Irish journal of medical science
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Review Case Reports
Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) associated with liquorice consumption.
Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a medical emergency but prompt recognition, early institution of supportive care and identifying and removing potential triggers are associated with a good clinical outcome. We report an unusual case of PRES associated with liquorice consumption. ⋯ Liquorice contains a biologically active compound glycyrrhizic acid which inhibits 11β hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase. Excessive liquorice consumption can cause mineralocorticoid excess and has been recently reported to cause PRES. We propose that in the absence of other triggers, frequent liquorice consumption precipitated the development of PRES in our patient and should be considered as a possible cause of this condition.
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Voice recognition (VR) dictation of radiology reports has become the mainstay of reporting in many institutions worldwide. Despite benefit, such software is not without limitations, and transcription errors have been widely reported. ⋯ These findings highlight the limitations of VR dictation software. While most error was deemed insignificant, there were occurrences of error with potential to alter report interpretation and patient management. Longer reports and reports on more complex imaging had higher error rates and this should be taken into account by the reporting radiologist.
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Nutritional risk impacts outcome in developmental delay. The main objectives were to identify the incidence and factors contributing to growth faltering. ⋯ Developmental delay predisposes to nutritional deficits which influence outcome. Screening, assessment and timely interventions are warranted to prevent poorer developmental outcomes.
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While considerable changes are happening in primary care in Ireland and considerable potential exists in intelligence derived from practice-based data to inform these changes, relatively few large-scale general morbidity surveys have been published. ⋯ Practice databases can generate intelligence on morbidity and health service utilisation in the community. Future research to optimise diagnostic coding at a practice level and to promote this activity in a more representative sample of practices is a priority.
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Historical Article
The temporal fluctuations and characteristics of psychiatric inpatient admissions in Ireland: data from the HRB's National Psychiatric In-Patient Reporting System.
This paper examines trends in psychiatric inpatient admissions from the 1960s to 2014 and uses data from the National Psychiatric Inpatient Reporting System (NPIRS) to review these trends. In the 1960s the Department of Health began an annual system of reporting on the activities in Irish psychiatric units and hospitals on foot of the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry on Mental Illness. The National Psychiatric Inpatient Reporting System (NPIRS) was established shortly thereafter and this paper discusses the data from this database contained in these annual activity reports over the last 50 years.