Colour duplex Doppler ultrasonography evaluation of non‐vasculogenic male erectile dysfunction: An Indian perspective

We present the study of colour duplex Doppler ultrasonography on Indian patients with non‐vasculogenic erectile dysfunction. Patients with a history suggestive of psychogenic impotence along with a normal clinical response to intracavernosal papaverine were presumed to have non‐vasculogenic erectile dysfunction. In our patients, the incidence of psychogenic impotence was much higher and the mean age of patients presenting with erectile dysfunction was lower as compared to patients from developed countries reported in research. The Doppler flowmetry showed much higher mean peak systolic velocities (PSVs) with a negative correlation between age and PSV. End diastolic velocity, resistive index and acceleration time values conformed to the literature.     

XAGE-1, a new gene that is frequently expressed in Ewing's sarcoma

Our previous expressed sequence tag database analysis indicates that XAGE-1 is frequently found in Ewing's sarcoma and alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (U. Brinkmann et al., Cancer Res., 59: 1445-1448, 1999). Using Northern blots and RNA dot blots, we have now found that XAGE-1 is highly expressed in normal testis, in seven of eight Ewing's cell lines, in four of nine Ewing's sarcoma patient samples, and in one of one alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma patient sample. The gene is located on the X chromosome. The full-length cDNA contains 611 bp and predicts a protein of Mr 16,300 with a potential transmembrane domain at the NH2 terminus. XAGE-1 shares homology with GAGE/PAGE proteins in the COOH-terminal end. These findings could be valuable for cancer diagnosis and cancer immunotherapy.     

Establishing good practices in continuing care: a descriptive study of community nursing services for people with HIV infection

This paper presents findings from a 2-year study of community nursing services for people affected by HIV infection in six health authorities in England The research, commissioned by the Department of Health, England, aimed to identify the main bridges and barriers to effective home nursing care, focusing on discharge co-ordination, district nursing and multi-agency collaboration Using a triangulated, case study approach, the main methods of data collection included non-participant observation, case note analysis, semi-structured staff interviews, a postal questionnaire of district nurses and a series of focus groups with service users Study sites included three cities and surrounding districts in the north west, north and south east of England Findings suggest there is considerable room for improvement in discharge planning and that good practice is not the preserve of specialist units District nurses are shown to be willing providers of the majority of home nursing care to this client group, but there is a need for more focused training, greater use of care co-ordinators and more emotional and managerial support     

The theory/practice 'gap': taking issue with the issue

Theory/practice issues have a long-standing history in nurse education, and are a chronic source of controversy to which there is no easy or perfect solution We have argued that it is the tension between theory and practice and research which can be usefully exploited in teaching and research Students need to be introduced to the debates surrounding the genesis and generation of nursing knowledge They need to gain an appreciation of what counts as nursing knowledge at different points in time and the politics which drive the legitimation of nursing theory and practice Such an approach has much to offer in helping students deal with reality shock and make sense of their experience as they confront the ambiguities, uncertainties and contradictions that characterize the stock-in-trade of professional life     

Incidence of drug-related deaths secondary to high-dose methotrexate and citrovorum factor administration.

A review of 498 patients treated with high-dose methotrexate (MTX) with citrovorum factor rescue revealed 29 drug-related deaths. Until the important factors in those deaths are identified, the use of high-dose MTX should be limited to institutions that possess the necessary supportive facilities and the ability to measure serum levels of the drug.     

Arbor Clinical Nutrition Updates: evidence-based clinical nutrition education using the Internet

The Arbor Clinical Nutrition Updates (ACNU) is a weekly electronic nutrition journal for health professionals. Each issue summarises several recent clinical research papers appearing in the general medical and nutrition literature and which deal with a common nutrition topic. A commentary is added on how this research fits in with previous work, and what it all means for the practising clinician. ACNU is the world's most widely read electronic nutrition publication, with over 100,000 largely health-professional readers in 186 countries. It is published in nine languages and distributed by email without charge in both plain text and Acrobat formats. ACNU utilises a number of the Internet's unique characteristics to facilitate broad reach, currency and active reader feedback. This, together with its brevity and summarising format, helps to maintain its relevance to the nutrition education needs of health professionals, particularly those in clinical practice, and to overcome the factors most commonly reported by health professionals as obstacles to their greater adoption of evidence-based medicine. ACNU is intended to be a collaboration with the primary research journals to extend the reach of new nutrition research findings to a wider community of researchers, academics and clinicians than each journal might otherwise reach individually. As such, ACNU utilises the Internet to promote the goals of open-access publishing and evidence-based medicine.