Informed consent for the man on the Clapham omnibus: an English cure for "the American disease"
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Methodology of clinical studies is highly sophisticated in drug research. But clinical trials are also necessary to demonstrate efficacy and safety of rehabilitation treatment. The call for evidence based medicine has also reached rehabilitation. However, in rehabilitation medicine it is much more difficult to design and conduct clinical trials with a high methodological standard. Among the reasons are: A comparable control group is necessary because spontaneous healing and unspecific measures contribute to therapeutic success, too. But what could "placebo rehabilitation" look like? The masking of therapies (blinded studies) will hardly ever be possible. Therefore, it is more difficult to achieve the same treatment and observation for the treatment and control group. Treatments in rehabilitation take longer to become effective than a drug and maybe the success will disappear after some time. Therefore, long-term trials and follow-ups are necessary. Such studies are expensive, need a strong organisation, and drop-outs are unavoidable. An appropriate outcome variable does not always exist. "Return to work" is an important, reliable and valid variable, but it delivers only one bit of information per patient. As a consequence, smaller progress in rehabilitation can only be demonstrated with large sample sizes. Outcome variables based on time enable studies with reasonable sample sizes. Sometimes it is more difficult to obtain acceptance of randomisation in rehabilitation patients than in acute patients. Some rehabilitation hospitals have only recently begun to take an interest in controlled clinical trials, hence are not so experienced. Nevertheless, controlled clinical trials delivering convincing results are possible in rehabilitation medicine as well. But biometrical consultation is necessary e.g. for study design, study conduction and evaluation. Most important points are the methodology of the study design and its practicability. Especially in these topics rehabilitation physicians and biometrician have to cooperate.
A nurse-staffing taxonomy is proposed to facilitate informed staffing decisions in long-term care nursing facilities and to set forth construct components for empirically related research. Recommendations from an expert workgroup were synthesized with current staffing research to define a staffing taxonomy. Refinements were made, incorporating on-site nursing home quality assessments and concepts founded on psychometric theory and Donabedian's model. A quality monitoring protocol, based on the staffing taxonomy, was used to assess quality improvement systems. Results from 48 US nursing facilities indicate that most long-term care facilities struggle with staffing allocation and the integration of staffing into a quality monitoring process.
A randomized clinical trial comparing L-TAE with Farmorubicin (FARM) and L-TAE with Adriamycin (ADR) in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma was conducted from October 1989 through December 1990. In all, 192 hospitals participated in this study and 117 patients were entered. The patients were randomly allocated to group A (L-TAE+FARM) or group B (L-TAE+ADR). There was no significant intergroup difference in background factors. Additional treatment consisting of repeated TAE or surgery was given to 66 patients. Four factors were analyzed in this study: the percentage of reduction in tumor size, the change in the AFP level, lipiodol accumulation, and survival. None of these factors differed significantly between the two groups. The final evaluation of this study will be based on differences in survival after a long-term follow-up. Toxic effects manifested less frequently in group A than in group B, and the decrease in the platelet count in the peripheral blood was significantly lower in group A than in group B. These results suggest that FARM exerts a more favorable effect than does ADR in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.
To improve surgical results of potentially operable rectal cancer (T2, T3, T4, Mo), the European Organization for Research on Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) conducted a two-arm randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effect of administering radiotherapy before radical surgery. Four hundred ten patients were allocated to be treated either by surgery alone or by 34.5 Gy of radiotherapy (in 19 days overall) followed by surgery. The tolerance of the adjuvant radiation therapy was fairly good. The 5-year survival rate was 65% overall and showed no difference between both therapeutic regimens. Similarly, the metastases-free rate was the same in both groups. In contrast, the preoperative radiation therapy showed a marked effect on local control of the disease, the comparison of the time to local recurrence being highly significant between the two treatment groups (P = 0.001). The proportion of patients free of local recurrence at 5 years was 85% in the combined treatment versus 65% in the group of patients treated by surgery alone.
PURPOSE: We performed a randomized, double-blind, multicenter, placebo controlled study to compare the efficacy and safety of 2 oral doses of mycophenolate mofetil with placebo for prevention of acute rejection episodes following first or second cadaveric renal allograft transplantation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 491 patients were enrolled in the study and randomly allocated to receive placebo (166), 1 gm. mycophenolate mofetil twice daily (165) or 1.5 gm. mycophenolate mofetil twice daily (160). Patients were given concomitant immunosuppression with cyclosporine and corticosteroids. Treatment with mycophenolate mofetil was initiated within 72 hours of transplantation and was continued for at least 1 year. RESULTS: The percentages of patients who experienced biopsy proved rejection or withdrew early from the trial for any reason were significantly reduced with 2 gm. (30.3%) and 3 gm. (38.8%) mycophenolate mofetil compared to placebo (56.0%) (p < 0.001). The biopsy proved rejection rates of the placebo, and 2 gm. and 3 gm. mycophenolate mofetil treatment arms were 46.4, 17.6 and 13.8%, respectively. There were fewer patients in the 2 gm. (28.5%) and 3 gm. (24.4%) mycophenolate mofetil groups compared to the placebo (51.8%) group, who received full courses of corticosteroids or antilymphocyte agents for treatment of rejection episodes in the first 6 months after renal transplantation. There was a greater incidence of gastrointestinal adverse events, leukopenia and opportunistic events in the mycophenolate mofetil treatment groups. CONCLUSIONS: Mycophenolate mofetil was shown to reduce significantly the number of patients who experienced biopsy proved rejection episodes or treatment failure during the first year after renal transplantation, and was well tolerated.
The Metro Boston REACH 2010 HIV Coalition needs to develop innovative processes aimed at overcoming a history of distrust that has led to limited cooperation from the Haitian community. Among the key elements being implemented are the development of a community vision through a community mobilization process; the development of an innovative working group process, in which coalition members worked together to develop and implement culturally and linguistically appropriate HIV prevention curricula; participatory leadership and joint accountability processes, manifested in decision-making approaches, such as the fund allocation system, and in the provision of technical assistance workshops on team building, designed to engender cohesion, skills, and resources sharing among coalition members. The success of this venture is measured through the growing expectation that this coalition could serve as a community planning body for all HIV-related services aimed at reducing HIV infection in the Greater Boston Haitian population.
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The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between endogenous estrogen, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), and bone loss in pre-, peri-, and postmenopausal female residents of Taiji, a rural Japanese community. From a list of inhabitants aged 40 to 79 years, 200 participants-50 women in each of four age decades-were randomly selected, and baseline bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine and proximal femur were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in 1993. Total estradiol (total E2) and SHBG were measured, and SHBG-unbound E2 (UBE2) was calculated using SHBG and the percent SHBG-unbound fraction ratio. BMD was measured again 3 years later, in 1996. Participants with ovariectomy or hysterectomy were excluded, and the remaining participants were categorized into four groups: premenopausal ( n = 38), perimenopausal ( n = 14), postmenopausal group 1 (5 years or less since menopause; n = 18), and postmenopausal group 2 (6 years or more since menopause; n = 74). The mean value of total E2 was highest in the premenopausal group (49.1 pg/ml), followed by the perimenopausal group (26.4 pg/ml), and the postmenopausal groups (0.83 pg/ml in postmenopausal group 1 and 0.96 pg/ml in postmenopausal group 2). The means for UBE2 showed the same pattern across the groups. After the multiple regression analysis of BMD at follow-up and endogenous estrogens, in premenopausal women, there were no significant associations between BMD at follow-up and serum total E2 and UBE2. In perimenopausal women, however, serum total E2 and UBE2 were significantly correlated with trochanteric BMD at follow-up ( P < 0.05); and in postmenopausal group 2, they were significantly correlated with lumbar spine and Ward's triangle BMD at follow-up ( P < 0.001 at lumbar spine, P < 0.05 at Ward's triangle). Concerning the association between BMD at follow-up and SHBG, in the premenopausal group, serum levels of SHBG were negatively correlated with BMD at the femoral neck ( P < 0.05). In regard to partial regression coefficients for the change rates of BMD over 3 years and serum estrogens and SHBG concentrations, in perimenopausal women, UBE2 was correlated with the change rate of BMD at Ward's triangle ( P < 0.05), and in postmenopausal group 1, serum levels of SHBG were significantly negatively related to change in BMD at the trochanter ( P < 0.01). No other relationships with change in BMD were observed at any sites. These findings suggest that serum E2, UBE2, and SHBG levels differentially predict BMD levels in groups of differing menstrual status. It would, however, be difficult to predict bone loss in middle-aged and elderly Japanese women over a 3-year period using these indices alone.
Recently, the inducible isoform of nitric oxide synthase has been shown to be an important immunomodulation molecule in allograft rejection. We have observed the production of nitric oxide during rejection and the effect of nitric oxide synthase inhibition on allograft rejection in a rat lung transplant model. Rat left lung allotransplants were performed in two strain combinations: brown Norway-to-F344 (major histocompatibility complex incompatible); and Lewis-to-F344 (minor loci incompatible) as severe and mild rejection models respectively. Syngeneic F344-to-F344 transplants were performed as a negative control. Nitric oxide production during rejection was determined by measuring the recipient's serum nitrite/nitrate levels as a stable end product of nitric oxide. The progression of rejection was evaluated radiographically and the grade of rejection was determined histologically. After operation, recipients of allotransplantation were randomly divided into two groups and received either aminoguanidine (200 mg/kg, intraperitoneal every 6 hours), a potent inducible nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, or normal saline treatment. The levels of serum nitrite and nitrate in recipients increased in the early phase of rejection in both allotransplant combinations. However, in the terminal phase of rejection, the serum nitrite/nitrate level decreased significantly compared with the peak level in the brown Norway-to-F344 recipients. The serum nitrite/nitrate levels in the syngeneic transplant recipients were normal during the entire observation period. In aminoguanidine-treated animals, serum nitrite/nitrate levels remained normal in both allograft combinations. Significant suppression of rejection in aminoguanidine-treated recipients was observed histologically and radiographically in comparison with untreated recipients in the brown Norway-to-F344 combinations. In the Lewis-to-F344 combination, aminoguanidine treatment significantly ameliorated histologic rejection but did not affect radiologic appearance. We therefore conclude nitric oxide is produced during early allograft rejection and may prove to be a marker and mediator of early rejection. The inhibition of inducible nitric oxide synthase results in significant reduction in rat lung allograft rejection.
In a single-blind randomised trial in patients with acute myocardial infarction of less than 6 h duration, the frequency of coronary patency was found to be higher after intravenous administration of recombinant human tissue-type plasminogen activator (rt-PA) than after intravenous streptokinase. 64 patients were allocated to 0.75 mg rt-PA/kg over 90 min, and the infarct-related coronary artery was patent in 70% of 61 assessable coronary angiograms taken 75-90 min after the start of infusion; 65 patients were allocated to 1 500 000 IU streptokinase over 60 min, and the infarct-related vessel was patent in 55% of 62 assessable angiograms. The 95% confidence interval of the differences ranges from +/- 30 to -2% (p = 0.054). Bleeding episodes and other complications were less common in the rt-PA patients than in the streptokinase group. Hospital mortality was identical in the 2 treatment groups. At the end of the rt-PA infusion the circulating fibrinogen level was 61 +/- 35% of the starting value, as measured by a coagulation-rate assay, and 69 +/- 25% as measured by sodium sulphite precipitation. After streptokinase infusion, corresponding fibrinogen levels were 12 +/- 18% and 20 +/- 11%. In the rt-PA group only 4.5% of the fibrinogen was measured as incoagulable fibrinogen degradation products, compared with 30% in the streptokinase group. Activation of the systemic fibrinolytic system was far less pronounced with rt-PA than with streptokinase.