Out of the boxes,out of the silos: The need of interdisciplinary collaboration to reduce poor-quality medical products in the supply chain

In this paper, we argue that understanding and addressing the problem of poor-quality medical products requires a more interdisciplinary approach than has been evident to date. While prospective studies based on rigorous standardized methodologies are the gold standard for measuring the prevalence of poor-quality medical products and understanding their distribution nationally and internationally, they should be complemented by social science research to unpack the complex set of social, economic, and governance factors that underlie these patterns. In the following sections, we discuss specific examples of prospective quality surveys and of social science studies, highlighting the value of cross-sector partnerships in driving high-quality, policy-relevant research in this area.     

杜长海名老中医应用药对治疗功能性便秘的临床经验探析

功能性便秘的发生严重困扰着现代人群,进而影响人们的生活质量。杜长海名老中医认为功能性便秘究其内因为大肠传导失常,外因乃现代人的生活方式、紧张的生活氛围等等,因此杜老结合自己数十年的临床经验,根据中医辨证总结出临床常用药对,对有效治疗功能性便秘进行了经验总结。     

Major incidents

A major incident is one that causes casualties on a scale beyond the usual capabilities of the emergency and healthcare services usual ability to manage. Major incident planning and rehearsal is vital to ensuring an appropriate response. Delivery of a major incident response requires command and co-ordination within and between emergency services, hospitals and specialist charitable organizations. Casualty management will require the set up of major incident infrastructure on scene to effectively extricate, triage, treat and transport casualties to appropriate facilities. There is a role for specialist doctors within the pre-hospital phase of managing a major incident, either within the ambulance command structure or operationally. Debrief and reviewing previous major incidents may identify individual, local and systemic factors that could be altered to improve the response to a future incident.     

Efficacy and safety of herbal medicines for idiopathic Parkinson's disease: a systematic review.

The objective of this study is to assess the efficacy and safety of herbal medicines (HMs), as a monotherapy or adjunct therapy, compared to placebo or conventional approaches in the treatment of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). We conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials from both conventional and alternative medicine sources. Outcome measures were overall improvement, quality of life, reduction of levodopa dose, and adverse events. Nine studies were included, each testing a different HM. Six of the trials had limited internal validity due to major flaws in design, including the lack of proper randomization; insufficient blinding; unclear inclusive criteria in terms of diagnostic criteria, baseline staging, and duration of disease; lack of proper sample size calculation; and insufficient data analysis. Imbalances in gender and ethnicity among the patients in the included trials were observed. No major adverse events emerged, and no specific pattern was detected from the trials describing such data. In addition to major methodological defects, heterogeneity in (1) HM tested, (2) control treatment, and (3) outcome measure hindered in-depth data analysis and synthesis. Current evidence is insufficient to evaluate the efficacy and safety of various HMs. Further studies with improved trial design and reporting, with assessment on cost-effectiveness, quality of life, and qualitative data are warranted.     

15种生药提取物抑制痤疮致病菌的活性筛选

目的 :对 15种生药乙醇提取物的体外抑制痤疮致病菌活性进行敏感性测试。方法 :采用最大浓度抑菌试验和最低抑菌浓度 (MIC)比较其抑菌效果。结果 :丁香生药挥发油对痤疮致病菌痤疮短棒菌苗 (P .acne)、金黄色葡萄球菌 (S .aureus)、表皮葡萄球菌 (S .epidermidis)均有强烈的抑制作用 ,厚朴、艾叶油、金银花、蒲公英等有中等程度的抑菌作用。结论 :丁香酚的抑菌效果在所试药物中最好。     

湖南省洞庭湖水域洪灾区人群潜在寿命、工作、价值损失年数分析

目的 了解洪灾对人群健康和价值的损害程度。方法 应用标化死亡率和潜在寿命损失年数(WYPLL)、潜在工作损失年数(VYPLL)、潜在价值损失年数(VYPLL)对湖南省洞庭湖水域部分洪灾区人群1995—1999年的死亡情况进行分析。结果 灾区与非灾区两人群死因顺位一致，但损伤、中毒和肿瘤死因的死亡专率，灾区显著高于非灾区。在死因构成中损伤、中毒死亡居第三位，肿瘤居第四位；但在YPLL、WYPLL分析中则跃居第一位和第二位。两人群各年龄段的YPLL、WYPLL、VYPLL分析显示灾区人群40—59岁的各种死亡损失均高于非灾区。结论 降低洪灾区人群损伤、中毒和肿瘤死亡率和重视40—59岁年龄段人群劳动力的保护有重要的社会和经济意义。     

An Empirical Evaluation of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) with Survivors of a Natural Disaster

Controlled studies of treatments effective with victims of natural disasters are almost nonexistent. This is a small study conducted under difficult conditions to test the effectiveness of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) in treating trauma related reactions following Hurricane Andrew. The results were positive in that EMDR produced significant improvement over wail list controls in perceived posttraumatic avoidance behaviors and thoughts as measured by changes in the Impact of Event Scale and significant improvement in subjective aversive reactions to representative experiences of the hurricane. These results suggest and support other studies that EMDR can be an effective therapeutic intervention for trauma reactions.