Age and ageing
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Evidence-based practice, the linking of research evidence with clinical decision-making, has been a major recent development. However there are many challenges to the development of evidence-based stroke rehabilitation. Before it can become a reality we need to establish a reliable evidence-base providing information which is relevant, reliable, accessible and understandable. This article describes some steps taken to develop such information based on common questions generated by clinicians. ⋯ Stroke rehabilitation needs to establish and apply a solid evidence-base even though the challenges are formidable.
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Hepatitis C virus infection-related cirrhosis is a major risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatocellular carcinoma in anti-hepatitis C virus positive cirrhotics shows an increasing prevalence with ageing, although it is not clear whether the age of the patients can be considered a critical factor in the overall assessment of severity of disease or in the choice of therapeutic procedures and prognosis. ⋯ Hepatocellular carcinoma appears in older anti-hepatitis C virus positive cirrhotic patients showing long duration of infection. Older age of the patients does not seem to influence therapeutic options, and more importantly does not exclude patients from treatment. Lastly, older patients seem to have better prognosis most likely due to hepatocellular carcinoma characteristics, since hepatocellular carcinoma seems to present with more unfavourable characteristics in younger cirrhotic patients.