OBJECTIVE To estimate the magnitude in which Parkinson's disease (PD) symptoms and health- related quality of life (HRQoL) determined PD costs over a 4-year period. MATERIALS AND METHODS Data collected during 3-month, each year, for 4 years, from the ELEP study, included sociodemographic, clinical and use of resources information. Costs were calculated yearly, as mean 3-month costs/patient an...

AIM To examine the correlation between T3 and resting energy expenditure (REE) in adolescent patients with eating disorders (ED) to assess whether T3 can be used to predict metabolic rate suppression and recovery. METHODS A retrospective chart review was performed on patients with ED (Anorexia Nervosa [AN], Bulimia Nervosa [BN], and Eating Disorder NOS [EDNOS]), aged 11-22 years, who had T3 a...

BACKGROUND Weaning from mechanical ventilation is defined as the process of release of ventilatory support and how the evaluation of this phase is conducted in the spontaneous breathing trial (SBT). One of the most used modes of SBT is the continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which applies a continuous positive pressure in both inspiration and expiration. However, together with the mecha...

This study was to assess the resting energy expenditure of patients with esophageal cancer using indirect calorimetry. Eight male patients with esophageal cancer and eight male healthy controls were enrolled in this study. All patients underwent transthoracic esophagectomy with lymph nodes dissections. The resting energy expenditure was measured preoperatively, and on postoperative day 7 and 14...

Many patients with Chagas disease live in remote communities that lack both equipment and trained personnel to perform a diagnosis by conventional serology (CS). Thus, reliable tests suitable for use under difficult conditions are required. In this study, we evaluated the ability of personnel with and without laboratory skills to perform immunochromatographic (IC) tests to detect Chagas disease...

BACKGROUND Accurate determination of caloric requirements is essential to avoid feeding-associated complications in critically ill patients. METHODS In critically ill cancer patients we compared the measured and estimated resting energy expenditures. All patients admitted to the oncology intensive care unit between March 2004 and July 2005 were considered for inclusion. For those patients enr...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate signs of haemolysis in babies of Rh-D negative mothers who underwent prophylaxis with anti-D immunoglobulin during pregnancy. DESIGN The following were evaluated in all babies of Rh-D negative mothers born within a three month period in our department: haemoglobin level, packed cell volume, mean corpuscular volume, reticulocytes, bilirubin level, and direct Coombs' test ...

OBJECTIVE Control of visual loss from retinopathy of prematurity requires high quality neonatal care, and timely screening and treatment of sight-threatening disease. We assessed services for retinopathy of prematurity provided by ophthalmic training institutions in major Indian cities. METHODS Eleven cities were purposefully selected and eye-care facilities were evaluated using predefined cr...

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of retinal disease in a group of patients with AIDS in Malawi. Indirect ophthalmoscopy was performed on 99 patients with AIDS who were admitted consecutively to a medical ward at a central hospital. Necrotising retinitis was present in one eye of one patient examined. Non-infectious retinopathy was present in 13%. Retinitis is less commo...

Energy expenditure was measured over 10 d using the doubly-labelled water (DLW) and activity diary methods in summer and winter in subjects with 'light' occupations but leisure activities which ranged from 'non-active' to 'very active'. The basal metabolic rate (BMR) and the energy cost of activities were determined by indirect calorimetry. The Department of Health (1991) predicted BMR for the ...