According to functionalist theories, consciousness can be defined by the functions that it serves and by the way it contributes to cognition. For example, when trying to establish dissociations between conscious and unconscious knowledge, conscious representations would be identified by the fact that they allow cognitive control or successful identification or recollection, assessed by verbal r...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to examine the efficacy of budesonide administered once daily compared to twice daily in asthma. METHODOLOGY Meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials comparing budesonide administered once versus twice a day that presented data on at least one clinical outcome measure was conducted. RESULTS A total of 10 studies, with 1922 children and adults with a...

Have state-of-the-art clinical trials failed to deliver treatments for neurodegenerative diseases because of shortcomings in the rating scales used? This Review assesses two methodological limitations of rating scales that might help to answer this question. First, the numbers generated by most rating scales do not satisfy the criteria for rigorous measurements. Second, we do not really know wh...

Elderly pneumonia patients have various underlying diseases and social backgrounds, and it is difficult to predict their mortality using the current severity assessment tools. However, aspiration is a risk factor for mortality in pneumonia patients. In the evaluation of aspiration, endoscopic and video fluoroscopic methods are reliable but cannot be performed in all pneumonia patients. We evalu...

BACKGROUND Use of automated systems to aid identification of patient deterioration in routine hospital practice is limited and their impact on patient outcomes remains unclear. This study was designed to evaluate the feasibility of implementing an electronic observation chart with automated early warning score (EWS) calculation in the high-acuity area of an emergency department. METHODS This ...

BACKGROUND With the help of a measurement feedback system, the treatment strategy for individual patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can be adjusted to achieve optimal control of disease activity. OBJECTIVE To study whether a measurement feedback system is effective in reducing disease activity in patients with RA. METHODS Forty eight rheumatologists and 264 patients participated in a c...