FEASIBILITY OF CONDUCTING CARDIOVASCULAR OUTCOME RESEARCH IN AUSTRALIAN GENERAL PRACTICE: RESULTS FROM THE ANBP2 PILOT STUDY

1. The present study aimed to determine the feasibility of conducting a 5 year cardiovascular outcome trial of the treatment of 6000 elderly hypertensive patients in Australian general practices. 2. General practitioners (GPs) were invited to participate by mail and personal follow-up. Patient records were reviewed to identify subjects for a blood pressure (BP) screening programme. Blood pressure was measured on three occasions and eligible subjects were included if the average BP was 160 mmHg systolic or 90 mmHg diastolic if systolic BP was 140 mmHg. 3. Seven hundred and forty-one GPs were approached and 89 were enrolled in the study (12% of mail invites and 75% of those receiving a personal contact). In 16 practices where screening was completed, 82 000 records were reviewed to identify 4% patients eligible for screening. Twenty-two per cent of eligible subjects attended screening. Of 1938 subjects screened, 180 (9%) had BP 5=160/90 mmHg. Forty-seven percent of subjects (n = 916) were receiving antihypertensive therapy and 184 (20%) were withdrawn from therapy. One hundred and sixteen (63%) of these subjects had BP return to study entry levels within 6 weeks. Fifty-seven newly diagnosed and 81 previously treated subjects were randomized (7% of the screened population). 4. Based on the high participation rate of GPs, the response rate of patients to attend a BP screening programme and the 7% randomization to screening ratio for entry into the study, the ANBP2 pilot study has demonstrated that it is feasible to recruit subjects from Australian general practices to a cardiovascular outcome trial.     

Differences in COVID-19 Preventive Behavior and Food Insecurity by HIV Status in Nigeria

AIDS and Behavior - The aim of the study was to assess if there were significant differences in the adoption of COVID-19 risk preventive behaviors and experience of food insecurity by people living...     

Brief and extended abstinence from chronic oral methylphenidate treatment produces reversible behavioral and physiological effects

Methylphenidate (MP) is a commonly prescribed psychostimulant to individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and is often used illicitly among healthy individuals with intermittent breaks to coincide with breaks from school. This study examined how intermittent abstinence periods impact the physiological and behavioral effects of chronic oral MP self-administration in rats, and whether these effects persist following prolonged abstinence from the drug. Rats were treated orally with water, low-dose (LD), or high-dose (HD) MP, beginning at PND 28. This daily access continued for three consecutive weeks followed by a 1-week abstinence; after three repeats of this cycle, there was a 5-week abstinence period. Throughout the study, we examined body weight, food intake, locomotor activity, and anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors. During the treatment phase, HD MP decreased body weight, food intake, and depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors, while it increased locomotor activity. During intermittent abstinence, the effects of MP on locomotor activity were eliminated. During prolonged abstinence, most of the effects of HD MP were ameliorated to control levels, with the exception of weight loss and anxiolytic effects. These findings suggest that intermittent exposure to chronic MP causes physiological and behavioral effects that are mostly reversible following prolonged abstinence.     

国产利培酮（索乐）治疗精神分裂症多中心开放性临床研究

目的：评价国产利培酮（索乐）治疗精神分裂症的疗效和安全性。方法：通过对全国45家精神病医院的962例精神分裂症患者进行多中心,大样本,开放性的为期8周的治疗观察。采用PANSS、CGI、SAS和TESS评定疗效和不良反应。结果：国产利培酮（索乐）对精神分裂症总有效率84.3%,临床总体疗效肯定,不良反应轻,主要是轻度的锥体外系反应,体重增加,因其程度轻,病人基本能耐受。结论：国产利培酮（索乐）对精神分裂症阳性症状及阴性症状均有效,起效快,安全性高,患者对该药依从性好,可作为精神分裂症的首选药物之一。     

发挥科研优势 促进学科发展

<正> 暨南大学医学院第一附属医院,又名广州华侨医院,经过20年的发展已成为一所集医、教、研为一体的大型三级甲等医院。医院的科研发展始终坚持"以学科建设为基础,人才培养是关键"的科研办院思路,从建院初期以调入人才为主到目前的以人才引进为辅、培养人才为主,20年来培养了一批中青年学术带头人,形成了一批技术力量强大的学科群。从建院初期仅有眼科学、内科学(血液病专业)2个硕士学位授与点发展到现在拥有眼科学、内科学、妇产科学3个博士学位、14个硕士学位授权点,1998年还被国家教委批准为临床医学专业学位授与点的试点单位。在各类学术期刊上发表文章3089篇,主编及参与编写171部专著,承担各级科研课题695项,获国家科技进步奖1项,省部级成果奖25项,厅局级科技进步奖69项,获专利9项。医院在培育科研优势的同时更注意发挥学科优势促进学科的发展。     

Complementary therapy in chronic wound management: a holistic caring case study and praxis model

Holistic caring consists of providing care to each aspect of a patient's life through the use of therapeutic caring and complementary or alternative healing modalities. Since nursing consists of caring for the whole person and not just the disease process, consideration of a patient's physical, emotional, social, economic, spiritual, and cultural needs is necessary in dealing with any chronic health problem such as chronic wounds. In this model case studies presentation, the purpose of this article is to discuss the importance of the holistic caring approach and the use of complementary and alternative medicine or therapeutic modalities in chronic wound management. The use or role of theory in practice will also be discussed to emphasize the holistic caring praxis model used in the holistic assessment and holistic plan of care for the cases presented. This article also presents a framework that will help wound care and holistic nurses move from simply the positivist-modernist philosophy to begin to embrace the postmodernist philosophy.     

Mature autologous dendritic cell vaccines in advanced non-small cell lung cancer: a phase I pilot study

Background

Overall therapeutic outcomes of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are poor. The dendritic cell (DC) immunotherapy has been developed as a new strategy for the treatment of lung cancer. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, safety and immunologic responses in use in mature, antigen-pulsed autologous DC vaccine in NSCLC patients.

Methods

Five HLA-A2 patients with inoperable stage III or IV NSCLC were selected to receive two doses of 5 × 10⁷ DC cells administered subcutaneous and intravenously two times at two week intervals. The immunologic response, safety and tolerability to the vaccine were evaluated by the lymphoproliferation assay and clinical and laboratorial evolution, respectively.

Results

The dose of the vaccine has shown to be safe and well tolerated. The lymphoproliferation assay showed an improvement in the specific immune response after the immunization, with a significant response after the second dose (p = 0.005). This response was not long lasting and a tendency to reduction two weeks after the second dose of the vaccine was observed. Two patients had a survival almost twice greater than the expected average and were the only ones that expressed HER-2 and CEA together.

Conclusion

Despite the small sample size, the results on the immune response, safety and tolerability, combined with the results of other studies, are encouraging to the conduction of a large clinical trial with multiples doses in patients with early lung cancer who underwent surgical treatment.

Trial Registration

Current Controlled Trials: ISRCTN45563569