BACKGROUND Smoking is still gaining ground in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially among socially disadvantaged groups. People living with HIV represent a subgroup with a significantly elevated prevalence of cigarette smoking. The objective of the study was to examine the influence of individual-, neighbourhood- and country-level socioeconomic position on current cigarette smoking among people living...

BACKGROUND Observational studies and randomized, controlled trials have yielded uncertain results regarding the benefits of drug-eluting stents (DES) for the treatment of saphenous vein graft (SVG) disease. The objective of this meta-analysis was to assess the cumulative evidence regarding the efficacy and effectiveness of DES to treat SVG compared with bare metal stent (BMS). METHODS AND RES...

BACKGROUND Local corticosteroid injections are commonly used to improve the short-term symptomatic severity and the functional status of the hands affected by carpal tunnel syndrome. We conducted a systematic review and Bayesian network-meta-analysis to compare the clinical effectiveness of local corticosteroid injections using different injection approaches. METHODS Electronic literature in ...

Since the description of the first three cases of the 'cri du chat' syndrome by Lejeune, Lafourcade, Berger, Vialatte, Boeswillwald, Seringe, and Turpin (1963), 12 patients have been reported on in whom part of the short arms of a chromosome in the 4-5 group were absent (Lejeune, Lafourcade, de Grouchy, and Berger, 1964b; Punnett, Carpenter, and DiGeorge, 1964; Book, Atkins, and Santesson, 1963...

BACKGROUND Despite high vaccination coverage, infection with Bordetella pertussis is a current public health concern in the Netherlands and other European Union member states. Because surveillance data are subject to extensive under-ascertainment and under-reporting, incidence is difficult to determine. Our objective was to estimate the age-group specific incidence of symptomatic pertussis infe...

Background: Hemodialysis patients with end-stage renal illness use a tunnelled central vein catheter for vascular access. Heparin preservative, in contrast, exhibits inferior antibacterial effects against biofilm and plank tonic bacteria. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of taurolidine citrate solution versus heparin lock when infused into lumens hemodialysis illness. Study design: Randomized...

BACKGROUND Clinicians are faced with an increasingly difficult choice regarding the optimal bronchodilator for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) given the number of new treatments. The objective of this study is to evaluate the comparative efficacy of indacaterol 75/150/300 μg once daily (OD), glycopyrronium bromide 50 μg OD, tiotropium bromide 18 μg/5 μg OD, salmeterol...

BACKGROUND Shock index [SI = the ratio of heart rate (HR) to systolic arterial pressure (SAP)] is a metric used to diagnose patients at risk of impending hemorrhagic shock. We hypothesized that a metric called the compensatory reserve index (CRI), derived using computer modeling with continuous feature extraction from arterial waveforms, would provide an earlier indicator of cardiovascular inst...

We estimated for Australia the number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths due to foodborne gastroenteritis in a typical year, circa 2000. The total amount of infectious gastroenteritis was measured by using a national telephone survey. The foodborne proportion was estimated from Australian data on each of 16 pathogens. To account for uncertainty, we used simulation techniques to calculate 95...