Chocolate frogs do not increase completion of parent survey: Randomised study

Four months into a year‐long, national survey assessing parents' experiences of a child's diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, our response fraction was only 23%. We aimed to determine whether including a chocolate incentive in the postal survey would increase the response fraction. Families enrolled between 15 March and 25 May 2012 were randomised to receive a chocolate frog versus no chocolate frog. Both groups received a written reminder and replacement survey 2 weeks after the survey was posted and up to two telephone reminders thereafter. We analysed the effect of the incentive using χ² tests for the categorical response variable and t‐tests for the continuous reminder and length of response variables at the end of (i) randomisation and (ii) the study (1 November 2012). A total of 137 families were randomised in the 6‐week period. Parents who received an incentive were more likely to return a completed survey in the 6 weeks than those who did not (21% vs. 6%, P = 0.009). This effect faded by the end of the study (53% vs. 42%, P = 0.4). There were no differences between groups at either follow‐up in the number of reminders that parents received or the number of days it took parents to return the survey. Including a chocolate‐based incentive does not significantly increase response rate in a postal survey over and above standard reminder techniques like posting follow‐up survey packs or phoning families.     

Dental attendance patterns in renal transplant recipients

OBJECTIVES: Renal transplant recipients (RTR) represent a large and growing population of individuals on potent immunosuppressant therapy who are at significantly greater risk of developing lip and oral mucosal disease, including lip cancer. The aims of this study were to determine the proportion of RTR receiving regular dental treatment, the dental services they used, and the relationship between the prevalence of lip and intraoral lesions and dental attendance.
DESIGN: The lip and oral mucosa of 159 RTR and 160 controls were examined. Subjects were asked questions about frequency of dental attendance and which service they used.
RESULTS: 57.9% RTR attended a dentist regularly compared with 51.3% controls. Among the RTR who attended a dentist regularly, 54.3% visited their general dental practitioner, and 45.6% attended a dental hospital for treatment. This was significantly different from controls where 92.7% of regular attenders used their general dental practitioner (P<0.001). Although the prevalence of oral lesions in RTR (54.7%) was more than twice as many as controls (19.4%). no significant difference was observed between RTR regular dental attenders and non-attenders.
CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates a clear need for oral health care and screening to be focused on RTR.     

Multiresistant bacteria and current therapy - the economical side of the story

Severe infections with multiresistant bacteria (MRB) are a medical challenge and a financial burden for hospitals. The adequate antibiotic therapy is a key issue in multiresistant bacteria management. Several major cost drivers have been identified. Remarkably drug acquisition costs are not necessarily included. Most significant are the length of stay in hospital, the hours of mechanical ventilation and the time treated on an intensive care unit.In a systematic review of the literature the following aspects were investigated:- Do generic treatment strategies contribute in cost savings?- Are there specific results for recent antibiotics?Early adequate and effective antimicrobial treatment, switch from i.v. to oral therapy, adjusted duration of therapy and adherence to guidelines have been found to be successful strategies.Looking at specific antibiotics, the best evidence for cost-effectiveness is found for Linezolid in treatment of cSSTI as well as in HAP. Daptomycin shows good economic results in bloodstream infections, so possibly being a cost-effective alternative to vancomycin. Looking at tigecycline the published data show neither higher costs nor savings compared to imipeneme. Doripenem as one of the newest therapy options has proven to be highly cost-saving in HAP when compared with imipenem. However, most analyses are based on pharmacoeconomic modelling rather than on directly analysing trial data or real life clinical populations.

Conclusion

Using modern antibiotics in whole is not more expensive than using established therapies. Modern antibiotics are cost-effective and sometimes even cost-saving. This is especially true if an effective therapy is initiated as early as possible.     

A comparison of lower limb EMG and ground reaction forces between barefoot and shod gait in participants with diabetic neuropathic and healthy controls

Background  

It is known that when barefoot, gait biomechanics of diabetic neuropathic patients differ from non-diabetic individuals. However, it is still unknown whether these biomechanical changes are also present during shod gait which is clinically advised for these patients. This study investigated the effect of the participants own shoes on gait biomechanics in diabetic neuropathic individuals compared to barefoot gait patterns and healthy controls.     

Erect chest radiography in the setting of the acute abdomen: essential tool or an unnecessary waste of resources?

INTRODUCTION

It has been suggested that changes to the training schemes of junior doctors and the increased pressure on emergency departments to manage their patients within a limited time might increase the number of unnecessary investigations performed on emergency admission patients. This, in turn, may lead to an increased number of investigations with normal results. In this study we try to analyse the role of the chest X-ray (CXR) as a diagnostic tool in patients presenting with acute abdominal pain.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A retrospective study was performed of the request forms and results of all chest radiography performed on patients admitted on the emergency surgical intake with acute abdominal pain through utilisation of the prospec-tively maintained electronic radiology database. The indications were compared to the guidelines published by the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) which have been adopted as the standard of care.

RESULTS

A total of 334 chest X-rays were identified of which only 23 (7%) had new findings. Four (1%) patients had free gas under the diaphragm. Of the CXRs, 258 (77%) were reported normal whilst 53 (16%) had old changes which were described in their hospital records and previous radiographs. Of the CXRs with new findings, only 20 were clinically significant and, of these, four (1%) were surgically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of CXRs performed on emergency surgical admissions with abdominal pain are unnecessary. By obtaining a clear history, performing a thorough clinical examination and following the RCR guidelines most of the CXRs could be avoided. This would lead to less radiation exposure, reduce delays to diagnosis, and provide significant financial savings.     

Role of NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase and cytochrome-b5/NADH-b5 reductase in variability of CYP3A activity in human liver microsomes

NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) and cytochrome-b(5) (b(5)) together with NADH-b(5) reductase (b(5)R) play important roles in cytochrome P450 3A-mediated drug metabolism via electron transfer. However, it is not clear whether variability in expression of these accessory proteins contributes to the known interindividual variability in CYP3A activity. CPR and b(5) were measured in human liver microsomes (HLMs) by spectrophotometry and immunoblotting. HLMs from elderly (>or=46 years) male donors (n=11) averaged 27% (P=0.034) and 41% (P=0.011) lower CPR levels than young (相似文献   

The influence of body composition on therapeutic hypothermia: a prospective observational study of patients after cardiac arrest

Introduction  

Patients after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) benefit from therapeutic hypothermia for 24 hours. The time needed to reach hypothermia (target temperature of 32°C to 34°C) varies widely. In this study, we explore the relation between measures of body composition and the time needed to reach target temperature with hypothermia.