TB treatment: as simple as DOT?

Treatment completion continues to be an unmet challenge in tuberculosis (TB) control worldwide. Since the introduction of DOTS by the World Health Organization in 1993, directly observed therapy (DOT) has been promoted as the centerpiece of the strategy. The results of three randomized controlled studies designed to evaluate the effects of DOT on treatment completion, and carried out in South Africa, Thailand and Pakistan, showed conflicting results. It is doubtful that any of the studies provided valid measures of the effectiveness of DOT. Each study operationalized DOT in ways that did not match the study definition and failed to account for additional study interventions in their analyses. Given the evidence, there is no one factor that is 'the' answer to the challenge of TB treatment completion.     

饮酒与心血管疾病和健康

饮酒是我国人民和各国人民的生活习惯 ,报道在日本 ,约 2 / 3的人保持饮酒的习惯 ;其中 ,约 4 %为大酒家 ,对这些人进行戒酒教育 ,2年后 70 %的人再饮酒[1] 。美国的酒精流行病学调查发现 :4 4%成年人目前饮酒 ,2 2 %以前曾饮酒 ,34 %终生不饮酒。酒精滥用和酒精依赖年发生率为 7.4 %～ 9.7%。男性发生率较高 [2 ] ,酒精 (乙醇 )与冠心病和健康的关系是复杂的 ,Pearson等[3] 报道 :在美国每年因酒精有关的疾病而额外死亡的 10 0 0 0 0人 ;但若现行饮酒者全部忌酒可发生 80 0 0 0人的额外死亡。由酒精所致的多数额外死亡发生在 4 0岁以下 ;…