2007 in Vienna. The key presentations were performed by leading experts in the field with relevant positions in the trials or registries. It is important to note that unpublished reports should be considered as preliminary data, as the analysis may change in the final publications. The comprehensive summaries have been generated from the oral presentation and the webcasts of the European Society of Cardiology and should provide the readers with the most comprehensive information of relevant publications.     

Balance and Boundaries in Grief Counseling: An Intervention Framework for Volunteer Training

Volunteers or paraprofessional counselors are commonly used to provide supportive care to the bereaved. These counselors generally are trained in basic listening skills, providing a generic, nonspecific approach to intervention that remains to be proven effective. The present paper outlines a framework that provides paraprofessionals with a broader model for intervention with the bereaved. Attention to boundaries as a helper and balance in the grief recovery are central to the model. Interventions are described that provide the paraprofessional counselor with more options for tailoring their counseling strategy to the individual. These include techniques that are presumed to be more specific to the enhancement of grief recovery.     

Prospects for the control of neglected tropical diseases by mass drug administration

The prospects for the control of neglected tropical diseases, including soil-transmitted helminthiasis, shistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis and trachoma, through mass drug administration, are exemplified by the elimination of the trachoma as a public-health problem in Morocco. In spite of this and other striking successes, mass drug administration programs are faced with major challenges resulting from suboptimal coverage and lack of efficacy. At current suboptimal coverage rates, programs may need prolongation for an extended period, increasing costs and undermining sustainability. Community participation through health education and information appears to be crucial to improve coverage and to achieve sustainability. Implementation of complementary measures, such as vector control, improved hygiene and environmental sanitation, are important to further control transmission and to prevent re-emergence of the infection and, again, may only be achieved effectively through community-based initiatives. To reduce costs and to relieve pressure on the health system, combining neglected tropical disease programs in areas where diseases coexist and integration with existing control programs for malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS is advocated. The risk of developing drug resistance is of particular concern in view of the lack of alternative drugs, and reduced treatment efficacy due to emerging resistance is evident for the soil-transmitted helminths and onchocerciasis. Given the risk for the development of drug resistance and the need for a high degree of participation, close attention should be paid to the monitoring of the coverage and efficacy of the different program components.     

A new method for the simultaneous analysis of unmodified and modified urinary nucleosides and nucleobases by high performance liquid chromatography

Details are given of a new, rapid and simple pre-fractionation method and an isocratic high performance liquid chromatography system suitable for parallel analysis of nucleosides and nucleobases from urine and other biological fluids. The quantitative recovery and excellent reproducibility of the method is demonstrated by analysis of representative standard RNA catabolites. The advantage of this new method for application to biological samples is discussed.     

Adsorption of Charged Non-albumin Bound Drugs by Amorphous Silica

We investigated the in vitro drug adsorption of PQ 10150 sodium silicate gel (AIS, Santa Clara, CA) with particle size of 230 um and surface area of 400 nr/g. We observed 99% to 88% adsorption of gentamicin; a mean 91 % of disopyramide; a mean 89% of quinidine at low concentration, falling to 75% at higher concentration. Insulin was 88% adsorbed at low concentrations but less so (65%) at higher concentrations. We observed a mean 83 % adsorption of procainamide, a mean 84% of N-acetyl procainamide, 74% oflidocaine, 73% of amitriptyline; and 44% of desipramine. We found an average 14% reduction of total digoxin concentration when serum containing digoxin (2 to 33 ng/mL) was exposed to sodium silicate, while the reduction in free digoxin concentration was 16%. Five percent ethosuximide was also removed. The adsorption of theophylline, phenobarbital, acetaminophen, phenytoin, ethylene glycol, methotrexate, salicylate, thiocyanate and diazepam was minimal and not significant. We conclude that significant amounts of charged, non-albumin bound drugs can be removed by PQ 10150 sodium silicate gel.