Citation Global Adv Health Med. 2015;4(6):18-19. DOI: 10.7453/gahmj.2015.107 INTRoDUCTIoN Review authors in the Cochrane Collaboration conducted a systematic review to evaluate the effects of probiotics to prevent acute upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) such as the common cold and acute sinusitis in people at average risk of a URTI. After extensive searching for all relevant studies, t...

The use of antibiotics to treat infection can be miraculously beneficial or foolish and wasteful. Antibiotics save lives when used to treat endocarditis, meningitis and pneumonia, and restore health and prevent complications in many other infections (Figure 1). However, antibiotics provide no benefit for the common cold and in some other common respiratory tract infections their risk of adverse...

OBJECTIVE The present study evaluated the association between fruit and vegetable intake and the incidence of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) during pregnancy. DESIGN In a cohort of 1034 North American women, each subject was asked retrospectively about their fruit and vegetable intake during the six months before the pregnancy and their occurrences of URTI during the first half of p...

This paper describes a simple 'tally sheet' system for collecting information on the paediatric utilisation of Bishop Lavis Day Hospital. of 2,053 children seen over a 7-week period in August and September 1988, the details of 1,971 (96%) were entered on the tally sheets; age and weight were documented in 1,915 (97%) cases. Only 19 patients (1%) were neonates, 370 (19%) were aged under 1 year, ...

OBJECTIVES To assess the risks and benefits of antibiotic treatment in children with symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). DESIGN Quantitative systematic review of randomised trials that compare antibiotic treatment with placebo. DATA SOURCES Twelve trials retrieved from a systematic search (electronic databases, contact with authors, contact with drug manufacturers, referen...

respiratory syncytial virus (rsv) is the major cause of lower respiratory tract infections in infants,and also an important factor for hospitalization during the winter months. to determine the prevalence and importance of rsv as a cause of acute lower respiratory tract infection, we carried out a prospective study during 5 months period from november to march 1998 in 6 pediatric hospitals. a n...

Four cases of congenital, hypotonic-sclerotic muscular dystrophy are presented. The patients showed clinically prominent features described by Ullrich, i.e. congenital muscle weakness, hypotonia, and hyperextensibility of distal joints, contractures of proximal joints, high-arched palate, hyperhidrosis, posterior protrusion of calcaneus, and no progression. Muscle biopsies revealed dystrophic c...

The objectives of this study were to determine knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of antibiotic use in upper respiratory tract infections (URI) among students at different educational levels (Grade 12 students and high vocational students) and to examine factors influencing antibiotic use for URI. A cross sectional questionnaire survey was used with students in one large and one small city in ...

The aim of the present study was to determine whether the ability to suppress cough voluntarily is an index of cough severity in upper respiratory tract infection. Cough was measured by means of a microphone linked to a pen recorder and subjects were instructed to voluntarily suppress cough in order to determine cough suppression time. Subjective scores of symptom severity, mood and psychologic...

BACKGROUND Much implementation research is focused on full-scale trials with little evidence of preceding modelling work. The Medical Research Council Framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions has argued for more and better theoretical and exploratory work prior to a trial as a means of improving intervention development. Intervention modelling experiments (IMEs) are a way o...