AIMS To evaluate a parental questionnaire as a means of providing outcome measures for a multicentre randomised controlled trial of treatment for post-haemorrhagic ventricular dilatation. METHODS The parents of 88 survivors were sent a questionnaire before a paediatric assessment at the age of 30 months. The parents' responses to individual questions taken mainly from the Griffiths' mental de...

METHODS MEDLINE surveys were carried out and reference lists were cross-checked to identify publications on long-term outcome for dietary treatment of obesity. 898 papers were identified, 17 fulfilled our planned criteria for inclusion (dietary treatment; adults; follow-up period > or = 3 years; follow-up rate > or = 50% of original study group; information on one of the success criteria: maint...

Low calorie diets are always difficult for obese subjects to follow and lead to metabolic and behavioral adaptation. Therefore, we evaluated the effect of caffeine treatment with calorie shifting diet (CSD) on weight loss. Female subjects (n=98; BMI≥25) completed 4-weeks control diet, 6-weeks CSD (3 repeated phases; each 2-weeks) and 4-weeks follow-up diet, with or without caffeine treatment (5...

AIM To determine longer term health outcome in a cohort of UK service personnel who received the anthrax vaccination. METHOD We conducted a three year follow up of UK service personnel all of whom were in the Armed Forces at the start of the Iraq War. 3206 had been offered the anthrax vaccination as part of preparations for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. A further 1190 individuals who did not dep...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the feasibility and acceptance of (a) two programmes of assessment of practice management in a practice visit: mutual practice visits and feedback by peers versus visits and feedback by non-physician observers and (2) the practice visit method used in these programmes (the visit instrument to assess practice management and organisation (VIP)--a validated Dutch tool). DES...

We contacted gay bar/club managers in 16 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the US from 2008 to 2010 and invited them to participate in survey of gay bar/club identification and patronage. The annual response rates were 58%, 74%, and 71%, respectively. We convened two, 1-hr meetings with research staff to discuss lessons learned from recruitment efforts. Data were analyzed using qualitati...