Medication

Background/Aims: Some people have difficulty tolerating upper endoscopy. The cause of and risk factors for this are not well known. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors involved in poor cooperation during screening upper endoscopy. Methods: A total of 4,422 subjects who underwent a health inspection with upper endoscopy carried out by a single experienced endoscopist were included. We retrospectively investigated subjects' self-reporting questionnaires and medical records, including endoscopic and histologic findings...

Antibiotics have long been of great benefit for people, both in the medical treatment of human disease and in animal food that improves the growth performance and feed utilization during animal production. Antibiotics as in-feed supplements affect all stages of pork production, including the gestation, nursing, growing, and finishing stages, although the effects show stage-dependent differences. However, the use of antibiotics in animal feed has become a worldwide concern. This review describes why sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotic additives in animal feed have become an integral part of animal feeding programs for more than 70 years, particularly in pork production...

Background/Aims: Duodenitis is not infrequent finding in patient undergoing endoscopy. However, hospitalized patients have a higher incidence of secondary duodenal mucosal lesions that might be related with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, tuberculosis, immunologic disorders, or other rare infections. We aimed to identify clinicopathologic features of duodenal mucosal lesions in hospitalized patients. Methods: All hospitalized patients having duodenal mucosal lesions were identified by endoscopic registration data and pathologic data query from 2011 to 2014...

Rapid immunohistochemistry (R-IHC) has been developing mainly as a support technique in the rapid diagnosis of central nervous system tumors; however, there have been problems regarding instability in specimen preparation and immunostaining. To overcome the weakness of this technology, the instability of immunostaining, we developed a modified R-IHC. This was achieved by switching to 4% paraformaldehyde as the fixative solution and utilizing a commercially available Polymer Refine Detection Kit, as a high-sensitivity kit, in place of the secondary antibodies...

Background Digoxin is a cardiac glycoside that is recommended by clinical practice guidelines to be used in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) who still have persistent symptoms despite optimal medical therapy. However, this recommendation is based on limited and old trial data. Moreover, pharmacoepidemiologic studies are important in determining the prevalence of digoxin use and factors influencing this. Objective This study aimed to determine the prevalence and the predictors of digoxin utilization among patients with HFrEF with or without atrial fibrillation (AF) in Qatar...

Medications are perceived as health risk factors, because they might cause damage if used improperly. In this context, an adequate assessment of medication use history should be encouraged, especially in transitions of care to avoid unintended medication discrepancies (UMDs). In a case-controlled study, we investigated potential risk factors for UMDs at hospital admission and found that 150 (42%) of the 358 patients evaluated had one or more UMDs. We were surprised to find that there was no record of a patient and/or relative interview on previous use of medication in 117 medical charts of adult patients (44...

(1) To evaluate the prognostic value of LV remodeling parameters in patients with LV aneurysm by gated SPECT (GSPECT), gated PET (GPET) and CMR; (2) to evaluate the impact of myocardial viability and LV remodeling on the long-term cardiac survival in patients with LV aneurysm. One hundred and twenty-six consecutive patients underwent GPET, GSPECT and CMR within two weeks, with a mean follow-up of 3.9 ± 1.5 years. End-diastolic volume (EDV, mL) and end-systolic volume (ESV, mL) measured by GPET, GSPECT and CMR and corrected for BSA; EDVI and ESVI were calculated...

BACKGROUND: Vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA) is a rapidly expanding field of transplantation and provides a potential treatment for complex tissue defects. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) shortly incubated with the antibiotic and chemotherapeutic agent mitomycin C (MMC) can suppress allogeneic T cell response and control allograft rejection in various organ transplantation models. MMC-incubated PBMCs (MICs) are currently being tested in a phase I clinical trial in kidney transplant patients...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a genetic bone disorder resulting in bone fragility. It has a heterogeneous phenotype which typically includes reduced bone mass, multiple fractures, deformity, and chronic disability. Bisphosphonate treatment remains the first-line medical management, but there is still debate on aspects of its effectiveness. This review summarizes current knowledge about long-term bisphosphonate use in OI with recommendations on clinical application...

Background Patients, physicians and pharmacists are key stakeholders in the implementation of generic substitution policies. Objectives To explore Lebanese patients' perceptions and experience, and pharmacists' dispensing patterns towards the newly enacted unified health prescription policy promoting generic substitution. Setting Pharmacies in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Methods A cross-sectional design employing self-administered questionnaires to survey a total of 128 patients and 25 pharmacists. Chi square test and multiple logistic regression were performed...

Background Complex polypharmacotherapy makes kidney transplant patients vulnerable to drug-drug interactions (DDIs). Objective To study prevalence and nature of potential DDIs (pDDIs) in kidney transplant patients. Setting Internal medicine ICU, University Hospital RWTH Aachen. Method In this retrospective observational study, pDDIs were identified in the first week after transplant from 1999 to 2010. Patients aged at least 18 years with prescription of at least two drugs were included. Patients with incomplete data were excluded...

The aim of our study is to understand neuropathic pain's social, psychological, and biological effects on the patients. All of the patients who were diagnosed with neuropathic pain (NP) by a neurologist were invited to participate in the study. The diagnoses were made based on the patients' history and symptoms and the results of their neurological examinations. Demographic characteristics (age and pain duration), diagnoses, and medical histories of the patients were recorded. Average daily pain intensity was measured using a 100-mm visual analogue scale (VAS)...

BACKGROUND It is important to avoid relapse in autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) because repeated multiple relapses have been associated with a worse prognosis. However, risk factors for relapse before initiation of treatment are not fully understood. The aim of this study was to find predictive markers for relapse of type 1 AIH. MATERIAL AND METHODS We reviewed the records of 53 patients diagnosed with type 1 AIH based on the revised scoring system proposed by the International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group (IAIHG) between 2009 and 2014 at 4 hospitals belonging to the Saga Study Group of Liver Diseases (SASLD)...

INTRODUCTION: Infection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in the pharynx (pharyngeal Ng) is associated with gonococcal transmission and development of antimicrobial resistance. We assessed proportion of and determinants for persistence after treatment of pharyngeal Ng. METHODS: At the STI clinic of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, females-at-risk and men who have sex with men are routinely screened for pharyngeal Ng using an RNA-based nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT; Aptima Combo 2)...

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AIMS: Reports into standards in the National Health Service and quality in pathology have focused on the way we work in pathology and how to provide assurance that this is of a high standard. There are a number of external quality assurance schemes covering pathology and histopathology specifically; however, there is no scheme covering the process of histological surgical dissection. This is an area undergoing development, emerging from the sole preserve of medically qualified pathologists to a field populated by a number of highly trained biomedical scientists, but remains without any formal quality assurance...

Current studies show the relevance of geriatric prevention and rehabilitation programs to slow down the development of disability in community-dwelling older adults who are becoming frail. This evidence reveals the importance of improving knowledge on how individual components of frailty and specific disability in basic and instrumental activities of daily living (ADL) are related, to offer early, targeted, and tailored interventions. The objective was to examine the association between each of the five frailty phenotype components (weakness, slowness, exhaustion, low physical activity, weight loss) and disability in specific ADL pertaining to physical aspects (bathing, dressing, cutting toe nails, transportation, shopping, housekeeping, food purchasing, food preparation) and cognitive aspects (finances, telephone, medication)...

BACKGROUND: Electronic health record (EHR) is a data management system used in healthcare services. The stored medical information in EHR can be accessed and utilized by authorized users, which helps clinicians in making clinical decisions. Therefore, this study aims at comparing the embedded clinical guidelines or the supportive pathway functions as well as their compliance level in the two EMR systems, i.e. QuadraMed (QCPR) and BestCare. METHODS: A test vignette was used to evaluate the features, functions, performance, and output to assess the EHR clinical path way functionality of the QCPR and BestCare...

A method is described to determine the activity of non-pure positron emitters in a radionuclide production environment by assessing the 511keV annihilation radiation concurrently with selected γ-lines, using a single High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector. Liquid sources of (22)Na, (52)Fe, (52m)Mn, (61)Cu, (64)Cu, (65)Zn, (66)Ga, (68)Ga, (82)Rb, (88)Y, (89)Zr and (132)Cs were prepared specifically for this study. Acrylic absorbers surrounding the sources ensured that the emitted β(+)-particles could not escape and annihilate away from the source region...

Barrier creams (BC) are marketed as cosmetic products or locally-applied medical devices to protect skin against damages induced by chemical agents or physical insults. However, the determination of the BC effectiveness is still a matter of discussion at both the clinical and the regulatory level. In this context, this work aimed at the development of a reliable, reproducible and easy-to-perform experimental protocol for the evaluation of BC performances. Preliminarily, an in vivo method based on the measurement of trans-epidermal water loss had been matter of investigation and was discarded: it required too much time and was not robust and sensitive enough...