The heparin management test: a new device for monitoring anticoagulation during coronary intervention

Whole blood coagulation analysers are widely used during percutaneous coronary interventions. The precise degree of anticoagulation in patients is important in this setting. The aim of this investigation was to compare the results obtained with ACT (Hemochron) and HMT, the Heparin Management Test (TAS) in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions. Patients (n=100) were enrolled prospectively. Each patient received 10,000 units of heparin. At the end of the procedure, the mean ACT was 284±31 seconds and the mean HMT was 292±33 seconds. The correlation between the two methods was highly significant (r=0.64, p<0.001). The HMT correlates well with ACT values in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions. Its use in the management of these patients should be considered.     

健康教育行为干预对降低小学生肠道寄生虫感染率的研究

为研究健康教育行为干预对降低小学生肠道寄生虫感染率的效果,探讨小学生肠道寄生虫病的防治方法,在苍山县随机选取860名小学生进行为期2年的研究.单纯健康教育行为干预组、行为干预加驱虫组、单纯驱虫组及对照组,肠道寄生虫感染率实验前分别为64.13%、61.23%、63.12%和60.70%,实验后分别为41.67%、26.52%、53.57%和60.61%.结果表明:健康教育行为干预对降低小学生肠道寄生虫感染率具有重要作用;健康教育行为干预加针对性驱虫是控制小学生肠道寄生虫感染的最佳模式.     

Coping with rheumatoid arthritis. How can specialist nurses influence it and promote better outcomes?

• ? Psychological stressors are said to be an important influence on the outcome of chronic illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis (Engel, 1977).
• ? Helping patients to cope with stressors is identified as a central concept in the delivery of nursing care (Khan et al., 1994). It is thus reasonable to suggest that rheumatology nurses may be key players in the process of coping with rheumatoid arthritis.
• ? But in order for rheumatology nurses to be effective players in this process, they need to discourage coping behaviour(s) linked to poor outcomes, and/or promote an overall behaviour pattern linked to a better outcome. Literature showing the link between different coping behaviours and outcome is examined, and cognitive restructuring is emphasized as one method nurses could use.
• ? Having identified coping behaviour which is optimal in terms of future outcome, further study of different forms of coping-based educational intervention is suggested, to reveal how such patterns of behaviour can be taught by nurses in the most effective way

     

Patients' and doctors' perception of long-term morbidity in patients with testicular cancer clinical stage I

Patient-based questionnaires were designed with the aim to identify and rank long-term somatic and psychosocial morbidity in patients with low-stage testicular cancer. A further intention was to compare patients' assessments with experienced doctors' general opinion on quality of life items in cured testicular cancer patients. In pilot study I, 103 tumour-free patients ranked items of physical and psychosocial morbidity after having had various kinds of treatment. Though the ranking procedure appeared to cause some difficulties amongst the patients and subsequently was abandoned, the results indicated considerable differences between the patients' and doctors' evaluations. In pilot study II patients were asked to score the different items. The questionnaire of pilot study II was completed by 107 patients from the Norwegian Radium Hospital (NRH) and 99 relapse-free patients from the Royal Marsden Hospital (RMH) with testicular cancer stage I at least 1 year after infradiaphragmatic radiotherapy (n = 94) or adjuvant chemotherapy (2 cycles,n=26), or patients who had been followed on the surveillance program (n = 86). A total of 93 doctors completed a similar questionnaire, thereby expressing their general opinion on long-term morbidity in comparable testicular cancer patients as seen during routine clinical follow-up. Both the irradiated patients and those on the surveillance program reported slight degrees of Raynaud-like phenomena, neurotoxicity and ototoxicity, most probably representing background morbidity in an age-matched general male population. Doctors tended to underestimate their patients' somatic morbidity, but often overestimated the degree of psychological distress, in particular in patients on the surveillance program. Significant differences between RMH and NRH patients with regard to sexual problems and to leisure time activity may be explained by cultural differences in the two countries. The items presented in the questionnaire used identify important issues for patients cured of testicular cancer which may be used in future multicentre trans-cultural studies assessing these patients' quality of life. This will provide sufficient data for psychometric testing and, together with the findings from patients' free comments, support the final design of a testicular cancer quality of life module.     

"Just using old works": injecting risk behaviour in prison

A minority of injecting drug users engage in high risk injecting behaviours when in prison. In the United Kingdom between a quarter and a third of injectors who enter prison inject when in prison, and of these about three-quarters share needles and syringes. In the present study, 44 drug injectors who had been released from prison for no longer than 6 months were recruited and interviewed in three geographical areas in England. Interviewees were asked to recount their experiences of drug use during their most recent period of imprisonment. The majority of interviewees were male (38/44), had a mean age of 28 years, with a mean age of 16 years at first drug use, were primarily opiate users (39) and had multiple imprisonments. All respondents reported drug use when imprisoned and drug injecting was reported by 16 interviewees. Most injected at irregular intervals and at a reduced level, compared with injecting when in the community. Nine reported using needles and syringes that others had previously used. When considering other injecting equipment, more sharing occurred than was actually reported. Much re-use of equipment was viewed simply as “using old works”. The sharing of “cookers” and “filters”, and drug sharing by “backloading” and “frontloading” were common. The concept of “sharing” tended to be understood by respondents as related to the use of tools of injection (needles and syringes rather than other equipment); the use of tools in the act of injection (rather than for mixing drugs); proximity (multiple use of needles and syringes in the presence of others); temporality (shorter time elapse between consecutive use of needles and syringes previously used by another) and source (hired rather than borrowed or bought). We conclude that syringe sharing is an integral part of drug use and drug injecting in prison. Many of those interviewed displayed a restricted understanding of what denotes syringe sharing. Our data reinforce the need for interventions and initiatives to be developed within prisons to deal with the considerable risk posed by continued injecting drug use.     

社区糖尿病患者量化饮食和运动治疗的疗效观察

目的通过对糖尿病患者进行量化饮食治疗和运动治疗,探索社区糖尿病管理的有效模式,以有效控制血糖,降低医疗费用。方法选取社区内空腹血糖小于11.1mmol/L的2型糖尿病患者129人,按病情匹配分为强化管理组(64例)和普通管理组(65例)。强化管理组采用一对一的指导和监督,量化饮食和运动治疗,有针对性的进行健康教育和心理疏通。普通管理组为一般的健康教育和门诊治疗。观察两组干预一年后的病情控制情况和医药费用的情况。结果强化管理组平均空腹血糖为5.8mmol/L,比普通管理组的7.1mmol/L有明显降低,糖化血红蛋白强化管理组为5.9%,普通管理组为7.0%。强化管理组医药费平均每人每月下降32.25元,下降幅度为20.12%,普通管理组平均每人每月下降12.47元,下降幅度为4.54%。结论量化饮食和运动治疗在社区糖尿病干预中疗效优于普通干预组,且医药费用明显降低。     

Medical Specialization,Profession, and Mediating Beliefs That Predict Stated Likelihood of Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention: Targeting Educational Interventions

Practitioner-level educational approaches that promote screening and brief intervention (SBI) seldom consider providers' profession and medical specialization. Strategies that consider these variables may be better equipped to affect change in beliefs and behavior. The aim of this study was to identify beliefs that predict stated likelihood of practicing SBI by specialty and health profession in order to guide the direction of educational strategies. Physicians and nurse practitioners were studied that specialized in family, internal, obstetric gynecology (ObGyn), and pediatric medicine. The results indicated that independent of amount of previous postgraduate alcohol education and knowledge, self-rated competence mediated between specialty and likelihood of practicing SBI. For instance, low self-rated competence for ObGyn was a barrier that suppressed likelihood of practicing SBI. Other findings were that role legitimacy mediated the association between profession and likelihood of SBI, so that lack of role legitimacy was a barrier for physicians but not for nurse practitioners. We suggest that targeted educational strategies for ObGyn and pediatric clinicians may prove more effective than the prevalent one-size-fits all approaches aimed at general adult populations.     

介入治疗对急性冠脉综合征血清C—反应蛋白的影响

目的：探讨经皮冠脉介入治疗术(PCI)对急性冠脉综合征患者C—反应蛋白(CBP)水平的影响。方法：94例急性冠脉综合征患者分为两组，观察组46例，行PCI；对照组48例，行冠脉造影。采用速率散射比浊法测定术前及术后血清CBP浓度。结果：观察组CBP浓度术后较术前明显增高(P＜0．05)；对照组CBP浓度术前术后无明显变化。结论：PCI术损伤血管内膜，可引起急性冠脉综合征患者血清CBP浓度升高。     

盐亭县核黄素强化盐干预试验人群肿瘤发病情况

[目的]探讨核黄素强化盐干预试验对人群肿瘤发病率的影响.[方法]对盐亭县核黄素强化盐干预试验人群干预期(1992～1996)和干预停止期(1997～2001)的肿瘤发病资料进行分析.[结果]试验组男性食管癌、肺癌、结直肠癌,女性食管癌、白血病、宫颈癌发病率在干预期高于对照组,而在干预停止期低于对照组.两组人群10年的肿瘤发病资料比较,试验组除胃癌外其他肿瘤发病率均低于对照组,尤其是食管癌和宫颈癌发病率明显低于对照组,而两组人群中肺癌、结直肠癌发病率都上升,但试验组的上升幅度低于对照组.[结论]试验组与对照组肿瘤发病率的差异,提示补充核黄素有利于降低肿瘤的发病风险,值得在更大范围的肿瘤高危人群中推广.     

类风湿性关节炎治疗最新进展

对近年来国内对类风湿性关节炎(RA)的临床治疗进行了综述．包括：药物治疗、物理治疗、外科和其他疗法，尤其是在药物开发、作用机理、研究进展方面作了更为详尽的归纳阐述。指出：生物制剂作为新兴的RA治疗药物，具有药理靶点选择性高和毒副作用较小的优点．预期将有广泛的应用前景。