Irish journal of medical science
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Menopause may cause a constellation of symptoms that affect quality of life. Many women will have menopause induced or exacerbated by treatment for cancer whether that be through surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or anti-endocrine therapy. As treatments advance, the number of people living with and beyond a cancer diagnosis is set to increase over the coming years meaning more people will be dealing with the after effects of cancer and its treatment. ⋯ Managing menopausal symptoms is an important consideration for all physicians involved in the care of people living with and beyond a cancer diagnosis. High-quality data may not be available to guide treatment decisions, and, thus, it is essential to take into account the impact of the symptoms on quality of life as well as the likelihood of recurrence in each individual case.
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Maintaining the highest levels of patient safety is a priority of healthcare organisations. However, although considerable resources are invested in improving safety, patients still suffer avoidable harm. The aims of this study are: (1) to examine the extent, range, and nature of patient safety research activities carried out in the Republic of Ireland (RoI); (2) make recommendations for future research; and (3) consider how these recommendations align with the Health Service Executive's (HSE) patient safety strategy. ⋯ One paper was concerned with identifying potential safety interventions. There is a modest, but growing, body of patient safety research conducted in the RoI. It is hoped that this review will provide direction to researchers, healthcare practitioners, and health service managers, in how to build upon existing research in order to improve patient safety.
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Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard study design used to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of healthcare interventions. The reporting quality of RCTs is of fundamental importance for readers to appropriately analyse and understand the design and results of studies which are often labelled as practice changing papers. The aim of this article is to assess the reporting standards of a representative sample of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published between 2019 and 2020 in four of the highest impact factor general medical journals. ⋯ There were specific items on the CONSORT checklist which had recurring suboptimal adherence, including in title (item 1a, 70% adherence), randomisation (items 9 and 10, 56% and 30% adherence) and outcomes and estimation (item 17b, 62% adherence). Amongst a sample of RCTs published in four of the highest impact factor general medical journals, there was good overall adherence to the CONSORT 2010 statement. However there remains significant room for improvement in areas such as description of allocation concealment and implementation of randomisation.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
How does treadmill training contribute to botulinum toxin application plus routine physical therapy in ambulatory children with spastic bilateral cerebral palsy? A randomized controlled trial.
In spite of treadmill training and multilevel botulinum toxin (BoNT-A) injection being the two most commonly used treatment methods in pediatric rehabilitation management, there was no study investigating the effect of treadmill training after BoNT-A injection in children with cerebral palsy (CP). ⋯ Treadmill training in addition to routine physical therapy after BoNT-A injection is beneficial for hip muscle strength, ankle selective motor control, walking quality, and functional mobility in the short term.
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Immunomodulation by colchicine is a well-established therapy for targeting inflammatory pathways in gout, pericarditis and Behchet's disease. In more recent times, evidence has emerged demonstrating a potential role for colchicine in several cardiac conditions. This article aims to summarise the evidence behind the established guidelines for use of low-dose colchicine in pericarditis and examine the evolving evidence for its use in cardiovascular disease and most recently COVID-19.